Page 16 of The Bratva's Sold Bride

“You’re adorable when you’re being stubborn and pissed off,” I said, starting the car.

She turned to me and fixed me a look I’d seen her give to some of Max’s restaurant vendors when they were late with a delivery. “Well, you’re still pretty damn handsome even when you’re being an asshole, so…”

Wait, was that a compliment? I sincerely couldn’t tell, but it cracked me up. Probably not her intent because she turned away as I drove out of the village and into the jungle. The road I had built a few years ago was supposed to be maintained, but there were still palm fronds and low-hanging vines smacking against the windshield and roof as I made my way further down the long, twisting lane.

“You know I hate camping, right?” she asked when we were about halfway there.

Glancing at her for a brief second, because it wasn’t wise to take my eyes off the road for long, it was clear she was actually getting a bit worried.

“It’s far from camping,” I promised, praying I was telling the truth. It had been a while since I’d been there, but I had been paying a couple for upkeep since I bought the place.

We finally broke through all the foliage to the clearing, and her gasp of surprise came at the same time as my sigh of relief. The place looked fantastic.

Twenty or more years ago, some intrepid investor had decided this lonely swathe of Mexican jungle that bordered the beautiful mountainside would be the perfect place to build a resort. He’d built his own house first, intending to live there while overseeing the construction. For whatever reason, probably not properly greasing the right palms, he’d given up the plan and abandoned the gorgeous mansion that had only just been completed.

My brother Ivan and I had been hiking out this way around five years ago and stumbled across it, almost completely subsumed by the jungle. We spent a few days hacking through the growth, camping out in what was probably meant to be aballroom. He thought I was crazy, but I saw potential in the place, tracked down the owner, and snapped it up for pennies.

I spent about a year fixing it up, pouring my heart and soul, as well as a shit ton of money into it, and it was nearly there. Then, as usual in the Bratva, something happened to call me home, and I’d just never found the time to return to this little slice of heaven.

“Okay, this isn’t camping,” Olivia conceded, hopping out of the car and running up to the front porch.

“I thought about turning it into a resort on its own,” I said. “But the area is so unspoiled I couldn’t stand the thought of being overrun with loud tourists.”

“I don’t think loud tourists would ever come out this far,” she said, pulling aside a swathe of vines to peer in through one of the front windows.

“Yeah, it’s a bit off the beaten path.”

“A bit,” she agreed wryly.

Despite talking to me again, her expression was unreadable. She had grown used to luxurious places after tagging along with Max for two years, but even so, she couldn’t hide the flicker of appreciation for the verdant natural beauty as she wandered down the side of the main house.

I had gotten in touch with the caretakers who came out once a week to keep the jungle from reclaiming it, and I hoped they had been able to get it liveable inside in the short notice I gave them. Olivia leaned over to sniff a large white flower, and the smile on her face as she breathed in the fragrance erased my worry that I’d chosen the wrong place to hide out.

It was clear she loved it so far, even though she was doing her level best to hide it. I just knew her expressions much toowell for that to be possible. And since this was a place I rarely talked about or visited in the last few years, it would take anyone searching for us a while to catch on that I even still owned it.

“Time for the moment of truth,” I said, finding the key where the caretaker was supposed to leave it, and unlocking the huge, carved front door.

I had kept as much of the original features as I could and a dramatic scene of a snake winding through fruit trees played out on the locally sourced wood. Olivia hurried to my side, taking in the carvings and giving me a look that said she was equating me with the snake. She was definitely still pissed, but her eyes danced with curiosity. I was just as curious, since I’d been writing checks to maintain what I’d accomplished when I first bought it, but didn’t have a clue what time and the jungle had ravaged on the inside.

“Better stay behind me just in case,” I said.

“In case of what?” she asked, alarmed.

I tapped on the big boa constrictor carved into the door and she hustled closer to me as I shoved it open and stepped inside. I admired her fearlessness in not running back to the car.

“Oh,” Olivia said, her lush mouth a perfect circle as she followed me in.

I sighed with relief. The vast space wasn’t a five-star hotel by any means. It needed work, and a lot of it. But it was sparkling clean, and the few bits of furniture were sturdy and functional. No vines had encroached through the high foyer ceiling that went up the entire two stories.

Hurrying back to what was going to one day be the jewel of the place, I pulled aside the sliding door to step outside to a covered veranda, with adobe arches lining the length of thehouse. Beyond that was a glistening pool, freshly cleaned for our arrival. It definitely needed a lot more landscaping help, all the trees and bushes growing nearly to the edge.

“Oh,” Olivia said, catching up to me. I watched as she took it all in, wondering if she could see the potential. “Okay, this is…” she stopped and shook her head. “I can’t think of a word.”

“Good or bad?” I laughed.

“Pretty good,” she said reluctantly, remembering how pissed off she was at me.

Even being surrounded by heaven on earth couldn’t make her completely forget. But maybe I could. The way her body had responded to me during that brief kiss at the church told me I had a chance.

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