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“I don’t think so.”
My gaze snaps to his, and Arsen’s green eyes are black. Predatory. He’s breathing heavily.
“You want me to stay…?” I whisper in half-hopeful, half-terrified confusion.
I hate that some part of me wants him to tell me how special this was for him. Not business, but something more.
ThatI’msomething more.
Arsen doesn’t do any of that. He just grabs his keys from the drawer of his desk and gestures for me to follow him. “I’m not done with you yet,roza.”
7
ARSEN
“Where are we going?” Laila has kept herself chained to one corner of the car, as far from me as she can possibly get. She won’t meet my eyes, instead focusing on the city rolling past the window of my Mercedes.
You’d think the sex would have broken the ice a bit, but you’d be wrong. She’s just as nervous as when she first walked in my office.
Before I can answer her question, Dominik pulls along the curb. “Here we are, Mr. Adamov. Welcome home.”
Laila leaps from the car like it’s on fire and stares up at the luxury apartment building. “This is where you live?”
I reach over and touch her chin, ignoring the way she flinches, and tilt her eyes to the topmost floor. “Thatis where I live.”
She’s still blinking up at the penthouse when I hear the window roll down. Dom tips his head towards Laila. “She’s pretty.”
“It’s not what it looks like,” I mutter.
Dominik just arches his brow at me.
I lean through the window and snarl, “I am this close to punching you in the face, my friend.”
He couldn’t be less concerned. “You’ve never brought a woman here before,” he remarks, as if I wasn’t painfully aware of that. Then he starts singing in a terribly off-pitch tenor. “‘Times, they are a-changin’…’”
He doesn’t even know about what we just did in my office. Though Laila’s lack of bra and tousled hair might be a bit of a giveaway.
My scowl is deep and violent. “The scouts said that the Calcagnos will be at Midnight Divas tonight. I’m not sure Alessandro will show up, but Enzo most definitely will. I want eyes on him.”
He snaps to attention, suddenly all business. “I’m on it.” Then his eyes flick towards Laila. “Though I take it I’ll be going alone, since you’ll be… otherwise engaged this fine evening.”
“Take the car back to the house and be back here tomorrow morning at eight,” I order, indirectly answering his question. “Preferably without that smug look on your face.”
“This?” He points to his grin. “This is just me, enjoying my role as second to apakhanwho—oh, how to phrase it?—is so quick totake matters into his own hands.”
I dismiss him with an irritated, one-fingered wave. Dominik cruises away, still grinning.
Laila is now staring at the doorman where he’s stationed by the entrance. “You’re gonna think this is pathetic, but I’ve never been in a building with a doorman before.”
“It’s been a day of firsts,” I drawl under my breath. “Add that to the list.”
She stiffens when my hand finds the small of her back, but she doesn’t pull away as I lead her inside.
Laila gapes and gasps at the meaningless frill that has become the background to my life—the fresh flowers filling every vase, the private elevator gleaming in polished brass, the thick Persian rug in the foyer.
Once the elevator deposits us upstairs, she tiptoes across the blood red carpet of my entryway. “Should I take off my shoes first? This looks nice.”
“It is nice.” I nudge her deeper into the house. “But you might as well take off your shoes in the bedroom.”
