“This is the woman’s bathroom.”
“Do I look like a man who follows the rules?”
She shook her head. “No. I guess you’re a man who does exactly what he wants.”
“You’ve got that right.”
She nibbled on her lip. “Is there something you wanted to say to me?”
“Thank you,” he said.
“Whatever for?”
“You know what for.”
“Is this hard for you?” she asked.
This made me smile. Saying thank you didn’t come easy. “Why did you help?”
She shrugged her shoulder. “I’m your wife. By marrying you, I pledged my loyalty to you, didn’t I? I’m not longer a Fredo. I’m an Ivanov.” She didn’t look into my eyes.
What was going on here?
The door to the bathroom opened and Aurora tensed up.
For some reason, I didn’t want to embarrass her. I stepped back and allowed her to leave the stall. She stepped out of the stall, and I heard the women giggle and say hi to her.
I didn’t know what the hell had just happened or why I was still stuck in a bathroom stall. I could have easily followed her out. I didn’t care what people thought of me. Aurora continued to mess with my head. My wife shouldn’t be a problem to me and yet, she’d proven to be more of a challenge than I realized, and it pissed me off.
“Oh, my God, do you know who that was?” one of the women asked.
“No. She looks familiar.”
“She’s Aurora Ivanov! Oh, my God, I saw the pictures of her wedding. You know there is a rumor that said her husband is part of the Russian mafia, right? There’s this whole thing going on across the country. I don’t know the general working. It’s like the worst-kept secret.”
I frowned as I listened. I had no time for female gossip. Personally, I wanted to correct her that I was Bratva, not fucking mafia.
“I heard Slavik, the hot guy, he had to put a bag over her head to fuck her.” A round of giggles.
“Please, he couldn’t even be bothered to kiss her. You had to have seen the pictures. He brushed his lips across her cheek. I’m betting he can’t stand to touch her.”
The insults went on, and they angered me.
I had this desire to draw my weapon and kill them all there and then. Or better yet, to pull them out of the bathroom and force them to apologize to her.
This wasn’t the time or place.
Rage rushed through my body. I shoved it down.
All I wanted to do was kill. I held swift control even as I did want to kill. Who did they think they were? My wife was a fucking queen. Had Aurora dealt with this her whole life? I didn’t get a chance to confront them.
They left the bathroom after throwing more insults at my wife.
I walked out of the stall, then the bathroom, entering the dining room. I saw my wife standing with Ivan.
My boss talked to her, and I saw her smile.
Was my kiss to her cheek an insult?
She’d looked terrified, and I hadn’t wanted to cause her to panic on our wedding day. I’d also never kissed her.
Ignoring the strange looks, I advanced across the room. Everything seemed to fade all around me, and the only focus I had was on the woman.
I didn’t care who saw.
Ivan pointed toward me, and Aurora turned.
She frowned as I reached out. I cupped her face, drew her close to me, and slammed my lips down on hers. The electric current that rushed through me shocked me to the core. Never had I kissed a woman and felt so fucking whole and complete.
Chapter Five
Aurora
Getting the meeting with Roger Hampton had been the right thing to do. There wasn’t a lot I could do properly but any way I could help, I’d be willing to do it.
Women were supposed to stay out of men’s business, but there was an opening, and I took full advantage of it. I doubted it would ever happen again. Now that Roger knew who I was married to, the chances of it ever happening again would be slim.
When Ivan approached me on the sidelines of the dance floor, it had been a welcome distraction. This guy still scared the crap out of me, but it was manageable. I knew why I was afraid of him, and what I should do to keep myself calm in his presence.
I wanted something to do with my hands. I kept opening and clenching them, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.
This party was starting to get to me.
“Your husband is here,” Ivan said.
I turned to see Slavik advancing toward me. The frown on his face startled me. Why did he look so mad? I hadn’t done anything wrong.
All of a sudden, I felt the need to run. To get the hell out of his way. He looked ready to kill.
I stayed grounded, fear racing down my spine.
The moment his hands touched my face, the room seemed to freeze, and then, much to my surprise, my very first kiss. Slavik’s lips slammed down on mine. At first, I stilled, unsure what to make of his lips on mine.
This was a kiss.
Our mouths melded together.
Almost like one, but it was so much more than that. The hands on my cheek moved. One sank into my hair, and the other went to my hip, drawing me in.
The world faded away, and my hands went to the front of his body, running up to curve around his neck, pulling him close to me.
I moaned as his tongue traced, and I opened up my lips for him to explore. My eyes closed as I basked in this feeling. It was so consuming.
The books and movies hadn’t been wrong.
The moment the right man kissed you, the rest of the world didn’t matter.
I felt connected to Slavik.
I didn’t want it to end.
Of course, being part of the Volkov Bratva came with problems.
I jerked back as screams and the sounds of bullets rained down in the room.
Slavik pushed me to the floor at the same time as Ivan.
Glass shattered. The bullets wouldn’t stop.
I reached to cover my ears.
Slavik yelled for me to stay down.
I closed my eyes, trying to stop the panic.
My very first kiss and it ended in gunfire. This was so not fair, and I wanted to scream at whoever was ruining it. I stayed perfectly still even as Slavik’s weight eased off me. Even as I told myself to keep my eyes closed, to stay down, I couldn’t. Curiosity got the better of me.
I opened my eyes and glanced around. Men and women were on the ground. One of the waiters had fallen close to me. His eyes were wide open, and I screamed, jerking back as I saw half of the back of his head had blown off.
Sickness swirled within my gut, and I scrambled to my feet. Just as I did, more bullets came tumbling down. I covered my head, whirling around, looking for a weapon.
All of a sudden, a large body slammed into me, and I was taken to the ground, landing on the broken glass, which impaled my skin.
I whimpered, struggling against the man who was on top of me. Fear worked its way down my spine. Whoever it was slammed their fist against my face.
Everything went numb for a second as I struggled to gain focus. Pain exploded at the back of my eyes.
“You’re a traitorous bitch,” he said.
The gun was cocked.
I was going to die. I always knew I’d have a short life.
Five months into my marriage and here was my death.
The blow came, but I was still alive.
The man fell onto me. A bullet hole in the center of his head. I scrambled out from underneath him, screaming.