Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
And suddenly I realized why Amvrosy was here during the day, why he had a bodyguard watching the door upstairs, and why the bartender had been twitchy. The Aristovs must own this place: they must have hung onto it when they left New York. Amvrosy ran it for them, and today the big boss had shown up, probably at short notice. No wonder everyone was on edge.
Gennadiy’s eyes ran over me. “I met her this morning. She works in the coffee shop down the street. I told her she was pretty and that she should audition here.”
I tried to keep my face neutral. Inside, my mind was whirling. Is he...saving me?!
Amvrosy frowned doubtfully...then, to my relief, he lowered his gun. “She’s pretty enough,” he said, as if I wasn’t standing right there, “But she doesn’t have much in the way of tits.”
Gennadiy stormed forward, forcing Amvrosy back against the wall and making him gulp in fear. “Some men like small breasts!” Gennadiy snapped.
An unexpected bomb of warmth went off in my chest. Then Gennadiy looked at me, and I drew in my breath: the anger in his eyes, coupled with the sheer imposing size of him, was terrifying. Suddenly, stealing his money didn’t seem so smart.
Amvrosy extricated himself from between Gennadiy and the wall and turned to me. “You shouldn’t have gone in there,” he told me, pointing at the office. “Why were you taking a picture?”
I looked at my toes. “I was looking for the bathroom. I went in there by mistake, and then I saw the club’s phone number on a bill, and I realized I didn’t have it, so I thought I’d just take a quick photo.” I tried to sound scared, which didn’t take much acting: Amvrosy still had the gun. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong.”
Amvrosy stared at me for a moment, then grunted and finally holstered his gun. “Fine,” he told me. “You want to audition, you can audition.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him, his voice roughening with lust. “You can give me a lap dance.”
What?! Oh crap. He pulled me towards one of the VIP booths, and I stumbled after him, off balance in my ridiculous heels.
A big, tattooed hand smacked into the wall right in front of Amvrosy’s face. Amvrosy froze, looked at the arm that blocked his way, then followed it up to Gennadiy’s face.
“I own the place,” Gennadiy reminded him. “I found her. She can dance for me.”
12
ALISON
“Put on some music,” Gennadiy ordered, and dragged me down the hallway and into the nearest VIP booth. As he turned away to tug the drapes closed, a thumping R&B track filled the club. My eyes flicked around the booth, but he was standing in front of the only exit. Then he turned back to me, and I gave an involuntary yelp of fear: even in my heels, he was so much taller than me, and his whole body was tensed in anger—
He grabbed my upper arms and pulled me to him. His grip was like warm iron and the raw, brute strength with which he tossed me around...it should have scared me but, just like at the casino, there was something about it that made me heady.
He put his mouth so close to my ear that with each hard, Russian-accented syllable, his lower lip stroked against me. “You’re out of your mind,” he snapped. “Amvrosy would have killed you.”
I blinked. This close to him, the sandalwood scent of his cologne was working its magic on me, and it was difficult to think straight. I looked up into his furious eyes...and saw the sharp edge of concern around the anger. He was mad because I’d put myself in danger.
“What if I hadn’t been here?” he demanded.
Each word was a hot current of air against my ear, and they tumbled my brain until I couldn’t think at all. He...cares about me? Ridiculous. A man like him didn’t care about anyone.
Except…the day before, we’d learned a little more about the guy we pulled out of Lake Michigan, wrapped in chains. Iosif Kalugin, a small-time gangster, someone who’d barely register on Gennadiy’s radar. Apparently, he’d been trying to set himself up as a pimp, and he’d been beating up local escorts. Was it possible that Gennadiy had been protecting them?
“I would have figured something out,” I muttered. And then, even though it felt wrong, even though he was the enemy, “Thank you.”
“We’ll stay here until the song ends,” Gennadiy told me. “Long enough for a lap dance.” A smirk pulled at his lips. “I’ll tell Amvrosy you were...talented.”
I scowled up at him, my glare lava-hot. If I glared hard enough, maybe I could block out the ribbon of heat that had shot straight down to my groin at the idea of me grinding away on him.