Page 68 of Arranged Bratva Virgin

“Are you ready?” Stefano calls out from downstairs, his voice carrying up towards me.

“Almost,” I call back, grabbing my handbag and taking one last glance in the mirror to make sure everything is in order. I tuck a stay hair into my high bun. I’m ready.

Then I rush down the stairs. I know how Stefano hates to be late for meetings with my brothers, and this morning I completely lost track of time.

“Okay, sorry, I’m ready to go now.”

Stefano grins at me. “Well, it was worth the wait, you look lovely.”

I giggle, knowing my cheeks are blushing, and rush outside to the car.

He holds the door open for me and then jogs around to his side.

Despite being late, and it being obvious that it makes him uncomfortable, he is still in a good mood.

On the drive there, he rests his hand on my leg, which is something I have grown to love. It still gives me butterflies every time he does it. I thread my fingers through his and then glance over at his face to see the smile gently curl at the corners of his mouth.

Paval’s home is kind of central to everyone, so we usually have the meetings here.

Luckily, by the time we actually arrive, we are only about ten minutes late and Ivan is also only just arriving.

“One of those mornings,” Ivan says as he walks inside behind us.

“One of those mornings,” Stef agrees, glancing at me with his brows raised.

“Sorry,” I whisper, knowing that it was entirely my fault we were late.

Everyone grabs a coffee and a croissant and then we make our way to the dining room table so that we can sit down together and discuss the schedule for this week and the ins and outs of a new shipment plan Stefano put together and emailed to everyone earlier this week. He is hoping to impress them with his idea, and I know he is quite excited to get their feedback.

I am sitting next to Stefano, who grabs the back of my chair and pulls it closer to his. Beneath the table, he places his hand on my thigh and then smirks ever so slightly.

I suck in my cheeks for a second to hide my own grin. This is a work meeting. But we still can’t seem to keep our hands off each other.

He has been very affectionate lately, and not just sexually, but generally—he’s been cuddlier and more open to me. We share little glances during the day and warm smiles that set my heart on fire.

It makes me really happy and really nervous at the same time, because my heart is pulling more and more towards him. I am afraid of what it will do to me in the end if I admit that I am falling for him.

“Good morning, good morning,” Paval says, opening a folder that has his notes and the meeting agenda printed out and slotted neatly inside.

“Let’s start with the positives—last month, overall, we saw a five percent increase in turnover, which is a great improvement for just one month of implementing those changes. Now that the warehouse staff is trained in the new process, we expect to see a much bigger increase for the coming month.”

Everyone nods, happy to hear that things are going well there.

He runs through the aspects that need some improvement, or where staff might need a little more training, and then moves on to the next topic.

“Stefano, your email…." Paval glances down at the print out of the email and taps his fingers on the table top. “What about the outgoing—"

Kiril slaps his hand on the table. “Sorry, but this isn’t really going to work.” He shakes his head.

Stefano turns to glare at him, and his fingers tighten over my thigh for a second. My body sharpens with tension as I sense another argument is going to break out between them. I bite my lower lip, waiting for the inevitable.

“What isn’t going to work, Kiril?” Stefano says, his voice tight with restraint, but calmer than I expected it to be.

Everyone seems to be holding their breath, knowing what happened the last time these two did not agree on something.

“Your plan, you didn’t factor in the new management system.”

“I don’t think you read all the way through to the end of the email?” Stefano shrugs and gestures with his chin to the print-out in front of Kiril.

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