Page 7 of The Bratva's Hunted Bride
Is Talia a surfer, or does she just enjoy the apparel? I want to know everything about her. The image of Talia surfing feels right. I can imagine her athletic body zipped into a wetsuit,her hair curled by the saltwater. Then I see her, and that frantic, relentless pacing in my mind goes quiet. She’s really here.
Cutoff jean shorts, crop top, beach-tousled hair. She’s not wearing any makeup, and her fresh-faced beauty makes my head spin all over again. Not a figment of my imagination. Not too good to be true. Talia Popov is standing fifteen feet from me.
Part of me wants to stay out here and just watch her. I want to soak in the sight of her and store it all in my memory. But if I don’t move now, there’s a chance I’ll lose her again.
I peel off from the smoothie line and enter the surf shop. It smells like sunscreen and the beach, and the floor is gritty with sand. Talia doesn’t look up. She’s holding up a wetsuit, back to me.
“Talia.”
She jumps and turns, clutching the wetsuit to her chest like armor. Her eyes go wide when she sees me, her expression turning from surprise to confusion. “Um. Hi?”
Shit. I should’ve prepared some sort of story, an excuse for being here and running into her like this. If I had been thinking straight, I would have.
“You left,” I say, taking a step toward her. “You didn’t leave me your number.”
Her nose wrinkles. “Are you… Are youstalkingme? How did you find me here?”
“Stalking? You’re crazy. I was just walking by and I spotted you in here.” The excuse sounds lame even to my own ears, and I know she’s not buying it. Her eyes narrow.
She shoves the wetsuit back onto the rack and stalks over to me, pressing one flat palm against my chest. “I’m not the crazy one here. You expect me to believe this is just some coincidence?All the shops on the boardwalk, and you happen to walk past this one? Bullshit. I’m not buying it.”
I let her push me back a step. I’m not trying to threaten her, and I definitely don’t want to scare her. “Maybe we were meant to run into each other again.”
Telling her the truth—that I tracked her down—is not an option right now. She won’t handle it well. I need her to understand that this thing between us deserves more than a one-night stand.
She laughs, but it’s completely unlike the warm, bubbly laughter from the other night. This is cold and harsh. “So now it’s fate? Look, I don’t know you, and I don’t believe in fate. You showing up here like this is not okay. Even if you just happened to be walking by,” she says, making air quotes to show how much she believes that story, “it’s not okay. If I wanted to see you again, I would’ve given you my number.”
That stings. Our night together had such an impact on me. I it possible she doesn’t feel even a hint of what I do? She starts to edge past me, brushing up against a clothing rack in her effort to avoid touching me again.
“I know you enjoyed yourself, Talia.” I take another step, keeping pace with her.
Her eyes drop to the floor, avoiding mine. “That’s not the point. At all.”
“What is, then? Give us a chance.”
“Back off,” she says, raising her voice. The checkout clerk glances over at us, curious. “My brother is in the next shop and he’s going to be back here in a minute. You don’t want to be here when he does.”
Bluffing? I can’t be sure. I don’t know her well enough to read her body language past the fear written in her rigid posture, her darting eyes. And now the checkout clerk is staring, reaching for the corded phone on the desk.
I put my hands up and move away from Talia, clearing the way to the door if she wants it. I’m hoping she doesn’t, that she’s going to stay for a minute and at least listen to me, but she bolts for the door the minute the way is clear. She doesn’t look back.
God dammit. I have no choice but to let her go, and I count to five before heading out of the store myself. Looking up and down the boardwalk, I see no sign of her. The erratic pulse starts up in my head again, winding me tight, and I fight down the urge to punch the nearest wall. Don’t attract attention.
Instead, I walk briskly down the boardwalk, following my gut. There she is. Her hair fans out behind her as she jogs up to a car and yanks open the passenger side door, flinging herself into it. I race back for my car. By the time I pull out onto the street, Talia’s car is five cars ahead. Keeping my eyes glued to it, I follow at a discreet distance.
This feels right. This feels good. Learning where she lives is the obvious next step, and we need this tether. If she’s not willing to take a chance on what we could be, I’ll just have to show her. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll learn. Talia Popov belongs to me.
Chapter 4 - Talia
What the hell was that? I squeeze my eyes shut and force myself to take deep, steady breaths as my brother drives me home.
“You didn’t buy anything?” He side eyes me curiously. “That’s a first.”
“Ha ha,” I say, rolling my eyes. I don’t know how Marlen doesn’t hear the rapid-fire beat of my heart. It feels like it’s going to pound its way out of my chest. “They didn’t have my size.”
And one of the Abashin men confronted me in the middle of the store. I leave that part out. Seeing Timofey frightened me, but informing my brothers that I’d slept with the enemy and now said enemy was seemingly stalking me? That’d open a way too massive can of worms. It’d be goodbye to the tiny scrap of freedom I have right now and hello, gilded cage. Not happening.
If they knew the whole truth? I can’t even imagine what they’d do. I press my hand to my stomach and take another shuddering breath. Pregnant. Three tests in a row and a missed period couldn’t be wrong, but the truth was still sinking in.
