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And I was impressed that he knew the names of the dishes, but I said airily, “I was bored.”
His firm mouth lifted at the corners. “If you keep cooking like this, I might rethink giving you back.”
After loading his plate and uncorking another bottle of wine, he took his seat across from me and groaned with his first forkful.
Well, that backfired. Now that he’d discovered I knew my way around a kitchen, he’d most likely chain me to his very expensive Viking gas range until he decided to sell me back to Father.
Jackass.
Yet, as the meal continued, I softened a little. I’d never cooked for a man before, not like this, and I wouldn’t admit to it now but I was secretly pleased as he ate seconds and thirds, continuously complimenting me with true appreciation.
Then he had to spoil it all by saying, “I had wondered how your ass got so big.”
“You have absolutely no manners whatsoever!” I shrieked then screeched my chair back.
Balling my napkin, I flung it into his handsome face but that did nothing to diminish his chuckles at my expense.
“But I like your big ass.” He grinned, setting the napkin on the table as I stormed away. “In fact, I was planning on showing it off at The Lykos tonight, so why don’t you go change into whatever you want?”
I’d prefer to gut him with a knife shoved into his finely honed stomach, but the prospect of getting out of this damned apartment for a few hours was simply too tempting.
I stopped my retreat just long enough to glance back to make sure he was being serious about taking me to the club. His gaze rose from admiring my backside, and he winked. His wolfish expression made heat suffuse my skin.
God, he really was insufferable.
Wear whatever I want.Well . . .
He kept getting under my skin with just a word or a look or a touch.
I wanted to corrupt his calm just as much. I’d start my offensive with a dress, one I hadn’t dared to wear before. While I changed in the bathroom, I heard him moving around in the bedroom, probably switching suits, gathering weapons . . . reinforcing the damn handcuffs on the bed.
He’d said he wasn’t done with me yet, and why did that make my inner thighs quiver, my tummy flutter? Maybe he was feeling something for me, and I wasn’t alone in this strange, most unlikely attraction.
He rapped lightly on the door as I finished piling my hair high on my head. “Roya, we need to go soon.”
One more spritz of perfume, and I was done.
I breathed in a shaky breath, feeling like I might be exposing myself far too much then I sauntered into the bedroom as steadily as I could.
He didn’t turn from fixing his cufflinks at first, and I almost raced back into the bathroom.
But then Aris spun, and his eyes immediately blazed, one hand clenching and his lips parting slightly.
And that was when I pivoted around, pretending to adjust a wayward strand of hair in the mirror on the wall.
An explosive curse burst from him and, in the mirror’s reflection, I saw the fire in his irises as his gaze poured over me.
His unbridled reaction to my appearance made my every feminine effort worthwhile.
From the front, the dress could only be called classy although the red confection hugged each of my curves. Yet, because of the dress’s construction, wearing a bra was out of the question so the proud jut of my nipples was evident, and the high slit showed a lot of thigh when I moved.
It was the rear of the dress that had made me nervous. It barely clung to my shoulder blades then opened all the way down my back to the very top of my buttocks. The dress exposed the fine, glittering gold waist chain I’d put on, which looped to my front beneath the fabric.
I slowly turned, and Aris’s smoldering gaze consumed me all over again.
I was just as taken with his appearance, from the black bespoke suit to the blue of his shirt that highlighted the depths of his eyes to the dark gold stubble on his angular jawline.
“You’ve blown me away.” His voice rumbled out, thick and lusty.
“Anything to say about my ass now?”
An unrestrained grin made his teeth flash. “Da. It’s fucking perfect.”
That was better, but I was still furious that I represented nothing but a bargaining chip to the arrogantly gloating man. And I intended to weaponize my body tonight.
In the elevator, we took the reverse journey from the night before, landing at the top level of The Lykos. As Aris escorted me back to that large area with the viewing window, I saw Yasmin and stiffened.
Another man stood there too, straightening from an inspection of the security monitors.
My eyes narrowed at Yasmin, and she returned the hostile look. Unfortunately, she was gorgeous. Much taller than me and very slim, and tonight she dressed in the tightest leather pants I’d ever seen so that her legs looked a million miles long.
“Konsantin. Yas.” Aris nodded at the pair.
I hadn’t met Konstantin before. His stature physically similar to Aris’s, he was dark of hair instead. And when he saw the back of my dress, he gave a low whistle.
“Enough of that,” Aris said brusquely.
He sounded . . . perturbed, and I delighted in it.
“I had food brought up.” Yas slinked over to Aris, acting a little too familiar for my liking.
Aris’s teeth flashed behind a grin. “Actually, Roya cooked for me.”
What a smug piece of work.
I turned a glare on him, my lips parting for a retort, but Yasmin beat me to it.
“Aww, a domesticated little homemaker,” she baited me. “Just what you’ve always wanted.”
“One who lets you shackle her to your bed,” Konstantin added.
“You told them?” I sputtered incredulously.
The man had absolutely no shame, and I burned with humiliation. I burned with something more as Yasmin trailed her fingers across the back of Aris’s neck. I wanted to chew her damn hand off.
“Tell me, did he do that thing he does with his tongue to you?” she asked with a purr to her voice.
An irrational jag of jealousy pierced me at the idea of Aris with his mouth on her. I hardly managed to muffle the ugly insecurity.
“Apparently I have higher standards than you, Yasmin.” I cast a disparaging glance at her and then Aris. “You’re welcome to him. I find Russian thug to be beneath me.”
Yasmin crowed with unlikely laughter.
Konstantin guffawed.
