Page 51 of Brutal Bratva King

“It is so. And if you think I’ll let you get away with flirting with my brothers like that again you’ll be in for a surprise,” I warn her.

“What kind of a surprise? I rather like surprises.” She grins, cheeky and feisty.

“The kind that lands you bent over a table with my hand print on your ass cheek.”

My cock throbs at the thought.

“Well, in that case, I will definitely be flirting with your brothers again. When is the next family dinner?”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “You aren’t going to survive until the next family dinner. I’m going to have to see to it that you are punished before then.”

Her eyes are bright with mischief when she pushes away from me.

“I’ll be waiting at home,” she chimes, glancing up and down over my body. Then she turns her back on me and with an extra sway in her hips, she walks out of the room, leaving me alone with my cock hard and pressing against my pants.

That cheeky little minx just made me fall even harder for her.

I pace around the private room with a grin on my face, waiting for the evidence of her flirtatious playfulness to subside. When it’s faded, I make my way out to the car, still smiling. I really like that side of her. She is confident and sassy. And extra playful. I think that was the first time she ever really flirted with me. I mean properly.

I want more of that.

Chapter 16 - Anya

Thursday morning is tense with all of his brothers at our place. It’s noisy. Loud voices shout back and forth from the living room to the kitchen and through the foyer and hallways. They all sound so similar to each other.

You can tell just by their tone, though—who is tense and who is excited.

Having this many men in the house reminds me of growing up with all my brothers. They are so similar when it comes to these things. It’s strange that they don’t all get along better than they do—because a house full of brothers here feels the same as a house full of brothers back home.

All of the Kuznetsov brothers are pacing around here carrying equipment and shouting orders to each other.

They are getting ready to head out on the joint operation with my brothers and I can see they are hyper-focused on making sure everything is perfect.

I’ve been staying out of the way because it’s one thing to calm them down after a silly argument in a meeting, but the tension in the air now is thick and palpable.

I’d rather stay clear of it.

Rodion has been calm, though, and when it comes time to leave, he finds me in the library. He leans over where I’m curled up on the armchair and wraps his hand around the back of my neck, as he kisses me. My heart races at full speed when he does things like this. His hand feels hot against my neck and his lips taste like home on my tongue.

Whatever is going on between us is getting better with each passing day.

He’s been teasing me, making jokes and laughing with me. It’s quite pleasant and I find myself missing him whenever he leaves the house.

“Be careful,” I say when he leans away from me.

“Please stay at home today—until I’m back. I don’t want to have to worry about you.” Deep concern etches into his eyes. I stare at him for a long moment, caught in how blue they are today. I think the more serious or playful he is, the brighter they go. It’s as though intense emotions bring out different shades of blue.

“Anya?” his voice pulls me out of my daydream.

“I’ll stay home. We can have dinner when you get back.”

He smiles and it tugs at my heart. I can’t look at him lately without experiencing an intense urge to press my body into his. I want to be as close as possible to him. This feeling towards him has been growing steadily and I’m not sure what to do about it. I don’t know yet if it’s dangerous for me to fall for a man like him.

A man who only wants one thing from me—an heir.

Rodion gently kisses my cheek one last time before leaving the library and heading out to the cars with his brothers. My stomach is knotted. I hate these days. I’ve always hated them. My brothers used to try and hide it when they went on missions like this, but I always knew. I could just sense it. The energy in the air is different, more intense. Stressed. They would pretend they were headed out to a game or something like that—but it was always obvious what was really going on.

I understand why they would want to protect me from the stress, though. I was pretty young then, and I didn’t understand the risks.

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