Defiant. Sweet. Alluring.
A business deal gone wrong brought me to her doorstep.
She's everything I shouldn't want; everything I was against after watching my mother's obsession destroy her.
Still, I can't stop myself from craving her.
I should know...
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I WASN'T A MAN easily surprised.
It was a running argument between Mikhail and me whenever he planned extravagant surprises for me on my birthday and they didn't have the desired effect on me. Hell, when my cousin challenged me for the position as the Pakhan earlier today, I hadn't batted an eyelid like everyone expected me to.
But, hearing Ariana speak for the first time left me stunned... speechless even.
Get a life, old man.
That's what she said.
I had no idea if I was more surprised by the fact that she spoke or the sound of her voice.
Although barely above a whisper, it was warm like the first rays of the morning sun after a cold, dreadful night, with underlying passion woven into every syllable.
My lips parted. How could a voice so warm also hold a silky promise of brazen pleasure?
Fuck, I knew she was going to be trouble from the moment I laid eyes on her, but I was just realizing how much. Her voice was like a shot of dopamine into my veins, sending a stream of excitement down my spine.
Ariana's face had paled with horror like she hadn't realized she spoke until Reina pointed it out to her.
We had to cut dinner short partly because I knew Ariana needed time to process away from my toxic family group, and the other part because I was sick of the company. Namely Igor, his wife, and his lapdogs.
"Do you think she's okay?" Mikhail asked, carelessly shoving popcorn into his mouth.
My nose wrinkled with disgust as popcorn flew in different directions, littering the once spotless floor. He was a slob in every sense of the word. How he'd turned out like that when I couldn't stand dirt in my space was beyond me. I yanked two paper towels out of the box, grabbed the crumbs, and tossed them into the trash can.
"Did she look okay to you?" Deo asked, his eyes glued to the cards spread out on the kitchen counter. And he called me crazy when I played chess all by myself. The fucker was just projecting.
"She'll be fine," I rumbled. She hadn't said a word since we left my father's house, and she'd fled up the stairs the moment we stepped into the house.
I was giving her all the time she needed to process things, but my patience was already wearing thin. I knew if I didn't do something to distract myself quickly, I'd storm up the stairs and force her to spill every thought going through her head.
"Forget Ariana. What did you do to make Bogdan that mad?" Deo arched a brow at me. "Scratch that. What did you do to make everyone mad? They didn't look so happy when they walked in."
"Why do you think we came all the way down to Russia?"
He shrugged. "I was going to come to Russia, anyway. I just tagged along when you announced your sudden trip to Russia."
