Page 8 of Toxic Temptation (Krayev Bratva #1)
“Please. You don’t become…” I gesture vaguely at him. “… whatever you are… without some serious trauma in your past.”
“What exactly do you think I am, Vesper?”
I wave off the idea. “I’m not gonna embarrass myself by making guesses as to your official job title. But I think it’s safe to assume you don’t get a W2.”
Kovan laughs again. As he does, I feel a bright rush of pride. I made him do that. I made his gargoyle face split and show a little bit of the human beneath.
It feels good to do.
I kill that feeling before it gets out of hand.
He leans his head to the side to look at me from a new angle. “Yes, that is a safe assumption. And you’re right. The road here was… less than smooth.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“So what happened to you?”
He chews slowly, considering. “My father built an empire on fear and violence. My brother inherited it and tried to run it on love and honor. Guess which one of them is still alive?”
It’s my turn to stop for a second with my food-laden fork hovering in mid-air. “Your brother…”
“—was an idealist. He thought he could change things from the inside, make the family business more… civilized.” His laugh is bitter. “Love made him soft. Soft got him killed.”
“So you decided to be hard instead.”
“I decided to survive,” he corrects.
“What about Luka? What happens to him in your world of survival?”
The iciness reclaims his face, and any trace of the laughing or smiling vanishes like it was never even there. “Luka is why I survive. Everything I do, every choice I make, it’s for him.”
“Even kidnapping random doctors?”
“Especially that.”
“You’re insane,” I tell him flatly, even though part of me almost wants to laugh.
“Probably.”
“Definitely.”
“And yet you’re still here.”
“Because you threatened me.”
“As I already told you once, I’m not threatening you anymore.”
He’s right. The gun has remained out of sight since we left the hospital. His posture is relaxed, his voice gentle. If I didn’t know better, I’d think this was actually a date.
And why not? Why couldn’t it be?
“Why did you really bring me here?” I ask.
“As I also already told you once, I needed to figure out if you were a threat.”
“And…? Am I?”
His eyes drop to my mouth, then back up. “Oh, you’re definitely a threat. Just not the kind I was worried about.”
My pulse trips over itself. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I should have killed you three hours ago, and instead, I’m sitting here wondering what you taste like.”
Heat floods my body, gathering low in my belly. I’ve never had a man look at me the way Kovan is looking at me right now.
“That’s…” I clear my throat. “That’s inappropriate.” I pick up my wine with shaking hands and drain the glass. The alcohol burns, but not as much as the way he’s watching me, waiting to see what I’ll do next. “I should go. Yeah. I should… I should leave. This is… Whatever this is, it’s not smart.”
He nods regretfully. “Almost certainly not.”
“You’re a criminal.”
“Yes.”
“I’m a doctor.”
“I noticed.”
“We live in completely different worlds.”
“We do.”
“So this can’t happen.”
“What can’t happen?”
I gesture helplessly between us. “This. Whatever this is.”
He leans forward, close enough that I can smell his cologne—something dark and alluring that makes me want to bury my face in his neck. He looks at me, and for as long as that look lasts, my brain goes absolutely haywire. More wild and reckless than it has been all night.
It’s the why nots turned up to a billion.
Why not let him kiss me?
Why not take him home?
Why not ask him to take off this black dress I never asked for and never wanted, and put those big hands on my waist, and look down at me with those green eyes while he pins me to the nearest mattress or table or unoccupied flat surface, and growl the kinds of filthy things that no one has growled to me in a long, long time?
For as long as that look lasts, I’m wondering if he’s wondering the same things as me. If he’s asking himself the same why nots.
Then he says, “ This , Dr. Fairfax, is nothing. I’m not here. Neither are you. And nothing happened today.”
He rises, towering overhead, and reaches into his pocket. I’m paralyzed for a second, expecting to see the gun make a surprise reappearance.
It’s only cash, though. More of that “dirty mob money.” He drops a stack of the stuff on the table without bothering to count it. Far too much, probably enough to pay for everyone’s meal in the restaurant.
“You’ve never seen me,” he continues, “and I’ve never seen you, and if the unfortunate day should ever come when we cross paths on the street, you will look past me as if I don’t exist and keep right on walking. And I will do the same to you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I say nothing. My voice is a prisoner in my throat.
Kovan’s hand floats up to cradle my jaw, thumb pressing just hard enough against my throat to feel my pulse racing. It’s burning hot to the touch.
“What happened today will disappear from your pretty little head—and it will never, ever leave your pretty little lips. Not the Keres, not my name, not Luka. Nothing.” His lips are inches from mine.
“Because if it does, I’ll know. And I’ll come back for you.
So I’ll ask you this one more time: Do you understand what I’m telling you, Vesper? ”
At last, I find my voice. A tiny fraction of it, at least. I nod and croak in a pitiful, broken whisper, “I understand.”
He nods back. “Good. Pleasure having dinner with you, Doctor.”
Then Kovan walks out of my life.
I hope to God I never see him again.