Page 32 of Tangled Roses

“And if I don’t want to, um, fuck. What happens then? Do you reveal the monster hiding under that suit, showing you are no better than the men we left back at that house?”

She is angry, and yet I detect a hint of desire in her voice. A yearning for something she really doesn’t want to admit to and so I say lazily, “You will want to, malysh.”

“You’re an arrogant jerk and I will delight in proving you wrong.”

“I will enjoy watching you fail, malysh.”

“What does that even mean?” She huffs, flinging her hands in the air.

“It means baby girl. An endearment if you like. Gabrielle is such a mouthful.”

“Then call me Ellie. I hate Gabrielle, anyway.”

“You hate your name.”

“Of course. My mother gave it to me and I want nothing from her.”

“Are you curious to meet her?”

Her situation intrigues me, and she sighs. “Part of me is just so I can tell her what I think of her, but there is also the part of me that is scared.”

“Why are you scared?”

“Because I may see myself in her and then I would hate myself. If that happened, I would have no one.”

I laugh out loud, and she hisses. “It’s not funny.”

This time, I rest my hand on her leg and squeeze it gently. “You have me. For some reason, I am enjoying your company and if I can help you along the way with your problem, I’ll be happy.”

“Do I though?”

The sadness in her voice surrounds me as she whispers, “I have your attention because you want to fuck me, as you so sweetly called it. What then, Arman? I have no job, no money and no one to care what happens to me. I need to start again, but I don’t know what direction to take. My life is a car wreck and to add to my misery, I was nearly raped tonight and discovered my father could be an assassin who wants to add me to his score sheet. Then there’s you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. The only man keeping me from falling travels with a gun in his jacket and a small army surrounding him. You say you’re in business but it looks like a shady one to me and now you want me to jump into bed with you and be grateful, I suppose. You hold all the cards and I can’t even afford to join the game, so it doesn’t make me feel very good about myself right now. Maybe I should sign up at the nearest convent and dedicate my life to God. He’ll look after me and at least I’ll keep my dignity.”

“You’ll be bored inside an hour.” I reply with a smirk.

“You’ll be climbing those walls because if I’ve learned anything about you, Ellie, it’s that you have a yearning for excitement and you are struggling with that.”

We reach my apartment building and as I follow the car in front down to the underground car park, Ellie’s eyes widen when she sees the huge elevator that can fit a car. I drive right into it and she gasps, “You are kidding me.”

“What?”

“Your car is in an elevator. I never realized these things existed.”

I shrug. “It’s safer this way. I am extremely protective of my things. All of my family are the same and you Ellie–”

I turn and pull her slowly toward me and whisper against her trembling lips, “You are now one of them.”

Her response is captured in my mouth as I bear down hungrily on her lips. My tongue plundering hers as I invade her senses.

I grip her hair in my fist and devour her with my mouth, our tongues tangling as I demonstrate exactly what my intentions are.

She kisses me back and I deepen the kiss, pulling her closer as I taste her sweet lips and as the elevator stops, she pulls away and I am rewarded with the lust shining in her eyes.

She is beautiful.