Page 47 of The Stalking King

Maksim: And you’re so sarcastic, Lia.

Lia: Would you have me any other way?

I smiled.

Maksim: I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Maksim: I’ll be at your place in roughly an hour.

Lia: Where are we going? It’s not TOO fancy, is it? Also, have you talked to your brother?

Maksim: We’re going to the kind of place you deserve. A place where you can be treated like the princess you are. And what do you mean, have I talked to Nikolai?

Lia: He swung by yesterday. I think he wanted to make sure my intentions with you were noble.

Maksim: Oh, that. Yeah, he told me. And I told him he ought to keep his nose out of my business. Why, was he rude?

I grit my teeth together, wondering if it’s possible for Nikolai to be cruel to someone I clearly care about.

Lia: No, it was fine. I was just curious.

I wonder if she’s being completely honest with me. But after everything I did, hell, do I have any right to interrogate her? I’m struck again by how different she makes me. In days gone past, I wouldn’t hesitate to demand the truth, even if I was withholding a lot on my side.

Lia looks around the restaurant, the light from the chandelier reflecting in her eyes. People turn their heads as we walk by. I keep my hand on her side, steadying her. She’s cute when she’s nervous, shooting me a look as though wondering if she belongs here. Before pulling out her chair, I whisper in her ear. “You’re the most beautiful woman in this place.”

She looks up at me, eyes wide and disbelieving. “Maksim…”

“I mean it,” I tell her fiercely.

We order from the lavish menu, and then we talk about… everything, but none of it is serious. It’s the easy banter we both slip into, as if we can pretend this whole bizarre situation isn’t happening. She asks what sitcoms I watch at night. When I tell her Friends, she doesn’t judge me. We just start talking about the show. Almost an hour passes like this.

“I love Ross and Rachel,” she says as we’re eating dessert. “Will they? Won’t they?”

“I know that feeling,” I say, reaching across the table and taking her hand.

She holds my hand tightly, looking down at our joined hands. Then her gaze moves to her dessert plate. “Did we seriously just spend an hour talking about… nothing?”

“If we laughed together, Lia, is it really nothing?”

Her cheeks flush red. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She’s drop-dead gorgeous in her silky dress, her makeup subtle, bringing out all the best parts of her.

When we leave the restaurant and I walk her past the valet, she looks up at me in confusion. “I didn’t know if we were going to drink this evening,” I say. “So I arranged a ride home.”

She gasps in surprise when she sees the limo. It’s so sweet to see her relaxed, smiling, carefree. So sweet to know she doesn’t have to run herself ragged all the time.

As I open the limo door for her, I automatically look up and down the street. I can’t see any of Vale’s men. But that doesn’t mean they’re not there. Let them come. Let them try.

I’ll turn this city into a Bratva bloodbath if they dare to even try to touch her.

I climb into the limo, wrapping my arm around her. She makes a breathy moan that goes right through me. Changes me. I feel my dick twitch, my thoughts swirling with savage, hungry thoughts.

She wriggles next to me. I stare ahead, trying to even my breathing, trying to focus on not pulling her into my lap and going feral right here in the limo. All night, through the easy chat, we’ve been making eyes at each other. She does this cute thing where we’ll stare intensely, then she’ll roll her eyes, as if playing it off. It’s hot in a way I can’t explain.

My phone goes off.

“Aren’t you going to check that?” she asks.

I shake my head. “Business can wait.”