Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 1: Missed me?

Fantastic legs.

And they were still fantastic, everybody could see, she made no efforts to hide that fact.

The short skintight, black one shoulder cocktail dress showed everything. Her legs, the curve of her hips, the roundness of her backside, her breasts and her bare arms.

All of it was topped off with a stunningly beautiful face. High cheekbones, perfectly pouty kissable lips in a natural dark red color and big dark brown almost black eyes behind long lashes. Her long black hair flowed down her back in a cascade of silky smoothness past her waist.

Everything in perfect contrast with her creamy skin tinted a little by her being half Italian.

The entire package made them try. And her dancing gave them all the more reason to do so.

The Ice Queen was what they called her there. Dancing yes, but anything other than that was off limits. She was not interested and made that clear in her otherwise withdrawn behavior.

She was enjoying herself. The club was her gym. She went there to unwind. She worked hard all week and during the weekends she had to let loose and the club was her preferred outlet.

Usually she went with some of the girls from the office. They were all good looking and living in a man's world playing by the rules of that world. They were not her friends as such. She had friends back home, but in this city with her new job she did not have that closeness with many.

Some of them could maybe in time become friends if she let them in.

It had been a bad week.

She had gotten one of the usual calls from her mother asking for money to cover her gambling debt. She already knew her mother had no problem of the sort; it was that leech of a husband of hers who needed the money. She knew she should not send more than she already had, but it was her mother and despite everything she loved her and did not want to see her in trouble.

The calls were draining her resources rapidly. The 10.000 Euro she had given her last time was a lot and now her mother wanted more.

She needed the club to forget if only for a little while.

Everything was like any other night she had been there. Overpriced drinks, fun company and dancing, but...

She felt uneasy while dancing that night. She had gotten the same feeling the night before a few times, but had shrugged it off, unfortunately she could not ignore that feeling now. She felt eyes on her in a way that were more intense than usual. It felt like she was being stalked. Like somebody was lurking all the time and she was their target.

It was unnerving for her because she was used to men ogling her, used to the offers given, both the reasonable ones and the ones that made her temper flare. She was more than used to them trying to cup a feel and she always slithered her way out of it.

But this feeling of being intensely stared at she could not shake; she could not guard herself against it. She was being marked by someone and all she could do was keep going and wait for their move.

When the music changed to something she did not find as alluring she made her way back to the table where the others were at.
She had barely gotten her drink from the table before Dawn, the little redheaded lawyer from her firm, grabbed her attention.

"There you are. Find a man, did you?"
"You know I don't roll like that."
"Seriously, sweetie," Dawn said in her usual manner of not using names. "You need a man in your life."
"I don't do relationships."

It was not going to happen, she already knew. She did not do one-nighters and she did not date, and since most relationships began with either of the two it was easy to say she did not do relationships.

"Who's talking about relationships," Dawn cooed and waved off her argument with a flick of her slim hand. "You need to get laid. Pick one of those big, handsome testosterone bombs and get pounded into the mattress. I'm sure that perpetual gloom on your face will disappear."
"Well, if anyone strikes my fancy, I'll consider it." That was not going to happen either.

It never would.

"We both know that'll never happen." Dawn laughed that girly laugh men found irresistible. It was like she read her mind. "In the seven months you've been here, you've done nothing but work and party. But you've not gotten laid. I'm certain."
"Well, partying is what I do. Speaking of..." She held up her empty glass and headed towards the nearest bar leaving Dawn and her well-meaning words of encouragement behind.

Dawn was right she had not been with a man since she moved there. She had her reasons. She had been cold for so long that feeling something for somebody seemed unobtainable. Even if the feeling was just physical desire.

Standing at the bar trying to get up front to order she got that feeling again.

Somebody was watching her.

A chill went down her spine, it was too soon for it to happen again.

But somebody was watching her. She could feel them closing in. The predator slowly moving in on its unsuspecting prey and she was the gazelle at the watering hole oblivious to the threat ready to pounce on her.

If it were not for that feeling she would have been shocked when she felt a big hand trace down from her waist to her side and then over her ass. She was about to turn and slap the living daylights out of whomever it was when she felt the heat from a body, a lot taller and wider than hers, bend down close to her back.

She smelled the whiskey and cigarettes on his breath mixed with an expensive cologne.

"You look good, dolly..."

She froze.

The voice was smooth like a 20-year-old scotch. Low, husky, melodious. With a cultivated upper-class British accent and just a hint of Russian.

Fuck!

Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck!

It had been almost four years since she had heard that voice last. Four years since she had been called 'dolly'. Only he had ever done that.

Only he dared.

She had hoped she would never hear that nickname ever again or have any contact with the massive asshole with the nerve to call her that.

He slowly swept away her hair and kissed her softly where her shoulder and neck met making her skin tingle and a glowing warmth spread in the pit of her stomach.

"Missed me?"

Hi y'all.

Thank you for reading.

February 1st 2021: Just an update for y'all starting out reading this book. A new edited version will be added to my profile this coming week.

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Love Alix