“Yes. Da,' I corrected.'Say it again.''What?"'His voice grew husky as he repeated his request. 'Say yes—in Russian—again.'I blushed. 'Da,' I whispered. 'Will you teach me more Russian, Pietr?''Mmm, only the important words,' he promised.I bit back my request for the three most important words to me. 'What words would you teach me?''Pocelujte menyah.''What's that mean?'He groaned. 'Repeat it tonight and perhaps I will show you.”

“He leaned forward and plucked something out of my hair. 'What—?' He held the dead leaf before me.'Must have gotten that rolling around with Alexi in the backyard.' I blinked and looked at him. 'That sounded so wrong.'He nodded, eyebrow quirked. Waiting.'I’m trying to learn a few things from your more experienced brother so I’m ready for our big event.'His expression didn’t change.'Yee-ahhh. Not any better, huh?' I laughed. Our big event could mean two vastly different things to Pietr. 'Lemme just run through the other ways I could get this wrong: Alexi’s teaching me some moves. He’s trying to put the hurt on me. He was putting me into some positions I’ve never tried before...I snorted. I couldn’t help myself.A muscle near Pietr’s left eye twitched.'He’s teaching me to fight!' I laughed, grabbing his wrists.”

“Max,' I said, looking up at him, 'I love the Russian heritage you guys are so willing to share, but I'm not so thrilled with the French.''What?' His brows lowered. 'We're not French.''Great. So the next time you feel the need to kiss me, keep your tongue out of my mouth!”

“I sighed, sinking back, head filling with pleasant images; pictures Pietr floated to the surface. Kisses scorched along my face and neck. "Pietr...."There was a growl, and I felt fingers at the waistband of my jeans. The button opened and a hand traced along the top of my underpants."No," I said. The kissing resumed, harder. "Jessica." The word rumbled in someone's throat. Not Pietr's. To him, I was Jess."No," I insisted, trying to pry my eyes open. Something was wrong....Not Pietr... I pushed at the chest above me, my eyelids stinging as I willed them apart."Relax..." a voice said, lips dragging along the cornerof my jaw, filling my head with honey, sticky and sweet....”

“He rrraped herrr,” the beast within him shrieked from deep in his gut, shaking everything but my resolve.Pietr stepped back, putting his hands up. “Tear him apart,” he agreed.“Shit, Pietr!” I snapped. “It’s murder!”“Justifiable homicide,” Pietr returned.”

“Imprinting."I heard the smile disappear from Cat's face. "Next."I repeated myself."Are you referring to Stephenie Meyer's books?""Yes," I said. A little unwillingly.Cat chuckled. "There's no shame in reading enjoyable books. But this topic is better discussed later.""Got it.”

“Snagging the ball from Pietr, Derek leaned in and snapped, “What? Youthink you’re a bad-ass because you’ve got a tattoo?”Derek body-checked Pietr with a force that would have sent anybody else onto the floor. Pietr wobbled but didn’t even move his feet to compensate. A minute later Derek skidded across the gym floor. Pietr was methodically dribbled and passed the ball between them. I saw him mouth the phrase “That’s why I’m a bad-ass!”