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“Gwen, I swear to God-”
“Threaten her, and I will take your tongue as a souvenir,” Nikolai growls, and heat rushes straight to my core. “Continue, love.”
“Thank you.” I beam. “I vote for a pinky finger, not too significant, but he’ll miss it.”
“I like the way you think, Kotik.” Nikolai pulls a knife out of his back pocket, flipping it open. He looks at the hand he is currently twisting away from Venom’s body, pressing the knife to the base of his pinky. He looks down at Venom with a nasty grin. “This may hurt a tad bit, mate.”
The alleyway fills with the screams of Venom, and I think I am in love with a psycho.
Venom shakes in the fetal position, vibrating from the pain as he holds his bleeding hand. Nikolai looks at me with a mischievous smile, with the pinky in his hand. “For you, Kotik.”
“How romantic,” I deadpan. “Normally, men get me diamonds and dinner first.”
Nikolai throws the pinky away as far from Venom as possible. “Those men are carbon copies of each other. At least you will remember my name,” he teases.
A smirk dances on my face. I cross my right arm under my chest and placing an inquisitive finger on my chin. “I’m sorry, what’s your name again?”
He laughs in his low voice as he grabs my hand, kisses it, and whispers, “My name is yours if you want it to be.”
My cheeks heat up, and electricity sparks where his lips connect with my skin. There is no reason for one man to be so sexy and smooth with eyes that make me so weak in the knees.The smirk he gives me while he looks at me through his eyelashes will end me.
“Jeez, you’re too much of a charmer for your own good.”
The laughter that rumbles through his chest causes me to catch my breath, wishing to hear the sound again and again. “And you are too beautiful for your own good. A girl like you should be throwing the tips, not dancing for them.”
I pop my hip to the right, my nails wrapping around my hip. “What? You didn’t like my dancing?”
Nikolai’s eyes heat, his tongue poking out to brush over his lower lip before poking his inner left cheek and looking away.
“Oh my God, do you think I am a bad dancer?”
Nikolai’s hand loops around my waist, his hand spreading over my lower back, pulling me into his chest. The motion startles me and I drop the beer bottle. The scent of leather and fresh rain invades my senses. His eyes flutter to my lips, the boyish smirk spreading across his lips before he makes eye contact with my breathless body. “No, my love, I love your dancing.” His voice lowers. “I just would rather you do it in private for me.”
I can’t breathe. I can’t think, not with Nikolai this close, and for the first time since the fourth grade, I fucking stutter. “W-well, i-if you wanted a d-dance. All you had to do was ask.”Jesus. Fuck. Get it together, Gwendolyn.
His nose grazes mine. “Dance for me.”
“When?” He slides his phone into my hand.
“Tomorrow. Let me take you out and show you the lifestyle you’re supposed to be living.” My mouth parts mindlessly, andI gather all the shallow breaths I possibly can as I type my number into his phone.
“Pick me up at 8,” I say. Nikolai lets me go, and I immediately feel the chill of the night consume me.
He winks at me, not even checking if I gave him my real number, the cocky bastard.