He stared at her so long, she began to grow uncomfortable.
“What?” she asked.
He rounded the bed and came to sit on her side of it. “I was wrong about who you were as a girlfriend, but I was right about your career prospects. You are very good at what you do.”
Her face grew warm, and she found herself turning around to sit next to him on the bed. “Thank you. My daddy is technically my supervisor, so I’m not used to getting compliments about the work I do for the community. Usually he’s grousing about how I didn’t do that and why can’t I make it easier for him to do this and why can’t I do everything I do faster, cheaper, and better.”
“You do not like your job?” he asked.
“No, I like it. I just kind of wish I did it somewhere else, with someone else who didn’t continue to think I was a disgrace, no matter how much I do for Drummond.”
She realized her mistake before the last words were out her mouth.
“Why does he think you are a disgrace?” he asked, his eyes narrowing in the way they used to whenever he was ready to spring to her defense.
She waved it off and shrugged. “Small-town dads aren’t like the ones in New York. I wasn’t married and popping out babies by a certain age so he considers me a disgrace. I could find a cure for cancer and Daddy would still think I was less than, because I’m not married with children.”
“So this Aaron refuses to marry you.”
Eva’s mouth twisted. Of course, Alexei would be more concerned with his perceived competition in this story. “I told you we’re not talking about him.”
“Did he ask you to marry him and you refused, or has he simply not asked you to marry him? Perhaps you have not been dating long enough?”
“You promised.”
“I promised not to search for him or tell him about us. Questions were not included in the deal. What would you say if he did ask you to marry him?”
“Fine, I’ll change the subject. I’m hungry. Can we order some breakfast? Or better yet, go out and get some? As nice as this place is, I wouldn’t mind seeing the rest of the hotel.”
“No, we will stay here and continue our conversation,” he said. “I am finding I like denying your requests.”
Despite her plan to rise above Alexei’s petulance, irritation flared up inside of her and unleashed her tongue. “So that’s how it’s going to be? We’re going to continue to carp at each other for the next two weeks? Wonderful. While we’re at it, can we also make each other miserable with petty questions and denials of reasonable requests, because I think that would really take this vacation to the next level for both of us.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I understand reverse psychology now, Eva. Also, sarcasm.”
“Oh, goody,” she answered, her voice dripping with it.
“As for the next level…” He took her left hand and placed it on his cock, which was thick and hard underneath the linen of his pants, “Do not pretend to not know what you do to me.”
She shook her head, even as her heart sped up in her chest and she suddenly became very aware that while he was fully dressed, she was sitting there stark naked. “That’s not me,” she informed him. “That’s your thirst for revenge. I’m just a warm body, a representation of your past, something else you need to conquer, like the American business market. Don’t pretend it’s me that’s got you all revved up.”
He gave her a strange look. “Is that really what you think?”
“That woman you were with at the party looked like a supermodel, and she’s into threesomes.”
He kept his hand covering hers on top of his dick. “This is the third time you have brought her up. For someone who does not want to talk about her love life, you seem very interested in mine.”
“I’m not,” she assured him, because she totally was.
He leaned over and ran his lips along her neckline, causing her uncovered breasts to swell with desire. “What would you like to know, Eva? Tell me.”
“I don’t want to know anything,” she answered, trying to ignore the skittering spikes of pleasure his kisses were sending through her nervous system. “I don’t care. I’m only here because of your revenge fantasy.”
“But you nodded when I asked if you wanted to be with me in a sexual way.”
“Yes, I nodded, but only because I didn’t believe you would really be okay with us hanging out for two weeks without sex. It was a concession to end the stupid argument.”
“Do not lie to me, Eva. I forbid it from now on.”
It was a total lie, so she stayed quiet and held herself as stiff as a woman possibly could with a very sexy man kissing and licking on her neck. Eventually he stopped with an annoyed growl. “Fine,” he said. “Get showered and dressed. We will go out to lunch.”
“Lunch?” She glanced at the bedside clock and saw that, indeed, it was now past noon. Nauseous guilt assailed her when she realized she had taken more than twelve hours to return Aaron’s phone call.
“Yes, “ he removed her hand from his groin like it was a dead fish. “We will talk and not fuck and get to know each other.”
She was still reeling in confusion less than an hour later when she walked into the The R’s eponymous flagship restaurant with Alexei. The tables were set with white linens and crystal table service, but no one but the hostess and two waiters were there.
“Right this way,” the hostess said, showing them to a two-top that looked directly out to the beach where families, college students, couples, and businessmen were having fun in the sun. The hostess indicated two waiters in black and white uniforms standing just a few feet away. “Franklin and Don will be your servers today. Please let them know whenever you’re ready to order.”
She squinted at the menu, which featured a mix of salads, fish, steaks, and other gourmet entrees. “Where is everybody?”
“This restaurant is technically not open for lunch,” he answered, still studying his menu. “It is only us.”
“Another awesome display of your power. Good job,” she said, tossing aside the menu.
He glanced up from his. “Why do your compliments always feel like insults?”
She lowered her voice. “Because everything you do seems designed to show me what a mistake it was to dump you. Listen, Alexei, I get it. I was wrong to dump you the way I did. And trust me, if I had known you would become a bajillionaire and then blackmail me into coming down here, I wouldn’t have done it.” She folded her arms, thinking back to the night she found out who he really was, what he was capable of, and whispered. “If I had known any of it, I wouldn’t have gotten involved with you in the first place.”
Now he put down his menu, but held up his hand when one of the waiters tried to approach the table. Behind him, the man took the silent command and immediately resumed his waiting position.
“So you regret our time together?” Alexei asked. There was not a trace of warmth in his cold, green stare.
“How do you want me to answer that? Like me now, or the old me?”
“Like you now.”
“Me now has worked really hard to become a better person,” she said carefully. “I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger, but I’ve spent the last eight years trying to help people, and to make up for those mistakes, but somehow it never seems to be enough. Me now wants to get these two weeks over with, and then maybe move away from Drummond, away from Texas, to some place where no one knows me or sits in continuous judgment of me for stuff that happened a long time ago.”
“You want to run away again,” he all but sneered. “And you hate that I am keeping you here, that I will not let you be the irresponsible girl again.”
Now she really wanted to scream at him. She was responsible. At this point, she was the most responsible person she knew. What would he do, she wondered, if she just told him the truth? Told him his beloved uncle had threatened her. That she left because she had been commanded to. That afterwards, she had considered risking her life to be with him. She had picked up the phone so many times to call him and explain everything, but then all her stuff had been delivered to Layla’s front doorstep in neat boxes, all marked with the same label: “From: Sergei Rustanov To: Eva St. James.” It had been an effective message. Unlike Alexei, who still hadn’t been able to pin down her whereabouts, his uncle let her know he could find her anywhere, any place.
Three weeks after that, she’d realized she hadn’t gotten her period in all the weeks of worry, fear, and confusion following her leaving Alexei. The plus sign on the pregnancy test stick had been her final answer. She’d keep this baby, but if she wanted to protect it, she’d have to let go of its father.
But now she was once again sitting across the table from Alexei, being accused of things she couldn’t deny, the old feelings roiling around with new fears. No, she couldn’t tell him, she decided for what felt like the millionth time in the past few days. She had no idea what he’d do if she told him. And she couldn’t take that risk.