“I’ve never been in a place like this. Well, except your house in the Hamptons, but that’s different. This is.. . Manhattan.” He turned toward tall glass windows, and behind the closed curtains was the skyline of New York City. He couldn’t see the view and didn’t walk toward it, so I left it alone. Maybe I could show him tomorrow morning as we ate breakfast.
“Here, go shower.” I winked at him, and he took the clothing, then walked past me and went upstairs. I hurried over to the TV and opened the doors to the cabinet below it. With a grin, I dragged out my old Nintendo 64, then set up the console so that by the time Asa arrived back downstairs, I had theMario Kart 64game ready and sitting on the home screen.
He froze when he saw what I’d done. “Is that what I think it is?”
The shirt and pants I’d given him were too big on his slim body, but there was something delicious about seeing him in my clothing. It was as if I was saying,“He’s mine. Stay away.”
“Are you old enough to know what it is?” I grinned at him as I sat down on the leather couch, dragging the controller with me. The console was close enough that the wire attached to the controller wouldn’t give us hell. They didn’t do Bluetooth back then.
“No. Yes.” He ran a hand over his head. “Kind of.” He came toward me and sat on the couch at my side, grabbing the blue controller I’d left for him. The smile on his face was bright and amused. “My parents aren’t rich, but they tried to give us the things we asked for. My brothers are older than me. They never got the N64 new, but our parents bought them one when it’d been out for over a year, I think. Either way, I used to play it, too.” His eyes narrowed. “Just so we’re clear, I am the Princess. I’ve always been the Princess.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “That’s fine with me. I go with Yoshi.”
He snorted. “Of course you do. Don’t cry when you lose.”
I laughed. “Championship or battle?”
“Uh... race, of course. Choose the Mushroom Cup. I am fucking awesome at Koopa Troopa Beach.” He shimmied a little before he brought his legs up onto the couch, tucking them underneath himself. It was an interesting sitting position, but the concentration on his face was cute. It seemed as if he was settling in for a competition. I could deal with that.
“Ah, so you’re going to try to use the shortcut in that track, huh?” I straightened and kicked off my shoes. “It’s on like Donkey Kong.”
He blinked at me and laughed. “You really do trick everyone, don’t you? You’re secretly a nerd. A really big nerd.”
I shrugged, not denying it. “I told you this would be almost better than sex.”
“Damn right it is. I haven’t played the N64 in forever. Now let’s go.” He focused back on the TV, brows dipped in concentration. “I’m going to destroy your ass.”
“Less words, more action. Show me what you got.”
What he had was a lot of cheating and using red shells to the point that I’d lost too many times and given up on trying to win. By the end of our tenth championship game, he was bouncing on the couch, barely containable in his excitement. I didn’t have it in me to be annoyed because he was fucking adorable, and sharing in his uncontainable enthusiasm had me laughing.
“Another game?” he asked, mouth curled widely.
I agreed with a simple nod. What would it hurt other than my pride? Losing eleven games wasn’t any worse than losing ten. As I set up the game again, an abrupt sound outside my door had ice filling my veins.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The quick succession of gunshots had me jumping to my feet and grabbing Asa by the arm to drag him off the couch. I shoved my feet into my shoes. Adrenaline pumped through me, my heart racing, as I half carried him toward the stairs.
“What? What’s going on?” Asa tried to turn toward the door, but I didn’t let him. I had men posted outside at all times, and the noises were too close. Someone was attacking us.
“Move.” The growl in my voice left no room for argument, but Asa damned well tried.
“Stop. You’re hurting me. Ruslan, stop. What’s happening?”
I didn’t answer as I finally got him to the stairs and spun him toward me.
Bang. Bang. Bang, bang, bang.
“Listen to me. Now. You need to get up the stairs and to my bedroom. Hide under the bed. No one will know you’re there. Go!” I shouted, my tone angry and frightened all at once. I’d never been scared of death before because I expected one of my enemies to come for me eventually, but I couldn’t let Asa get hurt. It would be over my dead body—maybe literally. “Upstairs.”
“No. Tell me what’s going on.” His voice wavered and he stared at me with wide, watery eyes. The terror in his gaze had my heart hurting and chest squeezing, but I couldn’t do anything about it right now.
BANG!
