Page 27 of The Pakhan's Secret Baby

EMORY

This is insane.

I am insane.

The car might be warm but my body is frigid, wrapped in fear and self-condemnation.

I should not be in Rashid Krasnov's car for any reason whatsoever, and yet I allowed him to usher me right to the door and plop me right into his backseat like he owns me.

"Thank you," he says, nodding at his driver to pull out.

"It's just another four blocks up on the right." I'm not telling him where Irina lives, and I'm not telling him that I have to take a cab from her house across town. If he doesn't know about Lex yet, there's no point in giving him any help finding out.

The driver's eyes flick up to meet mine, but Rashid says nothing.

He turns his attention to the necklace which he pushes into my hands. "Truly... if it's too expensive, pawn it. I won't be offended.I want you to know that whatever you want or need I can give it to you."

I look into his eyes and don't know what to believe.

I know who he is and what sort of man he is.

Men like Rashid aren't romantics.

They're manipulators.

Batya taught me enough to know that, and yet I wound up in his car anyway.

I frown, letting my shoulders drop, and sigh hard.

"I appreciate your gift more than you know, but why now after three years?" I open the small box and look at the sparkling emerald. I do have a few green flecks in my eyes, but how could he remember that after three years? I don't think either of us was sober enough to remember details like that.

He smiles and rests a hand on my knee. I'm warming slowly with the swirl of hot air wrapping around me, but his fingers chill me again, even through the denim.

But when I look him in the eye and see the way he's staring at me so longingly, like a lost puppy begging to be taken home, I lose myself for a second.

No man in my life has ever made me feel wanted. Not even my father.

If Batya hadn't chased off some of them, maybe there would be a few, but I don't think the desire and longing I saw in Rashid's eyes that night at the club will ever come my way again.

Except for now—when he's looking at me again.

"I'll admit I was foolish and I knew where you went to college years ago. I just got busy with my empire and life." His head drops and I watch his fingers strum over my kneecap lightly. He looks sad, as if he lost time he can't get back and regrets it. "But my life is hollow and empty. I want someone to share it with, and I want a family before I'm too old to enjoy it." Rashid's gaze sweeps up over my body to meet my eyes and locks there. "I want you."

My face burns, so hot I think I might pass out.

So I undo the coat and pull the scarf free from my neck.

The car stops, parking one block past Irina's apartment building, and I glance up at the building we're parked in front of as if it's the one.

"Thank you for the ride," I say plainly, though my palms are feeling sweaty now. The window between driver and passenger cabins rises, sealing us into privacy as I reach for the door.

I don’t need any more reasons to think about this man.

It was hard enough to dig his memory out of my mind the first time.

Everything in me screams for a love like this—someone to chase me down and lavish me with a fairytale romance.

But not only is Rashid twenty years older than me, he's also a dangerous criminal.