“I heard you’re twenty now, Lena.Happy belated birthday.”Something about the way my name rolled off his tongue felt like a caress and a threat at the same time.His voice dropped lower, meant only for me.“Such a significant age.So many… possibilities opening up.”
My father’s face turned a sickly pallor.Whatever hold this man had over him, it scared my father to his core.
As the properly raised daughter of a hotel magnate, I shook his outstretched hand despite every alarm bell going off in my head.
The moment our skin touched, heat shot up my arm.His palm was fever-hot, burning against mine like he’d been standing too close to a fire.No one ran that hot naturally.But he showed no signs of fever, just that impossible warmth radiating from his skin like he burned from the inside out.
He held on a moment longer than necessary, his grip firm but not painful.The pad of his thumb traced across the back of my hand, slow and unhurried, leaving goosebumps in its wake.
Something stirred low in my belly.Something I didn’t want to examine too closely.
I caught a hint of his scent.Leather and sandalwood, rich and dark, with something underneath I couldn’t name.Something that made my pulse quicken.
“Thank you.It’s nice to meet you, Mr.Antonov.”My voice came out steadier than I felt.
“Please.Raphael.”His gaze tracked my movements even though his head never turned.That unsettling awareness again, like he could sense exactly where I was without needing to look.“I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.I have a feeling your father and I are going to reach an understanding.One way or another.”
His thumb traced one final circle on my palm before he released me.The gesture felt deliberate.Possessive.Like he was marking territory.
“Such soft skin.”His voice dropped to a murmur only I could hear.“I wonder if it marks as easily as it blushes.”
He turned to my father, but his final words were clearly meant for me to hear.
My palm tingled where he’d touched me.I resisted the urge to rub it against my jeans.
“I will give you time to reconsider my offer, Richard.”His eyes slid to me for just a moment, a look that made my skin prickle with awareness.“Though I should mention, my patience has limits.And the longer you make me wait, the more… creative my terms become.”
Was that a threat?I had no idea what type of business my father was involved in with this man, but my gut told me he was dangerous in ways I couldn’t name.The kind of dangerous that made you want to run.The kind that made some traitorous part of you want to stay.
The elevator arrived.The doors opened with a ding that echoed in the silent hallway.
Saved by the bell.
“No need for an escort.I know the way out.”Raphael paused at the elevator doors and turned back to look at me.His eyes traveled down my body, slow and thorough, lingering in ways that made heat rise to my cheeks.When his gaze returned to my face, he smiled.It wasn’t a kind smile.It was the smile of a man who’d just seen something he intended to acquire.
“Until we meet again, Lena.I look forward to knowing you… better.”
The doors closed behind him.
I didn’t exhale until they did.
“What was that about, Papa?”
“Nothing you need to worry your pretty head about, Lena.”He cupped my cheeks and gave me a warm smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Have you been good today?You haven’t been bothering the staff?”
Whoever that man was, he obviously wasn’t up for discussion.
“Of course not.I’ve been sorting what I want to bring with me to the dorms.”Even though I was legally an adult, my father still treated me like the little girl who used to run around the hotel playing hide and seek with the housekeeping staff.
The phone in his office rang, demanding his attention.
I smiled at him.Business beckoned.My father never had a day off.“I’ll let you get back to work.I still have a lot of packing to do.”
I rode the elevator up to the private apartment I shared with my father.The top floor was reserved for the presidential suite, but we had the entire floor below it to ourselves and a 360-degree view overlooking Paradise Peaks.
The deliciously warm and sweet aroma of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies greeted me as soon as I walked through the front door.
