Page 5 of Ruthless Rustanovs

Several long seconds passed as they stared at one another.

Eva took in every detail of the man standing before her.

She could tell he’d been keeping up with his workout regimen because he was still massive with no indication there was anything but muscles and skin under his tux.

Alexei’s dark brown wavy hair was much shorter than it had been when she knew him and his beard was gone.

But his jaw was just as square, and his distinctive green eyes were as flinty as she recalled.

That paired with the semi-permanent scowl he always wore on his face told her exactly who she was face-to-face with for the first time in eight years.

Back when she’d first spotted Alexei bent over a textbook at the security desk in the School of Social Work’s lobby, Eva found his scowl endearing.

It was as if she’d been put on this earth to wipe it off and make him smile.

But now in the Sinclair Mansion hallway, his scowl felt dangerous as if she were a small rabbit trapped in the angry gaze of a very large predator.

A single word formed in her head, distinctive and clear: Run!

Schooling her face into the best look of nonchalance she could muster, Eva cut left and tried to oh-so-casually saunter away like she did not recognize him at all. Like she had no idea who this man staring her down in the hallway was.

She reasoned he’d probably let her go. After all, he was a bajillionaire now and she was just some social worker from Drummond, Texas.

He was probably embarrassed they’d ever dated.

Considering how far he’d gone in his career, she bet he thanked his stars every night that he had dodged that Eva-shaped bullet—

But Eva didn’t make it three steps before Alexei was on her.

He grabbed her arm—hard—and in two swift moves he had her pressed against the wall, her arms pinned above her head.

She could feel his erection against her stomach even as his eyes scanned her face with a furious efficiency, as if he were trying to update the old Eva in his head with the new version.

At first Eva kept her eyes averted and to the side. Some primal instinct told her this was the best way to avoid riling Alexei further, like playing dead with a bear. But she could feel his hot breath on her face. He was so close…

In the end, she couldn’t resist taking just one little peek. But almost as soon as her eyes met his, she was locked in. She couldn’t look away, even when he crashed his mouth down onto hers, enveloping her in a storm cloud of lust and anger.