Page 17 of Born into Sin

“He’s old enough to be our dad,” Svetlana whispers in my ear, reminding me of what I already know.

“Yeah, but he isn’t,” I whisper back.

She laughs and shakes her head. “You’re lucky I can keep a secret and that I love you so much.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” I remind her.

She just lets out another laugh and says, “Not yet there isn’t, but I saw the way he was looking at you. I think someone wants to taste some forbidden fruit.”

I bark out a laugh before I can stop it, and when I raise my eyes again, Dominic is staring at me, head tilted ever so slightly with one dark brow raised as he watches us with open curiosity. I swear the dark stubble on his face has gotten even thicker since he arrived, and my fingers itch to touch him, to feel the coarse hairs against my skin.

He turns away from me when Uncle Roman says something to him, and then a few minutes later, he’s saying a quick goodbye and giving a wave to my mom and aunts. Before he turns to leave the room, his eyes meet mine one last time, and then he’s gone.

“Maybe you should run out and tell him goodbye?”

Keeping my eyes on the empty doorway, I say, “That might draw a bit of attention, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, probably. They were already asking where you were when you were talking to him on the deck. I had to tell everyone you were making him more coffee. Our family is way too observant.”

It’s a common complaint between us, but we both know there’s no changing it. There are certain things our family isn’t going to budge on, and safety is one of them. Leaning down, I slip my new heels off and grab her hand.

“Come on, we need chocolate.”

She gives me one of her big smiles. “Now you’re speaking my language.”

When we step into the kitchen, Luka and Max are already raiding the cabinets, Val and Yelena are sharing a large bowl of ice cream, and Sasha is pulling out a bottle of root beer so he can make a float.

“Keep that out,” I tell him, already grabbing a couple of large glasses in case anyone else wants one.

Luka laughs at the amount of ice cream I scoop out and tosses a bag of marshmallows on the counter next to the graham crackers Max found.

“Rough night?” he teases, leaning against the counter next to me. He has a playful glint in his green eyes when he looks down at me. My cousins are gorgeous, there’s no denying it, and all the girls in school went crazy for them, but even though we’re not related by blood, I’ve only ever thought of them as my cousins. They’re my best friends, the guys I go to when I’m stressed or pissed off or just wanting to hang out and have a good laugh.

I grab one of the marshmallows while my other hand pours root beer over my ice cream. “Don’t judge, Luka.”

“I would never.” He grabs a handful of marshmallows for himself and then takes the bottle of root beer from me so he can have a drink.

“So did you get all your Bratva talk done?” I stab a straw into my float and take a big drink, letting out an appreciative sigh. “God, that’s good.”

Max tosses a marshmallow at me, hitting me right between the eyes. He points a long finger at me. “You know he can’t answer that.”

I grin at him and eat the marshmallow he socked me with. “I know, but it’s not going to stop me from trying.”

“Seriously,” Svetlana says, grabbing the last cannoli that her dad must’ve somehow missed. “We’re not ever allowed to know anything?”

Luka grins. “Nope.”

Svetlana turns her eyes to me and rolls them. “We don’t get the cool tattoos, we don’t get to carry guns or shoot anyone, and we don’t get to know all the cool secrets. Being in a Bratva family is a lot less exciting than I thought it’d be.”

Val laughs and hands Yelena the cherry from their sundae while Luka says, “Perks of having a dick.”

Svetlana fakes a dry heave. “Gross. You do know what year it is, right? You can get rid of the loin cloth and drop the club from your hand.”

He just shrugs and takes another drink. “That’s just the way it is.”

I finish my bite and ask, “But you guys are going to be taking over, right? Can’t you just change the rules?”

“That’s funny that you think our dads are going to just sit back and fully retire,” Max says. “And no, just because we’re stepping up and learning the family business doesn’t mean we can just change everything.” He raises a brow at me. “Or that we’d want to.”

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