“Do you like it?” he asks, a hint of amusement in his tone.
I clear my throat and nod. “Yes, it’s great. Um. Yes,” I stammer.
“Do you think it can come in a bit down the inner seam here?” he asks, turning to face the mirror.
I stand up and walk over to him. Without thinking, I kneel in front of him to look at the inner seam, tugging at it with my fingers to see how much extra fabric is there. But then, in a moment of sheer horror, I realize my face is level with the bulge of his cock, my hand sitting on his inner thigh just below it, and my cheeks are turning blazing hot, neon red as I lift my gaze to see him looking down at me with intense hunger in his eyes.
I fall over, landing right on my ass, in my attempt to scramble away in too much of a hurry.
Yulian quickly leans down to help me up and ends up headbutting me because I’m already trying to stand up.
It’s a mess of apologies, muttered embarrassment and fumbling. And it ends with me in his arms, held against his chest, and his face hovering just above mine. His lips inches from mine. His breath hot against my skin. His heart racing against my chest.
For a few seconds, we stare at each other, lost and silent. Then I giggle the most awkward, nervous sound as I hurriedly step away from him again, this time staying on my feet.
“Sorry,” I mutter again.
“It’s okay, are you alright?” he asks, pushing his fingers through his dark hair.
“Yep, all good. Um, you should get that suit. It looks incredible on you,” I blurt out, then turn away and walk out of the store because I need to breathe air that doesn’t smell like him.
***
We carry on shopping until late in the afternoon, stopping for a lovely lunch at a restaurant in the mall, enjoying a glass of wine and a seafood platter soaked in lemon butter. It’s after four when I declare that I can’t possibly shop anymore or fit anything else into the closet at his place.
“We can build you another closet, Katerina. A whole room, turned into a walk-in closet,” he muses, placing his hand on my lower back as he leads me out of the mall towards the car. For the hundredth time today, my body spikes with desire, and I try really hard to ignore it, but it’s getting more difficult each time.
What an odd thing to say, to suggest building me a walk-in closet in a place I don’t even live. Well, not permanently, anyway. I brush it off as a joke, even though the remark sits in the back of my mind, churning in a weird way.
Back in the car, I’m surprised when he doesn’t turn back in the direction of home.
“Where are we going?” I ask, leaning towards the window, trying to figure out what might lie ahead of us.
“I have a surprise for you,” he grins. That same gorgeous grin that makes my heart flutter wildly.
“I thought the shopping was the surprise. What other surprise have you got for me?”
“If I tell you, it will hardly be a surprise,” he laughs.
The happy sound of his rumbling laughter rolls over me, making me grin and knit my brows at him.
“What are you up to, Yulian?” I ask, curious and nervous again.
“It’s something you’ll love, don’t worry.”
“I am worried. How could you possibly know what I love?”
“I know enough about you to figure some things out, Kat,” he says with confidence, and it makes me even more curious. What does he really know about me? I haven’t exactly volunteered a bunch of information about myself.
We drive through the city, and the annoyance of not knowing grows. “What is it connected to? Like what type of thing is it?” I ask, trying to push for a clue.
His laughter is louder this time. “It’s connected to…you.”
The answer makes me roll my eyes. When I glance at him, he’s clearly enjoying this.
I keep peppering him with questions, but the answers are all vague and don’t get me any closer to finding out what he’s up to.
“You can’t win me over with surprises, you know. You’re still my kidnapper. A surprise isn’t going to get you in my good graces,” I remark, watching his eyes glimmer as though he knows something I don’t.
