AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I know he is studying me, but he doesn’t answer my question. Heat flames my cheeks, and I continue with his other hand. Grabbing some antibiotic ointment, I spread a thin layer over his knuckles and wrap them with fresh gauze.
It’s not perfect, but while working for Emporium, we had our fair share of broken glass or wine bottles that resulted in many small cuts.
I finish with his hands and finally gaze up at him, chewing the inside of my lip. Shuffling back a couple of steps, I look anywhere but at him. “Umm … I need—”
“Kate. Look at me.” My eyes snap to his command. I shudder at his magnetic eyes but manage to take a deep breath and continue.
“I need some more toothpaste.”
Luka’s forehead creases and brows furrow, tilting his head slightly to the side before he straightens. “Anything you need or want. Just tell Ilena,” he says.
“Except if I want to leave, right?” I quip back, internally rolling my eyes at myself.
“Except if you want to leave, Kate. Go back to bed.”
I don’t spare him another glance as I run out of the room. Once in my room, I lean against the back of the closed door, breathless—the fluttering in my heart is raw and exposed.
The next morning, the glass on the floor is gone, and the marble island cleared of any trace of him from last night. Ilena is loading the dishwasher, and she peers up at me with a smile.
“Good morning. I hear you need toothpaste.”
Chapter22
Luka
“Sir? Sir, are you all right?” Ivan is peering at me in the rearview mirror, and I startle at his words. He is driving me out to one of the warehouses today, but I’m anything but focused. Last night blew a hole a mile wide in my concentration, and I’m drowning. Drowning in blonde hair and blue eyes.
My hands were pretty messed up after taking out some frustration on a man’s face. I had been avoiding the penthouse for close to a week. One week and her smell permeated the space merely from her brief exploration. Her coconut scent, mingled with the warmth of her skin, is intoxicating. I shouldn’t want to be home, but I find myself making excuses to get home sooner each night. Even though she is shut in her room, the allure of her captivating presence is enough.
But last night—last night—she shocked me. When she approached me in her long t-shirt and bare legs, it was like being struck with a bullet. Both cause unbearable pain; only one I want more of.
Her eyes betrayed her in that moment. I knew instantly she was thinking of stabbing me and trying to run off. Oddly, it didn’t piss me off.
When Kate gripped my hand to clean it, peering up at me through those eyelashes, it took all my willpower to avoid reaching to rub a thumb across her cheek.
I inspect my wrapped hands, a crack forming in my chest. I need to let her go. I’m running out of excuses to keep her here. I thought it would draw Antonio out, but it appears to have silenced him.
“Da.” I finally respond to Ivan as the car rolls to a stop. Nik and Igor have met me here, and I stroll to the door, getting down to business. “Did we get the whole shipment?”
“Yes,” Igor says, pointing to the twelve large shipping crates while Nik unscrews one.
Hushed whispers float across the warehouse as my men stand and revere the sheer size of this one shipment. My gaze sweeps across the crates filled with rows of guns. Blood pulses in my veins, and I drink in the new metallic air. My fingers react on their own, tracing the black, cold steel of the pistols. The craftsmanship and precision of the deadly tools are perfect.
A hint of a smile tugs at the corner of my lips, and I look toward Nik, his gaze beaming.
“This will do. Break it up and prepare the shipments going to the Irish and Japanese tonight,” I say.
“Yes, Pakhan,” my men chant, and the warehouse comes alive with the clinking of metal and shuffling of product. The intoxicating high of power has my adrenaline pumping, and my addiction to the euphoria fed. But a soft sound trickles in, piercing my exhilaration.
Kate’s voice.
* * *
The following Saturday,I sleep in, tired from my early rises all week and long hours at work. Kate has been here for over three weeks, and I’ve worked more than I usually do, trying to avoid the penthouse.
When my alarm goes off at 4 a.m., I hit snooze and sleep an extra three hours. I leisurely linger in the shower before dressing in a black button-down and black pants.
The smell of food wafts through the air as soon as I open the door to the hall.
