It wasn’t until we cruised down the highway that enough oxygen found its way to my brain.
“Wait, you said a poker match, not dinner,” I clarified lamely.
Ivan’s hand skimmed over the wheel. The skin on the tops of my thighs prickled as I watched him drive.
“The game doesn’t start until midnight,” he explained. “Dinner is for us.”
For us…. My heart skipped in a wild rush.
I shouldn’t like the sound of that. Hell, I shouldn’t be participating in any of this.
But I was already lost in the woods. Might as well see where the big, bad wolf led me.
Twenty minutes. That was all the time I had to fight the traitorous reactions in my body and gather common sense around me like a shield. The car purred to a stop in front of a building with polished stone columns and a valet stand manned by attendants in crisp uniforms. Through the tinted windows, I could see the golden glow of chandeliers illuminating a marble entryway.
“Antonelli’s?” I whispered, recognizing the exclusive steakhouse from influencer posts. The kind of place where celebrities dined and business moguls sealed million-dollar deals over aged ribeye.
Ivan handed his keys to a young valet who appeared at his window. “Stay.”
Stay.
Did he just…order me like a dog?
Before I could reach for my door handle, Ivan was there, opening it for me, his hand extended. Panicking, I raised the bouquet as a weapon against the possibility of having to touch him. His face was unreadable, a mask of pure politeness. His hand waited. I avoided looking at the three gold rings, struggling when it would have been easier to accept his help. I clutched my flowers against my chest as I stepped out, suddenly self-conscious about my revealing outfit. The cool evening air kissed my bare legs, reminding me how much skin was on display. If it wasn’t for the thin cardigan, I would have felt naked.
“You can leave those in the car,” Ivan offered.
“They’ll wilt,” I said sadly. “I should have taken them into the house before we left. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
Ivan reached up and brushed a knuckle along my jaw. Metal and flesh whispered over my skin. “I’ll buy you more.”
Someone save me!I was in danger. Not even growing up in my father’s house had I ever been in this kind of trouble.
Reluctantly, I laid the flowers on my seat.
Ivan snatched my hand the moment it was free. He looped it through the crook of his arm, only releasing my fingers to lay them over the muscles that no suit jacket could hide.
Wait. When did he put that on?
I must not have paid attention when he exited the vehicle, too focused on the command to notice.
But the jacket completed the ensemble. He looked good. Damn good. Just expensive enough to prove he belonged to this crowd at the restaurant as we entered, but there was something even the polished exterior couldn’t hide.
I felt it, along with the few hurried glances shot his direction.
It was a danger. Like the crackle in a summer breeze, right before the storm breaks.
Some of the women were bolder than others, their gaze lingering on Ivan as we walked past their tables. By the time we passed the third, I tipped my chin up. They could look, but I was the one walking in step with the herald of death.
It had to be the proximity. There was no sane reason I enjoyed this role.
Ivan pulled out a seat and deposited me with my back to the restaurant. His was to the wall. Just because I couldn’t see them didn’t mean I didn’t feel the curious looks. I felt young. Dressed in this revealing outfit and sitting across from a man whose power was compounded by the years he spent harnessing it. They know doubt whispered. In their eyes, I was probably a gold-digger, an escort, or a woman in peril. The truth—that I was the mother of his child, an introvert who missed her small town—would be laughably unbelievable.
I tried not to fidget as the waiter poured our water and asked about drinks. I also tried, and failed, not to sneak glances at the man across from me. Every time I did, unconscious thoughts danced through my mind, ranging from topics about how good he looked, how much I wanted to see the ink that teased around the collar of his shirt spread down over his body, or the worst, how badly I wanted to reach across the table and lock my fingers through his. It would be too easy to feign interest in his rings, to give myself an excuse to touch his hands, which was why I fisted my own in my lap.
As soon as the waiter disappeared with our drink orders, Ivan’s eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that made my throat go dry.
“Why are you wearing that sweater?” he asked, his voice deceptively soft.
