Free Lie to Me by Tori St. Claire Page A

her. “That’s impossible. Six months ago he—”
    “Was offering a million and a half.” Releasing her tender ankle, she leaned back against the leather seats.
    When those damnable light green eyes slid back to Grigoriy’s and understanding registered in Alexei’s expression, Sasha knew she’d driven her point home. But the night had been too long, too full of jubilant highs and heartbreaking lows to let the remark stand alone. Inneed of some way to deliver the cutting blows Alexei had meted out to her, she couldn’t resist one more barb. “Guess we’ll see what he’s willing to pay once I’m in his personal jet, won’t we?”
    Alexei’s lips pursed into such a harsh line they went white.
    Grigoriy silenced whatever retort brewed behind that tight mouth. “Don’t have much choice, kitten. We have to get out of the Arab world before word spreads about Saeed’s death. The only ride we’ve got is beyond those gates.” He nodded at the windshield.
    Sasha’s gaze flicked to the heavy iron gates surrounding a tall clay wall less than five hundred yards away. Every instinct she possessed ordered her to run. But with these two men nearby, she didn’t dare be foolish enough to try. They’d catch her with very little effort, particularly given her injured ankle.
    Suddenly very afraid of what might happen if she got on that waiting Gulfstream jet, she huddled into the seat, wishing, as she had the last time she’d been truly afraid, that Alexei would take her into his arms.
    But the tender man who could take betrayal and turn it into forgiveness, the man who could make her melt with just a touch of his hand against her cheek, was lost to her now. For a moment, as his cock thrust deep inside her body and his gaze latched onto hers, she’d glimpsed that tenderness, had held the man who had lived in her dreams. For whatever reason, he disappeared mere seconds later, his flesh sliding from hers, his eyes shuttered against whatever brief emotion she might have witnessed.
    She wanted it back, wanted him back, wanted Saeed back. Only this time, she didn’t want Saeed in her bed. Just Alexei and the amazing feel of his body against hers, his cock possessing her, taking her harder, deeper, slowly driving her insane with the need for more.
    Teardrops pricked her eyes. She blinked them back. Nothing would make her cry in front of Alexei.

    A s the car pulled to a stop beside the Gulfstream’s lowered entrance door, Alexei let out a long, measured breath. He eyed the waiting crewman at the top of the stairs, then quickly took stock of their surroundings, searching for the out-of-place person, the not-quite-right shadow that would alert him to imminent danger. He saw nothing but the blinking lights on the jet’s wings and tail. No displaced automobile, no extra personnel milling about.
    Nothing to indicate this might be one of Kadir’s carefully laid traps.
    Still, he couldn’t shake a measure of unease. At the same time, something about Sasha’s story didn’t ring right. Sure, Opals had been known to play their covers to their advantage. Some had even crossed the line into almost criminal. But Kadir took pride in his reputation as the elite of the elite. He wouldn’t jeopardize everything he’d worked for over a bedroom toy. Not when his money and assumed identity made it possible for him to take his pick of the women he wanted.
    No, she couldn’t be telling the truth.
    Alexei opened his door, latched onto Sasha’s wrist, and tugged her out onto the tarmac alongside him. She took a wobbly step, then let out a muffled yelp. Holding her left foot off the ground, she leaned on his arm for support.
    His gaze dropped down to her sandaled foot. Shit. He’d thought she was bruised—landed on a stone or something. But even the cloud cover that dimmed the pale yellow light of the moon couldn’t disguise the swelling on her left ankle.
    Tonight kept getting better and better.
    Muttering a stream of Russian curses, he