Or gesture.
He lowered his head and kissed me.
Chapter
Five
Lucy
Kirill’s fingerswrapped around my jaw to keep my face steady while his mouth planted a firm kiss on my lips.
He didn’t use his tongue. He wasn’t gambling on the chance that I might bite him.
The kiss was over as quickly as it began, but I could still feel the imprint it left behind, including the outrage and urge to slap that smug look off his face.
“Off you go, Lucifer,” he murmured.
My chest rose and fell with my inability to form words. “You?—”
His hand around my jaw slackened and slid to my throat with his thumb brushing my chin, tipping it up. “If you don’t leave this minute, I’ll kiss you again.” The warning in his tone was unmistakable.
Thankfully, he dropped his hand, or I would have knocked it off my face. The man was impossible! And he was going to be my future husband? But I didn’t doubt we gave the press plentyto write about. I plopped into the soft leather seats. I could still smell the newness of the vehicle.
Kirill closed the door and stood back while Sato slid into the driver’s seat. The engine was already running, so all he had to do was shift gears to move. Thank God. I couldn’t wait to get out of here.
When the gates opened, a row of men in dark tactical uniforms kept the crowd away from our vehicle, but I recognized the reporter who loved writing about organized crime families in theManhattan Tattler. Still, I gritted my teeth and gripped the side of the vehicle until we were clear.
“I hope they won’t follow us,” I told Sato, finally giving my attention to the driver. “And you can’t be my bodyguard. My family won’t stand for it.”
“I go where you go. You are the pakhan’s fiancée now. If I have to sit in front of your apartment, I will.”
“Listen, I don’t know how my family will react. I’m sure by now that reporter…shit, I forgot her name…”
“Romero,” Sato replied.
“Right. Kirill made a production of our being a couple.” I was surprised I hadn’t turned to stone at his kiss. “It will take at most half an hour before my brother catches wind of it.” And despite the distance of Kirill’s mansion from the gate, I’d seen the zoom lenses of the paparazzi.
Kirill orchestrated our exit from the residence flawlessly—no rushing and no sign that we were hiding our relationship. All the way back to the Upper East Side, I contemplated how to tell my family. I buried my head in my hands. This was a disaster. Now that I couldn’t be pissed at Kirill, I was left floundering on how to spin this lie to Luca and Dom. Two dons with a shrewd bullshit meter. It was useless to work on my excuses. The best thing for me was to say less until Margo came by with Kirill and his parents to formally ask for my hand in marriage.
The image that invoked made me want to laugh hysterically. My life had turned on a dime. Yesterday, I was carefree and did as I pleased. Today, every single move had to be calculated.
The vehicle’s new-car smell suffocated in its unfamiliarity, signifying a radical change in my life’s trajectory. One I never expected. Blindsided, I functioned as if I were still in a fevered dream. My heart edged closer to my throat, and my lungs had difficulty expanding and contracting. I had asthma as a child, and this certainly felt like I was getting an attack. I leaned forward in the vehicle. “Can you turn up the AC?”
“Are you all right?” I caught his concerned eyes in the rearview mirror, and I had a feeling he’d been observing my panicky spiral.
“Just overwhelmed.” I scooted back in my seat to give my driver an appraisal. His upturned almond eyes and the rest of his features suggested a mixed heritage. His arms were a pattern of blue-gray ink with deep coral and golden flowers and fish scales…or maybe dragon scales? “So I noticed Kirill’s crew are not primarily Russian.”
He checked the traffic on both sides before he crossed a four-way stop, but not before I saw the flash of his grin. He had more personality than Kirill already. “I’m part Russian, part Japanese.”
“You grew up here?” He had a slight accent.
“No. I grew up everywhere.”
“Huh. Japan?”
“For a while.”
“I’ve been to Japan once. I swore I would go back one day since I enjoyed my visit and the people are so nice. I got lost in Tokyo on a connecting train, and a woman, who could’ve been in her sixties, got off the train with me and made sure I was put on the right one.”
