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“I’m only concerned,pchelka.” The endearment, spoken in a low, caressing tone, caught me off guard. Maybe it was because I struck most people as either aloof or sharp-tongued, but no man had ever called me by any kind of pet name before.
Until Sergei Grachyov.
My pulse leapt as our gazes met and as blood rushed swiftly to my head, my hands clenched under the table in an instinctive attempt to control my body’s reaction.Overkill,I thought in mortification. It was totally overkill, the way I could be so easily affected with whatever this man said...but it was what it was.
When I stole a look at Sergei, he was gazing at me speculatively, almost calculatingly, and my unease grew.
“Are you this way with all men,” he murmured suddenly, “or is it just me?”
I only stared at him. Ha! Like I’d ever give him the answer he wanted to hear, even if he had probably guessed the truth.
The billionaire leaned back against his seat, his lips curving, and I had a bad feeling he was laughing at me again, like he already knew the answer to his question and he thought it funny that I believed I could keep such a thing from him.
“Did you come to know Julian Alexeyev through Tropinka?”
The question caught me by surprise, and I said guardedly, “I did.”
His gaze narrowed. “And how long have you known him?”
“About a year?” I didn’t see any harm in answering him honestly, but I also couldn’t help wondering why he was so interested. Maybe he thought I was one of those women who only wanted the professor because of his fortune? Julian had spoken of such women dismissively, the one time I had found the guts to steer the conversation to his romantic entanglements.
“I see.” A pause, then the billionaire asked abruptly, “Do you like him?”
My mouth opened and closed as I sensed the air around us suddenly changing.
“Do you?” His tone had become harder, but it was the look in his eyes that made me swallow hard.
I want to fuck you.
His dark gaze still said that, but this time it also came with a possessive warning.
I want to fuck you...and I’m the only man you’ll fuck.
“Answer the question,” he commanded.
I stammered helplessly, “W-why do you care?” When I saw the billionaire’s lip curl, I winced and prepared myself, thinking I was in for a scathing retort.
But I was wrong.
“Because I want you for myself.”
My eyes widened.
“I want to fuck you, and no matter how innocent or inexperienced you are—-” His voice turned into a rough, accented growl. “You knew that from the start.”
Oh!
He wanted to fuck me.
He had actually said the words out loud.
And now he was saying that I knew it from the start.
Did I?
Yes. No.I just didn’t know what to think anymore, and the way he was staring at me with such hunger wasn’t helping. I knew I should look away, knew I should tell him this conversation was over and that he had to leavenow.
But I couldn’t.