Page 21 of The Bratva's Captive

I blinked, letting my eyes adjust to the dimness in this small space that smelled cleaner than the rest of the VIP rooms out there. Or maybe it was just that I didn’t have to face those three creeps anymore that my outlook on life was that much clearer and easier to deal with.

Letting out another deep breath after the rush of panic when I was cornered, I lifted my gaze to watch my hero. This man had busted in there like a godsend, rescuing me from those men touching me. I hadn’t been hit. I hadn’t been raped. Because of this tall, dark, brooding man, I was spared a worse fate.

But he couldn’t be a gift from any god looking likethis.

Stuck in a silent staring contest, we regarded each other like two adversaries unsure of whose turn it was to make a move.

With mussed-up brown hair, he seemed wild and untamed. The tailored suit that clung to his muscular body suggested he hida beastly power. If I hadn’t witnessed him in action, so easily taking down all three of those creepy men without breaking a sweat, I wouldn’t have believed it.

The lean features of his face made him appear harder and stonier than I wanted to think he was. And that dark brown stare, so menacing yet curious, convinced me that he would be more of a devil than an angel.

It didn’t matter.

All that I cared about was that he was here. And he’d given a damn to intervene when I was so clearly outnumbered and stuck in a shitty situation.

“Um.” I couldn’t rely on a stupid, sultry smile and wear it like it was part of my uniform. Oftentimes, thatwasmy uniform. Nude but smiling to con men to give me every dollar they had. Stunned and still reeling from the roller coaster of fear to panic, then anger to relief, I wasn’t able to think, let alone speak.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Even his voice was gruff and gravelly, like there could be nothing soft or gentle about him at all. Iknewhe wasn’t a tender man. He’d just strolled up and nearly killed those men without flinching. Like it was nothing.

And he had the clarity of mind to ask if I was okay?

No one ever gave a shit about me to check whether I wasokay.

Not a single person cared about how I was doing or if I was struggling.

I was so far fromokaythat I wouldn’t know how to get there again—if I ever had been “okay” in this tough life I’d endured so far.

He did, though.

With that slow, measuring, and calculating stare that he dragged up me, he was expecting an answer.

“I…” Nodding quickly, I felt stupidly shy.I, an experienced stripper, wasshy. “I am now.”

He gave a curt nod, just a slight lift of his head. Then he played dirty. As his lips slowly tugged into a lazy smile, he pushed me out of my comfort zone into uncharted territory.

I’d never had a man look at me likethatbefore. Not the hazed-over, lusty stare that many men gave me when I was on stage. Not the narrow-eyed squint of figuring out how to use me for what they wanted.

He checked me out with such an intense interest that attraction ran like a current between us. Confined in this private room, just the two of us, I had a whole new experience of being alone.

I was alone—with him.

It went to my head, exciting me to interest a rugged man like him. And it went to my pussy, warming me up from the inside out that I could snag a guy like this to look at me with the intention of devouring me whole.

“I’m more than okay now,” I replied, honest and wishing I could lose some of this honest attraction to borrow the fake seductress act I used on stage. “And I wish I could thank you for saving me out there.” I stepped to the side, giving him room to walk further into the room.

He hadn’t asked for this space. Neither had I. I realized now that we just happened to be near the line and the man overseeing the rooms had assumed we wanted one.

“And how might you do that?” he asked in a rough growl as he approached the chair. It was placed there, intended for a guest to sit and watch a private show. As he lowered his powerful body down onto it, not taking his eyes off me, he dragged the tip of his tongue along his lower lip.

Oh, God.

All of a sudden, I had a sinking suspicion that Nevaeh might not have been talking out of her ass and making it up when she teased me that my vibrators weren’t as good as the real thing. Because without knowing anything about this man, I could tell that he would be the best I could ever hope for. A man couldn’t be that drop-dead sexy and oozing masculinity and testosterone without being long and thick—and knowing how to wield such a sword.

“How can I thank you?” I didn’t mean to answer his question with one of my own, but I was too thrown off by this rabid desire that burned through my veins. Never before had I been this viscerally aware of a man. And never did I think I’d want one again after vowing to just be single from now on.

He nodded, watching as I approached him, putting extra emphasis into the sway of my hips as I walked. Surprisingly, he didn’t lower his gaze from my face. Even though I was wearing hardly anything, he wanted to keep that smoldering stare on my eyes as if he could bore through me and sizzle me from the inside out.

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