Page 12 of The Bratva's Innocent Sold Bride
My cousin even surprised us with a photo shoot from one of the local society magazines, and at first, I balked. But Mila didn’t know the true reason for the wedding, and I wasn’t going to tell her. I liked the idea of CJ falling head over heels in love with me and being unable to wait. It worked out well because all the upper echelon of Silicon Valley were shocked and delighted that one of their beloved heiresses was tying the knot. They would never know she was about to be destitute, because I decided I needed a project to distract me from Anatoli’s continued attacks.
With an infusion of cash from Moscow and my best people on the job, it was possible I might be able to turn Gordon’s company around. My company now.
The man who ripped me off had to be squirming with anguish every time he saw our smiling faces on the internet, all while wondering when the final blow would be struck and the news about Taurus Ingenuity going bankrupt would come out. When he learned it was saved instead, he’d be all the more gutted because it was no longer his.
CJ was doing her best to put on a good face whenever Mila or any of the hundreds of people involved in the planning were around, and sassing me relentlessly when they weren’t. As well as driving me crazy with her teasing. No matter what I threw at her, she never broke, and in fact, if we weren’t aboutto walk down the aisle today, I didn’t know how much longer I could last.
The way she shook her cute little ass in that maid costume every day, her quick smiles when she glanced at me to make sure I was looking. If I weren’t so positive she despised me, I’d think she wanted me as much as I wanted her.
Today, finally. She was going to be mine.
Almost all of my cousins and both my brothers were able to make it, and none of them could believe I was marrying a brash American. My younger brothers, Daniil and Rurik, were especially flabbergasted, certain I’d move back to Russia before settling down.
Dan had even risked being my best man with a black eye by suggesting I was throwing away my future. I didn’t see it that way. Whatever it took to build my empire here, even marrying an American.
Her differences weren’t flaws to me. I found it charming every time she snapped back at one of my orders. She wasn’t my employee, after all, so why shouldn’t she have an opinion?
Unable to wait a moment longer, I ignored Mila’s warnings that I couldn’t see CJ until after the ceremony, and I had to bellow at some of her friends whom she’d called in to be bridesmaids. I had offered to let CJ have a luncheon at the house, and Mila had tried to get her to agree to a bridal shower, but she shut me down with a harsh laugh, and I had no idea what she told Mila to get her to drop it.
“Why not a bachelorette party?” she had asked me. She just happened to have her maid outfit on and shimmied sarcastically. “Don’t want me out where other men could see me?”
She knew exactly how to rile me up, and I hated it as much as I loved it. I gripped her arm and yanked her close. “There are no other men for you,” I told her. “Just as there are no other women for me. And no, you’re definitely not going to have a bachelorette party.”
I think she called me a fuddy duddy, which I had never heard before. When I asked Mila, she cracked up and said it did kind of apply to me.
The bridesmaids tried to stand their ground despite my bellows, but I shoved them out into the hall and slammed the door behind them.
“It’s bad luck,” CJ said, from where she sat at a dressing table.
In the mirror, I could see she wore more makeup than usual, peach gloss on her lips, and dark liner accentuated her eyes. Her hair tumbled down her back, held in place by jeweled pins that sparkled when she turned.
“I make my own luck,” I said, taking her in. “You’re absolutely gorgeous.”
For a moment, her face softened, then she fixed it again into a hard mask. Standing up, she turned in a circle so I could see the long white gown that billowed out from her waist. Her entire upper body shimmered with thousands of beads, but they dimmed in comparison to her beauty.
“Do I pass your inspection?” she asked tartly.
“You’re perfect,” I told her. “And I didn’t come up here to inspect you.”
“What then?” she asked, hands on her hips, brushing away all the satin in annoyance.
“To tell you that things are going to change once we’re official,” I told her.
Her head tilted in curiosity, and there was an eager flash in her eyes. “Can I go to the job I just got before all this? I’m sure I could find an excuse for why I didn’t show up last week.”
“Why would my wife need to work?” I scoffed.
“Is it because you’re Russian, or did you time-travel from the nineteenth century? Maybe I want to work?”
“You can work to make me happy,” I said, then softened a little. Things really were going to change after the wedding. No more maid routine. “And I can work to make you happy, too.”
“How? Are you going to get me kneepads as a gift?” she snapped, grabbing her bouquet of roses and making a move like she might hit me with them. “I’ll never be happy with you. I hate you.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear from my beautiful bride, and I closed the short distance between us, snaking my arm around her back. The heavy, beaded fabric dug into my palm as I pulled her close, her body flush with mine. The bouquet was crushed between us as I gripped the back of her neck and kissed her hard on the mouth.
Dropping the flowers, she yanked at my lapels, trying to shove me away. I only held on tighter, easing my tongue between her tightly closed lips. With her chest heaving against me, she suddenly went still. A soft moan escaped her lips as she opened them the tiniest bit for me.
The scent of the crumpled flowers rose between us, mingled with her delicate perfume, and she tasted like sweet mint tea. Her hands moved from my lapels, up my shoulders tohold on as I kissed her more deeply, bending her back against the dressing table.
