Page 24 of The Bratva’s Monster

He regards me for a moment, then, “Appreciate it? You like how I’ve been acting.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘like’, but… I don’t know. Tonight, I guess it’s just nice to feel seen. In a positive way, anyway.”

He nods. “Well,” he says as he sits up and takes a drink from what’s got to be his fifth whiskey sour, “you really ought to be careful who you fuck around with in this crowd. A lot of not so nice guys would love a shot at you tonight, and I can almost guarantee that would be a mistake on your part.”

I watch him drink as a devilish idea forms in my mind. “A lot of not so nice guys like you?”

He looks at me over the rim of his glass, then knocks the rest of the contents back. “Yeah. Trust me, Liz. You don’t want a guy like me.”

I smirk at him. “You don’t scare me, you know.”

“I don’t? I should.”

“I know about your reputation and all that ‘family monster’ stuff. You don’t seem so monstrous to me.”

“You don’t know me,” he says darkly.

“Oh, I’m sure I’d never want to be on your bad side, but one can’t help but wonder what it might be like to be on your dirty side.”

He looks away, smile gone. I can’t believe I just said that… but, hell, what do I have to lose? If the caveman wants me so badly, why not give him a real shot?

“Be careful what you wish for,” he says in a low, lion’s rumble.

He’s still not looking at me, avoiding my gaze like looking at me might spark something that I don’t want to see. The problem, though, is that I really, really want to see it.

I stand up slowly and his eyes turn to me, tracing the movement of my body under the silvery silk material of my dress. “You know, this place is right next door to a hotel,” I say to him. “I was thinking about getting a room for the night instead of driving home on my own. What do you think?”

His eyes darken, sending chills up my spine. “I think that you’re trying to bait me.”

“Is it working?”

He snickers. Then he glances around the room for a moment before standing up. He towers over me, and I lose my breath looking up at him. “When you’re screaming my name tonight,” he says, just low enough for me to hear, “remember that I tried to warn you.”

With that, he takes my hand and we leave the ballroom.

My heart is pounding so hard as we ride up the elevator together. I can feel the pulse in my ears, my blood pumping harder than if I were on a treadmill. I haven’t felt this way in so long. My body is on fire.

And he hasn’t laid a hand on me yet. In fact, he’s just standing next to me in the elevator, facing forward. I’ve got nothing but the warmth of his body and the scent of his skin under his cologne coming off him to spur myself on.

In the back of my mind, I’m wondering if this is a mistake. Is this crazy? The only man I’ve had sex with for years was Gedeon, and now I’m jumping into bed with a man who scares me as much as he turns me on.

But then again, Gedeon used to scare me a little. The mythos of Bratva men and their gangster lifestyle was enough for me. This, however, this is something different. A new adventure with me standing on the edge of the cliff and maybe certain death.

We walk together down the hallway to the door. I pull out the keycard and he grabs my wrist, stopping me. “If we’re doing this,” he says, “you have to know that once we start, it’s going to be hard for me to stop. I need you to be sure that this is what you want.”

As completely terrifying as that sounds, I’m not deterred. I twist my arm out of his grip and use the card to open the door.

We walk into the room, and the air conditioning flushes against my skin. I flick on the light and walk toward the bed…

And I freeze for just a moment. What are you doing? Sleeping with Gedeon’s best friend? How can you⁠—”

Rough hands take me by the shoulders from behind as he leans into me, his hot breath brushing against my ear. The prickles of his beard brush against my skin.

“How expensive is this dress?”

“Very,” I say breathlessly.

“That’s really too bad,” he says. His hands move over the bare skin of my back, rough calluses tracing like the light touch of knives to the zipper right above the crack of my ass. He grips the cloth and rips it. The sudden sound of fabric tearing surprises me, and I gasp as he continues to rip it away from my body.