have done that. He’ll never stop coming after you. He’s really a monster.”
“I could see that. What are his brothers like? Have you seen them? Met them?” Sevastyan moved across the room from her, resting one hip against the bar, regarding her carefully. She looked strained, trying to cover it up. The smudge by her lips had darkened. She continually covered the swelling at the side of her head.
“I’ve seen them, but they always stay in the background. He’s the one out in front at press conferences. He does the talking. He can be charming when he wants something. He’s good at smiling for the cameras.”
“You look tired. Are you getting hungry?”
“I need to deal with my car. It’s off the road, but it’s going to have to be towed.” She put her head back and closed her eyes. “I don’t know how I managed to get away from him. It was my female. Flamme. I ran faster than I’ve ever run in my life.”
Sevastyan couldn’t help it. He found himself smiling. He wasn’t that given to the real thing. But Flambé? Flamme? It was possible there was a warning in those two names. Shturm and he had better take heed and listen to it.
“I’ll have your car taken care of. Are the keys in it?”
“I threw them on the front seat. At least I think I did. I just hit the ground running. He was coming at me. He was on me so fast and I was so scared. I knew I couldn’t let his leopard anywhere near Flamme.”
“Why did you name her Flamme?”
“I didn’t. She told me that was her name. I haven’t seen her, but I presume she’s strawberry like most of us.” Flambé opened her eyes and regarded Sevastyan. “Your leopard is Amur?”
Sevastyan nodded. “He’s big for any leopard. He can ride me pretty hard, Flambé. There are times I can be edgy. I won’t ever use that as an excuse to mistreat you. If you don’t like something I say or do, speak up.” Pulling out his cell, he texted Mitya, his cousin. There were plenty of security personnel who could take care of towing Flambé’s car to the garage and get it fixed for her.
Her smile was a thing of beauty. Fascinating to him. It came slow, a curve of her mouth and then lighting her eyes and then her face. “I have no problems whatsoever expressing myself when I don’t like something, Sevastyan.” She pointed to her red hair. “That is the warning signal, after all.”
“My woman has a temper?”
“I prefer to say I have a sense of justice and when someone crosses it, it is at their peril.”
He laughed. Actually laughed. It might have sounded a little rusty, but it was definitely a laugh. He liked her. He liked being with her.
“You don’t have to take care of my car for me, Sevastyan. I can do it, although I appreciate you volunteering. I was procrastinating. You’ll find I do that. Not anything to do with work. That’s what will frustrate you the most about me. I tend to get everything done to the smallest detail with work and the people I’m trying to help, but once I come home and need to take care of my own things, I put it off all the time. You’ll want to pull out your hair— or mine. I miss important appointments like doctor appointments all the time, and you know how hard it is to get in with a shifter doc.”
He frowned down at her. “You miss doctor appointments?”
She nodded. “All the time. They even charge me for my missed appointments.” She sighed. “Nothing helps. I just can’t seem to be bothered to remember my own things once I get home after taking care of everyone else.”
“That will change. I have my ways to make certain you do the things in our household that need to be done—especially those that pertain to your care.”
Her eyes widened. “You do? You have your ways? You have ways?”
He nodded with deliberate slowness and paced around her chair with a leopard’s prowling gait. The silence stretched between them, tension heightening suddenly, all raw sexuality.
“Are you going to tell me what those ways are?” She turned her head to follow him as he circled behind her.
“I prefer to let you find out when the time comes. According to what you just told me, you often neglect your important appointments. If that is true, it won’t take long before you find