Page 48 of Twilight Sins

I stroke my thumb over the back of his, sparks trailing my touch. “Thank you for telling me that, Yakov.”

“You like hearing tragic stories?”

“I like getting to know you,” I correct softly. “There’s so much more I don’t know, but if you say that the information is dangerous for me, I’ll try to respect that. It’s hard for me to trust people—to trust men, especially. But I don’t think you’d ever hurt me.”

Without really meaning to, I lean closer. Our knees touch, my leg slipping between his. My heart is hammering so hard it’s difficult to catch my breath. “Would you?”

He looks up and there’s a gold sunburst hidden in the green streaking through his eyes. I lean even closer to get a better look.

Suddenly, he grabs my chin. The rough pad of his thumb brushes across my lower lip. I release a shaky exhale as his finger hooks under my jaw. He tilts my face up like he’s studying me, admiring me from every angle.

I watch as the lightness in his eyes goes dark. His grip tightens until I whimper. I feel his breath against my cheek as he says, “Someone always gets hurt.”

Without another word, Yakov lets me go and walks out of the dining room.

18

YAKOV

The bar is a grimy heap of wood huddled in the shadow of a new construction apartment building. It looks like a trash pile the crew forgot to toss out, which makes sense. This is exactly the kind of place I’d expect someone like Benjamin “Benjy” Bauer to waste his time.

It wasn’t hard to find Luna’s ex-boyfriend. The morning after our date, I had my personal private investigator look him up. I could have asked Nikandr, but this isn’t exactly Bratva business. Besides, the last thing I need is Nik thinking there’s more to this thing between me and Luna than there is.

I don’t like worthless men who abuse women they shouldn’t have even been breathing the same air as. It’s as simple as that.

Music thumps out of the rattling windows, but the door hasn’t swung in or out in thirty minutes. I’m tempted to go inside and find Benjy myself, but I’d rather handle him in the parking lot. If by some miracle this bar has a security system, it won’t see shit in the gloom.

So I drum my fingers on my steering wheel and wait.

When I left Luna in the dining room and hopped in my car, I expected the energy simmering under my skin to fade. It was just a chemical reaction, anyway. A knee-jerk response to the way she held my hand and tried to comfort me.

I don’t think you’d ever hurt me. Would you?

She shouldn’t have to ask a question like that. I wanted to kill any and every man who even put that thought in her head.

Worse—for a second, I thought maybe I could be the kind of man who wouldn’t hurt her. When she slid close to me, her blue eyes searing and hopeful, I wondered what it would be like to be the kind of man Luna needs.

There’s no chance of that, though. The more I let Luna in, the more likely it is that she gets hurt.

I’ll never be that man for her. But I can be the one who makes sure the ghosts from her past never come back to haunt her.

The bar’s front door opens. Pale orange light slices across the gravel parking lot. Two people step out, swaying slightly. The couple kisses in the doorway, silhouetted against the bright interior.

When they pull apart, the woman cuts to the right, but not before the guy slaps her ass. Hard.

“Knock it off, Benjy.” She giggles and sashays away while he stares after her.

Benjy leans against the building and watches her rusted-out sedan pull out of the lot. A second later, I see the glowing tip of his cigarette.

I barely feel my feet on the ground as I climb out of my car and walk towards him.

“That your girlfriend?” I ask casually.

“Huh?” He flicks ashes on the ground and looks up at me. “Oh. Her? No. No, just some bitch I fuck around with.”

My molars grind together. “That’s right. Your girlfriend’s at home, isn’t she?”

I can only see one side of his face in the ambient light coming from the single blacked-out window into the bar. But it’s enough. He squints at me, his face creased in confusion.

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