“Okay, Mr. Nosey,” she says, with another intoxicating laugh. “If you really want to know…”
“Oh, I really want to know,” I say, a teasing note in my voice.
She glances at me, biting her lip, clearly having no clue how tempting she looks when she does that. If she did, she’d think twice about pulling that face when we’re alone and there’s no one around to stop me from mauling her.
I could bend her over right here, tear down those cargo pants and reveal her…
Fuck, no, I have to focus.
I’m grateful Lucky’s here, stopping any intimacy.
“I was going to say it’s surprising, you know, how soft you are with the Lucky. I wouldn’t expect it from a man like you.”
“A man like me?” I smirk. “And what sort of a man is that?”
She glances at me and then looks at the ground, as though she can’t stand to look at me for too long. I wonder if I intimidate her, and the idea causes a flurry of jagged pain to stab into me.
The future mother of my children shouldn’t be afraid of me.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You never have to apologize to me for being honest,” I snarl, more passion in my voice than I intended. “It’s okay. What did you mean?”
She stops, wringing her hands, staring up at me with those wide eyes that cause a thousand lust-filled vignettes to spiral into my mind.
I see her staring up at me with the same shocked naivety in her expression, her hand moving up and down my engorged manhood, pumping as she bites her lip in that intoxicating way of hers.
“I just meant you’re, you know, not exactly the soft type.”
“Because I’m the leader of the Bratva,” I say.
She flinches, and I let out a rough chuckle.
“It’s okay, Daniella. I don’t expect you to live here and care for Lucky without ever mentioning it. Yes, I’m the leader of the Bratva. But it’s not what you think.”
“What is it, then?” she asks, with some more bite in her voice, that sassiness that makes me want to grab her shoulders and pull her right up against me, feeling her body going all hot and needy as she realizes the full magnitude of what I require of her.
“It’s a business, these days, like any other. When I first took control it was a violent organization, and I had to do things – I had to fight – to turn it into a legitimate enterprise. And if anybody tried to challenge my rule, I’d have to fight again. I won’t apologize for fighting to keep this city safe. But we don’t deal drugs. We don’t prey on people. It’s nothing like the damn movies.”
Fire floods my voice, hot and spitting, as I remember how Kesha and I had to violently rise to the top of the organization to turn it into what it’s now become.
“Oh,” she murmurs. “Really?”
I laugh again, huskier, deeper, and I can’t help myself…
I step close to her, almost pushing her up against the bushes that border one side of the gravel path.
She takes a stunned step back, probably wondering why her employer is crowding her like this.
I know I should stop, but she provokes a hungry desire in me I can’t control.
“I’m not saying I’m completely civilized,” I say, smirking as I lean down close to her. “But…”
Lucky barks at us from further up the path, interrupting the moment.
We turn to find him staring at us quizzically, head tilted as if to say, Hey, humans, what’s the holdup?
Daniella lets out an anxious breath, the sort of exhalation that makes me think of what she’d sound like when I’m buried up to my hilt in her perfect body.
“I guess we shouldn’t keep him waiting, huh?”
I step back with an effort, taking her hint even if it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
“Yeah,” I say. “You’re probably right. He can be one impatient little man at times.”
Just like me, I think but don’t say.
And my patience is running out.
Chapter Eight
Daniella
To call it a pond would be an understatement. The body of water stretches from one side of his estate to the other, bordered by trees, the water glistening as the sun reaches its zenith.
My mind spins with what Dominik said to me on the gravel path, that the Bratva’s legitimate now, that he fights to keep the city safe. I was stunned when he aimed those assuring words at me, both because I believe him without question and because he took the effort to convince me he’s a good man.
Why the heck does he care what I think about him?
I’m just his employee.
Why the heck is he even here, with me, when the reason he hired me presumably was so he didn’t have to handle Lucky himself all the time?