“It’s too bad you don’t speak Russian,” he said, deep and low. “Then you’d know if I was telling the truth.”
He was infuriatingly stubborn, and it turned me on like nothing else.
“Interesno, kak by vy otreagirovali, yesli by uznali, chto ya skazal im, chto pererezhu im glotku, yesli oni khotya by posmotryat na vas.” He spoke deep and low, his words flowing through and around me.
I had no clue what he had said, but for some reason it caused a shiver to consume my entire body. The smallest tilt of his lips showed me he knew what effect he had on me. “What did you say?”
He took a step closer, and one more until he was now circling me. “You should learn Russian, moy svet.”
That was the second time he’d called me that, but I was too flustered to ask what it meant. “Maybe you could teach me?” I had no idea why or how the words came out of my mouth, but I didn’t take them back. It was presumptuous to think this man would help me any more than he already was. But as he stopped in front of me and I tipped my head back to look into his too-dark eyes, I idly wondered how much he would give me.
Arlo was so tall. At five-foot seven, I wasn’t exactly short, but standing in front of him, my head only reached his pectoral muscles. He was so tall, so big that he was easily twice my weight. He made me feel safer than I ever had before.
I refrained from shivering at the thought and wondering if he was this big… everywhere.
He reached out, and my body tightened, but his finger just barely brushed my neck. “Gorlo,” he said as he curled his fingers around my throat.
I blinked up at him, and a second later he twisted me around until my back was to his hard chest. His hand on my throat was firm, but he made sure not to cut off airflow.
“Plecho,” he murmured, his voice right by my ear as he placed his other hand on my shoulder. He slid his fingers down my arm and curled them around my wrist. “Zapyast'ye.” Arlo moved his fingers down to curl around my hand. “Ruka.”
God, I was burning alive as I felt his entire body stay flush with mine, as I felt his hot touch skitter along what shouldn’t be erogenous zones but very clearly were as I grew wet and needy. I could feel a moan burning up my throat, but in the next second he tightened his hold on me and jerked my arm behind my back. With the fingers of one hand wrapped around my throat and his other hand keeping my wrist to the small of my back, I felt trapped.
And then he was gone, my body tilting forward before I righted myself.
“It’s a good thing I’m going to teach you to defend yourself, because in that moment I could have done whatever I wanted, Lina.”
I turned around to stare at him, my face hot, which I hoped he took as embarrassment and not arousal. Because it totally was the latter. My breathing was so shallow and fast, yet he was completely composed. Any kind of idea that this man might be attracted to me and that’s why he was helping went out the window as I remembered when he had his body pressed against mine. I hadn’t felt any clear signs he’d been turned on. Not like me.
And that thought had even more heat rushing to my face with embarrassment.
“Come on, Lina. Show me what you learned.”
A part of me—one I should burn to the ground if I was smart—wanted him to call me by my real name. Just say Galina. Call me Galina as you touch me.
My heart was racing a mile a minute as I stared at him. Arlo was massive, but wasn’t that the point of self-defense, to take down somebody who was bigger than you, who was a threat? But my couple of measly classes wouldn’t help me in this instance. I’d gotten lucky with the drunk in the alley. He’d been inebriated. I’d caught him off guard, and then I’d run like hell. There was no running from Arlo. We were caged within these boxing ropes, but I knew even if I got out, he’d still get me. He’d find me, catch me… do whatever he wanted.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” My words were low and almost laughable even to my own ears. And then he smiled slowly, the first full-blown one I’d seen him give me in my presence. I wondered if this was the first one he’d ever worn.
It was terrifying… and so attractive.
He curled his finger toward me in that universal sign for come here. My legs were like jelly, my hands shaking. I felt a drop of sweat slowly trail down my temple. I went back to those classes I’d taken, forcing myself to look at Arlo like he was the threat he was portraying to me right now… the threat he was to everyone else.