Page 133 of Rise of the Queen

“Don’t be grumpy, gazelle,” Misha said, trying not to laugh. “We secretly love your hatred for shopping.”

As the elevator doors dinged to announce our arrival, Ivan quickly asked, “Are we sworn to secrecy again this time about your dress?”

“Nope. You can even show him what it looks like. Pretty much everything that happened last time should not happen this time. Just to be safe,” I said.

Ivan smiled at me, but I could feel them all flinch as they thought about the last time I had to wear a formal dress. “Don’t worry, princess. It will be much different this time. I doubt Boss will let go of you the entire night. If he has to, then one of us will be there with you the whole time.” He didn’t say anything else when I looked at him skeptically. He just held his pinky up in front of him. I grinned at him as I grabbed his pinky with mine. Andrei and Misha waited in the elevator with us, each of themmaking a promise, solidified by their own pinky swear, that they wouldn’t leave me alone the entire night.

“I love you guys,” I said, completing the pinky swears with all of them. Andrei stepped in front of me, and Misha was there to pick me up so I could wrap my arms and legs around Andrei. He happily carried me to Adrik’s office so I could ignore everyone looking at me.

“You do know that everyone will be looking at you at that fundraiser, right?” Andrei asked quietly as we walked from the elevator to the office.

“Don’t remind me. I haven’t figured out how I’m going to handle that yet,” I said.

“We’ll protect you,” Andrei said, squeezing my legs as we walked into Adrik’s office.

He looked up as we walked in, his handsome smile stretching across his face as he saw Andrei carrying me. Andrei stopped and set me down so I could go to Adrik, who stood up to come to me. “You’re not cursing, so I take that as a good sign that you found something quickly,” he said, his lips finding mine.

“I did find something and it was relatively painless, so no cursing. Yet,” I said, grinning at him.

“Am I to be kept in the dark this time as well?” he asked. He was visibly curious as to what I found.

“Nope. Ivan can show you, even. They all saw it. I’m actually kind of nervous that you’ll be mad so maybe you should see it because I might have to get a different one if you veto this one,” I said.

He looked at Ivan, raising his eyebrow. I could tell those two were having a silent conversation, as I could feel Adrik bristle at the thought of being mad over the dress I chose. Adrik looked at what Ivan showed him, turning back to me. I could feel his desire for me come on very strongly. He did laugh softly at me.“I do love that you’re worried about my opinion, but you’re so incredibly tasteful and classy that I don’t think it’s possible for you to make me angry with your wardrobe choices. It’s perfect, solnishko.”

“Don’t say that. I’m going to take it as a challenge and try to prove you wrong,” I said, grinning at him. He pressed his lips to mine.

“Somehow, I think I will win that bet,” he said, smiling against my lips.

The fundraiser was at Battista’s hotel. He was once again back in the city, so he was also going to be in attendance. Vitaliy had somehow managed to allow himself to be talked into coming as well. It made me feel slightly more comfortable knowing his guys would be there as well. I was trying to stay calm, but it was proving difficult.

I once again enlisted the help of Ms. Jackson for my hair and makeup. She enjoyed it so much that she asked me to please go to more formal functions so she could do it more often.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed this part of being a spy, child,” she said as she was working on my hair.

“You enjoy all this work?” I asked.

“It’s not work if you enjoy it, now is it?” she said, smiling at me. “Part of being a spy is pretending you’re someone else. Looking the part is most of that. It became a bit of a game, I guess. A dangerous game, but a game nonetheless.”

She told more stories about her time as a spy as she put the finishing touches on me. Just as she had helped me get intothe dress and put my shoes on, there was a knock on her door. “That’ll be the guys. Probably all of them again because they couldn’t decide who should come get me,” I said to her. I knew it was all of them, but I needed it to sound like I guessed.

“Oh my. It’s been too long since I’ve laid my eyes on this many handsome men in tuxedos,” she said as she opened her door.

I laughed. “This is really why you want me to go to more formal functions. So you can see them all dressed up.”

She turned to look at me. “Do not ruin my dreams,” she said very seriously.

“We’re still waiting on an invite to Bingo, Ms. Jackson,” Ivan said, winking at her.

Ms. Jackson blushed as I walked toward the door. “Thank you, Ms. Jackson, for once again making me look marvelous,” I said, leaning down to give her a hug.

“Child, if you haven’t figured out by now that I’m just highlighting your best traits, then I don’t know how to help you understand,” she said, smiling at me. “Now, get out of here so I can watch these fine gentlemen walk down the hallway.”

We all laughed as I slid my arm through Ivan’s as we walked to the elevator. Once the doors closed behind us, Misha said, “I’m beginning to think she only thinks of me as a piece of meat.” He paused, then added, “I’m strangely fine with that.”

Vitaliy had come to the penthouse with all of his men and was waiting with Adrik for us to come upstairs. They were all standing near the door when we walked in. They all stopped and turned to us as we walked in. My eyes landed on Adrik immediately and I tried to focus on him, leaving everyone else out of the picture.

He’d already seen the dress, but seeing it in person made it better for him. I’d left my contacts out specifically so I could show him that the dress matched my eyes when they turned bluefor him. As I got closer and he could see my eyes were blue, it was obvious that he’d made the connection.

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