“Smooth?” Mariya snarled, “He certainly seems smooth enough with the fifty percent of the female population he’s banged here on campus. Believe me, no one’s shy about letting me know they’ve slept with him.”
I winced. “Look, I’m sorry. They’re bitches for bragging to you like that.”
“That’s what I told her!” Tatiana adds.
“I can promise you that since you came here, he hasn’t been with anyone,” I tell Mariya, watching her mutinous expression. There’s the slightest hint of hope there, too.
“Then why is he such a grumpy asshole to her?” Tatiana asks.
“Let’s be fair,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck and wishing I’d never come in here, “they both look like they want to stab each other whenever they’re within a one-meter radius. So, it seems like something she and Konstantin should discuss.”
I try to change the subject before the person getting stabbed is me. “So, are you trying out the same look for the Christmas Eve party, baby?”
She raises a haughty brow. “I don’t know. No one has asked me to be their date.”
Oh, shit.
“My beautiful piccolo bacio, I ask you to forgive my thoughtless assumptions and I would like to formally request the honor of your presence at the party as my date?”
“Man, he’s smooth,” Mariya compliments me, nudging Tati, “you should definitely reinforce that kind of boyfriend behavior.”
“Very well,” Tatiana examines her fingernails, “since no one else has asked me and I am free…”
“Excellent,” I kiss her hand, deeply relieved this isn’t going to cost me a kidney or something.
“Let’s go over to your suite,” Mariya says to Tatiana, “we can go through your closet and find something that’ll make you look insanely hot.”
“It wouldn’t matter what she wore, she will always be beautiful,” I said, kissing her goodbye.
“Lucca should really give lessons on how to talk to women,” Mariya says as they leave.
I just smile, glad they’re leaving before I open my mouth and fuck it up somehow.
Chapter Twenty-Two
In which Lucca wins the title of Best Boyfriend Ever.
Tatiana…
“So, what are the formal dances like in Vancouver?” Mariya asks, applying some eyeliner with a dramatic swoop on my eyelids.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “This is the first dance I’ve ever been to.”
“You’re kidding.” Her hand is still up, gripping the eyeliner wand as she stares at me.
“There were a couple of formal affairs that I went to with my parents,” I shrugged, “but I never danced with anyone. Don’t give me that look, I know I was raised as a professional shut-in. No need to make me feel any more pathetic than I do.”
“Sorry,” she finishes her magic on my eyes. “I thought no one could be more oppressive than my mother, and even I got to go to a few dances, though never with a date. Being promised in marriage at the age of fourteen will do that.”
“Were you angry when Maksim told you about the arrangement with the Turgenevs?” I watch her expression, but she keeps her eyes on the makeup bag.
“Honestly? No. My sister-in-law Ella lost her fucking mind. I heard she trashed Maksim’s office when she found out. She made him promise to ask me, instead of telling me. And he did. At the time, I thought Konstantin was cute, can you believe it?” she snorted.
“Well…” I shrug awkwardly.
“Of course, I didn’t know what a dick he was at the time,” she said sourly. “But it could be worse. Maksim could have promised me to some eighty-year-old.”
“I can’t see him ever doing that,” I said, hiding a smile.
“Probably not,” she admits, chuckling a little. “It may not be so bad. Look at Ekaterina! She’s really happy with her arranged marriage. As a matter of fact, since my sister is married to Lucca’s brother, we could really be family if you two…” she wiggles her eyebrows at me meaningfully.
My smile fades as I think about it. Would Roman let me marry someone of my own choosing? “Lucca’s estranged from his family and frankly, they sound like assholes to me,” I said, standing up to step into my dark green silk dress.
“Did he ever tell you what the hell happened?”
“Yes,” I said, struggling to get at the zipper. “It’s not my story to tell, though it’s hard to want to be a member of a family that could throw away their own brother like that, especially after losing their parents.”
She bats my hands away from the zipper and pulls it up for me. “Lucca’s a good man,” she agreed, “though falling in love with you has brought it out of him. Hopefully, they’ll have a chance to see that.”
“Love?” I’m about to scoff and dismiss her comment, but suddenly, I’m not sure what to think. The tender way he treats me - for such an angry man - how he comes to my rescue, over and over. Do I love him?
Watching me, Mariya grins insolently when I stare back at her, wide-eyed. “Oh, shit I love him, don’t I?”
“Yes, my simple-minded friend, you do. And he loves you. It is painfully obvious. And nauseatingly adorable, if you want the truth.”
Lucca…
“The Ares Academy has to be the only fucking college on the planet that expects you to pack a tux,” Aleksandr says sourly, straightening his cuffs.
“Yeah, but you look hot as hell,” Konstantin leers, patting him on the shoulder, laughing when he irritably swats his hand off.
We agreed to meet the women at the main hall, where the cavernous granite and wood space has been transformed with multiple glittering Christmas trees. Fabric swags and lights are draped from the oak beams overhead and tables are covered in tartan red and green, with endless platters of food.
Say what you will about our power-saw-loving Dean, the woman knows how to throw a party.
“Here they come,” Aleks nudges me.
Fuck, she’s incredible.
Tatiana’s looking around, and I catch the moment she sees me and gives me that smile, the smile that tells me she’s so happy to see me. No pretense, no playing hard to get.
Since men at the Academy outnumber women by nearly two to one, just having a date for the party is a major coup. Having a woman as beautiful as Tatiana? I’m just spiteful enough to enjoy the longing stares the other guys are giving her as I walk up to meet her.
“Ty samoye prekrasnoye, chto ya kogda-libo videl,” I whisper, cupping her face to kiss her.
“I’m the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” Tatiana says, “And in Russian? You’re too good at this, Velikolepnyy.”
“I’m still gorgeous, eh?” I grin down at her, giving her another kiss.
“In this tux? Oh, yes,” she says with a misty look of appreciation.
I laughed. I seem to do that a lot around her.
Aleks is with Camilla tonight, and we’re both pulling our girls out onto the dance floor when I spot Mateo. “That pezzo di merda, that piece of shit is here?” I murmur, disgusted. “Who’s willing to date a rapist?”
He craned his neck, looking over the crowd. “It’s the girl from the Marchand syndicate in New Orleans.”
“Tansey Marchand,” I say with disgust. She’s preening in a very low-cut black dress and her left boob is already ready to pop out of the fabric.
“What are you two looking at?” Tatiana asks, standing on tiptoe.
“Nothing,” I said, pulling her closer. She laughs as I twirl her out in a spin and back again.
“Impressive,” she says, smoothing my lapel, “dance lessons as a kid?”
“All of us had to go through them,” I groaned, “my mother insisted. Dario was better about finding a way out of them because he’s such a sneaky bastard, but-”
She’s watching me closely, and I turn my head. “It’s okay to miss them, Velikolepnyy. Especially at Christmas.”