Page 98 of Blood Mosaic

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been asking questions.”

“Maybe,” Tatyana said. “But you were mated to Luana and?—”

“If you, for example, wanted to become a vampire, I would never turn you, Tatyana Vorona.” His eyes traveled down her body. “Then I would never be able to taste your lovely breasts.”

Turning the conversation toward the provocative meant Oleg was finished with the subject of his dead mate and his daughter.

“Not to worry.” She smiled. “I have no interest in becoming a vampire.”

“Hmm.” The corner of his mouth ticked up. “You would make a good one. You are practical.” His eyes met hers. “And you bite.”

Tatyana felt like Oleg had spread his fire over her skin. “Last night, when we?—”

“Not the time to speak of such things.” He kept his voice low. “Not with so many ears in this house. Many of the people here were hired by Zara.”

Tatyana’s entire body felt hot. “Do you think some of them still speak to her?”

“Not willingly, but she knows who they are, which means she might try to use them.”

“Why didn’t you fire them?”

“You would have me put a seventy-year-old gardener out of work because my daughter hired him? You are even more practical than I thought.”

“No.” How did he turn things around on her so quickly? “I only meant?—”

“I know what you meant, and you’re not wrong. But I haven’t spent time in this house since Luana died. Choosing staff was not a high priority.”

She looked down at her spreadsheets and her notes before she looked back at Oleg. “Do you think Zara would care that we were lovers?”

Oleg’s smirk turned into a smile. “We’re not lovers yet,” he whispered. “That was just a little taste.” He winked at her, andin the blink of an eye, he rose and was walking toward the door. “We need to return to Odesa tonight. You should get your work things together, but leave whatever personal items in your room that you would like. That suite is yours now. I’ll instruct the night manager to give you a key.”

Tatyana had the feeling she was teetering on a bicycle that had started rolling down a hill. “I don’t need a key to your house. And I’m not leaving anything here. I already have a house in Sevastopol.”

Oleg turned when he reached the door and spread his arms. “And now you have the use of a second. I’ve already called the pilots. Be ready to leave at nine.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

While they were flying back to Odesa, Oleg read through the report Tatyana had prepared, but most of it was gibberish to him.

Planning an armed assault on a river fortress with a dozen vampires, a few human soldiers, and eliminating his enemies before dawn? That was well within his skill set.

Interpreting the intricacies of twenty-first-century banking was not.

“Mika.”

“He’s already in Odesa, boss.”

Oleg glanced up and realized that the only people on the plane were him, Seban, and Tatyana. “Right.”

Seban asked, “You need anything from the galley?”

“No.” Oleg turned to Tatyana, who was sitting in the back row of seats nearest the Faraday cage. “What is a cryptocurrency?”

“Oh…” She glanced at Seban, then back to Oleg. “Um, how much do you know about blockchain?”

“Nothing.”

“Then this is going to take a while to explain,” she murmured.

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