Chapter Eleven
RAVEN
Just as Iam about to fit my key into Bertha’s door to get Janna, our front door opens and Cindy pops her headout.
“I’ve already got her,” shesays.
“Oh,” I exclaim surprised, and walk towardsher.
“Tell me everything!” she squeals, pulling me into our apartment. I’d lay bets that she watched from our window while Konstantin helped me out of his car and gave me another swoon-worthy kiss goodnight. Even though it was chaste compared to the ones on the patio, it was steamy ashell.
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be working until the morning,” Iask.
“You expect me to stay on at the casino after Mark saw you leave the casino in a Lambo, Raven?” she asks in an impatient voice.
I shake my head at her. “So you just leftwork?”
She makes a dismissive gesture with one hand. “I haven’t been sick for years. I was due a bit of time off so I faked a migraine and rushed home to hear all the details. I’ve been waiting for two fuckin’ hours!”
I glance down the darkened hallway. “Did you see that Janna’s missing a tooth?”
Her mouth opens. “She lost a tooth?”
“Apparently. Come on, let’s gosee.”
We tiptoe down the corridor to Janna’s room and like two fools crouch over her and carefully pull up her lip and gaze at thegap.
“Oh my god, how cute,” Cindy whispers.
I look up at Cindy and grin, feeling weirdly proud. As if Janna has done something super amazing. I pull a five pound note out of my purse and stick it under her pillow. Bertha knows to save the tooth for me. I’m keeping them all in a jam jar until the sad day that Janna is old enough to learn that tooth fairies don’t exist.
We go back to the living room and I collapse on the couch, sighing as I think of a way to tell her about the events of the evening. I feel exhilarated and confused about itall.
She curls up next to me. “Well?”
“I don’t even know where to start, Cin.”
“From the beginning would befine.”
I start by telling her about the things that did not disorientate me or make me feel almost dizzy with excitement. Nothing like this has ever happened in my life before. The car. I tell her how intoxicating it was to have all that power rumbling underneathme.
She makes a rolling motion with herhand.
I take a deep breath and try to find words to describe my interaction with Konstantin. How, even though we barely spoke or made eye contact during the drive, I could feel the heat of our connection. I tell her about the tiny restaurant and the intensity of the make-out session on the balcony. I tell her how he asked me to go home withhim.
“I can still feel his hands on me,” I whisper. I press my palms to my flaming cheeks. “When he starts kissing me, Cin, I don’t ever want it to end. I’ve never felt this way about a man before.”
She looks at me with even more disappointment than I feel. “What the hell are you doing here, then? Why didn’t you go home withhim?”
“I don’t know, Cin.”
“When was the last time you got some hmmm? Two yearsago?”
“I was thinking of Janna.”
“What? That’s your excuse? You know Bertha or I would have watched her if you asked, especially if we knew you were finally going to get a bit ofsex.”
I frown and think about why I was sitting on the couch with Cindy and not having the most exciting sex I’ve known with Konstantin. I used Janna as the reason, but there’s more to my refusal thanthat.
“The thing is … I don’t know anything about him. He is so … mysterious. We had dinner together, I told him everything about me, and he practically told me nothing about himself. He’s hiding something, Cindy. I have no reason for saying it and it sounds stupid, but I just feel it in my bones. And my gut is usually dead on.” I chew my bottom lip. “I know it will sound totally mad to you, but I don’t think he was at that party by accident.”
“Thank god he was. Those guys would have really hurt you if he hadn’t stepped in when hedid.”
I frown. “I know he definitely saved your necklace and probably my life too, but there’s something about him, Cin. Something that makes me wary. I can’t say why, but if I take away the burning attraction it’s there the wholetime.”
“What do youmean?”
“There’s a coldness tohim.”
“I didn’t see anything cold about that kiss outside,” Cindy says, grinning like the Cheshirecat.
“No, I’m not doing a good job of explaining this. It’s not exactly coldness. It’s like there’s a blank wall and he’s standing behind it. I can’t explainit.”
“Call me simple but here’s my theory. He saw you at the party. Thought you were hot as hell and decided to follow you. He’s a rich guy. Maybe the reason he seems so cold is because he doesn’t want to commit. But then neither doyou.”
I fix my gaze on her. “The party was not the first time he saw me. He was at the casino before the party.”
Cindy frowns. “What do youmean?”
“I saw him a few days earlier at one of the blackjack tables. He was dressed very casually and he was wearing a baseball cap, but I recognizedhim.”
Cindy rises up and rests her temple on her fist. “Here’s my take on all this. Don’t overcomplicate it. A rich, intelligent, and insanely good-looking guy has the hots for you and you have the hots for him. Since he’s obviously not dangerous, notice how many chances he’s had to hurt you and hasn’t taken the bait, I’m thinking you should give him a shot. Just have some fun. You don’t have to marryhim.”
I look at her uncertainly.
“Look how many times we’ve seen really rich guys come and lose more than a million and what do they do? They don’t bat an eyelid. Rich men are different and that’s probably what you’re feeling.”
“What if he breaks my heart, Cin?”
She looks astonished. “What?”
I nod. “This guy could break my heart into a million pieces.”
“You just met the guy, Raven.”
“I know. I can’t explain the way I feel about him. He just does something to me, youknow.”
“Right.”
There is a moment of silence. “What would you do if you wereme?”
“I’d go for it,” she says immediately. “Even if I thought there was a one percent chance that it could work with a man like that I’d take it. He’s just too special to give up without trying.”
“You really thinkthat?”
“Absolutely. If a guy like him wanted me I wouldn’t hesitate. Not one second.”
Konstantin’s handsome face flashes into my mind … those burningeyes.
“Are you going to see him again?” Cindyasks.
“Yeah,” I say slowly. “I told him Janna and I would have lunch with him in the park tomorrow.”
Cindy leaps up and coming over to me crushes me in a tight hug, rocking me back and forth the way we haven’t since grade school. “I’m so happy for you, babe! So happy. It’s been way too long since you had aman.”
“I can’t argue with that,” I say with a laugh.
She leans away from me. “I know you think this is a bad idea, but I have a good feeling about thisguy.”