Page 49 of Savage Little Lies

I blink up at him in shock, not expecting that particular approach from him. “What?”

“What will it cost for me to finally have you?” he asks, his deep blue eyes dipping from my breasts to my toes twice before meeting my eyes again. “I’ll pay whatever you ask. You deserve every dollar for all the hard work you’ve already done for me.”

My jaw nearly drops. He’s treating intimacy like some sort of a business arrangement? Like this is just an extra duty that he can tack on to everything that I already do for him as his assistant?

“You want to pay me for sex?” I question him, making sure that I’m hearing this right because this is one of the most insane things that has ever come out of his mouth. I thought I was prepared for everything when it came to the Russian mobster, but I was wrong.

Dmitri nods. “This way seems…simpler.”

He means safer. If he can make our night of passion a scheduled, paid-for session rather than a moment of wild desire, probably one with an NDA, that allows him to get away with sleeping with me with less of a chance of getting caught.

That’s not going to work. He needs to put aside everything for me.

I gently place my palms on his chest. My breath hitches when his large hands grip both of my hips possessively. “As tempting as that is…I can’t.”

Dmitri frowns down at me. “Why not? I know you want me too.”

My cheeks burn as he pulls me closer to his body, my sense of control threatening to snap. He feels so hard, so strong and powerful. One night with him would be priceless.

But the plan has to come first.

“I’m sorry. I can’t…I won’t be the other woman,” I tell him as I gaze up at him, seeing the disappointment written all over his face.

Dmitri eventually drops his hands, releasing me from his strong hold. “I see.”

I force a deep breath into my lungs, strengthening my resolve.

“I appreciate the offer, though,” I say, not wanting him to think that I’m not interested. Sending Annika proof of a one-night stand with Dmitri before they’re official may not be enough to end the alliance. Besides, he would immediately know it was me who tipped them off if I went that route.

Dmitri nods and moves back to his chair, seeming to be stuck in his own head. Hopefully, I’ve given him something to think about and reconsider. He’s not the type of man used to rejection. I’m sure he’s used to getting everything he wants, when he wants it.

With a small smile on my face, I sit down in my own seat and turn on my laptop, but my mind is so far away from work right now. All I can think about is how close I am to unraveling his marriage and ruining his relationship with the Suyunovs.

Dmitri loves a challenge.

It won’t be long now before he chooses me.

19

Dmitri

I stand outside the restaurant with a small army of guards, staring at the entrance like it might swallow me whole.

I’m supposed to be meeting Annika and Artur, enduring dinner with them.

I don’t want to walk in there. Not yet.

When I first started talking to the vor v zakone and Artur about striking up a deal, there wasn’t a lot of emphasis put on what the marriage would look like between me and the mobster’s daughter. The marriage was supposed to be a formality. A signature. A photo op. Nothing more.

I didn’t expect Annika to be so eager about being my wife, and I certainly didn’t expect her to pitch a fit about so many damn things. We haven’t even gotten to the wedding yet, and we’re already arguing constantly.

We haven’t even set a date, and I already dread the wedding.

I don’t know what to do. My men want this alliance with the Suyunovs. Our expansion depends on it. This is what Mikhail came to Vegas for over a year ago, and now it’s up to me to make it happen.

“Fuck.” I sigh before forcing myself to walk into the expensive steakhouse.

The hostess points me in the right direction, and I find Annika and her father seated at a round table toward the back of the restaurant under the golden glow of a chandelier in the center of the room.