Chapter 19 Episode 19

We stare at each other. Of course, I’m the first one to blink. But I choose to blame his sinful gray eyes. You can’t look at them too long without damaging your own. “How’s the beer?” I ask, looking away. I laugh. “Don’t blame me. That was Dane’s.” Anton scowls. “How a man could have so little taste as to choose this piss and so much as to choose you is a baffling contradiction.” “I’m not totally sure,” I muse, “but I’m pretty sure that’s a compliment?” “It’s an acknowledgment that you dodged a bullet.” I snort out a laugh. “I wouldn’t say that. I ran away from Dane and right onto your boat. Feels like I dodged a bullet and waltzed into a nuke.” “Some would call that luck,” he says smugly. “That’s not the word I would use.” “Maybe you will, in the future.” “I think you’re overestimating your charm.” “Are you saying I have an ego?” he asks innocently, as though he genuinely wants to know the answer. His dark hair is curling over his forehead. My fingers itch to smooth it back in place. “Most men do,” I tell him. “Then throw in a little wealth, power, and good looks? They become virtually insufferable. You don’t strike me as the humble type.” He arches one perfect eyebrow. “And you don’t strike me as the stupid type. Yet here we are.” I take a deep breath to steel myself. Bantering with him is weirdly intoxicating. Like getting in the cage with a tiger. “Do you usually make personal calls for the sole purpose of intimidating innocent people?” “It’s the kind of work I usually delegate, to be honest,” he says. “But for you, I made an exception.” “I would have rather talked to Yulian, but I guess I’m flattered.” “Trust me,” he says, leaning in and giving me the full impact of those gray eyes, “you shouldn’t be.” A moment passes. Neither of us look away. I feel like I’m being seared and skewered and stripped open, but I fear that what will happen if I break eye contact would be so much worse. Then he blinks and the moment ends. Straightening up, he runs a hand through the mess of dark hair. “How was work today?” “Don’t gimme that shit.” I shake my head. “You don’t actually care.” “I wouldn’t ask if that was the case.” “No. You’re asking because—C’mon, that’s not why you’re here.” He smiles. “Then why am I here, Jessa?” “You want to make sure I’ve kept my mouth shut. Which I have,” I say softly. We stare each other down, and I’m starting to realize that simply denying that I took his phone is not a long-term strategy. He gets up suddenly, making me jerk back with alarm. He walks around the counter until he’s standing right in front of me. He really is incredibly tall. “What are you doing?” I ask, distracted by the way his gray eyes turn a chalky blue under the kitchen lights. “Trying to determine how long you’re going to keep this up.” “As long as I need to.” He smiles. “Where have you hidden it?” I bite my lip. “I’m not telling.” “I have no reason to believe you won’t hurt me,” I blurt out. “I needed… insurance.” Jesus. How did he manage to do that? One second, I was absolutely determined to remain steadfast. The next second, I’m singing like a bird. “Kotyonok, there’s no amount of insurance in the whole f*****g world that can keep me at bay.” He’s managed to get even closer to me. He’s so broad that he wipes out everything else. I could be anywhere in the universe and it wouldn’t matter, because all I can see and smell and feel is him. “I’m not scared of you,” I whisper. “But you’re scared of something. What is it, Jessa?” He inches closer. “Scared you’ll make the same mistake twice?” I thrust my chin up towards him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “You want me to tell you?” he asks with raised eyebrows. Then he shakes his head. “No, no. I don’t want to make this too easy. The best games make you work for it.” He traps me between his arms and the kitchen counter. His scent is so strong, a cologne I’ve never smelled before, uniquely him and uniquely dark and uniquely powerful. “Just so you know, if anything happens to me, you’ll never find your phone,” I tell him. “And… and the cops will know who to come after.” “Sounds to me like you’re lying, Jessa. I bet you think you’re being brave. Like you need to protect whichever unlucky soul you decided to involve in this.” “You don’t know what I’m capable of,” I say—which, even as it crosses my lips, feels like the biggest, dumbest lie in the history of fibbing. “Then that makes us even.” His eyes lower to my chest, but his gaze doesn’t linger there. “Tell me where you’ve hidden it and this whole messy business comes to a close.” “You really expect me to believe that?” “I think it’s in your best interests to believe whatever I tell you.” “Yeah, I did that once,” I remind him. “With a man I promised to marry. Fool me once, shame on you, et cetera.” “I’m a different sort of man, Jessa. You don’t want to stand in my way.” “Why?” I demand. “Because you’ll kill me if I do?” He doesn’t exactly jump to refute that point. Instead, he leans in a little. His hands grip my hips. Leaning forward, he brushes his lips against my ear and whispers, “Worse. I’ll keep coming back.” I frown, but when his hands snake downwards, following the curve of my legs, I can’t stop a little gasp from escaping my lips. “I’m starting to wonder if this is the very reason you took my phone in the first place,” he observes. “Because you wanted to make sure I would come searching for you.” “Who’s to say it’s not the other way around?” He looks amused with my theory. “Kotyonok, do you think I need an excuse to do anything? When I see something I want, I reach out and take it.” I put my hands on his chest and try to push him away. It’s about as effective as doing the same thing to a mountain. “You’re not taking me.” “I think you’re forgetting,” he murmurs, his hand sliding up between my breasts. “I already did.” I bite my lip as a heated blush steals over my cheeks. “You think because we had s*x, that means somehow you own me? It doesn’t. Not even a little bit. Did I want you in that moment? Yeah, sure. But that doesn’t mean I want you forever. No matter how strong or powerful or handsome you think you are.” I’m all fire and brimstone—at least, it feels that way—but Anton just smirks and chuckles. “If that’s how you insult me, you should do it more often.” I try to push him away again. Somehow, it’s even less effective than the first attempt. “You know why you took my phone, Jessa?” he asks. “Because deep down, you like the excitement of it. You crave danger. You knew what you were doing when you took it. You knew what you were inviting in. And you did it anyway.” “I wanted to be smart.” “No,” he says, cutting me off. “You wanted to make an impression.” I find myself staring at him. It’s dumb—I’m the one in my head, not him. He can’t hear my thoughts. He can’t see what’s going on inside me. So why does it feel like he can? How come, when Anton Stepanov gazes down at me, it’s like every dirty little secret I’ve ever had is written across my forehead for him to read? How does he know things about me that even I don’t know? “You agreed to marry a man who was cheating on you with your best friend. She was lying to you. He was lying to you. And you didn’t see it. You never suspected a thing the entire time they were f*****g each other and laughing at you behind your back.” His words are harsh, but in the weirdest way, they’re not cruel. It’s more like he’s trying to help me come to a realization I’ve been avoiding this whole time. “I… I trusted them,” I whisper, making the mistake of meeting his eyes. “Did you really? Or were you just chasing the drama?” My eyes go wide. “That’s a horrible thing to say.” I shake my head and try to get out from between his arms. Again, he blocks me. “Not so fast, little one.” “Whatever you’re going to do to me,” I growl, pushing my face up towards his, “just f*****g do it.” His eyes are gray steel, glowing with promises that can morph into threats at the snap of his fingers. And I’ve just set fire to his worst intentions. His arm twists around my waist. Before I can catch up with the action, his lips slam down against mine. The breath rushes right out of me. And before I think straight, I can feel my body responding. No! I scream at myself. Don’t fall for this. Don’t let him pull you in. You don’t have an excuse anymore. You know who he is. But it’s useless. My tongue is entwined in his and there’s no argument in the world that could make me pull away.