Elias pulls me against him, our bodies pressed tightly together. “You look beautiful tonight,” he murmurs, eyes hooded with desire.
I feel butterflies ignite in my stomach and a pressure start between my thighs. It appears my reactions to him are uncontrollable. Even as I try to tell myself he isn’t what I want, my body recoils. Elias has got under my skin in a whole new way since the start of this year, and I’m not sure I like it.
Elias leads me through the dance like a pro, just like he did at the winter formal. I’ve never been that into dancing, but with Elias he makes me feel at ease somehow. The same boy who made me trip and fall in front of hundreds of people multiple times and yet I trust him.
The music ends, and he dips me low, making me laugh. And then he drags me back up and pulls me close, his lips against my ear. “You are a good dancer, nena.”
I shake my head. “I’m pretty sure you were doing all the work.”
He smiles. “Let’s get something to drink.” I let him take my hand and lead me toward the makeshift bar on the far side of the room from the door.
“What do you want to drink?” He asks, squeezing my hand as he drags me toward the front of the bar.
I shrug. “Surprise me.”
When he gets to the front, he orders us each a martini. I take my mine from the bar and sip it, surprised how good it tastes.
“Pretty nice,” I say.
He nods. “Not half as sweet as you, though,” he says, eyes dropping to my cleavage.
Heat spreads through me like blood through my veins. And I realize I need to tell him the news about Nik.
He’s going to lose his shit when I tell him, but there’s no avoiding it. If I don’t tell him, Nik probably will. I squeeze his hand and pull him away from the bar, leaning toward his ear. “I have some news to break to you, but not here.”
He smirks and I get the sense he thinks I want to get him alone. “Where then?”
“Follow me,” I say, releasing his hand and making a beeline for the exit, still clutching onto my drink.
He keeps close and I hear him say, “Lead the way, nena.”
I can’t understand why the way he says that word drives me crazy. I can’t understand anything about my reactions to Elias since we started sleeping together.
Leading the way through the crowd, I head into the corridor and take him into the kitchen and shut the door.
And then I walk to the kitchen island and place my drink down on it. When I turn around, Elias is closer than I expected.
Elias raises his brow. “So, what news do you have for me?” He asks, moving toward me with a devilish look in his eyes. “Or was this an excuse to get me alone?”
I take a step back, forgetting there’s nowhere to go as he has me trapped against the kitchen island. “No, Mikhail has arranged my engagement to someone else.” I lick my too dry lips, unsure how he’s going to take this.
Elias stops still, eyes glinting with anger. “To who?”
I swallow hard. “Nikolai Krushev,” I say hurriedly, like ripping off a bandaid.
And Elias’ immediate reaction is a snarl that is so animal like I wonder if I’ve walked into the kitchen with a wolf.
31
ELIAS
It feels like Nat just slapped me as I stare at her for a few beats. “What?”
She rolls her eyes. “I said, Mikhail has—”
“I know what you said.” The mental picture of Natalya with Nik makes me want to claw my eyes out. “I won’t allow it.”
I should have seen it coming. He’s bratva, eligible and the perfect age for Natalya. The Russians rarely look outside their own for matches, and breaking off the match with the son of the Pakhan of the bratva in Philly has now made everything worse. A hell of a lot worse. Nik has been my closest friend since the moment I stepped foot into the academy.