by Amber Bardan
“Emma—” Haithem interrupted.
“Yeah?” I closed both eyes.
“Are you trying to ask if you can go to the gala instead of Angelina?”
I peeked down at the ground between my fingers. “I mean, I’m not angling to be your date or anything inappropriate, we’re friends aren’t we, and I thought maybe—”
“Do you want to go to the gala, Emma?”
“Yes.” I sighed. “Yes, I really, really want to go to the gala.”
To the ten-thousand-dollar-a-head gala dinner. I was a terrible, terrible person. My friends might be disgustingly rich, but that didn’t mean I had the right to ride their coattails or accept handouts.
“No problem, be ready to be picked up at five thirty on Friday.”
“Thank you, Haithem,” I said, and fell back onto the carpet.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “But next time you need something, I expect you to come right out and ask.”
“Sure, of course I will.” Maybe. “Thanks so much. Say hi to Angelina for me.”
“Bye, Emma.”
The phone went silent and I dropped it over my shoulder, then scruffed my hands across my face. That wasn’t so bad.
And Friday was going to be my day.
* * *
“Did you get the photo?” I asked into the phone while fastening a necklace with one hand at the back of my neck.
“Yes, and like I told you in my message, you look smoking as always.”
I navigated a path through boxes I still had no idea where to store after I handed back the keys to this place on Monday, then stood in front of the mirror. There was no denying my dress was—well, comparatively cheap compared to everyone else who’d be there. But it was hot, and fit like a glove. So points for that.
“Thanks, but is it classy hot, or hot like maybe some guy’s going to offer to pay me?”
“That depends on the attitude you’re accessorizing—” Angelina squeaked and a deep voice rumbled behind her.
“Is that Haithem?”
The doorbell chimed. I frowned in the direction of the front door. “Is he still in Melbourne with you?”
“Gotta go, babe.” The line clicked and went silent.
I slid the phone into my clutch, tucked it under my arm, hopped over a box toward the door and tugged it open. Emilio, Haithem’s bodyguard, waited, a slick pair of dark glasses wrapped around his eyes.
“Hi.” I propped the door open with my hip. “I can’t believe Haithem sent you here for me.”
He just nodded and waited while I locked up.
“He really didn’t need to do that.”
Emilio linked his hands behind him. I chuckled. They sent me the mute, unnecessary bodyguard. I shoved the keys into my clutch. He led the way down the stairs and opened the door onto the street.
“You know, despite what ‘80s popular culture might imply, I gotta tell you—” I slunk past him onto the pavement “—whenever a dude wears sunglasses at night or inside, it has the opposite effect intended on the ladies.”
As always, he remained silent. Didn’t even give me the courtesy of a snort. He strode to the waiting car and opened the rear passenger side. I bent, catching a glimpse of Emilio peering at his reflection in the glossy window. A smirk curled my lips.
Doesn’t speak English, my sweet ass.
My backside slid across oiled leather, and my abdominals contracted even as my limbs kept moving, depositing me next to a solid masculine mass.
Noooooo...
Too late. The door slammed shut. My chin dropped to the center of my chest. I didn’t need to do anything as direct as actually turn my head. His scent blasted its way into my bloodstream. Not just his cologne and not half as manageable as before, because now I remembered his taste on my lips. My pulse hummed, matching the tempo from the last time I was with this man.
My thighs drew together, and I notched my chin and stared ahead.
He shifted beside me. The leather under my backside dipped slightly. His gravity worked to suck me closer.
My jaw clenched and every tooth in my head pressed together.
“Emma.” The sound swept through me and settled in the center of my chest.
How’d he say my name like that? Emm-ah. So it curled in his mouth like a dirty promise...
“I promise that if you do, you will be the one getting off.”
Images slammed through me, and took me backward. To a need so deep and specific that no one but him could satisfy it. I turned to him, my teeth creaking.
Liar—
Avner leaned forward and planted a kiss on my cheek. I twitched. He kissed me like a friend, like a buddy. Except there was nothing friendly about the way my nipples hardened. I kept my hands on my thighs and exhaled. “Aren’t you supposed to live in India?”
“I’m moving home.” The curve of his lips said amused, but the way his chin lifted smacked of challenge. Dared me to share my opinion.
“Here is home?”
“Melbourne is home now.” He settled back into the seat.
Dammit, he couldn’t have said Sydney, the city I was moving out of? Not to mention he made it sound so damn cryptic—I don’t know how, just that there seemed to be this gaping space where the rest of that sentence should be.
The car pulled into the street. I tugged the seatbelt, clicking it into place. “You’re from Melbourne?”
“Yep,” he said, and his eyelids dipped a fraction, his golden irises flashing from under the black fan of his lashes.
What kind of genetic sorcery gave a man lashes like that?
I tore my gaze from his face and it slid to his shirt. The shirt he wore without a tie, collar hanging open under his jacket, exposing sharp tan collarbones. Formal and relaxed at once.
His dress sense, like his answer, was duplicitous.
I’d heard things. Knew he’d been to college overseas with Haithem. Heard enough to know Avner hadn’t spent long here. “Originally?”
“No.”
I glanced back to his face, and raised a brow. His features didn’t flicker. He was either really terrible at small talk, this was part of his aren’t-I-so-mysterious gig or he just liked making me probe for details.
My bet was on the latter.
I scooted into the corner. “Where are you from then, originally? As in born?”
“Italy,” he said, and that statement also hung open, as though birthplace, and origins, and home were all words of different languages.
I stared at him. He stared back.
Why’d he show up tonight?
He’d left me in Italy with nothing more than a cryptic text message saying he’d had to leave. His eyes focused, made the bones in my back tingle. What did he want from me, looking at me like that?
“Do you always give one-word answers, or don’t you like talking to me?” I bent forward until the seatbelt tugged between my breasts, and set my fingertips on his thigh. “I thought we were friends?”
His lips pressed together, the bottom one jutting out far too softly on features so male. His seatbelt caught with a jerk as he leaned toward me. His gaze flicked over mine. “Are we really friends, Emma?”
My throat scratched. The hushed tone he used shook lose my imagination because it reminded me of that first week of high school, when I’d asked Angelina if we could be friends. “You’re in the circle, sure we are.” The words left my tongue and all I wanted was to take a huge breath and suck them back in.
His expression stilled, and he reached for my hand on his thigh. I’d committed to something. I didn’t know what, and he didn’t rest his fingers on top of mine politely like a friend. His thumb and index finger closed gently around my wrist.
An image of him hauling me up by the wrists pounded in the
back of my head, and I saw other things that were yet to happen—Avner jerking my arms up, holding me down.
No, we aren’t friends.
And I shouldn’t have said we were. Haithem was right, I played one game, but it meant something else to Avner. I pulled my wrist free, and cradled it in my lap. “What are you doing here? I thought Haithem didn’t want us—” I swallowed “—to be friends.”
“I think we’ve established it’s too late for that.”
Heat burst up my neck. Yeah, coming to my room established something all right—leaving me half naked three seconds away from orgasm, on the other hand?
My fingers pumped in my lap.
If he’d turned up tonight to take me to the gala, it was for a practical purpose, because you don’t leave a woman you really want that way.
I glanced out the window. Had I just been convenient? Easy? I bit the side of my cheek. So what, it’s not like I had romantic delusions.
Not like I’ve been thinking about him all the time...
Silence pounded.
I thought he liked me.
The landscape crawled by. Why’d the gala have to be on the opposite side of the city?
“Was that your car full of boxes on the street?”
“Yep,” I said to the window.
“You’re moving too?”
My chin jerked toward him of its own accord. “I was.”
“And now?”
I tried to keep myself looking at him, tried to stop the flush warming my face. Can’t afford it was not a reason I’d give to the multibillionaire opposite me. “The place I’d lined up in Melbourne fell through.”
Kinda.
His leg brushed my thigh. “When do you have to be out of your apartment?”
My entire kneecap twitched.
I pulled my hair over one shoulder. “You know, I think this is the most words I’ve ever heard you string together in conversation.”
He smiled, close-lipped and squinty eyed. “We’re friends now.”
No. Kind of. Maybe.
“When do you need to be out of your apartment?”
My tongue flicked to the corner of my mouth. Well, didn’t his train of thought have a fancy, reliable conductor? Mine took a vacation around him. “Monday.”
He kept his smile in place, his eyes just that way, and my heart beat like the first time I’d ever flirted with a boy.
“So you’ll stay with your family in Melbourne?”
“Nope. Don’t have any.” My forearms hitched against the base of my ribs.
His expression flattened and paused. Waited. Most likely for the actual truth.
So he knew I lied—maybe Angelina mentioned my dad—but this was all none of Avner’s business.
“Haithem and Angelina—”
“Nope,” I said, before he could finish offering up yet another awkward suggestion. “I don’t need help, or favors. I’ll work it out. I’ll be fine.” I smiled big, yet bluntly. “I’m always fine.”
He watched me, and the bump, bump, bump of the tires on road roared through the car. Roared right up from the bitumen and thump, thump, thumped a nauseating vibration into my bones. I cleared my throat and turned back to the window.
Avner remained so silent, I almost wondered if I’d imagined he’d spoken to me at all.
Chapter Five
Emma
Thwarted.
My plans were thwarted before they’d fully formed. Well, plan one—escaping Avner’s attention. Maybe if I’d ever been to a gala before, I’d have known about the allocated seating and eight-course dining and all of that.
A waiter slipped between Avner and me, filling our glasses with fizzing champagne. I leaned up out of the chair, scanning the mass of tables, then plonked back into my seat as the waiter drew away. Plan two—finding Dean and forcing him to listen to what I had to say—attempted to flicker out of existence. This was a sit-your-ass-at-your-table kind of party, as opposed to the schmooze-and-mingle kind.
Doesn’t matter.
I’d get my chance with Dean even if I had to stick my foot out and trip him on his way out the door. Maybe, not really. I’d probably just tap him on the shoulder and hope that worked. But, if it didn’t—
A low vibration rumbled next to me. Over the tinkle of glasses and drone of voices blurred out into one persistent noise, that rumble reached out and rubbed up against me with a purr.
I glanced at Avner.
He held the champagne flute to his lips and sipped. The rumble happened again, and this time it burrowed into my womb.
Don’t know how I’d heard it the first time, but now I saw that wolfish hum of satisfaction ripple through his body, and my mind jolted.
Jolted to a place where he made that sound right against me. His mouth on my mouth, tasting me.
My wet tongue brushed between my lips.
Avner’s gaze met mine.
My tongue snapped back inside my head. Holy crap, I’d been ready to leap up and suck the champagne right out of his mouth.
“This is good,” he said, bottom lip still brushing the flute.
My eyelids drummed together. Was it? Was this good? I’d probably choose a different word.
“You should try some.” He held his glass out to me.
Oh, the wine—champagne—he meant that. He liked that. Now I knew he liked champagne. Enough to make sexy noises over.
I glanced at his drink, then grabbed mine off the table. “Thanks, I have my own.” I clinked our glasses together, then tossed back a gulp and slammed it back down.
My eyes burned. The bubbles made it all the way into my nose.
I pressed my fist to my mouth.
Avner glanced down at his pocket, then set his glass down and slid his phone out just far enough to glance at the screen. “Excuse me.”
He left the table, and headed for the doors.
I stared after him. A sinking sensation washed down my middle. Was he really about to ditch me again?
I took the napkin off my lap and placed it on the table. Seriously, Emma. I shook off those irrational hurt feelings. This was my chance to find Dean.
I slipped out of the ballroom and into the empty foyer. There had to be an usher with a guest list to peek at here somewhere.
A woman clutching a clipboard turned in to a hallway.
I went after her. She disappeared around a corner. I sped up, slipped through the staff-only barrier, rounded the corner and stopped at the series of doorways.
A huff left my lips.
Great.
A low tone wafted from a room ahead—a low seductive tone I’d now know anywhere.
Avner
To anyone who saw us now, the man opposite me would appear to be the truer gentlemen among us. Double-breasted suit, Italian made if I judged correctly, and refined wizened features.
I offered him a smile, which felt a lot like baring my teeth.
Narek Vanlian did not return the courtesy of a forced smile. “I was surprised to receive your message.”
Of course he’d be surprised. I’d never conducted this kind of business under my own identity, and he had no knowledge of my others. The month I’d spent in the UK led me right back to Australia. A coincidence that made me shudder.
“I’m not often surprised.” His head tilted slightly, giving his creased dark eyes the appearance of being closed. “What can I do for you?”
My expression evened. He had no idea what he’d eventually do for me. Today we’d start with an ice-breaker. Narek may control a sophisticated criminal network, but he dealt like a businessman. He also maintained enough legitimate enterprise to keep him seeming honest enough to those who didn’t know better.
“I hear you’re a man who gets things
done.”
“That depends who you’re listening to.” He straightened, but his eyes remained heavy lidded. “What do you need help with?”
I held his gaze. “Since we moved our operations to Australia, we’ve been met with unexpected obstacles. Some red tape we’d like to cut through.”
“And a man of your—” he reached for one of the glasses the staff I’d bribed for this room had left for us “—considerable resources hasn’t been able to accomplish this on his own?”
He took a sip. Ice clinked.
“We could. But you know how it is when it comes to energy technology that has the potential to be, let’s say...versatile.” I smiled close-lipped, letting that metaphoric bomb hit. “People have a tendency to get nervous. Close minded.”
His eyes widened and his mouth curved.
Now I had his attention. Narek had a special interest in military potential weaponry.
I took out an envelope and handed it over. At Guardian we were always looking at refining our technology. Making things better and more efficient. Exploring what more we might achieve. We’d never develop this particular theory. That didn’t mean it didn’t make for the perfect bait.
He opened the envelope and scanned the contents, then tucked the envelope back into his pocket. “I can be of service, but it will come at a cost.”
Didn’t everything.
“I can pay.”
“You certainly can.” He grinned. Deep lines spread across his face. “Leave this with me. You’ll have your approval, and your hands remain clean.”
We stood.
“I appreciate your assistance.” I extended a hand, then applied the pressure a firm handshake requires without crushing the bones of this corrupt bastard the way I’d prefer.
“Enjoy the remainder of the event, Mr. Malfacini.”
“Thank you.” I kept my gaze focused, and not flying over my shoulder.
The remainder of the event with Emma.
Narek left. I lingered a moment more. When I’d requested Guardian’s tickets to the gala, Haithem had hesitated.
He’d hesitated because he’d promised to bring her. Emma. My chest filled with the thrill of anticipation. I’d assured Haithem my intentions toward her were pure.