“Sorry, I have orders to stay right by your side,remember?” Nik replied, a hard look in his eye telling me that he wasn't going anywhere.
Levin, who I knew was a multimillionaire, was likely my parents’ idea of ‘saving the best for last’. He would no doubt spoil me with everything I could ever dream of; gold, diamonds, sapphires, mansions and yachts, but he looked like a shrew and I knew there was never any way I would be able to open my legs or my heart to him.
“I think you’ve done enoughprotectingfor one night,” Levin sneered over at Nik before pulling his wallet out. He grabbed a wad of bills from within the expensive leather, before shoving them in Nik’s direction. “Leave us,” he ordered, glaring at Nik. “The lady needs some privacy with a real man.”
A real man… I wanted to laugh. Levin was the sort of man that believed lots and lots of money made you areal man. He was barely five foot five with a thin splattering of hair on his little round head and he had to look up at Nik’s six-foot four frame to get eye contact. He believed in buying what you wanted. But I had to give it to him, he had balls of steel because he didn’t doubt himself next to Nik’s handsome stature.
Didn’t doubt himself, even with the large soup stain across his pants that made him look like he’d pissed himself.
The tension was quivering between the three of us and I wanted nothing more than to see Levin punch Nik in his obnoxious face, and yet my body still leaned towards Nik.
Nik glanced at the money being pushed across the table towards him like he was a poor errand boy and I watched him bristle with anger.
“You’re right, she does need some privacy with a real man,” Nik bit out, before reaching down and grabbing my arm and pulling me up to my feet. “We’re leaving. Now.”
“I haven’t even finished my drink,” I gasped, a stupid grin on my face as he manhandled me and threw a death glare at Levin.
Nik turned from Levin to scowl at me. “Seriously?” he bit out, his tone full of anger and dominance. I nodded, purely to annoy him, nothing to do with the way my skin heated at his contact. His strong, dominant hands manhandling me and making my nipples hard. Nikolai reached over and picked up my glass before throwing the drink to the back of his throat and slamming my glass down on the table hard enough to make the stem shatter. “Better?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
I couldn’t help but grin, the arrogant bastard.
“Come on,” he ordered, dragging me away, down the single step to the main restaurant floor and towards the exit.
“I’ll be speaking to your father, Katya,” Levin yelled as we stormed away. “He promised me a trophy wife.”
I scowled back at him. “I’m no one's trophy.”
As we left the restaurant I tried to shake out from under Nikolai’s grip, but he held onto me tightly. My security, which had been on the doors all afternoon, came closer, wary of the way Nik was handling me.
“It’s fine,” he barked at them, but they still looked to me for confirmation.
“Actually, it’s not,” I hissed. “Get your hands off of me.” The tropical air around me was stifling instead of warm and inviting, as it should be. I felt trapped in Nik’s grip now.No, I’d felt trapped since the moment Alex had picked Marisha.
Trapped by the future. Trapped by short, overbearing men who wanted a quiet, pretty trophy wife.
“I said let me go, Nik,” I barked again. Anger. Relief. Desperation. Lust. So many different feelings were fighting to breathe the hot air around me.
Nik released me immediately, his chest heaving and his gaze burning into mine. “Do you know how hard that’s been, Katya?” he gritted out between his teeth.
“How hard what has been?” I snapped, my eyes narrowed on him.
He dragged a hand through his hair and glared at me, his chest still heaving. “Watching you flaunt yourself at these men all afternoon.” Nikolai shook his head, sucking in his bottom lip before releasing it with a heavy, angry sigh. “Fuck it,” he growled, glancing up at my security guards, “get her back to the condo. I need to go get a drink.”
“Nikolai,” I began, but he threw me an angry scowl that made me shut up.
He turned and left, storming away in what could only be described as a fit of rage, and I stared after him, completely confused as to what had just happened. He’d started this whole thing. He’d come to my table and ruined every date. He’d kissed me in the bathroom and then mocked the fact that I would be in a loveless marriage. Yet he seemed furious and pissed off at me like I had done something wrong.
My cell was ringing in my purse and I fished it out blindly, my gaze still on Nikolai until he was out of sight.
“Hello?” I answered.
“What the fuck just happened?” my father yelled through the phone speaker and I flinched at his furious tone.
“I can explain.”
I couldn’t.
I was just as baffled as everyone else.
