With This Secret

“Are you alright?” he’d asked, his voice poured out of him like melted chocolate. It swirled around me deliciously. Something in his eyes sparkled in a way that made it hard for me to breathe. I had never met anyone who carried a storm in their eyes before.

My head had been thumping like there would be no tomorrow, but I’d nodded vigorously since I’d been struck dumb. Like a love-struck teenager, I’d wrapped up his order clumsily, my fingers shaking so much, I couldn’t do up the bow and had to leave the ribbons hanging over the sides of the box like two flags of defeat.

He’d thanked me, a lop-sided smile on his face, his gorgeous eyes dancing, and left a massive tip.

I had to wait two weeks more for the drop-dead gorgeous stranger to come by once again.

But I wasn’t the infatuated fool anymore. I hardened my face. “I want a phone,” I said. “To call Aldie.”

“Sure,” he responded, pulling his phone from his pocket and coming towards me.

My breath caught in my throat as he came closer. You better calm down, I cautioned myself. Oh, no, we’re not doing that again.

Unaware of the effect he was having on me, he held out his phone to me.

I swallowed and steeled myself. I was almost too scared to take it … too scared to touch him. Carefully, so our fingers did not touch I gingerly took it from him.

“The password is 2359,” he said softly.

I tapped the numbers then realized I couldn’t actually remember Aldie’s number. I looked up at him in dismay. “I can’t remember her number. Would you have a computer or laptop, so I can access my email account?”

He smiled, that wonderful magician’s smile of his. That was what I used to call him. He could make a simple picnic into a slice of heaven or a boring study session into the most exciting encounter. He was always conjuring rabbits out of a hat, until he did his last trick and disappeared into thin air. To my horror, my face heated up with such acute awareness of how it was between us that a delicious tingle went all the way down to my spine.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said. “I have Aldie’s number.”

I stared at him in astonishment. “You have Aldie’s number?”

He shrugged casually. “You never know when you might need to call someone. It’s saved as Stinky.”

My eyebrows shot up at the nickname. “Stinky?”

“She was always a snippy, snappy thing back then.” His smile had gone into dangerous territory, the stormy gray eyes sparkling like trouble in the sunshine.

I wasn’t interested in that kind of trouble. I got myself firmly back on track. Swinging my gaze away from him, hit her number, and said coolly, “She’s going to kill you if she ever finds out.”

“She won’t if you don’t tell her.”

I walked away from him when Aldie picked up. “It’s Bianca,” I said quickly.

“Where are you? Are you okay?” she demanded.

My smile was bitter. I hadn’t told her about Bogdan yet. She had no idea just how much my life had changed from the early hours of the morning when I’d left the apartment we both shared to go to the bakery.

“It’s a long story,” I said with a heavy sigh and walked towards a tall window.

5

Levan

I watched her standing at the window and I still couldn’t believe she was really here. I could feel my heart beating fast with a strange sense of fear and excitement. I was aware of just what I’d gotten myself involved in. War was what I had unleashed. Bogdan’s enterprise may not be as reputable and distinguished as ours ? but his army of thieves, smugglers, hired killers all over the city ? would be enough to cause some serious damage. I knew there would be collateral damage, I might even be part of that body count, but I was prepared to risk it. Nothing and no one could dissuade me from the course I was on now.

I felt a presence behind me and turned. I jerked my head to the side to indicate he should follow me to the corridor.

“Bogdan just went on a rampage,” Sergei reported once we were just outside the room. “He just gunned down two of his own men.”

I paused in thought. That meant he still hadn’t been able to figure out who’d taken Bianca.

“He’ll keep going until he finds her,” Sergei said.

I didn’t need the reminder. I turned to look at Bianca. Her back was turned to me and I couldn’t hear her voice, but it was the closest she’d ever felt to me. She had always seemed too good for me. Unattainable. But as the seconds ticked by and with the sound of Sergei’s breathing in my ear, I could feel it happening all over again. The distance was once again widening, my grip on her loosening …