Page 14 of The Bratva’s Stalked Pregnant Bride

After tasting a few more, he placed a massive order, rejecting one that I had insisted on and including multiple cases of the wine I didn’t care for. He still had to be in total control. That was fine. I didn’t have to suggest them to future customers.

Only another hour or so of his presence and I’d be free of him, even if I had to admit there might have been a few minutes that weren’t completely unbearable. And I was getting the bar back in its rightful position. I even agreed to a toast once we were in the limo again.

The champagne would help me get through the plane ride. Maybe I’d pretend to fall asleep, worn out from the roller coaster that was Mik Fokin.

The ride wasn’t over yet. We didn’t head to the airport, but instead pulled into one of the many fancy resorts Napa had to offer.

“What happened to getting back to LA?” I asked. We were both stuffed with cheese. There was no reason to stop for dinner.

“You did such a good job selling those other vineyards, I’ve decided we’re staying over to visit some of them tomorrow.”

What the hell? “Oh, are we? I don’t have anything for an overnight stay.”

“You can charge it all to the company card,” he said, already out of the limo and striding away from me. “And you can research the local nightlife,” he called over his shoulder. “Might as well have some fun, and we can do some market research with the locals.”

Great. I didn’t have a good feeling about my guardian angel still being on duty. Surely my luck was due to run out by staying in Rand’s neck of the woods any longer. Hiding out safely in the room might have worked for tonight, if fighting my imperious boss’s decree that we’d be going out was anything but futile.

Not to mention the countless people at the other vineyards who might recognize me and say something to Rand about it. I was already pushing my luck, expecting the employees at Canyon Vines to keep it to themselves, but I was supposed to be miles away in LA by the time that happened.

I was back to fighting panic, especially if we went to one of the many popular places where Rand might show up, and those were obviously the kind of spots where Mik would want to go. The only way I could stay away from Rand was to choose someplace he’d never go in a million years, even if it meant pissing off Mik.

Chapter 8 - Mikhail

Was it so bad that I loved how feisty Laurel got when I pretended to reject her favorite wine? In fact, I ordered several cases, but she wouldn’t know that until they showed up. This trip was supposed to be a fact-finding mission, in and out, and back to LA, where my family needed me with the way the attacks on their businesses were happening almost nightly now.

But now I needed more time with Laurel. It was pretty clear that finding her name on the vineyard’s old website page was either a mistake or referring to someone else. An odd coincidence, made stranger by her behavior that morning, but things happened.

Instead of considering it a treat, as soon as we pulled into one of the top-rated resorts in the area, she was back to stressing out, hard.

How did I manage to become obsessed with a woman who was seemingly impossible to please? She dawdled out by the car, and when she caught up, I had already booked us in.

“Just charge whatever you need to your room,” I said, then suggested she get a massage before dinner.

I wanted to take her to the best place in town, and after a shower, settled in to do my own research so I could surprise her. My brother would have been having a blast taunting me for acting this way, especially for a woman who viewed me as an enemy.

That was half the fun. It was impossible to understand it myself, let alone explain to my brother why someone who infuriated me as much as Laurel did also had my heart racing for reasons other than anger every time I looked at her.

It wasn’t just her beauty. It went so much deeper than that. I could have named twenty things I found exciting or attractive about Laurel, and none of them would have been what was driving me to need more of her. All of her.

I had a feeling my father would get it, though. He was almost like a different person since getting together with Tati. Not that I was ready to settle down with one woman, even one as exquisite as Laurel.

Or was I?

The very thought of letting her slip away had me feeling just about the same way she looked when we met up for dinner. Pale, visibly nervous, but still gorgeous, though I wasn’t too pleased to see that her stubbornness kept her in the same jeans and blouse I left her in.

“You were supposed to do some shopping,” I said.

“Not really part of my job description,” she answered without much bite.

“Well, you’re going to feel silly when I tell you where we’re going.”

I announced the name of the restaurant, bragging how it normally took months to get reservations, but we’d have the best table in the house. We still had time if she wanted to hurry up and buy a nice dress from one of the resort boutiques.

Here I was jumping through hoops yet again, and once more she was completely unimpressed, shrugging off the suggestion to shop. She was almost violently opposed to my restaurant choice, even when I showed her the irresistible menu.

She shook her head. “It’s ridiculous to eat a two-hundred-dollar piece of meat.”

“Since when were you paying?” I asked, firmly steering her toward the front where the limo waited.