The Soldier - S.R. Jones Page 0,19
more like homework than reading for pleasure?”
“No… I like big, complex books.”
“Yes, you like War and Peace, no?”
“Yes, but Anna Karenina is my favorite. Well, that and Wild Swans, and of course Wuthering Heights.”
“I haven’t read Wuthering Heights,” he says.
For a moment, I forget myself. I forget how insanely hot he is and how he makes me blush, and I shake my head at him. “What?” I blow out a breath and cock my head to one side. “You can’t not have read Wuthering Heights. You like great literature, or so you’re always telling me.”
“I do.” His mouth twitches a little, kicking up at one corner.
“Well, Wuthering Heights is one of the greatest,” I say.
“I should try it then?” He sits at the table I’m finishing cleaning and smiles at me.
“Yes, definitely. I’d be interested to hear what you thought of it.”
“Then I shall read it, Cassie, and then I’ll come and tell you what I thought of it.”
“Okay, deal.”
He smiles at me, takes a sip of his coffee, and groans.
He groans. Like I imagine he might groan while having sex, and immediately all my flustered attraction comes roaring back.
“You make the best coffee here.”
Then he breaks off some of the cream cake and puts it in his mouth.
“I don’t get how you’re not fat,” I blurt out. “You eat cake here every day.”
He chews and swallows. “I know, and because of this I’ve had to up my training time. If one keeps active, one can indulge. You eat the cakes,” he whispers as if it’s a secret. “I’ve seen you. But look at you, you look amazing.”
I do?
Oh. My. God. He thinks I look amazing. Not fit, or healthy, but amazing.
“I don’t look amazing,” I say with a snort, and then I wish I wasn’t such an idiot. A femme fatale would have murmured thank you in a throaty whisper and walked away mysteriously.
Can you walk mysteriously? I don’t know. Great, now I’m thinking about my walk, and I’ll be all self-conscious when I head back to the counter.
“Oh, trust me, you do.”
It’s the first time he’s been anything but friendly in what he says to me. There’s something there in the way he looks at me, but verbally? Nothing but friendly. His eyes darken as he watches me, then he bites his cake again, chews, swallows, licks his lips and grins. “You’re almost as tempting as the cakes, Cassie.”
Then he breaks into a grin, and I can only stare. I’ve never seen him smile like this before. He’s given me a lot of friendly closed lip smiles, and a few small, teeth showing smiles, but not this full-on grin that makes him so gorgeous I can’t stop looking.
“I better get back to the counter,” I say, and turn and almost run back to the till, and the safety to be found behind it.
I’m hot, and my heart is beating too fast. For the rest of the time he sits and drinks his coffee, and I keep casting glances toward Konstantin.
If only I was brave, I might tell him how I felt. If only I wasn’t determined to be sensible and good in this life, I might go to him and tell him to meet me tonight at some hotel. Once there we would tear one another’s clothes off, and I could get to see if the promise of his body is matched by the reality. We could unleash our inner wild demons and just tear the place, and each other, up. I won’t, though, will I? Because unlike Konstantin, who I bet embraces his inner beast, scares me.
“Earth to Cassie.” The annoying nasal tones of Jeff, the manager, interrupt my flight of fancy.
“Sorry, yes?”
“Can you go and clean the stockroom please; it’s a total mess.”
Shit, I can’t Konstantin watch from in the stockroom. I sigh and nod. “Of course.”
With one last glance at the mysterious Russian who I’m becoming more and more hopelessly in lust with, I head into the gloom of the back and the cleaning that awaits me.
Chapter Six
Konstantin
The Soldier Returns
London-Six months ago
To say life has changed is an understatement. Following Yulia’s death, I became more driven than ever. Colder. Harder, yes. But greedier too. More demanding, of myself and those around me. I put together a team, the best. The legitimate business employs some of the top headhunters, business development managers, and asset managers to be found in the developed world. The less legal side … well, that has Vasily and Denis as the hired