Page 14 of Mountain Daddy

The main room.

Empty.

The balcony.

Empty.

He's gone.

Back in the bedroom, I notice a folded piece of paper on the nightstand I didn’t notice before. I open it with trembling fingers.

Five words in elegant script:I'll be in touch. -N

I should feel used. Should feel angry. Instead, I press the note to my chest and smile.

Whatever this was—one night stand, terrible mistake—it was the best sex of my life. And deep down, I know I'll see him again.

Sinner or saint, I'm already addicted to Nikolai Vetrov.

4

LILLY

One week.

Seven days of pretending I'm fine.

Seven days of serving drinks to men not him.

Seven days of waiting for a text that never came.

I never gave him my number. But Nikolai Vetrov is the kind of man who doesn’t need permission to get what he wants.

He said he’d be in touch. He didn’t call. Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe I was just a good fuck. A body. A fix.

I shouldn’t care. It was a one-night stand. Sometimes, a little random sex is all a girl needs.

I should leave it at that.

But every time a six-foot-three man walks through that door, my heart gets whiplash.

It’s never him.

I'm wiping down tables in the main dining area when Trish calls to me.

“Table 9 needs service.”

My stomach drops through the floor. Bratva hangout. Last time I walked into that corner, sin hung her head in shame.

“Can't someone else?—”

“He asked for you specifically.”

He. He’s back.

My heart stutters, then sprints.

I glance toward the VIP section and my breath catches. There he is. Nikolai Vetrov, looking like the devil himself.

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