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“I’m not that hungry.”
“Would you care for something else?”
“No, this is wonderful.”
“But you don’t have an appetite around me.”
Sighing, I looked away. “You are a man with two distinct sides, perhaps more. I’m uncertain which man is sitting across from me.”
He rapped his fingers on the table and there was no doubt he was staring at me. “It would seem my little lioness has been playing detective. I wonder why that is?”
“Goddamn it, Alexei. You almost killed the man at the bar yesterday. You were different when you returned from getting the wine and cheese. What am I supposed to think?” Why was I suddenly waiting for an explosion of anger?
Because that’s all I expected out of a man like him.
He regarded me coolly as he took a sip of his beer, finally pushing the glass away. “It was unfortunate that I had to take a call last night much like the one you obviously overheard this morning. Yes, sweet Stephanie, I’m not a traditional businessman. However, I assure you that there is nothing for you to be worried about.”
It was his way of dismissing the conversation.
Damn him. Damn the circumstances. Every time we were close to each other, my self-admonishment and required hatred of him disappeared, replaced with lust and need. It had become overwhelming, which was completely unacceptable.
I shuddered even in the almost oppressive heat as I watched him, trying to pretend as if I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off him. He was a complicated man, capable of enjoying the simplicity of a night spent in a hammock, accepting my myriad ridiculous first date-style questions then shifting into protector mode. He was like a caged animal, his prowess and anger creating the constant electric vibe enshrouding him. As I took a deep breath, inhaling his musky scent, I wanted to call him a viper; he was cold and calculating, a man capable of reducing his prey to blubbering idiots pleading for their lives.
I’d seen the effects of what he and his men could do in bloody visions remaining long after the crime photos had been taken away. Putting a face to a name as well as to the bloody profession left me in a surreal state.
There was something else viler just underneath the surface that I couldn’t my finger on. At least he’d further indulged me by wearing more appropriate clothing including shorts and a tee shirt. I took a sip of lemonade, still picking at my salad as I thought about the dragon tattoo that I’d seen on his back. I remembered there was significant definition and color with the design, as beautiful and intricate as it was threatening in its creation. The dragon had viridian skin, but its eyes were the shade of blood.
He seemed to notice I was staring off into the distance. “What is it?”
“The tattoo on your back. Can I see it again?”
Chuckling, he shifted in his seat, lifting his shirt. “It would seem my feisty lioness finds my ink fascinating.”
“Not fascinating. More curious than anything.” I was even more beautiful than I’d remembered, so vivid in detail that it appeared as a 3-D rendering.
“What are you curious about?”
“The meaning behind the design.”
“Dragons are representations of abundance and wealth,” he answered as he lowered his shirt then slowly removed his sunglasses, his eyes searching mine. “And I can tell by your expression that you do not believe me.”
“You’re talking Eastern culture, Alexei. In the Western hemisphere, which is where you stated was your home, they mean something else entirely.”
His breathing changed, his nostrils flaring. His reaction wasn’t laced with anger, but an appreciation that I had any clue why he’d chosen that tattoo in particular. “Please continue.”
“They are the incarnation of evil spirits, the destroyer of hearth and home. Is that a fair representation of the life you intend on living? Is that what drives you, your needs and wants?”
“You continue to believe that there is nothing else I enjoy more than destroying lives,l’vitsa. While it is necessary to eliminate certain enemies in order to run my business to the effective, profitable standards that both myself and my family require, that isn’t the only reason why nor is it all that encompasses my life. The symbol of the dragon has several meanings, not only the two that have been mentioned here. Would you like to know why my father chose this particular dragon as a permanent part of our culture?”
“Absolutely.” When he reached for my hand, his fingers brushing against mine, the same heat swirled through me, but the touch held an air of possessiveness.
“It’s obvious you’ve read many details about my family, but it’s what you haven’t heard that continues to build the flames in each one of us. My father held a prominent position within the sacred walls of the Russian KGB for years until certain occurrences that forced him to question his beliefs. For that, he was imprisoned for years, beaten often and to within inches of his life. His incarceration forced my mother to fight for scraps of food, her only child carrying the burden of keeping the wolves at bay. My brother was five years old at the time. That’s when he was forced to kill a man. Five. He did so to protect my mother from true monsters hell bent on taking what little they had. They survived, but my brother was forever scarred, turning into the beast you’ve accused me of being. His death was a welcome relief for those around him.”
I sucked in my breath, trembling from both the meaning of his words as well as the harshness from the way he was half whispering them.
“When my father was released, ostracized from everything he’d known and loved, he was forced to make a choice. Live or die. He chose to live. He created an empire, but as with all powerful things, they can be destroyed. My father had a target on his back. When a war broke out on the streets, thousands of innocent lives lost in a bloodbath, he chose to accept his defeat, taking another country as his own. But as you might imagine, that came with a price.”
He waited as I absorbed what he was telling me. There was no warmth in his eyes as he told me his family’s story, only the wretchedness of a country’s betrayal that had weighed heavily on his mind.
