the ordinary for me. I usually did my best to avoid conflict, but then again, I was definitely not at my best.
“I appreciate the offer, but it’s not necessary.”
The elevator dinged, and he stepped off.
“It wasn’t an offer.”
He stood, one hand on the elevator door, his body rigid, his expression equally so.
“So you’re insisting?” I asked, fighting to stop the smile that lit my face.
“Yes.”
“Why?” I asked.
In that moment, something changed.
This encounter, tense in a way but also not, became something different.
His expression shifted, the emotion that I saw there unnamable but intense.
Until it was gone, wiped away with a blink of his eyes, his expression now so staid I could almost make myself believe I hadn’t seen anything at all.
Almost.
“You’re important to Erin. Erin is important to Sasha. Sasha is important to me. So, it’s the least I can do.”
A reasonable answer, but I didn’t believe it.
And I couldn’t say why.
Maybe it was whatever had passed in his expression?
Perhaps, or perhaps it was something else.
Perhaps the reaction I was having to him was reciprocated.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him why he’d really been in the alley that night, but I couldn’t do it, refused to allow myself to open that door again.
Cowardly, but there was no shame in knowing when to retreat.
And now was the time.
Because Ghost, or whatever his name really was, made me feel things and want things, want him, in a way I thought was long past.
Which meant he was a threat to my safety, a threat to the predictable life I had so painstakingly crafted.
And that was a risk I refused to take.
Instead, I nodded faintly and then stepped out of the elevator.
His expression wasn’t exactly cocky, but I could tell he had expected no less.
My mischievous side wanted to put him in his place, but I stayed silent as I followed him to the large SUV.
Besides, sneaking out of Erin’s reception had been a bitch move. This was fair penance.
He opened the door, waited until I was settled in the passenger seat, and then rounded the car and got into the driver’s side.
I kept my gaze ahead but in my periphery watched him fasten his seatbelt, start the engine, and drive off.
Again, I couldn’t help but notice how his movements were. Efficient, no energy wasted.
Completely under control.
It was something I liked very much.
With baking, a certain level of perfectionism was necessary, but as much control as I might have in the kitchen, it didn’t spill over to other areas of my life.
I suspected that wasn’t true for him.
Even something as simple as maneuvering a vehicle out of the garage and onto the streets he handled with an efficiency that was borderline scary.
And so damned sexy it almost took my breath away.
As he drove, I forced myself to keep my eyes straight ahead and focused on resisting the impulse to chatter.
It was something I usually did, maybe to fill the space, the awkwardness I often felt, but in his case, there was genuine interest.
Like why they called him Ghost.
What his name actually was.
Questions I had no business wondering about and certainly wouldn’t ask.
Not again.
Besides, what little I knew of Sasha, outside of the fact that he was crazy about Erin, was that he was mobbed up.
And I had no doubt the same was true for Ghost.
The aura of danger around him was unmistakable, and even if he didn’t intrigue me enough to throw me off my game, common sense dictated that I stay away.
So I stayed silent, impressed that I hadn’t uttered a word when he pulled to a stop in front of the bakery.
“Your apartment is upstairs.”
It wasn’t a question, and I didn’t bother to even think about how he knew that.
“Yes,” I said instead, nodding.
He did the same and then held my gaze for a long moment.
“Mikhail.”
His voice was low, not exactly soft, but I heard the offering in it.
An offer I should have been smart enough not to take but one I refused to allow myself to miss.
I quirked a brow in question.
“Mikhail. That is my name. Good night, Adora.”
His eyes were on mine, and I felt like I was losing myself in his gaze.
So much so that I lingered, the feelings coursing through me ones I couldn’t explain, but the idea that I had just been given a precious gift was one I couldn’t shake.
“Thank you for the ride, Mikhail. Good night,” I finally managed to say.
We had arrived, and I could have gotten out of