Crash into Me: A BWWM Russian Billionaire Romance by Cristina Grenier Page B

gave him a sweet smile. “Or maybe I just don’t like you.”
    It continued like that for a few minutes, quips back and forth and barbed comments flying. Sam seemed bewildered. Possibly because Emma rarely talked to anyone when she came here. She usually kept to herself and had her drinks, and she certainly didn’t take to men in fancy clothes who drove cars that were probably more expensive than her house.
    And the worst part about it was that it wasn’t terrible. Alexei was funny, actually, and no matter how many times she tried to shut him up with a sarcastic comment or insult, he just came back with a rejoinder and made her want to laugh all the more.
    She drank another iced tea, which she allowed him to buy her, reasoning that he was rich and could easily afford it. He had made her extremely late for work earlier that week, and watched as he finished his first drink and then ordered another, arching an eyebrow. It seemed restrained for him, even though she didn’t know him at all. Unless his alcohol tolerance was lower than she’d assumed, he wouldn’t be getting wasted that night.
    When she brought it up, he just shrugged. “I don’t need to be drunk every night,” he said.
    “You could have fooled me.”
    “You’ve met me once,” Alexei protested. “Granted, not under the best circumstances, but still. Only once.”
    “And you were hungover clearly. That implies that you’re fond of your drink. And considering it was a Monday morning, you obviously spent Sunday night in the bottle.”
    “Are you judging me for it?” he asked. “Because I could list all the reasons I have to want to drink my way through the week, but I don’t think you have time for that.” He gestured around to the quiet pub that was already emptying for the night. “What time does this place close, anyway?”
    “Two,” Sam said as he walked by. “Not that anyone ever stays that long.”
    “Not even on a Friday?” Alexei asked, scandalized. “What do you people do for fun around here?”
    “Don’t try and change the subject,” Emma cut in. “I wanna hear this list of yours. All the things that make being rich and good looking so hard .”
    Alexei frowned for a moment and then smiled at her. Emma could actually see that he had forced the smile to cover up whatever expression was going to be on his face before that. Interesting. She hadn’t expected him to have layers, even though logically, she knew that there was probably some good reason for his drinking besides him being bored.
    Emma tried to tell herself that she didn’t want to see what else was there under the surface of that rich, playboy exterior, but she kind of did.
    “You think I’m good looking,” he said with a smirk. “I knew I could get a compliment out of you eventually.”
    She rolled her eyes at that. “It wasn’t a compliment. I was accusing you of whining for no reason. And also having no substance.”
    “Sure, sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself.”
    “How did we even get on this subject?” she wanted to know, even though she totally knew that it was her fault. But she didn’t want to dwell for too long on just how attractive she thought he was.
    Maybe it was the drinks or the low lighting or the fact that he looked put together, but he was better looking than anyone else in the pub right then. She kept looking at his mouth, with its full lower lip and perfect bow shape, and she had to clear her throat and look away.
    “What would you like to talk about instead?” he asked her, voice soft.
    Emma looked up once more and he was very close, and she yanked herself back and nearly toppled off of her stool in the process. “I...uh. M-my...my car!” she said. “My car. I would like to get back to the point and talk about my car.”
    He gave her an amused look, but nodded. “Okay. Have you taken it in yet?”
    “No, I was going to do that tomorrow. Get an estimate and see what all needs to be repaired after you demolished it.”
    “I