His head snapped to the right, and he found himself eye-to-eye with Elena. She had both her arms wrapped around his, clinging tightly, her feet set in an attempt to hold him back.
“That’s enough,” she said, her voice low and controlled, expression beseeching. “Please…”
Fear glimmered in her eyes. She was scared—not of him, but of what he’d do to the man who’d dared to touch her.
“He is pig,” Evgeni hissed. “Need taught a lesson.”
“I don’t want you to go to jail!”
“I don’t give fuck about jail,” he scoffed. He’d be out in an hour, thanks to his connections. That’s if they bothered to take him in at all.
“I do! Please, Evgeni, just let it go!”
She tugged at his arm insistently. The look on her face—worried and pinched, her eyes glistening with the threat of tears—prompted him to release his hold on the younger man. He let him fall to the floor and slowly stood up straight. Elena’s shoulders slumped with relief, one of her hands sliding down to entwine her fingers with his.
“Come on,” she coaxed, taking a step back and tightening her hold on his hand. “Please, just come sit back down.”
Evgeni curled his fingers around hers as he allowed her to pull him away from the unconscious man and the friends now circling his body.
“Get that fuck out of here!” Evgeni commanded, making people in the immediate vicinity jump and clear a path. As Elena led him back to his table, he glanced over his shoulder, satisfied to see the drunk was being slung over a friend’s shoulder and carried from the bar. “Piece of shit.”
At Elena’s urging, he sat down, still glowering as he picked up his lighter and cigarettes.
“Are you okay?” She made a grab for his hand when he was halfway to lighting a cigarette, and he grunted as she inspected his knuckles for damage. “Do you need some ice or something?”
“Is fine, Elena. You are okay?”
“I’m fine. He was just drunk.” She offered him a tentative smile. “Thank you, by the way.”
“Drunk is no excuse.” When she released his hand, he went back to lighting his cigarette. “Is not acceptable.”
He took a deep drag, pulling the smoke into his lungs and letting it filter through the tissue as he studied her. She was still shaken, but she looked steadier now. She was considering something, though, thinking.
“What?”
She shook her head, still smiling softly. “Nothing, Evgeni. Really. Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah, go on. Off with you.” He waved her away with a half-hearted gesture, sighing as he forced himself to lighten his tone. “Bring more vodka next trip, da?”
“Sure, no problem!”
He brooded as he watched her retreat, flexing his hand against the dull throb still radiating through his fingers. He didn’t usually lose his self-control so easily. It was an annoyance, to say the least.
The truth was it wasn’t the man’s inappropriate behavior that had set him off. Evgeni wasn’t a knight in shining armor; he didn’t give two shits what anyone else did, as long as it didn’t affect him. But the man had made the mistake of touching her, and that was unacceptable.
Her fault, his little American girl, with her big blue eyes and perfect, fuckable body. The urge to kiss her, touch her, brand her—erase all traces of the foul memory of that man touching her, touching what was his—was almost stronger than he could bear. Would he be able to resist?
He wasn’t sure.
Chapter Six
Elena folded her arms tight over her chest and scrunched her shoulders against the wind, but it didn’t help. Her winter coat from home just didn’t cut it. The cold here was on a whole different level. She was going to have to invest in something a little more… Russian.
She was only a block from the bar when she started regretting her decision to walk instead of spending the money on a cab. What had seemed like a short six-block hike from the warmth of the bar now felt like a frigid climb she wouldn’t complete without losing a few fingers or toes.
The telltale crunch of tires on the packed snow had Elena glancing over her shoulder, squinting against the lights of a car. The only car, to be more specific; no one else in their right mind was out this late. They were all home, warm and toasty next to the radiator.
As she watched the vehicle slow to match her progress, Elena wished she was too.
She tried to ignore the vehicle, veering out of the shoveled path at the center of the sidewalk to stomp through the snow piled up close to the buildings’ walls. The farther away from the street she was, the better. Elena heard the whining protest of an old-fashioned window crank turning glass down and braced herself for the catcalling she assumed would come. Growing up in the middle of a busy city, she knew you were five times more likely to get whistled at than asked if you needed help.
“Elena!”
She startled at the familiar bark of Evgeni’s voice, her stride slowing as she glanced warily toward the vehicle.
He was leaning into the passenger seat, staring out at her as he eased the car down the road. “What you doing, crazy girl?”
Though his tone was casual, it felt a little like he was chastising her.
“I missed the bus, so I’m walking home?”
She pointed down the street, resuming her trek as she tried to feign ignorance. She suspected his question was loaded, but she wasn’t about to admit it.
“Why you not call cab?”
“It seemed silly. It’s not that long of a walk.”
“Is not safe to walk in middle of night alone. You do this at home? Walk alone in dark?”
Elena rolled her eyes, unable to keep from smiling at the change in his voice. He was scolding her, just like an old man. “If I need to get somewhere, yeah. I thought Moscow was supposed to be one of the safest cities in Russia. I have pepper spray and a knife. What’s the problem?”
He cursed, the wheels of his car spinning as he hit the gas. It slid in the snow, snaking back and forth on the slick road as he pulled ahead a few dozen feet. She slowed down again as he got out of his car and stormed around the front end, a handsome giant in a wool peacoat.
Evgeni stopped in front of her on the sidewalk, his breath puffing out in an agitated cloud. He tucked a gloved finger beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
“Nowhere is safe when you are so pretty as you, solnyshko. Nowhere. You understand? What if man from earlier follow you from bar?”
Elena forced herself to frown, hoping to smother the smile he’d inspired with his backhanded compliment. He was being serious. She could tell by how his forehead wrinkled with worry. Smiling at him would give the wrong message.
“He isn’t following anyone anywhere, Evgeni. He’s in bed somewhere recovering. But I promise I’ll be careful.”
“You get in the car, that is what you do,” he countered, unmoved by her attempt to dismiss his concerns. “I take you home.”
She circled his wrist with her fingers, trying to sway him with the distraction of pushing his hand away from her chin. “Really, Evgeni. I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.”
He pointed at her, not even bothering to shake off her hold as his eyes narrowed with menace she hadn’t expected to see. Elena swallowed hard, rooted to the spot.