Page 81 of Prince of Control
What in the Hell was that?
Why would he say Denis is dangerous? That doesn’t make sense. He must have the two of them mixed up.
“Privet.” I lift my face to give Baron a smile and kiss.
He kisses me. “Privet, malyshka.”
I swear, I sense at least a third of the students in the bookstore watching us.
“That’s his wife,” someone murmurs. I hear other snippets of gossip around us.
“...arranged marriage...Russian mafiya…”
Baron truly is famous on this campus.
And now, so am I.
I don’t mind the attention.
He takes the new book from my hand and the book bag from my shoulder and puts an arm around me as we walk out to the murmurs around us.
“OMG, so jealous…they’re so cute…”
“Yeah, but do you think it’ll last?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lara
Wednesday night, Baron takes me out to a fancy dinner and gets me tipsy on a hundred dollar bottle of wine and lobster.
He pulls me close as we leave the restaurant. “I loved our first date.”
“Is that what we’re calling this?” I tease. Having a first date after I’ve already done everything else with this man–married him, had wild and crazy sex, broken the law, played in a dungeon–seems laughable.
But he’s right. It felt like a first. I had the fizz of excitement in my belly when he told me he was taking me out, and I have it now going home with him.
This is the first date I wanted to go on with him. Even though he came on strong before, now that I care whether he loves me or not, his attention puts a glow of happiness around me.
We get to the SUV, and he opens my door and hands me in.
He leans his arm against the doorframe like he did that first day he picked me up from the airport. He looks like he’s going to say something, then seems to change his mind and shuts my door and gets into the driver’s seat.
As we drive back toward campus, the sound of sirens grows louder.
I crane my neck, peering out the window. “What do you think is going on?” I ask. “Is that smoke?”
“I think it’s possible there was a fire at Titan House while no one was there.”
I suck in a sharp breath as I realize our date was also a public alibi for Baron. I consider it for a moment. Do I hate that he took down the organization that tried to pin a rape charge on my husband and assaulted a young woman to do so?
No. No, I don’t.
I also appreciate that he said no one was there. So he didn’t harm anyone. He just got retribution. The Titan House parties suffering as a result of Baranov House activities will no longer be an issue this year.
“Well,” I say, “That sounds like karma to me.”
Baron looks over with a flicker of relief, and I realize he was bracing for my reaction. The flutters start up again.
