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“I do know the rules, but I also have a life and Mr. High and Mighty was too busy to show up to our meeting, too busy to read any of my texts, too busy to pick up the phone. You thought you could dodge me and I’d do the assignment for you, even though I’d told you I wouldn’t cheat. But no, you had to strong-arm me into it. You’re not my only responsibility, you know. I have my own future to think of. Entrance into a good college won’t fall in my lap. I need to work hard to keep up my grades.”
“Your brother’s as rich as sin. He can donate a wing and pay your way in.”
“Who says my brother knows about my plans.”
My entire body tightens like I got jabbed with a cattle prod. I drop my voice low. “If you’re not going to your brother in Cali, who the fuck are you going to? Who’s going to take care of you?”
She shoves her face closer and hisses, “Me, you Neanderthal. I don’t need any man.”
I swallow. My heart skips a few beats and then speeds up like it’s trying to hammer a hole in my chest. My skin is strangely clammy. “That’s not safe. I thought I was helping you escape to reunite with your brother.”
She wipes the remnants of blood-saliva mixture off her lips with the back of her hand. “Well, you’re not.”
“I don’t understand you,” I explode. “Your father was slaughtered by the Bratva and I find you carelessly wandering the streets of the Village. Now you want to roam the globe on your own. How can you be so irresponsible?”
She looks at me strangely, canting her head to the side.
She smiles and her smile broadens with glee until she belts out a deep laugh.
I frown. “What’s so damn funny?”
“Oh my God, Lucian. No one wants me.” She swipes a couple tears of laughter away. “Why would the Bratva go after me? I’m a woman, and barely an adult at that. As far as they know, I’ve got no father or brother. No husband. You have to be valuable to make it worth their effort. You have to be a shoe-in. Even if they snatch me, who’s going to pay my ransom? Alex?” She shrugs casually. “Maybe, maybe not.” She lifts her brows to her hairline. “Oh, maybe, you’re thinking it’ll be my dead father, my absent brother or my drunk mom?”
She snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Snap out of it, Lucian. I’m not a valuable pawn to the Russian mafia. Not everyone is worth the same in this world. I’m not being irresponsible when I walk around the city. I walk around like that because I’m not worth anything. You count so you think everyone does, but news flash, dude, I don’t.”
Her words jar me.
For reasons I can’t explain, her reasoning makes me angry. If she got hurt or kidnapped, I’d fucking lose it.
She should matter, dammit, the way she matters to me.
That realization jars me, but I stuff it down because I’m overwhelmed by a wave of powerlessness. It’s the same helpless despair I felt around my father. After he got sick and lost his position asconsilier, he stopped mattering, and I hated it because I was helpless to make him matter again. And he mattered to me and my family so damned much. He might have been sick, but he was the glue that kept us whole. I’ve tried to be that glue ever since, but many days I know I’ve failed. No one can replace him. Sure as hell not me.
There’s an unrelenting jangling in my chest.
I’m panting fiery breathes of anger.
Her face hovers closer to mine, worry lines creasing her forehead.
I grasp her neck again, only this time, I take her by the front. I collar her throat, and it looks pretty in my hand, covered with my clan tat of the crowned eagle with an Orthodox cross. It’s like the eagle is tatted over her skin. That image does something to me.
I drag her until our lips are practically touching.
Her eyes bulge, bewilderment marring her smooth skin.
Breathing harshly, I say, “Don’t ever fucking say that again.You matter.”
Star tries to shake her head within my grasp, denying what I’ve said.
“You matter. You matter. You matter.”
And then my lips are on hers again. She tries to wiggle away, but I tighten my fingers ever so slightly and she stops instantly. I’m forcing a kiss on her, but I can’t help it. And this time, bite or no bite, I’m not pulling away until I get my pound of flesh. Her bubblegum taste is back in my mouth, her cherry vanilla scent filling my nostrils. I breathe and drink them in like the starving man I am. Hunger pounds through me, leaving me dizzy with need. My cock is hard as fuck, harder than it’s ever been for any woman.
With a moan, she begins to return my kiss and soon our tongues are sparring, trying to outdo the other.
Unhinged, I tear at her shirt, buttons popping and pinging against the tabletop and the floor. I unclip her simple white bra, a solitary silk rose in the center. I duck my head and find one perfect pink bud, suck it into my mouth and it’s delicious.She’sdelicious.
Her breasts are high and bouncy. Goose bumps break out over her arms and she arches her back to feed me more. Her fingers grip my hair, pulling me closer. I thrum the other nipple for a bit before pinching it.
