Fortunately for me, when I left the chair, the car already pulled up into the‘NO PARKING’zone by the curb.
Was I mad at him for something? I could have sworn I recalled being angry, but it couldn’t have been at him. Not the man who got out of the car, the street lamps hitting him like spotlights on a movie star. He always appeared put together, but this was Vitali—all business—in his high-necked button-up that lookedlike something Parisian.
He paused on the sidewalk, taking in the building where the shops had been built into the first floor. New to him, so he hadn’t taken another woman here before.
The hairdresser saw him too, and her expression grew pouty as he strolled toward the door, and dropped into a deep scowl when he entered and the first thing he did was smile at me.
The pleasure I experienced at her reaction was sexual.
“Kotik, you are stunning.” He kissed me on the cheek. “Did you like the dress I chose for you?”
It was hard to look away from him. Seeing him daily—and then his being gone for so long brought about a new appreciation for his good looks. He wasn’t just a good-looking man showing up with flowers anymore. It was my Vitali, waiting for me, coming back to me. Looking at me in a way no other man ever had.
But I still found the guns.
I had to remind myself that this romance did not belong to me. It was his. The apartment, the dress, even that spiteful hairdo—they were all his.
The collar I still wore was his.
I was—
…I wanted to be his.
“I haven’t gotten to look at it fully, yet,” I admitted. “There were a lot of alterations. I hope they’re done…”
“They’ll be done.”
And they were.
The dress was stunning, but not in the way my New Year’s gown was. Still, gorgeous with black lace atop silk, off shouldered and (of course) very short. The feel of it was all luxury, and when Vitali helped me zip up the back, his fingerslingered, running up my spine, to the nape of my neck, and across the gold of his collar.
For a moment, I thought he’d whisper something in my ear when he paused. His breath warmed my skin in a tide of anticipation. But he didn’t, instead letting out a low, appreciative growl. It rumbled through me, and all at once I understood the idiom of weakened knees.
God—he smelled like the kind of cologne they put in commercials with jazz music and a background of the Hollywood Hills.
Of course, he opened the car door for me.
“It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the gifts, but this was so last minute. I don’t even know where we’re going,” I said as he pulled out onto the road. “When did you even get back in town?”
“I would have given you more warning, but you did not return my calls, Kotik. There are only so many times I will dial the phone, but I will overlook that given the situation.”
I bit my tongue.Thanks. So kind of you.
The city lights reflected off his watch when he turned the steering wheel, and something about that was more glamorous than my dress and heels combined. I had a moment to reflect on it, because I did not speak again for some time.
“Some people are in town,” he conceded under his breath, but recovered his level tone before continuing. “Sergei’s bosses. If you ever hear people talk about ‘Moscow,’ that’s what they mean.”
“Sergei has bosses?”
“They operate on a bigger scale. Money laundering, foreign investments, healthcare privatization.”
Did I want to know this? My heart said no, but I asked anyway. “What is Sergei’s role in it?” I didn’t want to know about Sergei,but I couldn’t ask Vitali outright about his own.
He would probably tell you…
Because despite everything, he had been honest with me. He didn’t deny Elit. He didn’t try to pass on the responsibility for the guns when I first called him. Just said whatever it was, he’d take care of it. Instead of gratitude, I threw a fit.
He would tell me what he had to do with Moscow if I asked, but I wasn’t ready to ask.
