Page 31 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

“Oh, God...”she choked out as she wrapped her arms around her waist.“Oh, God...how could I have been so stupid...how...”

“Calm yourself,” I instructed.“You’re with me.”

“You say that like that’s a good thing,” she squawked.“I think I’d rather spend the night with the devil that Idon’tknow.”

“Careful,lepestok,”I warned.“You might just hurt my feelings.”

“Oh, please,” she retorted as she turned back to look out the window.“Everyone in this city knows that you don’t have feelings.Hell, I’m fairly certain that every person in the state knows it, too.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Nevertheless, what’s done is done, and so your regret serves no purpose,” I remarked, reminding her that she had no way out of this.

“I’m aware,” she muttered tartly.

Nothing more was said as I drove us to my condo, and as I pulled into the secured garage, it crossed my mind to take her to where I actually considered home, but I thought that it might be a bit too early for that.While I knew where I wanted to go with this, I still had no idea how the night was going to play out once we got into my condo.

The elevator ride up to the top floor was also wrought with uncomfortable silence, but not for me.Not much made me uneasy, and Zoya’s mental state wasn’t concerning me much right now, either.She’d given me permission for all of this when she had stepped up on that stage, and I didn’t feel bad about it at all.Granted, it was rare that I ever felt bad about anything, but still.

When the elevator doors finally slid open, I placed my hand on the small of Zoya’s back, then escorted her into the open foyer that led to three different condos.Mine was the one in the middle with the other two belonging to two Korolev brigadiers.Luckily, when my father had purchased the building, he’d had the walls reinforced for privacy, and I could appreciate that now that I had Zoya here.

Once we were inside, I shut the door behind me, making sure to lock it as well.Zoya was looking around, and I wasn’t sure if it was from curiosity or nervousness, but it really didn’t matter.Sooner or later, she was going to have to get used to being here.

Walking towards her, I took my jacket off, then dropped it on the couch, and she still didn’t say anything.Next, I removed the three guns that I always had on me, but it wasn’t anything that should surprise Zoya at this point.Besides, that was another thing that she was going to have to get used to eventually.

“Do you want a tour of the place?”I asked as she kept glancing around.

Looking at me, she answered, “No.”

When I was finally standing in front of her, I grabbed her purse from the death grip that she had on it, then tossed it on the couch next to my jacket.“You’re not going to need that.”

“So, what now?”she asked, looking up at me, refusing to cower, and it was hard not to admire how strong she was trying to appear.

“Well, that’s up to you,” I informed her.“You’ve admitted to lying on the limits card to appear boring, so is that what you’re looking for tonight,lepestok.Do you want boring or do you want to finally be honest about what you want?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That I see a lot of fire in your eyes, but not hate,” I told her.“Never hate.”

“Would it do me any good to hate you?”she asked, her voice quiet but firm.

I shook my head.“No, baby.”

“I don’t want to be here,” she said.“And that’s the truth.”

“Because you don’t want to be here with me, or because you don’t want to be a whore?”I asked candidly, causing her to flinch.“Is it modesty that’s keeping you from dropping your dress for me?”

“I’m not a whore,” she immediately denied.

“The half a million dollars that I’m out proves otherwise,” I pointed out coldly.

“Is that what you want?”she asked, her back straightening, ready to spit fire.“You want me to be a whore for you?”

“Oh, baby...I can get whores on tap if that’s what I want,” I assured her.“If I wanted, I could have five meet me at any hotel of my choosing right now.”

“Then why did you bid on me?”she challenged.“Then what am I doing here?”

I reached up to play with the strap of her pretty dress.“Because I know that you’re not a whore, but I want to fuck you like one more than I want to take my next breath.”