Stunned, I found myself nodding.
He snatched up the cufflinks. “Wait here.”
When he returned, I watched him count out the cash, swallowing as the stack got higher and higher. It would have taken me half a year to earn this much in tips at my crappy bar job. In a daze, I filled out the necessary paperwork before shoving the money and pawn slip into my Hello Kitty purse. Silly me, thinking an expensive pair of cufflinks would be worth about seven hundred and fifty bucks and wouldn’t be missed.
I wonder what kind of punishment you got for stealing eleven thousand dollars from a man like Vaska Rostov?
Chapter 5
Vaska
I reached for the leather-wrapped steering wheel and noticed my loose cuff. I patted my palm over the inner pocket of my suit jacket and found nothing; I must have left my cufflinks on Mary’s vanity. If Dimitri hadn’t been waiting for me at the warehouse to take care of a pressing issue with the Petrov brothers, I would have turned around. I could definitely think of worse ways to spend a morning than in Mary’s bed. I shifted in my seat. Damn, just the thought of that woman and I was already getting hard.
Something about this morning was—different, unusual. There was this clawing feeling in my chest that something in my life had just changed, shifted unexpectedly. It wasn’t a sense of doom, but rather a sense of… something. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was like that crackle of energy you feel in the air just before a thunderstorm. You have this primal sense that something is about to happen. That pressure was building and about to be released in a ball of energy and chaos.
I chuckled. A ball of energy and chaos. What a perfect way to describe Mary. She practically hummed with sensual energy kept barely in check by a chaotic contradiction of innocence and sin.
It wasn’t surprising that I’d fucked a beautiful woman within moments of meeting her. Most men were bumbling idiots who didn’t know how to talk to—or handle—a woman. I wasn’t most men. I knew what they wanted to hear, what they craved. I could read them like a book and give them precisely what they desired. Yet, this time was different. Mary was different.
For the first time in my life, I wanted to stay in bed with a woman after I’d satisfied us both. And it wasn’t just so that I could fuck her again once my cock recovered, although I certainly would have. It was something more dangerous. I wanted to hold her. Cuddle her close and watch her sleep. I wanted to press my hand to her heart and feel it beat while I listened to the soft sounds of her breathing.
Never in my life had I craved intimacy with a woman like I did with Mary. It made little sense. I had literally never laid eyes on the woman before this morning, and suddenly I was fighting the urge to ditch the condom and ride her bareback, something I’d never done in my life since I’d lost my virginity at fourteen to a very willing teacher. I hated having even a thin piece of rubber between us.
I drove up to the window at the drive-thru Starbucks.
The woman at the counter giggled as she handed me the two large black coffees.
I winked back, which only made her giggle more as her cheeks reddened. She was pretty in that suburban American blonde sort of way.
As I drove off, I reached for one of the coffee cups and noticed a phone number and the name Alice with a heart over the ‘i.’
I shook my head. The only thing women loved more than a bad boy was a bad boy with money. Between my expensive car, suits, and tattoos, I fit the fantasy better than most. Any other time, I would have turned the car around and coaxed her out of that green apron and into my car for a quick blowjob, but not today. My brow furrowed as I realized I wasn’t interested. You’d think it was because I’d just fucked my brains out not an hour earlier, but that had never stopped me before.
It wasn’t thoughts of a cute skinny blonde that played across my mind, but rather a feisty brunette with full pink lips, indigo blue eyes, and curves that could bring a man to his knees.
I parked behind Dimitri’s Mercedes, which was still a few blocks away from the warehouse, and reached for the brown coffee tray before stepping out. As I walked to our meeting location, I thought again of Mary. Fuck. This could get complicated. From what I could see, Dimitri had more than a passing interest in her roommate, Emma. I’d known him since our school days, and the man had never before installed a security system in a woman’s apartment as a gift. Jewelry, flowers, even a car once, all yes, but a security system? No. Jewelry said I want to fuck you. A security system said I care about you… and I want to fuck you.
I sighed. It would probably be for the best if I kept my encounter with Mary under wraps for now. Strolling into the warehouse, I extended my arm, offering him a coffee. He snatched it up with what I could only describe as a snarl. “What has you in such a foul mood?” I asked before taking a sip of the hot, bitter brew.
He lifted the lid of his coffee before responding. “I left a warm bed to deal with these two morons.”
Setting my coffee to the side, I put my car keys in my pocket and rubbed my hands together. It was cold as balls in this empty warehouse, but it couldn’t be avoided. This wasn’t exactly the corporate office conference room type of meeting this morning, not with our business.
When you dealt in illegal arms, desolate warehouses and empty airport hangars were usually your office. Today we had a meeting with the idiot Petrov brothers. The morons were trying to palm off some counterfeit guns on us. Not only were they pissing in our backyard, but they were flooding the market with poorly made knockoffs, which was bad for business.
Casting a glance in Dimitri’s direction, I flat-out lied to my best friend. “At least yours wasn’t empty,” I complained, which wasn’t entirely untrue, since technically I had slept alone in my cold bed last night. It was this morning in Mary’s bed that had warmed me up.
Dimitri laughed. “Karina mad at you again?”
Karina was a rather problematic high-end escort I often hired. I wasn’t exactly the boyfriend type, so escorts made life easy, usually, but Karina was nothing but bullshit drama. She had a habit of getting shitfaced drunk and throwing things like knives.
I sighed. “I’m getting too old for this shit. At first it was fun but now… hell, I don’t know.”
That part was at least true. I used to think women like Karina added some fun and excitement to my life, but after this morning I realized it was all just negative energy drama. The genuine excitement was the kind that came from being with a firebrand like Mary. A woman with spirit and intelligence.
Dimitri clasped me around the neck. “If we are to get old, we will get old together, my friend, and thanks for overseeing that task this morning.”
I turned slightly away so my intuitive friend could not read my expression. “Actually, I should be thanking you. That roommate of hers is something else.”
“You and she would probably get along. She shares your taste in cheap liquor.”
Oh, we definitely got along.
And she certainly shared my taste in something—kinky-as-fuck, mind-blowing sex.
Changing the subject, I said, “Let’s get this over with. There’s a rare steak and a bottle of Chianti with our name on it at Gibson’s.”
He checked his watch. “They’re late.”