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Jess cried, “Sí, sí, señorita.”
Natalie added, “It’s futile to resist her. Trust me.”
Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.
Another round.
As the third round arrived, Máxim and his brother came over. Aleks wrapped his arms around Natalie, as if he’d missed her. She melted against him.
Máxim told me, “I’m going with my brother to smoke cigars. I’m supposed to separate him from the bride, right?”
“You are.”
“Tequila? Should I be worried?”
Under my breath, I said, “You left me to the wolves. Now I’m trapped in their den.”
“Take this.” He slipped bills into my clutch, what had to be a thousand dollars.
“Aww. Did you give me pin money?” I probably should’ve brought my own, but I hadn’t even thought about my purse in the guest bedroom closet—the one filled with ten grand.
“In case you leave the lodge and go into town. Call me if you need more, moyo solnyshko. Or anything at all.” He seemed as reluctant to part as Aleks obviously was. “And if you see those farmers, you text me immediately.”
I saluted him.
Jess told Máxim, “I’ll take real good care of our hot little mamí.” She raised two fingers in a V and wiggled her tongue between them.
He cast me a look: I can’t even with this one. He tugged me off the bar stool to pull me aside. “Is she hitting on you?”
“She’s just having fun with me. I think she’s got eyes for either the buxom barmaid or the burly bar-back, probably both. In any case, I would think a hobbyist like yourself would love to imagine me and—”
“Nyet. I—don’t—share.”
“Easy, Trigger. I wasn’t planning on it.”
Satisfied nod. “And I’m a former hobbyist.”
I wished it were that easy for an escort to say grandly, “I’m a former paid sex worker.” Life was so not fair. I canted my head at him and said, “You’re done with that, are you?” He’d racked up enough hours with escorts to earn a dozen college degrees. Could a PhD of hobbyism quit cold turkey?
“That’s in my past.” He brushed his knuckles over my jawline. “It’s my understanding that better things await me in the future.”
I needed to fan myself. All day he’d hinted at a relationship with me. Just when I decided I wasn’t imagining this, a stray thought arose: What if he’s only amusing himself—with me? Has he been broken of his scheming ways? My withered trust wanted to know. “Your brother looked astonished by your speech. He must be relieved that you’ve changed so much toward him.” Have you changed toward everyone?
Máxim nodded. “He feared I would go the route of Jessica, only not as well-meaning. Did you notice his apprehension growing? He suspected I was setting the room up, readying to deliver a blow.”
“But you’re not like that anymore?” As brilliant as Máxim was, I could see him getting bored without something to occupy his mind.
Another brush of his fingers. “I have other things to focus on now. Such as my vigorous plans for you later.”
My breath hitched.
He brought me back over to the bar, assisting me into my seat. “Until later.” He brushed my hair over to one side, then pressed a kiss between my shoulder blades.
I was trembling when Máxim strode off with his brother, my mind whirring. A relationship with a man like that? I’d always hoped my luck would turn around, but this was ridiculous.
Natalie said, “So, you and Maksim are clearly serious. How long have you been seeing each other?”
“I met him almost two weeks ago.”
Jess’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit! It’s your two-week anniversary. We should drink.”
Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.
Natalie pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, then asked me, “How did Maksim know all those things he said in the speech?”
He’s in the business of information, I thought. But I just shrugged. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
“Not at all. I’m ready for it to happen. Aleks is nervous though. He thinks something will stop the wedding or take me away from him.”
Jess added, “She won’t tell me all the details, but he, Maksim, and the other brother had a fucked-up childhood in Siberia.” Did they know about the scars on Máxim’s back? “So Natalie is pretty much air for Aleks.” She acted like she was suffocating. “Must . . . have . . . air.”
Natalie told me, “He’s been uneasy about you, because he wouldn’t put it past his brother to kidnap you permanently. And Maksim watched you like a hawk throughout dinner. I was surprised he left you.”
He probably had one of his security detail spying on me.
Jess said, “You’re about to bolt, aren’t you? We’ll totally help you! We can go to my parents’ lake house.”
“Are we scheduling a mafiya carefrontation?” Natalie asked. Then she tapped her chin. “I should warn you: I ran from Aleks twice. It ended in marriage.”
“Why would you run?”
“The first time? Because he broke into my house, intending to abduct me back to Russia. The second time? Because he wouldn’t talk to me about his past.”
Máxim had shied away on the plane, but I knew I could get him to open up. If I did.