Page 4 of Pretty Evil

“Non-negotiable,” I say abruptly with a determination that causes her to raise her eyes and stare at me with a wry smile.

“I’m guessing you never take no for an answer, Alexei.” she whispers in her slightly husky voice.

“It would be a foolish person who tries to deny me.”

I shrug with the arrogance of a man who always gets what he wants, and she has proven no exception to that rule so far and as we stride along the walkway, I am impressed that she matches my speed perfectly.

Conversation is limited, which suits me because that is not what interests me about her. She will be a distraction for my flight, and that is all. When we reach Sydney, she will be handed over to whoever meets her, probably ruined and almost certainly broken. My interest in her will be a distant memory, and I will move on with my business.

I notice the crew moving toward us in the distance and it’s obvious we escaped the flight just in time. If the call was any later, we would be boarding in around fifteen minutes and my depraved imagination would have to work with a more public venue in mind. Now I get to enjoy my passenger with no interruptions, and I am happy things have worked out so well—for me, anyway.

Something makes me study the crew a little closer as they head toward us, and there is one person I can’t drag my eyes away from. Even from the distance they look familiar and my blood chills as I contemplate something that would have made that flight extremely interesting.

I pull my companion closer beside me and position us behind a woman with a very large suitcase and then, as the crew advance, I grab her hand and spin her before me on the moving walkway. My arms wrap around her as I lower my face to hers with a soft, “Play along princess, this is where it gets interesting.”

As my lips dust hers, she whispers, “What is it?”

That statement alone impresses me because I thought she was the kind of girl who would be shocked by my sudden move. Instead, she correctly senses an ulterior motive and I whisper huskily, “I’ll tell you in a minute.”

I wrap my hand around the back of her head and as our lips touch, I kiss her softly, wishing like hell our first kiss was under different circumstances. I have no time to savor the delicious taste of forbidden fruit as I scan the face of the approaching flight attendant as she chats with the colleague by her side.

They move past without even a glance in our direction and as they leave, I release my captive and feel my blood churning.

I was right.

I quicken my pace and as I politely request to pass the couple in front, my companion is wise not to say a fucking word.

Gone is my playful intent and I have already shed my good mood. I am fucking raging inside because what the hell was Regina doing on that flight?

We move at a fast pace toward the private gates and as we reach the one assigned to my company, I waste no time in making the call that will clear up the mystery for me.

“Boss.”

“Regina Silver.”

I almost spit her name into the microphone.

“Find out why she was working my fucking flight to Sydney.”

“Consider it done.”

I cut the call, trusting Gleb to deal with this shit and as we pass the attendant manning the desk, I present my passport and say to my companion brusquely, “Passport.”

She presents the document and the woman on the desk allows us to pass through and as we take the stairs, she almost has to run to keep up.

I am so preoccupied I ignore her completely and so am surprised when I hear an angry, “Stop right there!”

I turn and see the fierce expression on the girl’s face as she drops her bag to the ground beside her. She is facing me with flashing blue eyes that I never appreciated the beauty of before as she sets her plump lips in an angry line and hisses, “What just happened and cut the bullshit?”

For a second, I can only stare because anger suits this woman well. Her chest is heaving, and her cheeks flushed, but it’s those eyes that are mesmerizing. She glares at me from under her baseball cap and in this moment, I believe she could strike me dead from just a well-aimed word in my general direction.

I knew I was attracted to her, but that attraction is nothing to how I feel now as I stare at a goddess of war who unleashes the wild beast inside me. I can tell we will explode together, and it will be an experience I am unlikely to forget in a hurry.

All these emotions scramble my mind for the briefest second before I exhale sharply and nod back in the direction we came.

“The woman who passed us on the walkway.”

“The one with the blonde hair chatting to the aloof one beside her.”