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“What are you playing?” Kaz saunters in shoving his arm into a suit jacket.

His hair is brushed back and he’s cleanly shaved. The spicy scent of his aftershave wafts over to the table as he gets closer.

I wait for the butterflies to start dancing like theydid the first time I laid eyes on him two years ago. A reckless night at the club that left an embarrassing moment etched into my brain forever. But there’s nothing. Not a flicker of a wing.

Kaz catches me looking at him and grins. “Mira. How’d you get Rurik to let you out?”

He doesn’t remember me from two years ago. Only as Rurik’s captive.

A rush of relief flows through me. I figured he wouldn’t, it’s been two years after all. But still, a girl hopes she’s left some sort of impression…though admittedly the impression I left wasn’t one you’d want remembered for long.

“Megan was able to help her escape, so she came along, too.” Elana points at me to play a card.

“Oh, you’re playing Preferans?” Kaz laughs. “Careful, Elana cheats.”

“I do not.” Elana’s brows pull together, and she shoots him a hard glare.

“No?” He reaches beneath the table, slides his hand under her leg, and pulls out two cards.

An ace of diamonds and a ten of hearts—the trump suit.

Elana puts on a sweet smile when Megan and I look to her for an explanation.

“You forget who taught you.” Kaz grabs a potato chip from the bowl in the middle of the table and grins while crunching on it.

I can see why I fell so hard for him; he’s gorgeous, but I can’t get anything other than appreciation for his beauty to come to the surface.

Rurik has broken me.

“You taught her to cheat?” Megan’s tone is accusatory.

He lifts a shoulder, grabbing another chip. “Ivan kills at this game; she was always losing, so I helped.”

Elana lifts up her other leg and brings out another card, dropping it into the pile and pushing them all together.

“Sorry, girls. Old habits die hard?” She laughs.

“We barely know what we’re doing, anyway.” Megan drops her cards.

“At least you weren’t playing for cash. She usually cleans up.”

“Kaz. Don’t you have a meeting or something?” Elana shoves him.

“I do, actually. Just came to tell you I won’t be home tonight. The house is yours.” He winks.

“Ew. I don’t need to know about your conquests. It’s as gross as when I see Alexander skipping down the stairs in the morning.”

“He skips?” Megan deadpans. “I can’t picture him skipping.”

“He doesn’t skip.” Kaz frowns down at his sister. “If you go telling people that he does things like that you’ll ruin his reputation for being the cold-hearted bastard he actually is.”

Elana rolls her eyes. “Whatever.”

Kaz pulls out his phone and his brows raise as he reads whatever has popped up on the screen.

“Does Rurik know you’re here?” He lifts his gaze to me.

“Not really, why?”