Page 7 of Surrogate for the Bratva
I lowered my gun, happy I didn’t have to shoot since the revolver was empty. “Ugh, whatever. And I wasn’t shooting at you.” I kept my finger on the trigger just to keep him at a distance. “You can go away now, I’m no threat to you.”
Like every other man I’d ever met, he didn’t listen. Rather than retreating, he advanced in my direction.
“Hey, are you okay?” he called out.
“Stay where you are,” I said but the effect was ruined by my shaky voice. “Stay,” I tried again and raised the gun.
He came even closer, and I took a step back, stumbled and righted myself.
“Careful,” he said. He stopped, his hands on his hips and I took a long moment to take in the sight of him. He was tall, over six feet with broad shoulders and what looked to be powerful thighs under his expensive looking suit. He had dark brown hair that he wore slicked back like he was one of those powerful corporate types. His clear blue eyes looked otherworldly against his slightly tanned skin. He wasn’t just good-looking, he was gorgeous.
“I’m always careful,” I shot back with a hint of attitude.
“Yeah, it’s very careful to shoot into an open area.”
I folded my arms. “I thought I was alone.” I turned my face to the sky and shouted silently. I couldn’t even get alone time out here in the middle of an abandoned mansion.Thanks a lot universe.“You can go back to whatever it was you were doing before you interrupted me.”
His brows knitted in concern, “I will but are you sure you’re okay.”
“I said I was fine.”
His nostrils flared, “I’m trying to be nice, lady.”
“Nice,” I snorted. “Do nice guys run around strapped these days?”
He arched a brow and dammit it made him even more handsome.Don’t get distracted by a pretty face, April. You don’t know this guy.
“Maybe they do. I’m not a member of any nice guy organizations so I can’t say with certainty.”
“Funny.” I took a step back and pointed my finger at him. “Don’t try anything funny.”
A slow smile split his face and if I thought he was gorgeous when he scowled, the man was utter perfection when he smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I refused to be distracted by a man who carried a gun. “What are you doing out here?” In all the years I came out here I never saw another soul.
“Thinking. I own this property now. You?”
I shrugged. “Same.”
He took another step forward and then another. “What are you thinking about?”
Seriously? Since when do men ask so many questions, especially the dreadedwhat are you thinking? “You don’t have to ask that.”
His smile slipped. “I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Look, I appreciate you trying to be a good guy, it’s actually refreshing, but you don’t really care.”
“I also don’t like people telling me how I feel.” He was serious and there was a hint of something dark and dangerousinside those cold blue eyes. “You can tell me. We are strangers and I’m told that makes things like this easier.”
I sucked in a deep breath and debated with myself on whether or not I should dump years’ worth of crap on this complete stranger—armed stranger—simply because he’s being nice and stubborn. Or if I should brush him off. By the time I exhaled, a long river of words rode that breath out. “Everything is wrong. My brother’s sick, he has cystic fibrosis and it’s only getting worse by the day and now they tell me that he might need a lung transplant which might as well cost a billion dollars for as much as it costs and I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. I could sell our family home, but I don’t want to do that because well, I just don’t and it sucks and my brother is in the hospital now and he’s trying to put on a brave face for me, which I appreciate but it only highlights that even he knows how shit this situation is.” I was breathless when I finished, and I realized what I’d done.
His handsome face was filled with shock.
“Bet you wished you’d never asked now.”
Could this day get any worse, or weirder?
Chapter Six
