AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Focus on school,” I tell her firmly. “And buy me a Mercedes when you graduate college. Okay?”
Emma’s smiles are infectious. Her laugh brightens a room when she’s happy. I always want her to be cheerful. And I don’t mind taking this on to keep her in a bubble.
She grabs her laptop and shows me her homework. “I’m almost done. I’ll wash the dishes while you take a shower. You stink like sweat and old men, girl. Are you sure you only took pictures?”
I swat her leg and leap up before she can shove me off the edge of the bed with her foot. “Fucking sassy.” I stick out my tongue. “Love you, kiddo.”
***
Rubbing a towel over my hair, I feel human again. I can’t stop thinking about what I saw. And my missing camera. But most of all, I can’t stop thinking about him.
Andrei.
Emma is fast asleep in her bed as I climb into mine. I close my eyes, but I can’t fall asleep. I keep seeing Andrei. Tall, gorgeous, and dangerous. My phone buzzes on the bedside table. Tim with another freaking text. Asshole.
I sigh into the dark and focus so I can see Andrei again. Sparkling eyes and a crooked smile. I will myself to remember his intoxicating scent. The warmth of his touch. The way he pulled me close to him as we danced earlier before everything went to shit.
Gradually, reality hits me. People died.Icould have died if it wasn’t for him. Andrei took a bullet for me.
Don’t be silly, Paige.
I push those thoughts out of my mind and focus on the image of the two of us dancing again. In my mind, he dips me again. But this time, instead of staring, he kisses me and I imagine myself opening my body to him as he peels away every article of my clothing. My fingers dance between my legs as I fantasize about Andrei’s warm hands roaming my naked body.
Hot and dangerous.
Ishould’vefucked him.
Chapter 6
Andrei
The attack on the wedding left scores dead. My monster of a father among them. Now, I’m the new pakhan of the Barinov Bratva. Both Fyodor and Anastasia Novikov are dead. Not three days ago, Fyodor was complaining about the cost of the flowers. Funerals, as it turns out, are much more expensive.
Miraculously, Gleb Novikov, the groom, managed to escape with his life, while his fiancée, Varya, now sleeps six feet underground. The universe has a cruel sense of humor, it seems.
There’s only one man’s organization with both the balls and the grudges to do something like this: the Karamazov Bratva and their pakhan, Igor.
Chaos now runs rampant through the different organizations as they struggle to pick up the pieces. Me? I got something else on my mind.
I have a debt to pay.
I shake my head as I weave my Lamborghini through light traffic on the thruway, almost passing the exit. The broken camera slides off the seat and hits the floor. I’ll offer to replace it, of course. I would’ve even if she hadn’t “dropped” it.
What were the Novikovs thinking, hiring an outsider to photograph a wedding?
Her business card was taped to her camera bag, which made tracking her down very easy. Paige Reyes isn’t like the girls that I normally associate myself with. Cool under pressure and quick to action. The tampon she shoved in my shoulder kept me from bleeding out. Even if her hands were shaking the entire time.
I intend to thank her. In person.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. Her pale brown hair and crystal blue eyes both scream wholesome and innocent.
I’m neither.
Innocent women are a challenge, and they scream the loudest in bed. They dig their nails into my back and swear they’ve never cum like that before in their lives.
I wonder what she tastes like?
Dimitri warned me that the attack at the wedding was only the first move, which is why he’s been so insistent on tailing me today. He even went as far as telling me I was being stupid to come here.
