Now that I’d seen a flicker of his own pain, my resolve firmed. “Tell me more about what you do,” I requested. “You work for your dad’s business, right? Hedge fund management?”
His grin stretched into something self-deprecating, but his eyes went flat. “Yes, but that’s all very boring.”
I leaned toward him slightly, my anxiety ebbing even more in the face of his discomfiture. “You don’t like your job?”
He blinked at me, and surprise flickered over his features, as though he hadn’t expected me to catch that. He sighed, and the fake smile dropped again. I was glad to see it go.
“I’m good at what I do,” he admitted. “But it’s not the most exciting career in the world. Not to me, at least.”
“Then why not do something else? What would you prefer to do?”
A slight grimace ghosted around his mouth before he could stifle it. “My father expects me to work for the family business. It’s not optional. And I don’t really know what I would prefer to do, so I have no real reason to push back about it.”
“What did you study at Harvard?” I asked. “Was there anything that sparked your interest more?”
He shrugged. “I like Economics and History. I like understanding why people made certain choices and how that shaped the world. My interests aren’t entirely unsuitable for my career.”
His mood was turning almost glum, and it seemed inherently wrong that I’d melted the playboy smirk off his face. I scrambled to fix what I’d darkened with my difficult questions. “If you could do anything you wanted to do tomorrow—not just work—what would you do?”
He shot me a crooked grin, a genuine one this time. “Are you trying to cheer me up?”
It was my turn to shrug, and my cheeks heated. “I’m the one who brought down the mood. It’s the least I can do.”
He released a low, rumbling hum, and the wolfish glint returned to his pale eyes. They roved over my face, dipping lower for half a second before capturing my gaze in his.
“If I could do anything I wanted?” His tone was pure temptation, and molten desire pooled in my belly. His predator’s eyes consumed me, utterly captivating my full, feminine attention.
His hand was still on mine, engulfing my much smaller fingers in a careful but masculine grip.
I shifted in my seat, and his low, amused chuckle rumbled all the way to my core.
“I was going to say I’d take you to Bali and teach you to surf, if you don’t know how.” His grin turned positively wicked as his gaze flicked to my burning cheeks. “But you look flushed. Maybe you’d prefer somewhere cooler? I could take you snowboarding in the Alps.”
Each heated statement stunned me. My own family was wealthy, but his casual descriptions of whisking me off on international vacations with less than twenty-four hours’ notice was a shocking reminder of just how well-off he was.
It was overwhelming. He was overwhelming.
The butterflies in my stomach beat their gossamer wings, making me shiver at the slightly sickening thrill.
Niko eased back in his chair, and his thumb brushed over my knuckles in a small gesture of comfort. “Maybe not tomorrow,” he allowed with a wink. “Date number five. Deal?”
He wanted to go out again? Even after I’d been so awkward?
I released a strangely shaky giggle in a burst of nervous energy. “Maybe. I don’t know about the surfing and snowboarding. I’m not the most coordinated person.”
His smile remained fixed in place, but I saw the brittleness at the edges. “Then you can leave the extreme sports to me. We can go anywhere you want.”
I got the sense that Niko liked living on the edge. I didn’t. In that moment, we both realized that we weren’t compatible in that regard, but he pushed through it.
“Name a place,” he commanded, his tone still light and teasing.
“How about Central Park?” I suggested. “I have my internship. As amazing as it sounds to go lounge on a beach somewhere, I can’t leave the city.”
“I guess I can’t abandon work, either. Fine. Central Park. It’s a date.” He blew out a longsuffering sigh, but there was something affected about it. The real Niko had closed himself off again.
I cut my gaze away, struggling to smother my discomfiture. I was glad that he’d allowed me a glimpse at his true self, even if it had been fleeting. But I didn’t like that my responses had caused him to put his walls back up.
I glanced out the window to break from his dancing blue eyes, and I froze when my sweeping gaze snagged on a darker shadow across the street. For a second, I saw the outline of a hulking man in a leather jacket, his unruly black curls tumbling over his brow to conceal his face.
Rage ignited in my chest. How dare Max continue to stalk me? It’d been too soon to call our connection love, but he’d still stomped all over my aching heart.
We’re done. His final, cold words cracked through my mind like a whip, lashing at me.
“Are you okay?”
I jolted at Niko’s warm voice, far too close and far too intimate. I flinched, my stomach twisting with something like guilt.
I sank into my anger, allowing it to consume that stupid twinge. I shouldn’t feel guilty for being with Niko. Max had broken what was between us. He’d broken me.
He had no place in my life or even in my thoughts.
My eyes narrowed on the dark figure across the street, but it was nothing. Just another shadow in the night.
I drew in a shuddering breath and tried to calm my racing heart.
Max hadn’t been there at all. I’d gotten angry for nothing.
Or maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see, a treacherous little voice whispered. Maybe that burning sensation in my soul wasn’t hatred or anger. Whatever Max had done to me, what we shared had been hot and bright and all-consuming.
I missed it.
I missed him.
I gave my head a little shake, as though I could forcibly push him from my brain. I turned my attention back to Niko, the impossibly handsome and charismatic man who actually wanted to date me. His smiling mask was back in place, but he’d allowed me to peek behind it. That should be more than enough for me: the gorgeous billionaire had made himself vulnerable with me, if only for a few minutes.
Niko was the kind of man I should be with. Our fathers were friends, we moved in the same social circles, and he was totally charming and attentive. For whatever reason, he was truly interested in me. I’d be a fool to pass up this opportunity to get to know him.
I put on a false smile of my own and tried my best to dazzle him in return. Niko was here with me, and Max wasn’t. I should want the handsome Russian.
Judging by the warmth in my belly, some entirely feminine part of me did want him.
I leaned toward him and reengaged with our conversation. I owed him my full attention, and I didn’t want to waste my time staring into the darkness. I didn’t want it to stare back.
ALLIE
A flash of light flitted at the edge of my vision, and my eyes flicked toward it automatically. My stomach dropped when I saw the guy holding up his phone, pointing it in my direction. He noted my gaze, grinned, and gave me a little wave. The light flashed again as he captured my shocked expression.