Page 31 of All the Dangerous Things

For a moment, Gio just stared at me, his grip on my wrist tight but not painful. Then, with a low growl, he released me and turned away, setting the whiskey on the counter and running a hand through his hair.

He murmured something low in Italian, but then spun to face me and said, “You drive me crazy, you know that?”

I pushed away from the door and took a step forward, my heart still in my throat.

“You're playing with fire, Tatiana. But, damn it, I can't stop thinking about you.”

Before I could react to his words, Gio closed the distance between us, his hands gripping either sideof my neck, and pressed his thumbs lightly on my pulse points right below my ears.

My lips parted, and the breath slowly seeped out of me.

Gio stared into my eyes for a long moment, so long I felt something dark, explosive, and hot move between us.

“Mi fai perdere il controllo per la prima volta nella mia vita,” he told me, and seeing the look of confusion on my face, he explained in English, “You make me lose control for the first time in my life.”

And then he pulled me against him, his lips crashing down on mine, hard and demanding. I felt a surge of heat rush through me, and my panties were instantly wet. I’d never felt this tingling between my thighs, but it was so intense I had to clench my legs together.

I was frozen, stunned by his passion and demands. It was everything I wanted and everything I knew it would be.

I kissed him back with all I had, pouring every ounce of my longing and desire into that kiss. Despite this being my first kiss, the awkwardness and inexperience I expected to feel didn’t happen because he was in control, leading me as if it were a dance.

In that moment, nothing else mattered. Not my brothers. Not the danger that seemed to follow us wherever we went.

Nothing.

All that mattered was this moment with Gio and the way he made me feel—alive, desired, and safe.

13

DMITRY

It was easy enough to find out who hurt Tatiana.

The Bratva had a fuck of a lot of informants and spies, and that shit ran deeper than blood in this city's underworld.

As soon as we left Tatiana’s—which we sure as fuck hadn’t wanted to, but we knew she needed some breathing room—we got to work weeding through the information.

I hated leaving my little sister, and I knew Nikolai did too. But we had guards stationed around her apartment; plus, she was emotionally drained and probably just wanted to sleep.

Besides, Nikolai and I were itching to kill someone or, at the very least, causesome hardcore destruction after what happened to Tatiana. If the fucker who hurt her was already dead, the next best thing would be taking out anyone close to him.

It would calm our bloodlust.

We only had to wait a couple of hours after sending word out before we got what the fuck we wanted. The man we’d been after had been easy enough to find. He was an addict, a junkie who had been spotted entering one of the many trap houses in Desolation.

We had our men pick him up and take his strung-out ass to one of our abandoned buildings on the outskirts of the city. The basement of the old printing company was cold and dark, and the air fucking reeked of mold, age, and damp concrete. We all stood in silence, and I could hear the scuffling of rodents nearby.

Nikolai and I stood side-by-side, the room dark, and the portable lights we brought in casted long shadows on the walls.

Francis was a young man who was about a hundred pounds soaking fucking wet. He was bound to a rickety-ass chair, his face bloody from his clearly broken nose, and his slight form trembled.

“You or me, brother?” Nikolai prompted in a low, steady voice.

Although, outwardly, he appeared unaffected, cold, and keeping his shit together, I knew my brother better than anyone else. He wanted blood, and he wanted it now.

I stepped forward, feeling every part of me settle. I knew what had to be done, and then I knew what would happen afterward. This poor bastard was going to die tonight, and it was going to be slow and painful. For the simple fact that he knew the fucker who hurt Tatiana, his life would be forfeited.

It was the only way to make the message clear that no one fucks with the Petrovs.

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