“Then why did you spend a million dollars to get me?”
“Because you were the only one who stood out and caught my attention.”
Her breath hitched, almost like she wasn’t expecting my response to strike her the way it did. She took her gaze off my face, her eyes dropping back to her plate.
My lips curled into a sly grin as I watched a delicate flush spread across her cheeks, warm and fleeting.
To mask her faint blush, she cleared her throat after a moment of awkward silence. “Dikaya,” she said, meeting my gaze again. “That’s what you called me earlier. What does it mean?”
“Wouldn’tyoulike to know?” I answered, gently stirring the wine in my glass. I’d just used her line against her—tore a page from her own book.
Her eyes squinted, a small grin playing at the corners of her lips. “I see what you did there,” she murmured, holding my gaze.
I took another sip, savoring the flavors on my tongue. “It’s Russian for ‘wild one.’”
Her brows rose instantly, a glint of surprise flickering in her gaze. “Wild one?”
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said, “I don’t know what to call you.”
She stared at me in silence, her lips parted, but no sound came forth.
“Do you have a problem with the name?” I asked, my gaze unwavering.
Silence.
At this point, I rose to my feet, and she swallowed hard, her throat bobbling. I strode toward her with slow, calculated steps, then halted before her, a hand buried in my pocket.
“I’ve watched you take down men twice your size,” I began, looking right into those stormy green-gray eyes of hers. “You hurt them badly—fought like a tigress—like you’d rather die than be a pawn in their games.” I let the words sink in for a bit. “Tell me that’s not the behavior of a wild one.”
Her chest was rising and falling, but this time it wasn’t because she was furious. It was because I’d leaned too close to her by now. I could feel her breath warm against my skin, and in her eyes was a glimpse of fear and something darker.
She clenched her jaw as if to brace herself. “I have a name.”
“I know,” I answered, my voice low and husky. “But I don’t suppose you wanna tell me what it is.”
The air between us was charged with the kind of tension that quickened her heartbeat. I could tell from her ragged breaths and the way she struggled to hold my gaze.
“Dikayawill do just fine,” she said, wearing a blank expression to mask the mixed emotions coursing through her blood.
This was a game now, and I was ready to play it to the very end. She’d proven to be a worthy opponent—one smart enough to spice things up.
At that moment, she stared at me, caught between irritation and something I was yet to name. This closeness felt dangerous—almost intimate even. The longer we remained in such a compromising position, the harder it became for her to hold my gaze.
Was it just my imagination, or could I hear the sound of her heart hammering in her heaving chest?
Restless, she shifted in her chair, the legs scraping softly against the floor. She placed her hands on her lap, fingers fidgeting as she pressed her knees together. Finally, she looked away from me, her foot tapping a quiet rhythm against the leg of the chair.
It felt good watching her misbehave under the weight of my stare. A shallow breath left her lips, and her eyes wandered the dining room for a moment.
The silence between us stretched on forever, and I still wouldn’t take my gaze off her.
Unable to stand it anymore, she sprang to her feet, fingers casually scratching the back of her head. “Please, excuse me,” she murmured, stepping away from me.
I could’ve stopped her. But I didn’t. I let her go. However, she was only a few paces away when I called out, telling her my name. “It’s Nik, by the way.”
She paused in her tracks but didn’t look back.
“Nikolai Tarasov.”
