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"How come you never give me anything?" Lev butted in with a fake, playful pout that had me chuckling and rolling my eyes at him.
Tossing a cocky little grin at my little brother, I responded to him. "Because all you give me is grief and paperwork. Ne govorya uzhe o tom, chto ty malen'kiy der'mo." The last part had Lev scowling at me while flipping me the bird.
Unfortunately, the day went by at a snail's pace, much to my impatience and irritation. At least one of my meetings got canceled, so I had the chance to head back early. Hopefully, Hanna wasn't still out on her assignment so that I could steal more of her time.
My eagerness and excitement faded a little when I approached the top floor—her desk and workspace location—and saw her smiling at her phone. It wasn't the victorious smile she'd get when a source of hers panned out. No, it was too soft and wide, too giddy and dreamy.
"What's got you on cloud nine little tigress?" It was hard to maintain a cordial tone with her as I approached her, each step pressing against the barrier I'd placed around my irritation.
My fingers itched with a need to snatch her phone to see exactly what she was all smiley about, and I was oh so tempted the moment I stood a mere foot from her. Her cell phone was facing down on the desk when I stopped next to her, not allowing me any access to her screen, period, further vexing me.
"When are you going to stop calling me that? What happened to space and distance? Someone's going to get the wrong idea if you keep calling me that." Hanna sighed softly with a slight frown.
Leaning down with one hand on the desk and the other in my pants pocket, I smirked knowingly at her once I caught her gaze. "Then look me directly in the eyes and tell me you don't like it, that you want me to stop."
Hanna's jaw clenched, and the tension in her neck could be seen as her eyes hardened at me. "You're such an asshole." She strained through her gritted teeth before huffing and turning her chair around so the back faced me.
Amused, I let out a low chuckle before pulling my hand out of my pocket to pull out the small, thin box that rested inside the inner pocket of my jacket.
Teasingly, I held out the black box inches from her face after reaching around to nearly cage her between me and the desk. "If I'm such an asshole then I wouldn't bother with an apology gift now would I?"
Hanna's quick hands made a grab at the box, only to have me pull away at the last second. "Hey! Jerk! You can't just keep my gift away from me like that." She pouted with a slight growl and glanced up at me with eyes that could cut me with how sharp they looked. The fact her eyes already had a naturally sharp look because of her Asian heritage only added to the edge of it more.
"Technically I haven't officially gifted it to you yet, so I could withhold it until I see fit." I retorted calmly with a single-shoulder shrug while still practically dangling the box before her.
"Fine, I'm sorry I called you an asshole, dad." She replied mockingly with a roll of her eyes.
It'd be so easy to grab her by her luscious hair, bend her over the desk, and teach her a lesson until she called me something else. I didn't even know if she was into any of that, yet my brain couldn't seem to get the hint from the fantasies it concocted late at night.
The damn brat needed a firm hand, though, one I couldn't give, unfortunately. Well, unfortunately, for now. I won't stop my pursuit until I have her under my mercy with my name crying from her bruised lips.
Breathing deeply, I shoved my twisted thoughts away and put my mask back on before smiling down at her after pushing off the desk to stand up straight again. "One day you're going to regret being such a brat, little tigress." It wasn't a warning, not with the dark edge to my low voice.
Taking a step back, I reached down, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up to her feet. "Come on, I want to make sure you're fully happy with your gift." Gently, I tugged her along to the facility gym on the first floor and took her over to the boxing area, positioning her in front of a punching bag.
"What? Is it going to be a punchable picture of your face?" Hanna snickered mischievously, sticking the tip of her tongue between her teeth.
Rolling my eyes, I gently shoved her shoulder after letting go of her hand. "Close your eyes and hold your hands out." I instructed her.
"I swear, if you put a spider in my hands, I will make sure you never have kids." Her threat was playful, but the hardness behind her eyes meant she would make good on it if I did wrong her.
"Hanna, I'm not one for pranks; that's more of Lev's and Arseny's thing." Those two were the most playful out of the five of us. I never found any amusement or pleasure in practical jokes like my older brother Nikolai and my younger brother Alexei.
"Psh, you're not fun then." Hanna retorted before shutting her eyes and holding her hands out like an eager child for candy.
Rolling my eyes to myself, I internally chuckled before opening the box, taking out a pair of black, fingerless leather gloves, carefully slipping them onto her delicate hands, and tightening the strap around her wrist to secure them.
"Open your eyes and give them a go," I told her with a soft smile, stepping back and watching her face brighten up when she examined the gloves.
The pair she'd been using were torn up from what I've seen and didn't offer much protection. I had these special made to fit her hands as perfectly as possible with the right amount of padding around her knuckles to absorb the shock from impacts, along with a row of steel studs for extra impact against those on the receiving end. Her old ones had been too generic, chunky, ratty; I was surprised she hadn't hurt herself using them.
"How do they feel so far?" Visually, they looked to fit her perfectly like a glove.
"Fucking nice." She giggled with a wide grin before widening her stance and taking a few swings at the punching bag in front of her.
The elated smile on her face grew the more punches she delivered to the sand-filled sack—I didn't think it was possible for her to smile any wider. Seeing her so excited and happy brought a content smile to my face as I watched her go to town on the bag until she was panting heavily with the grin still on her face.
My breath was slightly knocked out of my mouth from the sudden impact of Hanna's body hitting mine in an unexpected hug—one I was more than happy to return. Looking down at her, I resisted the urge to hold her too tightly as she grinned at me. "If you're this happy with some gloves then you'd probably explode if I gave you a gun."
