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“What’s your name?” I asked suddenly, needing some kind of normality in this conversation.
“Kon. And yours?”
“Well, I’m Hana. Hana Smith.” This time, the fake name flew off my lips faster. “And I’ve never even been kissed properly, never mind gone to bed with someone,” I admitted in a rush.
Kon jerked back as if I’d slapped him. His eyes were narrowed and a muscle ticked in his strong jaw. Had I pissed him off? It looked like it.
“How old are you really, Hana?” he suddenly asked, withdrawing an inch.
Crap. Time to come clean. “Nineteen,” I admitted. “So, are you going to kick me out?”
Just then, a bartender approached and spoke to Kon in a rapid flurry of Russian. He turned back to me, studying me in silence. My skin heated under his assessing gaze.
The bartender returned with a bottle of mineral water. Kon cracked the seal and handed it to me.
“What about buying Cinderella a drink?” I wondered, taking a few gulps to wet my parched throat.
“Cinderella wasn’t nineteen,” he murmured.
I arched a brow at him. “Actually, given when it was written, there is every chance the character of Cinderella might have been what we would consider underage nowadays.”
“Why are you here, Hana Smith, tell me the truth or I'll know.”
There was no malice in his tone, but there was a command that felt impossible to deny. I drank some more water, and set it down.
He immediately picked the cap up from where I'd left it on the counter.
“Always close your bottle when you put it down,” he muttered.
I watched his tattooed hands deftly twist the cap on.
“I came here to have sex,” I blurted out, overly loud. The people around us turned, and at a look from Kon, they quickly turned away.
“Why?” Kon asked without judgment, instead of acting like I was a deranged harlot out looking for peen.
“Because for once, I want to do whatI wantwith my body,” I said.
A note of pure misery entered Kon’s eyes for a second, so quickly, a flash of anguish, and then it was gone. He swallowed hard, his eyes straying over me with a hunger and interest that made me feel bold. Maybe I was wrong, and this man wasn’t more than I could handle. Maybe he was exactly what I needed for a night I’d never forget.
“Would you-,” I trailed off, mortified at the words forming inside me.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Would I, what?”
“Would you be interested in doing that, with me?” I managed to get out.
His eyes narrowed, and there was a light of wonder in them that made me conscious of every part of me. He reached his finger out to my cheek and rubbed the pink blush flooding my face.
“You can’t even speak about it without blushing,” he murmured, seeming to be fascinated by the way my face had turned as red as a rose.
I ducked my head, letting my hair slide forward to hide my rosy cheeks. God, he must think I’m such an idiot. “I’m sorry, I'm not good at any of this,” I started, just as his hand cupped my cheek, and he tilted my head back, baring me to his eyes again.
“Don’t apologize for being yourself, Hana. Your sweetness just stole my thoughts for a second. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
Well, I didn’t know where he was going with that, surely it couldn’t be a good thing, but I held my tongue and waited for his verdict.
He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing with the effort. “But you’re too young and unspoiled for me. I’m not a gentleman, and my hands only know how to break pretty things,” he said quietly.
A shock of cold washed through me. So, he was rejecting me then? Hardly surprising, yet it still stung. Worse still was the disappointment. I’d wanted it to be him, and he was saying no.
