Page 27 of Plus-Size Bratva Possession
This seemed to strike a nerve, and she rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please. Don't pretend your concern is for my safety,” she scoffed. “You’re upset I could have run off, and then you wouldn’t have a chance at your little revenge. And just so you know, my brothers made sure Beatrice and my face weren't plastered around town. We were specifically kept out of the public eye so we wouldn't be targeted.”
She then leaned forward, lowered her voice, and wiggled her eyebrows at me. “Out here, no one knows who I am. To them, I’m just an innocent woman having coffee.”
I felt my jaw tighten. She was right, of course. The Lebedevs had been careful with their sisters. Still, the thought of her wandering around unprotected made something twist uncomfortably in my gut.
Not knowing what to do with that feeling, I leaned back in my chair with a scoff of my own. “You’re many things, and being innocent isn’t one of them.”
“Am too,” she tilted her head with a little pout, and God, those lips. I didn’t think I had seen sexier lips on a woman.
I shook my head, turned away from her lips, and went back to meet her gaze. “Please. You’re a tyrant who ran away after messing up my security system. Do you have any idea how annoying it was for Dom to realize you had changed the passcode to the house?”
“Oh no,” she shrugs, her tone shifting to something more taunting, “Wish I could help.”
“I’d rather not have your help,” I dished back. “Just keeping you safe is trouble enough. If you could just stay indoors, that’s more help than I could wish for.”
“You know this isn’t about my safety. Are you really that insecure to think I’ll run away at the first taste of freedom? Is thegreat Gastone Ajello that doubtful of his ability to keep his wife satisfied?” she teased.
The way she said “wife” made my skin feel too tight. She was deliberately provoking me, and damn it, it was working.
“I'm not insecure,” I countered, leaning closer.
The server approached our table and then set down a quiche in front of Elena. She thanked him with a warm smile that made the young man's cheeks flush. I fought the inexplicable urge to glare at him.
“Would you like anything?” she asked me once he'd left.
I shook my head. “I want an explanation.”
Elena sighed, cutting into her quiche and taking a mouthful. She spoke once she was done chewing at an agonizingly slow pace that constantly diverted my attention to her lips. “Look, is it really so hard to believe that I might just want a little fresh air? Some coffee that I didn't make myself? A change of scenery?”
She took another bite, closing her eyes briefly as she savored it.
There was truth in her words. I could see it in the genuine joy on her face as she sat in this little café. I should have been angry, should have been furious, but by now I was convinced from her reaction and her words and the simple facts she laid out that she truly was out to just enjoy her day. Knowing that, combined with how she teased, softened me. The truth is, my own suspicions had been cast out of my mind when I found her here, sipping on coffee, when she could have run to half a dozen brothers for help.
“So, you weren’t running?”
A smile played on her lips.
“Mmm-hmm.” She nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. “You've been a surprisingly decent host. Well, apart from the whole 'can't leave the apartment' thing.”
“High praise,” I said dryly.
“Don't get used to it.”
I watched as she licked foam from her upper lip again. Something hot and unexpected coiled in my stomach. I shifted in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Dom says you've been well-behaved,” I found myself saying. “When you're not breaking my security system, that is.”
She gave me a look of feigned shock. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“Of course not.”
She finished her quiche, setting her fork down with satisfaction. “This was exactly what I needed.”
“A quiche?”
“Freedom,” she corrected. There was no accusation in her tone, just a simple statement of fact.
