Tamed by Stacey Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

him.
    Once she ignored her gut feeling. She’d never do it again.
    His gaze swept over the store, and she noted his nicely tailored pin-striped suit. Maybe some would think he was handsome, with a dark head of hair and sharp lines to his face, but his nearly black eyes couldn’t lie—he had something inside of him that sent a wave of unease through her.
    “May I help you?” she asked.
    His stone-cold eyes zeroed on her. “I’m looking for Kenzie Hart. Are you her?”
    “I am.”
    He offered his hand. “I’m Adrik Petrov.”
    His thick Russian accent sounded as rich and alluring as his looks, and the name registered as familiar, but Kenzie couldn’t recall from where. She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
    He squeezed his fingers around hers. It didn’t feel friendly. “Well, Ms. Hart, let’s make this simple, shall we? Are you aware that I bought this entire block of stores a month ago?”
    Now the name registered just fine, and the hair on her neck prickled. “Yes, I’m aware.” She rubbed her hand on her black dress pants, wishing she’d never touched him.
    “Good. That will make this easy,” Adrik replied. “My associates have told me that you’ve ignored the letters we’ve sent you and also had a few choice words for the two people who have called you.”
    She crossed her arms and glared. Possibly because of being so frustrated with Porter last night, she’d had enough of powerful men. Her voice was as snappy as she intended. “Would you like to hear those choice words as well?”
    Adrik smiled. It was the scariest smile Kenzie had ever seen. “I think I can do without them. I came today to see if we could come to an arrangement on your selling the store to me.”
    She squeezed her arms tighter around her. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with after the memory she experienced, but he also wasn’t wrong—she had received four letters and two phone calls over the last month. From what she’d learned from his associates, Adrik had bought the whole block on the west end of the Last Vegas strip, which was the reason he wanted his grubby hands on her store. His plan was to bulldoze it all to build a new casino. Which meant Gran’s store would be demolished.
    Not on Kenzie’s life.
    “As I told your associates,” she said slowly, so he fully understood. “I will never sell my store. Not for any amount of money.”
    He swatted at the air, dismissing her as if she were a fly irritating him. “Everything is for sale, m’dear, for a price.”
    “Not this store.”
    “One million.”
    She snorted and moved toward the counter with the antique register, and leaned against it. The first offer she’d received was seven hundred thousand, and with every letter and phone call the offer increased. To her, this book shop was priceless.
    Tension rippled through her and she snapped, “Do you need me to explain it to you in a different way so you understand that this store
is not for sale
? There is no price that I will sell it for.”
    His shoulders stiffened. “Ms. Hart.” He said her name as if he now planned to squish that fly. “I have put a lot of my personal money into this venture. It cannot fail. Only you are standing in my way to proceed with construction. I have many other locations in Vegas that we can move your store to. Would that suffice?”
    “No.”
    He frowned. “What if I agreed to give you a store inside the casino?”
    “No.”
    His neck corded as he stepped forward. “You are not willing to budge at all?”
    She refused to back away from him, but she surely wanted to. Every word he spoke made his face redden. There was something scary about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Then she realized it was his eyes; they had no soul in them. “No, Mr. Petrov, I will not budge. My gran built this store. It will stay as she built it.”
    He took another step toward her, coming too close. “You need to realize the game you are playing here and who you are