“There doesn’t need to be an occasion for us to drink good wine.”
“I didn’t know you liked wine.”
His sharp stare pins me in place over the rim of his cup. “Know?”
Shit. This is why spending more time with him is dangerous. I fall into easy conversation with him and forget about my amnesia plan. Thankfully, I recover quickly. “You look like the strong-stuff type.”
“I actually prefer wine, but it doesn’t suit my killer image so I’ve been hiding it.”
I mask a smile behind my napkin. Who knew Kyle was more of the wine type?
“What are you laughing at, Princess?”
“Your love for wine.”
“Those who have not tasted wine—good wine, not the cheap stuff—are missing out.”
“You just don’t look like a wine person.”
“And what type of person do I look like?” He places the glass close to his nose and inhales deeply.
“I don’t know. Maybe Jack Daniels.”
“Well, the last time I bought Jack Daniels, we had so much fun on our wedding night.”
My cheeks feel like they’re on fire. “I don’t remember that.”
“I do, and that’s enough.” He pauses. “For now.”
I take the glass, attempting to drink it all in one go, but Kyle places his hand on the top of mine. His touch is soft, almost like he’s trying to touch not only my hand but also other invisible parts of me.
His eyes gleam as he speaks in a seductive tone. “You have to smell it first.”
“Is that a rule?”
“No, but you’ll enjoy it much better, believe me.”
I’ll be damned if I believe another word out of his mouth, but I do as I’m told anyway and take a sniff of the wine. It does smell good, fermented and a bit old. It’s like I could get drunk on the smell alone.
I take my first sip, closing my eyes to relish the taste that fills my throat.
“How does it feel?”
At Kyle’s voice, I open my eyes, not realizing I closed them for long.
“It’s fine.”
“It’s more than fine. It’s exquisite.” His eyes never leave mine as he speaks and sips from his own glass. Then he licks the wine off his lips as his gaze slowly slides to my breasts.
I clear my throat. “I’m up here.”
He doesn’t break eye contact. “You’re also down there.”
Jerk.
He really has an infuriating type of confidence that can’t be either measured or contained. An asshole through and through.
My phone vibrates before I can give him a piece of my mind.
Vlad.
He wouldn’t call unless it was an emergency. I abandon the glass on the table and stand up. “I have to take this call.”
“Who is it?”
“Work-related.” I leave before he can question me any more.
I round the corner toward a small back terrace and make sure no one is around before I answer. “Is everything all right?”
“No. Rolan called Sergei and told him if he doesn’t retreat, he’ll bring in the Albanians and it’ll be a bloodbath.”
“That fucker.”
“We need to move before they do. The one you mentioned—will he be useful?”
“Yes.”
“Is he someone I know?”
“More than know.”
“Who?”
“Kyle.”
There’s a pause on the other end before he repeats, “Kyle?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later. I have to go back before he suspects me.”
“Are you sure about this, Rai?”
A part of me isn’t, but that part is the same one who cried for the bastard after he left me. That part is the one who’s broken after I listened to Kyle’s plans for my family.
So no, that part won’t handle this.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
I slip my hand in my bag and grab the small bottle of medicine. Drinking wine won’t be the same again for him.
I’ve heard stories about the black widow spider who kills her mate after mating, and I always found it fascinating how she followed her instinct, even if it meant killing her own husband.
I guess we’re the same that way.
8
Kyle
Rai says she’s a bit tired and wants to go home.
I insist on dropping her off even though her guards follow after us. I have developed the habit of not leaving her side. It’s not only a control freak trait. Whenever I do leave her, I feel like something disastrous will happen to her in my absence.
It doesn’t help that I’ve been getting the feeling she’s hiding something from me. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s there in her bright gaze sometimes.
I’ll eventually figure it out even though Rai always has her walls up around me. The fact that she lost her memories doesn’t change her personality.
She doesn’t spare me a glance during the entire ride, focusing on her phone, replying to work emails and whatnot. Her workaholic nature is still the same even with lost memories.
As soon as we stop in front of the house, she climbs out without saying a word.
I follow after and grab her by the arm. She swings around so fast, her hand lays on my chest for balance.
“What?” There’s subtle wariness in her tone that I wouldn’t have noticed if I weren’t so attuned to her physical reaction. It’s almost as if she’s scared, but of what? Who?
I palm her cheek and she remains as still as a statue, her breathing crackling before she whispers, “What is it?”
“Do you remember when I told you there are times when you have to make drastic decisions?”
She gulps, her throat working with the motion. It takes everything in me not to grab her by that throat and kiss the fuck out of her until I bruise her delicate lips. I should really get a fucking trophy for abstaining the past week. Having her by my side and not touching her is bloody blasphemy. However, she’s been weak and doesn’t eat properly, so I will wait until she’s in better shape. Because the next time I fuck her, she’ll be all in like usual.
“I don’t. I have no memories, remember?”
The fucking memories.
I try telling myself I’ll make her learn everything about us and, with time, she’ll remember me, but the fact remains: I loathe this feeling.
I was never a nobody in Rai’s life, not even when we lived continents apart, so being a nobody to her now is like a black hole. With every passing day, that hole gets bigger, wider, deeper, and it’ll eventually drag me to its bottom if I let it.
That’s why I’ve been telling her pieces of my life I didn’t offer before. I’m even mentioning my real parents when everyone else thinks Igor is my father. My logic was simple: if she gets to know me better, maybe she’ll understand my motives and eventually remember me.
“I once said that when you’re cornered and have no way out except if you hurt others, that’s exactly what you should do, Princess.”
“What made you have that philosophy?”
“I’ve been in such a situation before, and I figured the only method to get out of it alive was if I kill my way out. Sure, I could’ve come up with a more traditional method, but that’s not how the world works.”