“Lyric asked me to do some translation work for his aunt,” I rushed to explain, my words stumbling over one another. Fuck, Anya had put me in situations a hundred times more stressful than this, but in the face of Ryan’s anger, I couldn’t concentrate. “Laura and Garik are…are her clients.”
His nostrils flared as his dark gaze went over my shoulder to Garik, who had jumped to his feet behind me, ready to defend me if needed. I wanted to groan, to tell him to sit down, that he was only poking the lion by standing so close. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Ryan long enough to do it.
The way his entire body was vibrating… This close, I could see it wasn’t only from anger. More than just the heat of rage radiated from his body. It was darker and more delicious. I had this crazy urge to grab a fistful of his shirt and jerk him down to my level so I could lick the vein pulsing in his neck. Taste him, his anger—his need for me? That realization had my own body reacting, and I stepped closer to him without even realizing it.
“Nova, this man is bothering you?” Garik asked in Russian behind me.
“No, no.” I shook my head frantically, still unable to tear my gaze from Ryan. “Ryan is my friend. He’s just…just…” going to explode at any moment, I finished mentally.
“Mr. Vitucci.” Roza’s voice was calm. I felt her moving closer in an attempt to defuse the situation. People were watching us, whispering. I couldn’t see or even hear them, but I could feel their tension in the air. “I assure you, everything is in order…”
He lifted his eyes, causing her words to fade into nothingness, and whatever she saw in those brown depths had her quickly apologizing in a meek tone.
“Did Ciana buy you that dress?” he demanded, his eyes shifting from Roza and back to me before skimming down my body. He’d made his opinion clear on what he thought the appropriate length of my skirts should be to everyone who knew us. His opinions were even more extreme than my dad’s, which was just one of the many, many reasons Dad was so cool about my friendship with Ryan.
He couldn’t hide his hunger as his gaze touched every inch of skin the small dress left exposed. No more than I could hide the way my nipples tightened painfully and pressed against the material. His nostrils flared again as he watched my reaction.
“N-not exactly.” I stumbled over my words once more, not sure how he would react to knowing that Garik had purchased my outfit for the night.
“My mother, then.” But he already knew that answer. Anya wouldn’t ever have bought me a dress her son would be upset over. She’d done it once, on one of our supposed shopping trips to Paris when I was fifteen. The dress had ended up in tatters after Ryan had gotten scissor-happy on the poor, beautiful garment.
“No.”
“It’s a beautiful dress, yes?” Garik spoke in Russian, probably thinking that Ryan wouldn’t understand, as he draped his arm around my shoulders. “I knew as soon as I saw it that it was made for her.”
The air around us turned so cold, goose bumps lifted on my skin. Ryan’s head slowly tilted to the right as he took in the fingers, the hand, the arm that was touching me. All the way up to Garik’s shoulder and then to his huge, shit-eating grin. There was no way the rocker didn’t know that a predator had him in its sights, and that only made his grin widen.
“He bought you this dress?” Ryan gritted out. The question was directed at me, but he didn’t shift his gaze from Garik.
“I didn’t pack anything to go clubbing in,” I said with a shrug. “Garik was kind enough to—”
“Stop saying his fucking name.” His tone was lethal as he unbuttoned his coat and pulled it off, then wrapped it around my shoulders. But it hung off me, the bottom hitting the floor and making me look like a little girl playing dress-up. His movements were jerky as he buttoned the coat up to my neck and then scooped me into his arms.
“Ryan!”
“Do not speak, my heart,” he spoke into my ear. “I am holding on by a thread.”
“But—”
“Nova.” His lips touched my neck right below my ear, and I had to bite back a moan. “You are lucky I didn’t put a bullet in your friend’s head. Keep talking, and I will go back and do so right now.”
I pursed my lips, knowing this was not the time to press the issue. I’d only seen Ryan this angry once before, and even then, it hadn’t been to this extent. I didn’t know what he was capable of when he was like this, and I didn’t want to test his limits.
As we descended the stairs to the first floor, I realized Pietro was right beside us, blocking anyone from taking our picture as we left through the back exit. As soon as we were outside, the guard opened the door to Ryan’s SUV, and I was practically tossed inside before Ryan followed after me.
I’d barely settled when I was being hoisted again and placed on his lap. Ryan started unbuttoning the coat I was wearing, the privacy divider already slowly rising between us and the driver, as Pietro took the front passenger seat. “My apartment. Now!”
The divider closed completely just as he pushed the coat off my shoulders. “Where is the zipper?”
“What?” I blinked up at him, sure I’d heard him wrong.
“The zipper, Nova. The fucking zipper. Where is it?”
Confused by the question, I turned, showing him the small clasp and zipper at the back. On my next inhale, the clasp was undone and the zipper lowered, causing the front of my dress to fall forward. With a small scream, I caught it and held the material to my bare chest.
“Release it,” he commanded, his tone making it clear I needed to listen.
In the dimness in the back of the SUV, the windows so tinted that not even the flashing city lights could penetrate, I clutched the material closer. Afraid he wouldn’t like what he saw if I were naked. That he wouldn’t want me. That I wasn’t beautiful enough. How many women could he have fucked by this point? How perfect were they all compared to me? “I-I’m not wearing a bra.”
“I am very much aware of that fact.” His tone made me shiver, but not in fear. I heard something lethal in his voice, but there was no disguising his hunger. And it turned me on in an embarrassingly telling way. “Release the dress, Nova. Now.”
I slowly let go of the dress, allowing it to fall to my waist, and then I crossed my arms over my breasts, hiding my nakedness from him. Ryan lifted my hips, taking it completely off. Pressing the power button to roll down the window, he tossed the dress out into the busy night. Gasping, I watched as the car behind us ran over it while Ryan powered the window back into place.
“The panties?” He was panting now, but I wasn’t sure if it was from his continued rage or the fact that I was sitting on his lap in nothing but a pair of silk bikini briefs. “Did he give them to you as well?”
“N-no,” I breathed, watching his chest rise and fall with each labored breath he took. “I-I got them the last time I went to Paris.”
Leaning in, he touched his nose to my neck, breathing in slowly. Goose bumps pebbled the skin along my entire body, making me shiver as an ache began to pulse deep between my legs. “You’re lucky you smell like my Nova. If you had smelled of someone else, I would have ordered Pietro to turn this car around and killed the motherfucker.”