Read Online The Royal Elite: Ahsan (Elite, Book 2) by Danielle Bourdon - Free Book Online Page B

The ones that attracted the elite like bees to honey. Anyone who wanted to be noticed or mingle with some of the most powerful people in the world showed up to at least one of the balls each year.
    “This is my coming out, I guess you could say,” she replied with a quiet laugh. “My father or one of his other businessmen attended these things.”
    “Pavel,” he said, testing her surname on his tongue. “I do not recall ever meeting your father, unfortunately. Which is typical with how many people can sometimes show up at an event.”
    Sessily slanted a startled look aside. “I never told you my last name.”
    Indeed. He'd had one of his men do a little extracurricular research. “I know.”
    Stopping to face him, she cocked her chin, apparently indignant. “Did you look me up?”
    “Of course.” He rocked back and forth on his boot soles, enjoying the flash of fire he saw in her eyes. “Didn't you do the same to me?”
    Flustered, she stammered through a few incoherent noises before saying, “No. I didn't.”
    “Then you should have. Going home with a stranger and everything.”
    Her expression turned...displeased. Ahsan tried not to smile.
    “What else did you look up?”
    “There wasn't much to look up, considering I couldn't find anything to do with stables or your parents or other news.”
    She gasped in outrage. “Maybe I don't want people snooping around.”
    He arched a brow. She didn't want people snooping around, yet she'd just put him through the ringer with question after question? He didn't need to even say those words aloud; Sessily picked up on her own hypocrisy and blushed.
    “It's always a wise idea to look into a person's background, especially if you're about to invite them into your personal domain.” He meant to make her think about it, to take the warning more seriously next time. It wasn't just his position in the Royal Elite that made him wary and slightly paranoid. He'd lost brothers to questionable deaths that likely revolved around murder. Digging up information was easy in the age of the internet and word of mouth. It wouldn't have been much trouble for her to do a quick background check on him before they departed Dubai.
    “I'll make sure to do that if I ever go home with an almost-stranger again.” Temper cooling, she resumed walking, a distracted look on her face.
    “I hope you do.”
    “I notice that you didn't hesitate to still bring me here even though you couldn't find much about my family.”
    “I like mysteries.”
    She laughed, some of the tension easing from her posture. “I'm hardly a mystery. Just not of the caliber of people you're used to running with, I think.”
    “On the contrary, you're exactly the kind of people I prefer to run with.” He preferred those who spoke their mind and got straight to the heart of a matter. The games that went on in the circles of the elite could only amuse him for so long.
    From an empty stall, a sudden flurry of movement drew his eye. Four kittens, no more than six weeks old, bumbled out. Playing, oblivious to their presence for the moment.
    “Oh, look how adorable!” Sessily, apparently forgetting all about her annoyance, crouched down and crooned to the babies.
    One kitten popped up in surprise, another ran back into the stall on unsteady legs, and a third raced pell-mell in the other direction. The fourth plopped onto its haunches and stared up at her with owl-like, wide eyes.
    Amused beyond reason, he bent to scoop up the escaping kitten and cuddled it against his chest. They were tame and used to people, just a little rambunctious as kittens tended to be.
    Sessily managed to get her hands on the sitting kitten and stood, holding it up near her throat. “They're adorable. Not very old, either.”
    “About five weeks, give or take a few days.” He regarded the softer lines of Sessily's face, the adoring look in her eyes, and thought about what it would be like to wake up to that in the morning. To see her tousled,