Page 7 of Romi

My body trembled, and my legs shook. I was thankful for Ash’s arm to lean on, and we walked down the stone steps towards him as I tried to get my unruly legs to maintain my weight. Once again, they seemed to want to crumble me to my knees in front of the Adonis that was Romi. Yeah, I was definitely going to have to explore this fetish of submitting myself to my man as soon as possible. However, now was so not the time nor place for any of that.

Keep it together, I told myself sternly. Luckily, Ash didn’t appear to notice my sudden weakness. If he did, I would need to blame my shaky gait on my new shoes. Thank god I was wearing stilettos because that excuse wouldn’t hold water if I was in my running shoes.

Romi had been staring at his phone, but when he heard us approaching, he looked up and took a step forward, seemingly unwittingly, before he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me. He looked awestruck, and butterflies erupted in my stomach.

Come on, girl, devastate him. You can do this!I gave myself a quick pep talk before smiling brightly and saying, “Hey, Romi.”

He blinked slowly and gave me an awkward-looking smile before jumping into the driver’s seat as Ash opened the back door for me. I was barely able to contain my grin as I climbed inside, thankful that Ash appeared preoccupied and hadn’t noticed the look that Romi had given me. There was no mistaking what it meant. Things had definitely changed between Romi and me. Last night’s touch had certainly shaken him up if his reaction just now was anything to go by, and I intended to ensure that spending time with me tonight would shake him up even more.

My stomach fluttered wildly like a thousand butterflies were trapped inside and desperately trying to escape. We drove in silence for a while as Ash checked something on his phone. I was glad because it gave me time to sneak glances at Romi through the rear-view mirror. In fact, I couldn’t seem to stop looking at him. It was as if his gaze drew me to him like a magnet. He seemed to be having the same issue because every now and then, our eyes met, and my breath hitched each time.

“You look beautiful, by the way,” I heard Ash saying before Romi glanced back at me in the mirror again and said,

“You certainly do!”

Oh, dear god!I gulped. The way he looked at me was panty melting. There was definitely chemistry between us. There was no way either of us could deny that now. I squirmed in delight as my core clenched with need. Whether he realised it or not, my man was projecting his interest loud and clear. Now, I needed to let him be in no doubt that it was not only reciprocated but that I wanted him to act upon it.

“Well, hopefully, that tall, dark, and droolificent male specimen I am hoping will sweep me off my feet and carry me off over his shoulder might actually notice me then!” I laughed and winked quickly at Ash but then more seductively, I hoped, at Romi.

He noticeably gulped, and I grinned. He was definitely catching on.Yeh!I gave myself an inner high five and smirked.Operation Seduce Romiwas right on track!

CHAPTER 5

ROMI

SATURDAY – PRE-GLITZ EVENT

As I waited for Ash and Sonia to come out of the house, I reread the text message from Sergei again. He'd sent it to Ash, too. Another of our dealers had been attacked and was apparently missing. Fuck!

Our drug dealers were being attacked and robbed. After dropping off Sonia's luggage and rushing to hide out in my room, I received a call from Sergei, who headed up our drugs operation on the street, about a prior attack and had gone to deal with it. I had been busy investigating these attacks since, and it had given me the perfect excuse to stay away from Sonia and the Estate. It hadn't taken my mind off a certain little cousin completely, but it had helped.

We had an alliance with the Polish Mafia, and their boss, Janusz Glowacki, was also a good friend. However, we had caught two of Glowacki's men after the latest incident and spent time torturing information out of them, but all we got from them was that the Polish and Albanians were behind the attacks. Which was bollocks.

Apparently, someone wanted us to believe that the Albanians and Glowacki were working together to go up against us. I shook my head in disbelief. We knew that was definitely not true because Glowacki, like us, hated the bloody Albanians. He would never side with them for any reason.

When my uncle Alexi was Pakhan, he and Glowacki were rivals. Glowacki was younger and ambitious when he first came into the role of boss for the Polish Mafia and foolishly thought he could infringe upon our territory. He made several attempts, but Uncle Alexi quickly thwarted these, and after a few years, they came to an uneasy peace.

Glowacki matured, became a good leader, and solidified his hold on his own territory, forging his own path. It turned out that path was very similar to how Uncle Alexi ran our brotherhood. So, they became increasingly more tolerant of each other and even grudgingly grew to respect one another.

Sadly, around five years ago, Uncle Alexi and Aunt Marissa were killed by the Albanians just a couple of days after they had murdered Glowacki's oldest son. That's when the rivals, who barely tolerated each other, suddenly needed one another. And so, Miki stepped into the role of Pakhan in place of his father, and an alliance was formed between the Polish Mafia and the Bratva. The alliance helped prevent a lot more loss.

Bolstering our numbers and pulling our resources meant we were able to take the Albanians down quickly. They were pretty much decimated, with only a few survivors. It was true that the Albanians had been slowly rebuilding. Nevertheless, they were not strong enough to take us down alone, and as nobody liked the crazy bastards, it was hard to believe anyone would work with them. Least of all, Glowacki.

Our alliance with the Polish Mafia might have been built out of tragedy and necessity, but it had only strengthened over time. When my cousin Krissa, Sonia's sister, was murdered about two years ago by three of Glowacki's men, our alliance could have crumbled then. However, it didn't. Glowacki had been as devastated by Krissa's murder as we were, and he had turned over two of the men involved to us for immediate revenge. The other, unfortunately, ended up being jailed, but we would eventually exact our revenge on him.

So, we knew without a doubt that Glowacki wasn't involved in these attacks, but we didn't believe the Albanians were either. It appeared that they were both being set up. Why and by whom remained to be seen.

I huffed a breath out in frustration at not yet knowing the answer to that question. I hated that we had unknown enemies. My family and our businesses were in danger, which meant Sonia was in danger, and I would stop at nothing to help find out who was involved and deal with them.

In the meantime, at least the situation would give me more excuses to stay away from the Estate and Sonia in the future. That wouldn't help me tonight, though. I groaned at the thought. Tonight was going to be a bloody nightmare. I just knew it.

I leaned against the door of the car and pursed my lips. I was suited and booted, ready and waiting for Sonia and Ash to head to our club opening. Ash wanted me to be with Sonia all night to ensure her safety, so it was going to be tough. My fantasies had definitely not abated by seeing her in the flesh as I had previously hoped. Instead, they'd ramped up, and no matter how far I stayed away from her physically, I couldn't get her out of my dreams.

After our electrifying touch yesterday, my body practically hummed at the thought of touching Sonia again. I dreaded spending time with her alone because all I had done since I had left her yesterday was imagine grabbing her and kissing her until she couldn't breathe.

My cock pulsed, and I swore I felt my lips tingling at the thought.

Damn it! I needed to stay in control tonight. I adjusted myself and pushed my cock down with the palm of my hand. Geez. Just the thought of that woman had me nearly losing it. I was being ridiculous. I was a grown man. I could control myself. I would control myself. I would focus on Sonia's safety tonight and remember her brothers were always nearby. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep my behaviour in check and my hormones under control. I'd just finished that thought when the source of my discomfort appeared.

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