Page 46 of Forced & Obsessed By the Bratva King
“Thanks, Jim.”
The old man smiles back, the wrinkles around his eyes growing even deeper. “Anything for my lady manager.”
Leonid crosses his arms over his chest and says nothing. Somehow, that feels more threatening than if he’d pulled out a gun.
Jimmy either doesn’t notice the silent warning from my husband, or simply doesn’t value his life, because he pats my shoulder before walking away.
The moment he leaves, I look at Leonid, who’s watching Jimmy’s retreating figure. “Don’t.”
His eyes return to mine. “Don’t what?”
I point at the spot where Jimmy disappeared to. “Don’t do whatever you’re thinking. Jimmy’s a frail, kind, old man. And he’s just a friend.”
A slow smile spreads across my husband’s face. “What am I thinking?”
I unwrap my sandwich and moan when I take a bite out of it. It’s even better than usual. “Something about how I’m yours and no man’s allowed to be nice to me.”
His smile widens. “I was actually thinking of sneaking up behind the old man and strangling the breath out of him.”
I pause chewing and my eyes widen. “What?”
Leonid holds my gaze for a minute, and then he bursts out laughing. For the first time since I met him, his eyes crinklewith amusement that makes it seem like there are stars dancing in them.
He’s even more handsome when he laughs. God.
For a moment I forget this man kidnapped me. I forget he’s part of the bratva and his hands are soaked with blood. I forget how he threatened my parents and my best friend.
I forget all the reasons I shouldn’t fall for him.
Sweet heavens, I need to stop acting like an idiot and falling for every little thing this man does. So even though I’m tempted to laugh along with him, I hide my amusement beneath unreasonable fury. “Is that supposed to be funny?”
His brow cocks. “Isn’t it?”
“It’s not.” While I’m thinking of something else to say, his phone rings.
He mutters something angrily in Russian, then glances at me one more time before leaving my office.
Determined not to let him occupy any more space in my head, I finish my sandwich and get back to work.
The next hour passes surprisingly quickly.
I lose myself in schedules, booking requests, inventory reports, and a mountain of emails that somehow multiplied while I was gone. It’s only when I stand to grab a file from the cabinet that I notice him again.
Leonid is standing on the upper deck of one of the larger yachts, discussing something with Artem. From this distance, I can’t make out his expression, but when one of the deckhands says something to him, he doesn’t answer immediately.
His gaze remains fixed on the office window.
On me.
Only after several seconds does he turn toward the deckhand to reply to whatever he said.
When the deckhand nods and walks away, his attention shifts back to me in full force.
My breath hitches and I quickly look away as heat creeps up my cheeks and spreads all the way down to my core.
Ridiculous.
The man is probably thinking about murder, extortion, or whatever bratva men do for fun in their spare time besides kidnapping women and forcing them into marriage.
