The look in her eyes is cold and unforgiving as she stops a dozen feet away from me, demonstratively keeping the distance between us. But as always, her irritation only makes me smile and want to tease her. I know that her emotions get the best of her, but underneath that raging storm the core of her heart remains the same.
“Don’t be so dramatic.” I chuckle and tilt my head, looking out for any change in her mask of indifference. “It’s been years. Why are you still mad at me?”
But Sasha doesn’t react. She only watches me silently with her arms crossed and her icy gaze set on me. Alright, I guess she’s not in the mood for a small chat, but something in me wants to get a reaction out of her. We aren’t strangers to each other, after all.
“Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have left you like that, but hey, you were spying on us. You can’t tell me it was all my fault that things ended as they did.”
“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” Sasha asks after a moment of silence, and I huff. God, why do I feel so bitter?
“Why are you acting like you don’t know me?”
“Oh, I know you very well, Louis Messina,” she says, and some of her anger finally slips into her voice. Sasha catches it as well because she clearly regains her composure and purses her lips. “Is there anything actually meaningful that you want to tell me?”
So everything I just said is empty noise to her, huh? I clench my jaw and tense up from the rush of adrenaline-but no, Louis, calm down. That’s not what you came here for, remember? So I force myself to breathe out and turn my focus away from the unpleasant heat growing in my chest.
“Yes, there is.” I clear my throat, step forward, and look her in the eyes, seeing her tense up from my movement. “I want to offer you a deal. An alliance. You know I don’t want to be your enemy, and I’ve heard about your situation at home…”
Sasha’s eyes widen for a moment before she narrows them with a look of fury. Uh, that doesn’t look good.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it-but listen, it will be better for you, your son, and both our families to sign another deal. You could move in with me, and…well, it doesn’t matter. What I’m saying is that an alliance would make us stronger, and with the way the Escarra family has been acting lately, we have to stick together. Don’t you see?”
I breathe out sharply, finishing my long speech, and only then realize just how fast my heart is beating. I mean, it is important for Sasha to hear me out, and this was my only chance to explain myself properly. Was that a good explanation? Ah, it didn’t sound like it, but-
“So what you are saying is that…you want to marry me?” Sasha raises her eyebrows, looking at me with surprise and disbelief. I swallow. Damn, why does it sound so intimate?
“Yes. I mean, not because I want to. I just think it’s a good-”
But Sasha interrupts me with a sudden burst of laughter. It doesn’t sound even a bit genuine, and I tense up from the cold note of contempt in it. I guess I should’ve expected this kind of reaction. I don’t say anything while Sasha sobers up and looks at me with pure hatred in her eyes.
“I will never trust a damn word of yours.”
It takes her two seconds to reach for her gun, but it’s enough for my reflexes to kick in. By the time she raises her gun and fires at me, I’m already jumping to the side, and the metallic container behind me rings from the impact. Oh, come on. Does she still want to kill me?
I roll to the ground, and the next bullet pierces the floor a few inches away from me. Shit. That was close.
“Why can’t we just talk?” I yell at her, running away from her bullets and to the container lying on its side. It’s a good enough cover for me to catch my breath and take out my own gun.
“There’s nothing left to say, Louis. It’s time to pay for what you’ve done.”
I huff out loud and peek out of my cover. Sasha is slowly walking toward the container, holding it at a gunpoint, and as soon as she notices me I move back into my hideout and press my back to the container. This time, her bullet smashes into the wall in front of me. Okay, it’s time to take this seriously.
“I’m sorry, okay?” I yell, slowly creeping backward and into the container. “I didn’t want to break your heart, and…I broke mine, too, if it makes you feel better.”
“Do you really think I care about your goddamn heart?”
But I don’t reply as every sound would echo and let Sasha know that I’ve laid a trap. I slightly crouch in the shadows inside the container, balancing on its cracked side under my feet, and hold my breath.
Sasha’s steps come closer, and I guess she senses that something’s wrong. She lingers next to the container-right on the other side of my own cover-and suddenly lunges around the corner, blindly firing at the spot I occupied just a few seconds ago. But I don’t give her enough time to figure out her mistake.
As soon as Sasha’s arm shoots in front of me, I grab it with both hands and squeeze her wrist hard enough to make her cry out loud. She still tries to turn her gun in my direction, kicking me with her knee, but I ignore the pain and twist her arm just enough to force her to let go. She winces and curses under her breath when the gun slips out of her hand, and I immediately ease my grip.
“I’m sorry, but you made me-”
Sasha slaps me before I can finish, and that makes me growl. Can’t that woman stand still for one goddamn second? I catch both of her wrists and force them behind her back, pushing her until her back meets the wall.
“You fucking asshole,” Sasha hisses into my face, trying to weave herself out of my grip. But she’s completely in my arms now. Her tiny frame played against her this time, and I can feel her whole body against mine.
Shit. It’s not the best time to get aroused, but the wave of heat spreads through me without my control. The memories of our games in bed flood my mind, and I can feel my pulse pick up its speed. I press myself closer to Sasha, looking her in the eyes, and I see the pink blossom on her cheeks.
She feels it, too.
“Why are you trying to get away from me?” I murmur and, in a rush of boldness, readjust my grip so that only one hand is holding both of her wrists.
Sasha purses her lips and turns her head away, but she doesn’t try to push me, and the realization sends a wave of liquid fire through my veins.
She likes being completely in my power, and even now she can’t help it.
God, she’s the hottest woman I’ve ever known.
I raise my hand to her chin, forcing her to turn back toward me, and when our eyes finally meet again, I see that her pupils are wider than before. It makes something in my chest grow, and I smirk, stroking her chin.
“So what do you think now, Alex?” I whisper into her lips and lean forward, pressing a kiss into her sealed lips. It won’t take long for her to admit her desire, so I close my eyes, tighten my embrace-
And the next moment, Sasha yanks her hands out of my grip and digs her nails into my face, making me stumble back with a cry of pain. Before I can come back to my senses, she aims her knee at my stomach and shoves me to the ground. I can hear her heavy breathing as she stops next to me, and I look up at her. What, is she gonna kill me now?
But finally, I can see something real on her face. Not the distant mask of a porcelain doll but a true blend of emotions. Anger, confusion, despair, pain…I see a hundred shades in the curve of her lips and the dark depth of her green eyes, and something in me aches in response.
“Alex,” I call her by her old name and try to get up-but like a rabbit startled by a sound, Sasha immediately steps away from me, turns around, and runs away. It takes her just a few seconds to disappear into the darkness guarding the entrance to the building.
I let out a deep sigh and slump back on the ground, wrapping my arm around my knee. Well, I should’ve expected this to happen. I touch my face and hiss from the scratch on my cheek. Sasha didn’t hold back, but does she ever?
I chuckle to myself and look at the lights of her car driving away in a hurry. I guess I got the answer to my offer-but I’m not ready to give up. Not yet. And as I watch her disappear, I realize that I want Sasha even more now. So I brush myself off, get up, and take out my phone, walking to the open doors of the building.
“Hey, Riccardo? Do you have a second to talk?”