Page 61 of Beguiled

When he finally pulled away, a wide and completely mischievous smile crossed his face, something I’d never seen on him before.

That’s when I felt the first twitch of his cock against my stomach.

“I’m not finished with you yet,moya lichnaya tantsovshchitsa. Not by a long shot.”

As he rolled me over onto my back, I was thrilled my boss turned protector turned lover was going to claim me again.

CHAPTER 14

Stash

“Stash. I didn’t expect to hear from you so early in the morning.” Hearing Sean’s gravelly voice meant I’d awakened him.

Good.

I’d given him the courtesy of handling the situation his way from the night before, the event enough of a mess that he’d need to be careful in disposing of the bodies. Especially without causing attention to the fact someone had been sent to kill him.

Assassinations were messy and, in this day and age, even in the bowels of New York, not a regular occurrence. Certainly not as decades before when the five families had been at war almost every day. Violence had kept the city on edge, gunfire a regular occurrence.

I’d read about the various syndicates before stepping foot in the Big Apple. The history lesson had been a way of discovering what had worked well and what couldn’t be repeated. Now, almostevery member of the original powerful families was aging in prison or dead and buried.

Leaving a new crop of monsters dressed up in Armani to rule the streets. While the Bratva believed they were different, I’d already come to the conclusion that the only difference was nationality.

The craving for power and wealth was the same.

“A conversation was needed, Sean. You obviously have issues of control on your hands.”

“Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Except that I was directly involved in your business last night.”

“Yes, that is true and I’m glad you were there,” he said, chuckling as he did. I heard a voice in the background, a young woman. He might consider himself a family man, but he paid for and kept three different women on the side. That disgusted me more than any bloodshed. Maybe I was just old-fashioned in my way of handling women. “Need I remind you that you placed yourself in that position? You could have walked away. My men were perfectly capable of protecting me.”

If he was trying to goad me, it wasn’t working. What it did tell me was that he’d been expecting a hit and having me placed in the middle was not what we’d agreed upon. The last thing that the Bratva needed was to be entrenched in someone else’s war. It was their fight. Not ours.

Our alliance was limited to aspects of business, not issuing death warrants.

“I find it interesting they weren’t guarding you as they should. Perhaps you aren’t as popular as you lead yourself to believe.”

His laugh was much more gregarious than I would have assumed possible. He wasn’t taking the attempt seriously. Granted, enemies often tried to flex their muscles by taking out a leader to show off their power. They rarely succeeded given the levels of protection centered around what Kazimir had coined the executive branch.

“And you and I both know we’re not in this game to be well liked. I will say, I appreciate you stepping in. You made it much easier to handle the aftermath.”

A ‘thank you’ was too much for him. Whatever. “Did you have your guest list scrutinized?”

“A cursory look. We have a few to doublecheck, but mostly regulars.”

“And the connection we discussed? Did you ascertain their nationality?”

“No identifying marks of any kind. We checked.”

I knew him well enough to know he’d go through his list with a fine-tooth comb. The only saving grace was that no one other than his men knew Saige had seen anything. Did I trust I’d hear the full truth from the man? Hell, no. My guess was they’d had a long-standing beef with the Armenians.

“Who was the fighter, Sean?”

“I already told you, a kid who worked for me and had sticky fingers.”

I thought about his answer again. “If I find out you lured the Armenians to your club on purpose by attacking one of their own?—”