The Russian's Furious Fiancee Page 0,15

Damon didn’t contact her. She told herself that she was relieved that he had moved on to another woman. When she read the papers, skimming the business and social headlines, she pretended like she wasn’t tensing for news of his engagement to someone else, just that she was interested as a non-interested bystander.

She found out her assumptions were incorrect on the fourth day. “Dinner tonight, 7pm, my place,” was all the text message said. No name, no address, just the command to appear. She knew exactly who it was from even without a name.

Instantly her heart rate increased and she considered so many ways to respond. Something that would put him in his place and show him that she refused to jump at his commands. Why should she? She had no relationship with him, no reason to obey him and even if he were her employer, she still would demand that he contact her and request her presence with a bit more respect than that message offered.

She started to ignore it, but knew that it wouldn’t be the end of the situation. She simply replied, “Have plans” without any preamble or apology.

When she quickly received the reply, “Cancel”, she gritted her teeth and considered her options. She could refuse, telling him that her current plans were much more interesting than he could possibly hope to be. She could make up some fabulous event she would be attending, but she knew that he would probably show up wherever she told him she was going to be. She smiled at the idea of telling him she had another date, with a man who was much more considerate than he could hope to be.

After debating back and forth with herself, she relied on simplicity and said “No.” before tucking her phone into her purse. She smiled as she moved back to her computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she developed the scene where her detective was interrogating a suspect. In her mind, the suspect was Damon and she was the detective. In the dialogue, she always came out sounding better, more intelligent and she won each argument.

She suspected that the simple “No” would make him angrier than anything she might try to make up. Defiance was foreign to that man so it felt extremely good to be the first to offer it to him.

She heard it vibrate a moment later, but determined to ignore it. She succeeded for all of five minutes before she pulled it out again and looked at the screen. She almost growled when she read the word, “Coward” on her screen.

She almost broke a nail while she replied, “Name the place!”, forgetting that he’d mentioned his place already. He replied with his address and she tossed the cell phone back into her bag, refusing to look at it again or even acknowledge that she’d received his address. Damn the man and his conceited, obnoxious mentality!

Four hours later, she was standing in front of his door, still fuming over how arrogant he was being. He’d gotten her here, but she wasn’t going to bow to his pressure any more than she had the previous meeting. She was still disgusted with herself for being outmaneuvered with the exact same trick he’d used on her before. Why was she so gullible when it came to this man? What power did he have over her that would make her do something so stupid?

“You’re late,” he said as soon as he opened the door to her at his penthouse in a fabulous building in the heart of Athens. She hated the fact that she liked his place and pretended to ignore the incredible views of the sun setting over the horizon, looking like the city was almost on fire from this vantage point.

“I’m here. Don’t ask for more than that.”

“I expect punctuality,” he said as he closed the door behind her.

“Learn to live with disappointment, then,” she snapped back and walked into the living area, dropping her purse onto a chair, then swinging around to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. Her chin went up subconsciously as she faced her tormentor.

He chuckled as he followed her into the penthouse.

“So what do you want from me?” she asked, watching as he walked through the living room.

He turned and looked down at her. “Do you really want to know?”

She was startled by the heat in his golden eyes and wisely shook her head. “No. Probably not.”

“Wise choice,” he said and pulled her