Oh. My. God. Had he seriously just demanded that she be comfortable? Who the hell said things like that?
Before she could smack her head with the palm of her hand and see if she could wake herself up from the bizarre dream she’d found herself in, he kept going. “We will discuss what other needs you may have later. Now, you must get ready. I will carry your boxes up and you will be ready in one hour.”
“Leave for where?”
“My pakhan’s home. We have guests coming for dinner, and you will be with us.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She backed up another few steps and held up her hands. “I’m still not good on what the heck’s happened since I feel asleep last night. You’re not gonna bully me into being social on top of it.”
“There is no bullying. There is only fact. You will be protected. By me. And I will be at my pakhan’s home. Therefore, you will be there as well.”
She couldn’t help it. Everything since she’d woken up this morning was too much, too fast and too trippy. “Why? Why you? And more importantly, why me?”
He gobbled up what little space she’d created with one step forward and palmed the back of her neck. His accent colored his words with both deadly intent and wicked promise. “Because, malen’kaya koroleva, two men tried to take you last night. Two men who held a knife to your throat and planted fear in your fearless heart. Whether you are ready to accept it or not, the life you once knew has drastically changed, and I will be the one who ensures that change is for the better.”
Chapter Ten
The life you once knew has drastically changed.
One and a half hours later and that simple statement was still the only thought knocking around in Bonnie’s head. Yeah, he’d also tagged onto the end that it would be a change for the better, but on whose scale? Did better come with strings? Expectations?
Um, hello! Did you see the hungry way he looked at you? Who cares about expectations?
She fought back a scoff and kept her sights rooted to the pretty houses streaming by outside the truck’s passenger window. Her freaking libido had zero caution when it came to men like Roman. She’d get all freaking turned on with the alpha thing, write ’em down as her dark knight in tarnished armor and then end up letting them walk all over her.
Well, this time she wasn’t going there. She did care about expectations. A lot. And the first chance she got at this stupid barbecue, she was going to corner Cassie and Evette and find out exactly what the heck was going on.
Roman slowed in front of Sergei’s house and turned into the drive. Not a single car was parked out front and the only other vehicles in the driveway were a killer looking BMW sedan she could have sworn had bulletproof glass and a sleek Audi.
“I thought they were having a barbecue?” Bonnie said.
Putting the gearshift in park, Roman nodded then turned off the engine. “They will be here soon. Kir says they landed twenty minutes ago.”
Well, that was good. No company meant she’d be able to draw a faster bead on Cassie. “Right, well, let’s get on with it.” She popped the door, hopped out of the truck and shut the door behind her.
Roman rounded the front fender before she’d made it two steps toward the estate’s backyard. “You will wait and let me help you down.”
Oh, yeah. Totally a dark knight. Practically oozing those wicked pheromones that made her girly bits overlook common sense.
But not this time.
“I don’t need you to help me down—catatonic states caused by scary dudes with knives withstanding.” She nodded toward the backyard. “That where we’re headed?”
Roman cocked his head, obviously nonplussed at her short and direct behavior. “Yes.”
“Good.” She jammed her hands in her jacket and marched around him.
It took him all of two strides to catch up and pull her to a stop with a steady tug on her elbow. “You are angry.” He made it more of a statement than a question. A very perplexed statement but a statement, nonetheless.
Maybe it was the genuine confusion in his eyes, or the open scrutiny as he studied her face, but the impact made her feel like she’d kicked a puppy. She let out a sharp sigh and the tension that had knotted up her shoulders the whole ride over dropped away with it. “Not angry, no. Unsettled, confused and nervous as hell, yes.”
“Why? I told you. You are safe. Your life will be better.”
Men.
Seriously.
They were so freaking black and white sometimes.
She reached for what little calm she’d mustered in the hour or so she’d had alone to shower and get ready and used what she hoped was a reasonable tone. “I heard what you said. But you saying it and me really grasping what it means for me are two entirely different things. You’ve got all the cards right now. I’ve got zero.
“Now granted, most of the time I’m the idiot giving my cards away to people who don’t deserve them, but this time they got plucked right out of my fingers. I’ve got no place of my own, two jobs that I can’t go to and a missing family. For a girl who’s been on her own since she was seventeen, that’s mighty uncomfortable. To say I’m feeling a bit powerless right now would be the understatement of the century—even if I do have you keeping me safe in the middle of it all.”
She was nearly panting by the time she finished her mini rant, but Roman hadn’t moved a muscle. Had just stood there and listened, his expression starting with open concern and shifting to somewhere between amusement and delight. “You think you have no cards.”
Hmm. Maybe a metaphor hadn’t been the best approach. After all, English was his second language even if he did seem to have an excellent grasp of it. “Yeah, you know—I don’t feel like I have any options. Any choice in what’s going on. Like things are happening to me without me having any say.”
His face sobered in an instant and the rich timbre of his voice grew infinitely grave. “Do not judge your present based upon your past, malen’kaya koroleva. I understand your fear. That you’ve stood alone until now.” He inched closer and palmed the side of her face. A firm, yet gentle touch that stilled every emotion and thought inside her. “But you are not alone anymore, and you have far more cards than you know.”
Cassie’s cheerful voice rang out behind Bonnie. “Oh, hey! You’re—” Footsteps scuffled against the concrete. “Never mind. We’ll just head back—”
“No,” Roman answered loud enough for Cassie to hear, but his gaze stayed locked on Bonnie. Slowly, he lowered his hand and shifted his attention in Cassie’s direction. “Please, come and spend some time with your friend. I believe she has had enough of my dictatorial nature for one day.”