Page 47 of Mile High Ruin

“I know.”

“I actually need it, Vadim. I can’t afford to blur everything until I don’t even know whether I’m working or whether I’m just waiting for you to corner me somewhere.”

I take a step back.

Not because I want distance, but because I suddenly need her to see that she has it.

“I won’t touch you again unless you ask me to.”

Her eyes lift. Something in them changes, but not enough. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then tell me what you meant.”

She stares at me for a long moment, and when she speaks again her voice is quieter, but the accusation in it is much worse.

“You think I’m so easy you can have me anywhere?”

9

SLOANE

“You think I’m so easy you can have me anywhere?”

I know I’ve hurt him the moment the words leave my mouth.

Not because Vadim flinches. Men like him probably train themselves out of visible reactions before they’re old enough to shave, and his face remains composed enough that I could almost convince myself he doesn’t care.

His hand drops completely away from me. For the first time since he followed me into the galley, there’s a deliberate amount of space between us.

He looks at me for several seconds before answering.

“No.”

The simplicity of it somehow makes me angrier. I fold my arms around myself and look away because if I keep staring at him, I’m either going to cry or do something equally humiliating, like apologize when I’m still not entirely sure which part of this I’m sorry for.

Vadim doesn’t move closer. “I don’t think you are easy.”

“Good.”

“I think you wanted me.”

I turn back immediately. “That is exactly the kind of thing a man says when he wants to make himself feel better.”

His expression changes slightly. “I’m not trying to make myself feel better.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Sloane.”

“No, really, this is convenient for you. You follow me back here, I let you touch me, and now we can both pretend that because I wanted it, none of the rest matters.”

“What rest?”

I laugh once under my breath. “The fact that you are the client. The fact that I’m working. The fact that I need these assignments and you probably have enough influence to make sure I never get another one if I make this uncomfortable.”

His brows draw together. “I would never do that.”

“You say that now.”