The Master (The Game Maker #2)(72)

Another brush of his fingers. “I have other things to focus on now. Such as my vigorous plans for you later.”

My breath hitched.

He brought me back over to the bar, assisting me into my seat. “Until later.” He brushed my hair over to one side, then pressed a kiss between my shoulder blades.

I was trembling when Máxim strode off with his brother, my mind whirring. A relationship with a man like that? I’d always hoped my luck would turn around, but this was ridiculous.

Natalie said, “So, you and Maksim are clearly serious. How long have you been seeing each other?”

“I met him almost two weeks ago.”

Jess’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit! It’s your two-week anniversary. We should drink.”

Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.

Natalie pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, then asked me, “How did Maksim know all those things he said in the speech?”

He’s in the business of information, I thought. But I just shrugged. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

“Not at all. I’m ready for it to happen. Aleks is nervous though. He thinks something will stop the wedding or take me away from him.”

Jess added, “She won’t tell me all the details, but he, Maksim, and the other brother had a f*cked-up childhood in Siberia.” Did they know about the scars on Máxim’s back? “So Natalie is pretty much air for Aleks.” She acted like she was suffocating. “Must . . . have . . . air.”

Natalie told me, “He’s been uneasy about you, because he wouldn’t put it past his brother to kidnap you permanently. And Maksim watched you like a hawk throughout dinner. I was surprised he left you.”

He probably had one of his security detail spying on me.

Jess said, “You’re about to bolt, aren’t you? We’ll totally help you! We can go to my parents’ lake house.”

“Are we scheduling a mafiya carefrontation?” Natalie asked. Then she tapped her chin. “I should warn you: I ran from Aleks twice. It ended in marriage.”

“Why would you run?”

“The first time? Because he broke into my house, intending to abduct me back to Russia. The second time? Because he wouldn’t talk to me about his past.”

Máxim had shied away on the plane, but I knew I could get him to open up. If I did.

Natalie said, “Aleks kept all his emotions bottled up. Unlike his brother! When Maksim toasted love and held up his glass to you, everyone in that room knew he was lost.”

For me. It struck me that if Máxim was legit, my whole life might turn around. I was making friends and had seen snow. I’d ridden a horse and gotten laid in a covered bridge. I possibly had a boyfriend who could help me fight for my life back. I couldn’t stop a smile. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now.”

Jess told Natalie, “That sounds like something a prisoner would say.” To me, she said, “I can’t let Natalie get nervous about anything the night before her wedding. So pony up the deets.”

To distract them, I said, “Let’s do one more round.” Famous last words.

Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.

Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.

Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.

Sometime later, I patted myself on my back. I’d distracted them and was having serious fun in the meantime! I’d missed hanging out with people my own age so much.

And I loved watching the rapport between Natalie and Jess. Natalie was the most laid-back girl I’d ever met. Jess was absolutely the craziest. Yet they totally fit.

As we grew drunker, Jess turned philosophical. “Why do guys think I want to date just because I bounced their dick for a night or two? Men are so predictable, so boring! Especially compared to women. If you and the Russian don’t work out . . .” She made a phone gesture against her head, mouthing, Call me.

Lick-shoot-suck-gasp.

Eventually Natalie admitted that Aleks had taken her to a masquerade at Le Libertin, an exclusive BDSM club in Paris. So both brothers had that interest? Did Dmitri as well?

Natalie would’ve been sparing on the sex club descriptions, but Jess, who knew the story, kept prodding her: “You left out the best part! The metal dildo! And the sexual circus.”

The details of that night scorched my eyebrows—and fueled my curiosity. What else would Máxim show me?

Jess pouted. “For some reason, I didn’t get an invitation to Cirque du Cock. So I have to live vicariously.”

Natalie said, “The weird thing was learning Maksim is a member too.” You don’t say. “He’ll probably take you.”

“Mamí gets to go to Cirque du Cock? And not me? Now you two are just being twats.”

Lick-suck-shoot-gasp.

Jess also grew more physical, seizing Natalie in a headlock. “Who’s your wedding coordinator, now? Huh? Huh?” She rubbed her knuckles in Natalie’s red hair until she’d created a huge rat’s nest. “I am the wedding coordinator—the coordinated terminator. Say it.”

Natalie just laughed. And she let the rat’s nest stay.

Lick-suck-shoot-gasp.

“How did you meet Maksim?” Natalie asked me, slurring. “He usually only ‘dates’ ”—she made air quotes—“blondes.”

Oh. We were back to me. My head swirled. Bob and weave, Cat. But I didn’t want to with these girls. They were so nice and real. “Oh, it’s not a big deal.”