Page 89 of Heart of a Villain

Holy fuck.

He’d never seen her like this.

In the short time she’d been in Sweden, she was already filling out, moving away from emaciated toward healthy. Like Ayesha, she preferred braided and twisted hairstyles, and though her hair was simply down, it was unbelievably elegant, especially with the way it shaped her face. The makeup around her eyes made them stand out, so his gaze connected with hers the minute she looked his way. Then, she did something reminiscent of his Moroccan Sayeda. She motioned to the dress as if to say, “Can you believe I look this good?”

He sent her two thumbs up.

“Gentlemen,” Gage said, headed for Tayler, “to your stations.”

Adrían walked over to Sayeda. In true Sayeda fashion, she curtsied.

“I’ve been to some fancy clubs in my life, but this is fancy,” she whispered, curling an arm around his.

“Do you see that piece of rock over there?” He pointed to the expensive pillar. “Guess how much it’s worth?”

She tapped her chin. “Um…sixteen thousand dollars.”

“Try ninety million.”

“What? Is it a piece from the Washington Monument or something?”

“Would you like to travel with me to check for a crack or a crumbling spot?”

She rose onto her toes.

He answered the request with a kiss.

“I’ve always wanted this,” she said, sighing. “Me, you. Us. Dating. Like,” she stared at him, the look on her face screaming shy and reluctant when she had zero reasons to be, “a real couple.”

“A couple?” he asked.

“I mean, yeah, why not?” Her fingers slid between his. “You like me. I like you. What do you think?”

“Let me think about it.”

“Oh. Ok?—”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

She nudged his side.

“The cake is here!” Wren announced, entering the VIP area holding a clear cake box with a bow on top.

It had been Joel’s idea to bake a cake that would tell them that they were sisters, like what expectant parents sometimes did to learn the sex of their unborn child. The results hadn’t surprised him—it was now easy to see that Ayesha and Sayeda were related—but he felt as if there was additional information they hadn’t shared just yet.

Wren set the cake on the table and went to take her seat. At the last moment, Thanasis slid to her cushion, and she ended up stumbling onto his lap. He used his hand like a safety bar on a roller coaster, and after several grunts of frustration, she gave up trying to remove herself from his hold.

Joel, seated next to Ayesha, opened the box, revealing a single-layer cake with white frosting and pink rosettes on a tray in the middle.

“Get closer, Sayeda,” he said.

Sayeda motioned to her thigh brushing Ayesha’s. “Closer than this?”

“To the table, tesora.”

“Oh, I like that,” Sayeda said, scooting closer. “What does it mean?”

“Darling. Sweetheart. Pretty much the same thing as…querida.”

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