Page 4 of Inked Adonis

“Studded leather?” I repeat, trying to beat away images of handcuffs and bondage rope and a tall, broad figure stalking closer and closer… “Oh, I won’t need to resort to that. Rufus is a good boy. I save the whips and chains for the bad ones.”

“In that case, do you have a collar in my size?”

Warning sirens blare in my head.Flirting detected. Abort mission.

It makes zero sense. Men who look like him don’t flirt with women who look like me. I run the calculations, searching for any other way to interpret his words combined with that devastating dimple. I come up empty.

I swallow past my thundering heart lodged in my throat. “If you’re asking for private training, I’ll have to check my calendar. But you seem well-mannered from where I’m standing.”

“Clearly, you don’t know me very well.” He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a sleek black business card. “Here. Just in case you find some room in your calendar.”

I take the card, staring at the slanting gold words embossed into the thick paper.

SAMUIL LITVINOV: CEO, Litvinov Group

“Do you want me to walk your dog?” I blurt out. “Or you?”

I expect him to snatch the card back, to realize he’s made a terrible mistake in wasting perfectly good cardstock on a woman who can’t control one horny Great Dane. Instead, he gives me a laugh that slides down my spine like warm honey. “I guess you’ll have to call me to find out, Ms...?”

“Nova. Nova Pierce.”

“Nova,” he murmurs, and fuck me if my name hasn’t ever sounded like that before—like dark chocolate and broken promises. “It was an unexpected pleasure meeting you today.”

He takes a step back. Rufus lets out a pathetic whimper.

Relatable.I have to bite back a whimper of my own.

“Be a good boy, Rufus. But maybe not too good.” Those Arctic eyes catch mine one last time, burning with something thatmakes my toes curl in my ratty sneakers. “Bad dogs have all the fun.”

2

NOVA

“You should have seen your face!” Hope is holding her sides as she laughs, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Like your brain short-circuited the moment his crotch entered your personal space.”

“If it was anything like your face when you saw him, I’m sure it was hilarious.” I snatch the leashes out of her hand and take off striding down Michigan Avenue like I’m being chased by my bad decisions. “The difference is you didn’t humiliate yourself in front of him. Where did you go, anyway? You abandoned me.”

She catches up, wiping tears from her eyes. “I didn’t want to interrupt that adorable meet-cute.”

“That was not a meet-cute. It was a scene from an HR training tape on sexual harassment.” I glare at Rufus, who’s trotting forlornly at my side, still missing his new friend.

Samuel Litvinov. I feel his business card burning in my back pocket.

“He liked you.”

Even as my heart does a pitiful little flip at the idea, I cough out a laugh. “He was being civil, which is a miracle in and of itself. He should’ve called the police.”

“Exactly! He had his leg humped by a Great Dane, Nova! And not only was he a perfect gentleman about it, but he gave you his card because…” She waits for me to finish the thought, but does it herself when I just stare blankly back at her. “Because he liked you, you absolute potato!”

I bite my bottom lip. “I don’t know about that.”

“Hand me his card.”

White-knuckling the leashes, I fish the card from my pocket. The moment it leaves my fingers, I want to snatch it back.

Hope’s perfectly groomed brows shoot up at the thick cardstock and gold embossing. “Ooh, fancy.” Then she reads the card, and her eyes bulge out of their sockets. “Oh my God!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

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