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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FOR THE SECOND NIGHT IN A ROW, I dreaded having dinner with everyone. Not with my mind flying in a million different directions per second. And with the fewer company around the table tonight, it would be harder to slip into the background and pretend I was listening when I could barely get my thoughts together.
That wasn't even the part that had my stomach rolling.
It was knowing I would have to sit in front of Aleksei, and pretend everything was alright in front of his perceptive eyes.
I had done everything I could to avoid being in a room with him until I could get my thoughts together, and so far, I was doing just that with flying colors.
The avoiding part, I mean. I was nowhere near gathering my thoughts, but my time was up now.
I sucked in a deep breath, exhaling right after to calm my nerves as I wrapped my fingers around the knob, pushing open one of the French doors that led to the dining hall.
All eyes turned to me except for the ones I wanted to see and dreaded at the same time.
I cleared my throat, walking deeper into the room. "Sorry, I'm late. I just finished cleaning up upstairs."
Reina waved me off. "Oh, that's no problem, at all. You made all of this." She gestured at the food covering the long expanse of the table. "I can't imagine the time and effort it took. Thank you for inviting us."
"Even though I'm sure Aleksei hated the idea," Viktor butted in, an amused smile toying with his lips. "Tell me, how did you cuff his balls and get him to be obedient?"
Reina swatted at his arm, causing the smile on his lips to stretch.
Speaking of Aleksei... I rounded the table, stopping behind Mikhail's chair.
"I was just shooting the shit when I said you had to make dinner as payback for ditching me, but you actually went overboard." His eyes widened comically. "This looks mouthwateringly amazing."
"What you mean to say is, 'thank you, Ari. You're the best sister-in-law in the world. Whatever would I do without you?'" I teased.
"That too," he grinned, flicking my nose with his forefinger.
"Where's Alek?"
"Oh." His smile melted into a frown. "I think he's in a bad mood currently. He's locked up in his office, and Maebeth said he just brushed her off when she called him down for dinner."
"Oh. Did something happen?" He was fine when I saw him earlier.
He shot his father a dirty look from the corner of his eyes. "He had a conversation with our father, and his mood has been shit since then. Thank fuck I didn't join them," he huffed in a lowered tone.
"I'll go check up on him."
A horrified look crossed Mikhail's face. "Don't leave me here with these people. I don't want them speaking to me if you and Alek aren't here."
