As she watched them sway against each other, blind to the rest of the world, as if only the two of them existed, hope flickered inside of Eve. Raul Santos didn’t have any connections to any of the families, wasn’t one of them, and yet the accountant made Clarissa happy. Eve knew, because she’d never seen her sister smile like that, not for any of the hopeful boys in the Valentin family or their allies.
Charles accepting Clarissa’s choice of husband created bad blood between the Valentins and the Petrovichs, a family they’d had turf wars with in the past. Gustav Petrovich, the family head, had made a deal with her father to become allies, if his son and Clarissa married when Clarissa turned eighteen. That deal had gone south when Clarissa met Raul.
Given Eve spotted a few of the Petrovichs milling around, drinking and joking with a few Valentin men, maybe her father had settled the matter with them.
“It wasn’t wise of your father, allowing your sister to marry a nobody.”
Vadim’s comment made her glare at him.
“What do you know?”
“Me? I’ve worked for Gustav, know him a lot better than a little girl.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m fifteen now, and in three years I’ll be an adult,” she declared. Few men had the balls to call the head of the Petrovich family by his first name, but Vadim referred to Gustav as if they were close.
“Is that so?”
Amusement flickered across Vadim’s face. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, wipe that smug look off his face or kiss him. The latter option stumped her. Eve had been kissed by clumsy boys before, guys from school who only wanted her big breasts and nothing else. She imagined a man like Vadim knew what he was doing. It would be a wet press of lips or teeth banging against each other. A real man like Vadim—
Eve killed the thought before it could take root. What was she thinking? Oh, she knew once Clarissa married, her father cast his eyes on her, but who would look at Eve and think she was the most desirable woman in the world?
She wanted what her sister had, but didn’t think it possible, not for a chubby little girl no one wanted.
“Gustav doesn’t forgive slights easily, and your father made the worst mistake of his life.”
She scoffed. “Don’t sound so dramatic.”
“I’m not. If Gustav’s son married your sister, it would cement a bond between two families that have been at each other’s throats for decades. Your father once had a reputation for being ruthless. Today, he’s proven he’s nothing but soft.”
“My father’s not soft,” Eve snapped.
She didn’t know why she came to her father’s defense. Charles never paid her much attention, never doted on her the way he did Clarissa. Her mother didn’t notice her either. For a time, she thought she possessed the power of invisibility, because at events and gatherings, she would have faded in the background, a ghost. Even now, no one truly saw her, save Vadim. Maybe he liked to make fun of girls like her.
“I’d give anything to have a man look at me the way Raul does my sister. Too bad that’s never going to happen for me.” Eve hadn’t been aware of whispering the words.
Vadim cupped her chin. Heart in her throat, she couldn’t help but notice how his big, callused fingers contrasted with her smooth skin.
“Do you think so little of yourself, princess?” Vadim leaned in close, until his warm breath caressed her ear. A shiver went down her spine. She sat so still, her muscles felt locked in place. Eve didn’t know what to say or do. Vadim continued, “Want to know what I see when I look at you?”
“A chubby, ugly girl?” she dared reply.
“No. You’re perfect in my eyes.”
He released her abruptly, and she noticed one of her father’s men hovering close by, a silent question in his eyes. She shook her head. She could handle Vadim. A lie, surely, because this man said all the wrong things. Vadim rattled her, made her skin fever hot, feel things she shouldn’t, not especially for a man the rest of her family considered a monster.
Was Eve so flawed, that she’d want a man so out of league, a man some called a beast in human skin?All men are monsters underneath, eager to shed blood, to be reduced to their primal urges.Her mother had said that once, both to Clarissa and her, but she’d looked at Clarissa the entire time.
“Let me go.” Her voice came out shaky.
Vadim released her, letting out a breath. Those green eyes seemed capable of burning holes through her.
“My apologies. I shouldn’t have done that.” His voice, she couldn’t help but notice, turned deeper, a little rough.
She swallowed, unable to formulate a witty remark. Vadim felt guilty. She saw the emotion often enough on the new recruits. A word would send Vadim away, but hadn’t that been what she wanted? He excused himself, but she tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. He paused.
“Ask me to dance.”
He raised an eyebrow, but offered her a hand up, his palm big, lined with calluses. Ink peered from his sleeves, his collarbones. Eve was no innocent. True, Eve lived a sheltered existence, but she’d seen and lived with killers, men who conveniently forgot they had a conscience. At least Vadim didn’t hide what he was. An honest killer.
She giggled.
“Did I say something funny?”
Eve clasped his fingers and let him tug her to her feet. She became aware of eyes watching them, conversations coming to stop as he guided her from the cluster of tables to the dance floor. Eve didn’t care. All she saw was him.
“I’ll tell you later,” Eve answered.
Vadim responded by tipping her chin. Her breath caught in her throat as he slanted his lips over hers and took her. He kissed the way Eve imagined a man would, all demand and heat, holding nothing back. Eve responded, clutching at one broad shoulder, unable to understand the feelings churning inside her. When Vadim pulled away, the silence seemed damning and it felt like all eyes were on them. For once in her life, Eve didn’t care about what her family thought about her.