Page 12 of Unwilling Bratva Bride

“You’re going to need to do something about,” I gestured at him, “that. My parents may be older, but they’re not dumb, and neither are my siblings.”

Ivan looked down at himself incredulously, the corners of his mouth turning down in a way that made my own tick up in a half-smirk. He was way too funny for his own good. Hell, formyown good.

“You don’t think a rich man looking for a housekeeper would wear a leather jacket?”

“Not one like that,” I countered.

He snickered, holding back the laugh to play into his role of being offended. But I was right, and he knew it. Ivan did not look like a rich man who could take care of our family’s money troubles by hiring me to clean his massive estate. He didn’t look like he owned a massive estate.

“Fine, fine. As it turns out, I have a change of clothes in here for those pesky situations where I need to be more…What was the term we used? Oh, right. Discreet.”

He winked at me, and damn my stupid heart for the way it skipped a beat, loving the flirtatious way he teased.

“Right.” I nodded. “Well, I imagine that you need to change quite often in your line of work. Can’t just go shaking down business owners for a cut of their profits in jeans.”

Ivan smiled over at me as we pulled onto my street, and there was something about it. We played off each other well. We both knew it. And the jokes and jabs we both exchanged landed so perfectly in sync that you’d have thought we planned them.

Mom calls it chemistry. And damn, we have it in spades.

“That’s actually not my specialty. But if you need any dirt on someone, maybe an ex-boyfriend who needs his herpes diagnosis blasted all over the web, you know who to call.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied, my voice low as I shook my head.

When he parked, I unbuckled myself and reached for the door handle, pausing just before I got out.

“I’ll wait for you outside while you change, Mr. Ustinov.”

His eyes darkened as he smirked all the harder. “Don’t leave on my account.”

I swallowed—hard, but somehow, I managed to school my expression. “I don’t think I’ll be missing anything.”

“Ouch.” He pulled off his leather jacket and stepped into the back seat of the large SUV. “Suit yourself.”

Chapter 6 - Ivan

I could tell Adley was nervous about speaking to her folks, and I usually wouldn’t give one single solitary fuck. Still, that instant pull I’d felt toward her made it impossible for me to ignore her discomfort about speaking to them. Not enough to change what I was doing, however.

No. I needed Adley with me, craved it like an addict looking for their next fix, and I was not looking to go into rehab for this particular addiction. I’d gone once when I was younger, and frankly, it wasn’t the group’s holier-than-thou bullshit that got me to quit; it was my brothers.

So, not the point of this little endeavor, Ivan. Come on.

Straightening the jacket I’d throw on over a new button-down, I ensured my fly was zipped up and hopped out of the car to meet Adley standing on the curb outside the closed bodega.

The new outfit was a bit more appropriate for a businessman: a black suit jacket, pants, and a black shirt. Sure, I had no tie, and I still had a number of visible tattoos, but it did read a bit better, especially when I brushed my bangs forward to cover the broken glass tattoo on my forehead.

“All right, toots. Let’s go.”

Adley sighed as I stepped up to her, but when she turned to give me an appraisal, she actually looked surprised.

“You clean up pretty well.” She reached for the buttons open on my chest. “But maybe we do these up just a bit more.”

With a smirk, I let her up the “decency factor,” enjoying how close she was to me.

“You done?” I asked playfully.

Shaking her head, Adley stepped back, regarding me. “It’ll have to do. Please don’t…touch anything inside.”

“Ugh,” I scoffed. “Don’t you trust me?”

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