I placed my hands on his shoulders. “Loosen your jaw. Remember to relax the first time you get stuck on a trigger letter.”
“Now is not the t-time to correct me.”
“I’m sorry. I just can’t help myself,” I argued.
A frustrated breath huffed out of his plump lips. The ones in the last few days that I’d been fantasizing on my body.
Shaking myself out of my inappropriate thoughts, I decided to put Maksim out of his misery. “You’re in luck. I don’t seem to have any personal engagements tomorrow night.”
His dark brows furrowed. “So t-that’s a yes.”
It was so endearing how nervous he appeared. Most men who looked like him and were as rich as him would’ve acted like they were doing me a favor asking me out.
But Maksim was like no other man I’d ever met.
“What kind of party is it?”
“Well, it’s more of a groundbreaking party. The club isn’t actually built yet.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“It’s a joint venture between my family and two others.”
“What’s new club’s name?”
“Three Kings.”
“Let me guess. The two other families are part of the underworld.”
He grinned. “An Irish clan and an Italian mafia.”
“What a happy little family of organized crime,” I mused.
“I’m not sure how happy we’ll all stay, but this is a way to try to unite us.”
“What does one wear to a groundbreaking? Something formal?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll need to go by my apartment to get a dress.”
He shook his head. “I’ll send you shopping with Oleg.”
A feeling of inadequacy prickled over my skin. It was very obvious that Maksim and I weren’t in the same tax brackets. The fact he was alluding to that was incredibly disappointing.
Trying not to show my hurt, I drew my shoulders back. “Do you not think I have an appropriate dress to wear?”
He grinned. “I hope not. I want to see you in a veryinappropriateone.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I snapped.
Maksim’s jovial expression sobered. “I d-don’t t-think I understand.”
“Why would I need to go shopping for a dress with Oleg if one of my own wasn’t somehow inappropriate?”
“Jesus, Sarah, that’s not what I meant at all.”
“Then what did you mean?”
