Page 59 of Bloody Lace

“Who are you going to lunch with? It should be a simple question.”

“You’re going to make me late,” she snaps, and I chuckle. I have no problem keeping her pinned up against this door for as long as I need to. The only problem might be how much having her this close to me is turning me on.

“Then answer me.”

“Oh, my fucking god.” She glares up at me, her jaw tight. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to fight with you about it. But we’re fighting anyway, so fine.” Evelyn purses her lips, clearly still unwilling to come out with it. “I’m getting lunch with Nicci.”

The answer is so unexpected that it takes me aback, stunning me into silence for a second. Evelyn notices, and a gleeful lookmomentarily flashes over her face, as if she’s enjoying having caught me off guard. “There,” she says sweetly. “Is that all you needed to know? Can I leave now,husband?”

Something about that word on her lips jolts through me. It should be meaningless, empty, just like our marriage is. It shouldn’t make me feel anything. But a wave of satisfaction rolls over me when she says it, a hot, possessive feeling writhing through my chest, and it takes everything in me to resist the urge to kiss her, to pin her to the door and fuck her the way herhusbandshould.

Instead, I lean back slightly, looking down at her as I keep her caged in with my arms on either side of her. “Why the fuck would you get lunch with her?”

“She texted me. Said she wanted to apologize for what happened at the party in person. It seemed a little odd to me, but maybe she just needs closure so she can move on from whatever you two…had.” Evelyn waves a hand between us, and I frown.

Something feels off about this to me, too, but in a more dangerous way than just a woman behaving oddly. It feels like something is wrong, something that we need to be cautious of, and I shake my head sharply.

“I don’t like it. I don’t want you to go.”

Evelyn snorts. “Good thing it’s not your call then.Move.”

“No.” I brace myself, glaring down at her, and that snapping, hot anger fills her eyes again.

“You don’t fucking control me. I’m taking my bodyguard, the way you want me to. If I want to go get lunch with your ex to clear the air, there’s no fucking reason for me not to.”

“It could be something more than lunch. It could be?—”

“What? What could it be, Dimitri?” Evelyn glares up at me. “I know this life has made you paranoid, but I don’t want to live that way. I’m following your rule about security. It’slunch.What is she going to do, gun me down in the middle of a French bistro?”

That’s not Nicci’s style. But I think she’s up to something. I didn’t get to know her well, but I spent enough time with her to be fairly certain that she’s not the forgiving type. I don’t believe for a second that she really wants to see Evelyn because she wants to apologize and make up.

There’s some other play here. I’m not sure that I think it’s anything that’s actually dangerous, but I do think it won’t play out in Evelyn’s favor. And I find that I dislike the idea of her being humiliated, of her getting her feelings hurt, just as badly as I dislike the idea of any physical harm coming to her.

“I don’t want you to go,” I repeat, softening my voice just a little. “Just—listen to me, Evelyn?—”

It’s the wrong thing to say. Her eyes flare with a sharp, snapping defiance, and she twists away, grabbing for the doorknob and yanking it open. The jolt of the door against us both throws me off just enough to make me shift to one side, and Evelyn takes full advantage of it, ducking under my arm and into the opening of the door.

“I swear, Evelyn Yashkova, I will tie you to that bed?—”

“It’s still Ashburn,” she flings back, as she ducks out into the hall. “I haven’t changed it yet. And I dare you to fucking try it.”

I throw the door open, intending to follow her out into the hall, but she’s already in the elevator, Gus just behind her. She glares at me as the doors shut, and the look on her face is so stubbornly defiant that I half expect her to flip me off before they fully close.

I run my hands through my hair, somehow furious and turned on in equal measure by my stubborn, frustrating wife.

She’s going to be the death of me before this is all over, I feel sure of it.

22

EVELYN

“You shouldn’t piss him off so much.”

I glance sideways at Gus, who is standing stiffly at one side of the elevator, looking none too happy with this entire situation. “Youcannotbe on his side.”

He cuts a look my way. “I can, actually. He’s my boss. And he’s also thepakhan’s son. If I screw up, it’s my ass. Ifyouscrew up, and I don’t stop the fallout, it’s my ass.”

I swallow hard, feeling that jolt of guilt again. I haven’t forgotten Dimitri telling me that Gus’s punishment for letting me leave without a bodyguard could have been a bullet. It's a stark reminder of how very different this world is that I’ve stepped into, and how different the rules are. How much more violent it all is.

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