and geography as opposed to moving without a sound and concealing weapons.
Now, on her way into Circus Circus, a security guard eyed her bare feet pointedly, but she gave him her best smile and he waved her inside.
The ice-cold air wrapped around her bare calves, her damp neck, and she moaned, unconcerned about the gawkers. The brightly colored carpet of the casino floor felt smooth and soft on the bottoms of the infernos she used to call feet, the leather of a nickel slot seat welcoming her overheated body as she dropped into it sideways.
Eyes closed, she tipped back her head and absorbed the cool.
Heaven.
She was in heaven.
Until…there. A tingle caught Roksana in the back of the neck, a product of the one and only trait she’d inherited from her legendary mother. Prickly intuition when something interesting was in the air—but interesting could mean so many things, couldn’t it? A Molotov cocktail being thrown through a window was interesting with its iridescent blue trail, the shards of glass whipping around it and forming a hazardous picture frame. Given her mother’s profession, Roksana was afforded plenty of time to study those deadly cocktails and their results.
Tonight, however, she was nearly six thousand miles from home and there was no break in the excited hum of gambling and conversation. This was not her mother’s brand of interesting, thank God. For some reason, Roksana was hesitant to open her eyes and discover the reason for her neck prickle. There was a fizzing sound in her ears and it was coming to a crescendo, whipping faster and faster—
She dropped her head forward and opened her eyes.
All the sound was sucked from the room, leaving behind nothing. Well, not nothing, there was a faint, tinny, continuous beep, almost like a patient had flatlined.
Who was the man standing in front of her?
He did not belong. He did not make sense in this place.
Buzzers buzzed and music dinged. People called out to one another. Cigarette smoke curled. But he didn’t move a muscle. Everything but him was blurry. Suddenly secondary.
Yes, he was attractive. In a way that must scare some women. If a female wanted this man, they would have to hold on for dear life and she’d probably still get left in the dust. No doubt they would try to catch up with him, begging for the same treatment again.
He was dark-haired, whiskey-eyed, tall and unshaven.
Strong.
Observant.
He was watching Roksana now with a slight crease between his black eyebrows, as if trying to place her. Please. Don’t ask me if we’ve met before. That would be such a predictable opening line and weirdly, she wanted his personality to match the rest of him.
Why?
She certainly didn’t want a scary man like this one.
Easy, carefree and far as possible from the dark she’d grown up in. That’s what she gravitated toward, much to the disgust of her mother, the Queen of Shadows.
Annoyed at the reminder of the familial tension back in Russia, Roksana crossed her legs with a sniff, noting the muscle that jumped in his cheek. “Well? Make it good. I only have five minutes before I wreak the havoc.”
The corner of his mouth tugged and for some reason, that tiny reaction felt like a monumental victory. “You plan on wreaking havoc with one shoe, Cinderella?”
He held up one of her gold metallic heels and she frowned.
“Where did I drop it?”
“Near the poker tables where I was sitting.” Turning the shoe over in his hand, the man flicked a glance at the nickel slot, then fixed his hard gaze back on her. “You playing slots? I’d have pegged you as more of a roulette girl.”
She scoffed. “I play nothing. I will not give these weasels my money.”
“Smart.”
“Da.” She pursed her lips. “Also I have very little money already.”
Another one of those intoxicating lip tugs. “For what it’s worth, I think you’d probably find a way to double it.” He seemed to snap himself out of a trance, laughing without humor under his breath. “You’ve traveled a long way to forgo Vegas’s main attraction. If you’re not here for the gambling, why did you come?”
“My best friend’s bachelorette party.”
He looked around and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, where are they?
“I’m meeting them again shortly.” Sitting at a much lower height while he stood with powerful legs braced apart, his impressive height and ruthless build made her feel feminine, aware of her body as a lure in a way she never had been. While she’d spent the last