Painted Scars (Perfectly Imperfect, #1)(42)

“I feel strange,” I whisper when I sit down next to Roman in the middle of the booth.

“Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper again. “Why is everybody watching us?”

“Who cares,” he says, grabs my chin, and kisses me.




A man approaches Ivan and says something in his ear. He looks familiar, probably one of Pavel’s men. Ivan nods and looks at me, but when I shake my head, he sends him away. I’m not in a mood for business tonight, he can pass the message to Pavel.

Nina sits snuggled into my side, a wine glass in her hand, watching the crowd. She’s been talking nonstop since we came in, but she fell silent a few minutes ago. I wonder what’s going on in that head of hers. She puzzles me, this strange little thing who has worked her way under my skin, bit by bit, since the moment I saw her for the first time in that hole of a restaurant. I wonder what’ll happen when these six months elapse, and she realizes I have no intention of letting her go. Ever.

I raise my hand to trace the line of her bare shoulder, and then let it slide down to her delicate wrist. She looks so fragile, my Nina, but looks can be deceiving.

“Dance with me,” I whisper in her ear.

Her head tilts up and those black eyes look straight at me, a question visible in them. She must wonder how the fuck she is going to dance with a man who can’t even walk properly, but she doesn’t ask, as I knew she wouldn’t.

“Okay.” She smiles.

“Give me your leg.”

Curving her eyebrow, she turns toward me, crosses her legs, and places her right foot in my hand.

Slowly, I remove her heel and place it on the seat on the other side of me, then let go of her ankle.

“Left.”

“You should get some counseling, Roman. This foot fetish is getting out of hand.” She laughs and switches her legs, and I repeat the action with her other heel.

I take one crutch, stand up, and take her hand in mine.



“Up, malysh. On the seat.”

She giggles, climbs up to stand on the booth seat, and puts her arms around my neck. I smile. Even standing up there she’s barely an inch taller than me.

“I like this setup.” She kisses me. “From now on, I’m totally carrying a stool with me

everywhere.”

I place my hand on the small of her back and nuzzle her neck. She sighs and buries her fingers in my hair, and we keep standing like that while the sounds of a slow tune wind around us.

I’m not a fan of having my back turned to the crowd. I very much prefer the whole room in my sight, but I guess I will have to rely on Ivan and Kolya watching my back. And I like holding Nina like this, with my body disrupting the view for other men I’ve seen looking at her.

“How is the leg holding up,” she whispers in my ear.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry.”

“Roman?”

“Yes?”

“I have a confession to make.”

I kiss her shoulder. “Something bad?”

“Yeah. It’s . . . well, it’s a kind of a problem. A big one.”

“Spill it, Nina.”

She’s silent for a few moments, and then makes my world tilt on its axis with six short words.

“I’m in love with you, Roman.”

I close my eyes for a second and squeeze her tightly. It’s like everything around me stopped.

“Then we share the same problem, malysh.” I say into her neck, and feel her go still next to me.

When I raise my head and look at her, her lips are slightly quivering, and there are tears in the corners of her eyes.

“That six-month deal? It’s off, Nina,” I say and squeeze her waist. “I don’t care what we agreed.

You are mine now and I am not letting you go. Ever.”




I place my palms on either side of Roman’s face and search his eyes, that are looking into mine with such intensity.

“I’m not going anywhere, Roman.”

“Promise me.” He squeezes me to him, and for a moment, I find it hard to breathe. “Promise me, or I’m taking you home and tying you to my bed until you do.”

“I promise.” I run a finger along his jaw. “Should we sit back down?”

“No,” he barks.

“Okaaay. Why not?” I ask, but he just grinds his teeth and says nothing. “Roman, is something wrong?”

“There are men here.”

“It’s a club. Of course, there are men here.”

“They were ogling you.”

I burst out laughing, but he just grinds his teeth some more. “Are you kidding?”

“Do you see me smiling, Nina?”

He’s serious. “Roman, you are being unreasonable. I’m with you, am I not?” I place a kiss on his hard lips. “They can watch, but it’s all they can do.” Another kiss, on his brow this time. “Does that make it better?”

“Marginally.”

I have no idea what has gotten into him, but I’m not letting him stand like this the whole night. He needs to get off that leg of his. I sigh and kiss him again. “Let’s go home, baby.”



*

Our car stops in front of the house at the same time as another one, and Leonid gets out of the back seat. He turns to meet us, his eyes snapping to Roman who stands next to me. It’s dark, but there is enough light from the lamps to illuminate the shock on Leonid’s face, which transforms to a look of pure hatred. He quickly schools his features into a pleasant expression and approaches us.