Fortune Read Free Page B

knowing eyes and judgmental smile. He’d seen that guy force his kiss on her, seen her push him away, seen her wipe her mouth and yell at the jerk like a child. He had talked to her like she was a child, like he knew better than her. Or maybe it was just her thinking that.
    What made Kat most angry was that he didn’t come save her, didn’t come bounding down the stairs to her defense. Didn’t level the guy with one well-placed punch to the windpipe and drag his sorry ass outside. And now there was no earnest-faced boy to go home with, only her own empty bed in her family’s house near Brighton.
    When she got home, she climbed the stairs to the porch heavily. She could hear a crying baby even from outside. Her sister Olga’s one-month-old. Darling during the day, devil all night. Kat brushed past her, suddenly bone-tired.
    “Kat, rock the baby for me, please,” Olga begged. “Just for an hour. You’re always up at night.”
    She didn’t even stop. “He’s not my baby. I’m tired. I smell like smoke.”
    “I’m tired too. I’ve been up for hours. Please. Pozhalu-sta , Katya.”
    “No,” Kat said again, hating herself. She tumbled into bed, pulling the pillow over her head so she didn’t have to hear the baby wailing. It didn’t help.
    She lay awake a long time thinking about Mr. Dark Eyes, thinking about the way he would have looked at her for not helping her sister. He knew she was a bad, selfish person. He knew.

Chapter Two
     
    She came back again the following night, of course. Clockwork. Ryan wanted to talk to her again now that he’d made her acquaintance, even if it was just another awkward, defensive exchange. No. Too difficult. Not worth it. He finally convinced himself to leave her alone but he couldn’t stop watching her. Why did she fascinate him so much?
    She danced for a while when it got busier, when the bodies were pressed together on the dance floor. He watched her from behind the bar, which wasn’t difficult because she jumped up on the platform below the DJ booth. It was like the music possessed her, like the beats lived inside her. He liked house music as much as the next clubgoer, but she seemed to really know the music, feel it deeply. Her hips moved, her feet stomped, her hands reached up in the air and then everyone was jumping, riled up by the beat. For some, it was joy and release. But for her, it seemed an opportunity to lose herself. He felt his cock rising in response to her sexy movements, her curvy body and lovely legs.
    By the time she retired to her favored spot up on the balcony, he knew—against his better judgment—that he was going to go talk to her again. One last chat , he told himself. This is the absolute last time you talk to this girl. She ignored him as he approached and leaned beside her on the rail.
    “Hi there, Kat. Back again, I see.”
    A corner of her lip turned down. “Just like you.”
    God, the pull was excruciating. Her little black dress fit her so well it was criminal.
    “My name’s Ryan, in case you don’t remember.”
    She shot him a look. “I remember. I just don’t feel like talking, Ryan. No offense.”
    “I’m not offended. But why don’t you feel like talking?”
    “The music is too loud. It’s too hard to hear.”
    He leaned closer and spoke next to her ear. “Can you hear me better now?”
    She drew away and looked at him. For the first time Ryan saw a spark of the real girl, not the mannequin, before her face rearranged itself into apathy. “What do you want from me?”
    “I want to know why you never smile.”
    She looked away again. “I smile when I feel like it.”
    The timeless dance of flirtation and rebuttal. She looked like she would gladly toss him over the balcony if she could.
    “You know what, Kat? I think you’re a very pretty girl.”
    She snorted. “That’s the greatest line I’ve ever heard. Seriously. Only a brain surgeon could come up with something so original.”
    “You don’t believe I’m