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“If you have the clarity of mind to know what day it is, something’s wrong.” I dropped my eyes to where his arousal tented his pants. My throat dried, and a fresh wave of heat coasted through my stomach. “When is your flight again?”
Do we have time for a second round?The real meaning behind my question wasn’t lost on either of us.
Heat darkened his eyes, followed by a rueful smile. “I have a conference call in half an hour. Last one before the holiday. Apparently, it’s the only time that works for everyone.”
He was turning down sex for abusiness call?
I tried not to look too insulted.
“We’ll talk next week when we have more time,” Kai said. “This was…that is, I didn’t expect…” He faltered, looking so adorably flustered that I couldn’t hold on to my annoyance.
He was right. The day before Thanksgiving wasn’t the best time for a deep dive on whatever we had. He’d fingered me in the piano room of the club where I worked, for Christ’s sake—the same club that would throw me out on my ass and blackball me if people found out what happened.
I needed time to think about what to do next when I wasn’t riding a post-orgasmic high.
The inklings of dread returned. How did I always find myself in these situations?
By making bad decisions, a voice sang in my head.By never having a plan and ending up in places you don’t want to be.
I didn’t bother refuting it. I couldn’t if I tried.
“Makes sense.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, suddenly feeling unsure. Our tension had exploded spectacularly after weeks, maybe even months, of buildup, and now we had to deal with the aftermath. The problem was, I always sucked at cleanup. I was forever getting into messes with no vision of how to get myself out.
Kai and I lapsed into silence as we finished straightening the room and ourselves out. He seemed as lost for words as I was, though he could just be mentally prepping for his call, I thought sourly.
I exited the room first, but I didn’t make it two steps before I came to an abrupt halt. My stomach dropped several inches.
There was someone in the hall.
Tall, broad, and utterly terrifying, the behemoth of a man stared down at me, his face expressionless. His eyes were an icy, unsettling blue, so pale they were almost colorless. His dark hair was cropped short, and a vicious scar slashed diagonally across his face from eyebrow to chin, bisecting it into two otherwise flawless halves. If it weren’t for the scar and those shiver-inducing eyes, he could’ve made a killing as a model with those cheekbones.
My gaze dipped, and a jolt ran through me at the sight of thick red burns twisting around his neck like a rope. Unlike the flat coldness of his stare, the burns seemed to pulse with rage under my scrutiny, as if they were seconds away from leaping off his skin and strangling me.
An answering pressure wrapped around my throat. The amount of pain he must’ve endured to get those scars…
His eyes sharpened into icicles. I expected him to call me out on my admittedly rude staring, but he simply gave Kai a curt nod before stepping around me and disappearing around the corner.
The encounter had lasted less than twenty seconds, yet the icy touch of his glare shivered on my skin.
“Who was that?” Whoever it was, he was definitely a club member—and he’d seen me and Kai exit the piano room together.
My heart thudded with panic.
“Vuk Markovic, better known as the Serb. He doesn’t like people using his given name.” Kai didn’t elaborate, but his tone told me there was more to the story than he was letting on. “Don’t worry about him. He won’t say anything. He keeps to himself.”
I chose to believe him, if only for the sake of my sanity.
I glanced over my shoulder as we walked toward the stairs. The hall was empty, yet I couldn’t shake the chill crawling over the back of my neck—the type you got when someone was watching you.
CHAPTER 16
Kai
Ispent my Thanksgiving weekend in a hotel, alternating between work and Isabella. Specifically, fantasizing about Isabella whiletryingto work.
I had a multibillion-dollar deal on the line, and all I could think about was the woman who’d crashed into my life and blown it into a thousand smithereens.
The kiss. The piano room. The two best and worst decisions of my life.
