Page 32 of Vengeful Vows

Our kiss was so blistering that my lovesick heart is hopeful of a second chance to seduce him.

Shock that a nonfraternization policy shouldn’t be seen as a negative when contemplating a job offer scarcely registers when Rafael ensures there’s no possibility I can turn down the opportunity. “The pay is double your current rate, and the four days on, three days off roster is during school hours.”

It sounds too good to be true, which can only mean one thing—it is.

“I—” I choke on my reply for the second time when the man offering me an opportunity I never anticipated enters the den from the opposite side.

Ark smiles at me like I’m welcome in his space, and it instantly facilitates my worries that most nursery rhymes are based on heinous acts.

11

ARKADIY

“If you want anyone to believe you hired her because of her cleaning skills, you need to alter your expression.” Rafael butts shoulders with me before he joins my stalk. To an outsider, it appears as if he picked the side closest to the bar. I know that isn’t true. He always stands to my right to ensure I hear every snarky comment he mutters. “You look hungry.”

I am.

I’m fucking starved.

It just isn’t for food.

Rafael winks at a brunette prancing past us like her hair coloring won’t see her left in the cold before he says, “This isn’t what I meant when I said you needed her at your side. I meant?—”

“I know what you meant, Raf,” I interrupt. “But this is better for all involved. Safer.” My next sentence leaves my mouth before I can stop it. “It will give me time to make sure the headrush I face every time she looks at me won’t cause unforgivable mistakes.”

He shakes his head, his expression a mix of disappointment and confusion. “You’re nothim, Ark. You’d never….” He can’t finish his sentence, and I am glad. I’m not sure how I’d respond with eyes identical to the ones from my nightmares on me.

Needing to change topics before my somewhat playful mood nosedives, I ask, “Why is she here so late? She usually finishes no later than five.”

I want to add,And where’s Tillie? But I know Mara wouldn’t have left her in incapable hands. Unlike my mother, she cares about her child. The way she weaponed up against me on Monday proves this without a doubt. The reminder has me pushing aside my worries faster than they can surface.

Rafael shrugs. “She didn’t say.” He leans in close. “Want me to kick her out? I’d hate to disrupt your routine. You’d usually be half a block from her apartment by n?—”

I rib him with my elbow, stopping his rile midsentence. He chuckles, loving seeing a side of me he’s not witnessed in an extremely long time.

I’m not opposed to a changeup. Occasionally thinking with your heart can’t be a bad thing. I just wish it wasn’t occurring during one of the most pivotal times of my career.

If my skeletons are exposed, my campaign for office is over.

I won’t be able to come back from that.

Haunted memories see me removing my eyes from Mara for the first time in almost thirty minutes. “Make sure she gets home safely.” My snapped tone announces the words I don’t need to speak to a man as protective as Rafael, but I articulate them anyway. “And don’t let it be on a fucking bus.”

His jaw is as firm as mine. “I’ll be sure to announce her new employment contract has a no-public-transport stipulation.”

I smile, grateful there’s no chance Mara will face the injustices of a dangerous world for the second time this year before I turn toward my office. The interview to keep Mara outof the tabloids set me back by half a day, but I’d do it again in an instant if it achieved the same results.

It is not my intention to strip Mara of her cloak of invisibility. I simply want to learn who forced her to wear it, and how much it will take to free her from it.

I don’t even make it two steps away before Rafael thwarts my wish to flee. “What if she wants to stay?”

My eyes stray to Mara, who is being introduced to a handful of fashion icons by Riley, my baby sister, before they shift back to Rafael. “Let her stay. But if your eyes leave her once?—”

“They won’t,” he interrupts, walking away.

The possessive edge beaming from him should piss me off. It was as claiming as they come. But since it is Rafael, the man I owe my life to, I tuck away my flare of annoyance before continuing for my third-floor office. I have paperwork to endorse and a headache to massage away.

The latter sees me making a quick detour to my bedroom for supplies.

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