Page 15 of Wicked Proposal
… Did I seriously just land in a car with the most dangerous one of them all?
6
MIA
Shut up, Mia.
Just shut up. Pretend you know nothing.
Otherwise, you’ll be the one in the acid bath, right next to poor Boyan.
But I’m freaking out as the car stops.
As Maksim announces, “We’re here.”
As Yulian steps around to open my door, takes my hand, unfolds me from the backseat.
His eyes stay riveted on me. Grayer than gray, stormy, intent. Like he’s testing me.
Is she dumb enough to run? To flag down cops?
But I know better than that.
I worked so hard to run away from men like him. To leave it all in the rearview mirror for good. I’m not going to get sucked in again—not for all the money in the world.
But as I think about sprinting for the closest exit while screaming like a chicken with my head cut off, I remember Eli’s shoes.
If I do this, I can take him to the store first thing tomorrow.
I can watch his little face light up again, bright like Christmas lights.
All I have to do is get through tonight.
And for him, for my boy, my little angel, I’ll do anything.
Even make a deal with the devil himself.
So I take a deep breath, look at Yulian, flash a smile, and step through the white-lilied arch of the wedding venue.
The cameras keep flashing. Yulian’s hand stays planted firmly on my lower back, steering me up the marble steps.
I don’t like it there, in large part because it makes me feel giddy and sweaty and all too aware of how huge he is next to me, how good he smells, how intimidating he looks.
But I can’t exactly swat it away in front of the whole paparazzi army, so I just deal with it.
I plaster on the fakest smile I can muster, wave like the freaking Queen of England, and wait for the venue to swallow us up.
“Can you take your hand off my ass now?” I hiss through my teeth.
Without a word, Yulian obliges.
Just like that, a chill snakes down my spine. I’m cold again as soon as he’s not touching me. Lost. Unmoored.
As much as I hated his hand being there, I hate it being gone even more. It’s so unbelievably dumb that my body reacts like this. My own biology despises me.
But then again, I guess it always had a thing for bad boys, huh?
Whether I liked it or not.
