“And you’re delusional.”
This makes his lips pull tighter, showing his subtle dimples. Leaning in slightly, he watches me closely, almost like I’m something to be figured out.
“You don’t like playing house…fine,” he says, tone placating. “But don’t pretend you don’t enjoy the game.”
“There is no game.”
“Then why are you still next to me, allowing me to get close?” He asks, acting like he’s onto something. Onto me.
“Because I can’t leave. Don’t play dumb.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” he murmurs, absently moving his glass between his fingers. “But what’s stopping you from getting up and running right now? From screaming at the top of your lungs, hoping someone might come to your aid?”
There’s a challenge in his words, and it bothers me.
He does have a point. I could scream. I could alert everyone in this place that I’ve been pulled from my life and forced to cooperate.
Of course, there has been a heavy dose of coercion here. But am I forced to cooperate?
Not looking too deeply into it, I take notice of the subtle charge between us instead. The way he looks me over,maintaining that proximity that both makes my skin crawl and feels too tempting at the same time.
I hate how easily that tension moves in like a cold front. How electric it is.
I’m trapped and furious, yet something traitorous inside me still responds to it like I’ve never known anything different.
He knows it too, which is why he’s testing me.
Pulling in a subtle breath, I try to ignore him and the irritating feelings moving through me.
Then, Sergey exaggerates a sigh. “Maybe you should try. It’s not like you belong in a place like this anyway, right?”
My brows pinch together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He grins again and brings the glass to his lips. “You clearly have been running away from places like this for a long time now…maybe you’re just too innocent for this kind of scene.”
Something in my gut twists at that. He has hit a soft spot without even realizing it.
I swallow discreetly, refusing to let my inexperience show. He’s just aiming blindly. It’s not like he knows about it.
“You don’t know me then.”
Sergey chuckles. “I know you’re tough, and you certainly work hard to put up a front, but this world? It requires a certain kind of person to survive it. You haven’t been tested yet. Admit it, you’re out of your depth here.”
That does it.
I may have shied away from the life my family planned for me, but I’ve been tested before. I’ve seen things Sergey likelyassumes I never have. And while I’m not in the same league when it comes to romantic experiences, that doesn’t mean I’m incapable.
He just doesn’t need to know that part yet.
Throwing back the rest of my drink, I stand, feeling his gaze intensify on me.
Sergey instinctively goes to reach for me to rein me back in, but I pull my hand away, feeling as the booze pulls away my inhibitions.
“You want to see the opposite of innocence? Fine,” I utter, moving away from him and the booth.
Despite the obvious objection hanging off his tongue, he relinquishes and lets me go, but keeps his gaze on me, pretending not to be on alert.
Almost like he doesn’t believe me, he cocks a brow at me. “Alright…do your worst.”
