Page 24 of The Bratva's Innocent Pregnant Bride
Chapter 15 - Daniil
I gaped at Paisley as the audience continued to applaud and shout for more. Who the hell was this woman? I was only trying to get a little revenge for her speech about forgetting all about our night together. I’d already proved that a lie, but the kiss had shaken me. I needed more, and her ice cold eyes when she returned with drinks pissed me off.
That kiss had her clinging to me, about to climb my body like a tree. Then she acted like I didn’t exist. I’d expected her to dissolve into a blushing mess on stage, and while her cheeks were bright, it was from victory and exertion because she sang the hell out of the song I picked solely because it was marked as difficult. She was an absolute diva once the music started and her voice wasn’t too bad, either. I had to work to keep up with her since I wasn’t familiar with the song, and now we were actually contenders for the prize, with the crowd urging us to do another number.
Yeah, that wasn’t great. As much as I loved to have a good time, it wasn’t generally a good idea to make myself the center of attention of a large crowd. Not when half a dozen or more people at any given time would happily blow my head off if they knew my whereabouts. Or any of my family members, as well. Shit, this was a mistake, and even Paisley’s exhilarated smile wasn’t worth the word getting out that the entire Fokin family was in Aspen.
Paisley was still working the crowd, waving and smiling and egging everyone on to cheer louder so we’d get more points. I looked at the old-fashioned meter at the back of the stage, a glittery arrow going up and down as she got them to cheer for us. As irritated as I was at myself for my rash decision, I couldn’t help marveling at her as she grabbed a handful of mini candycanes from a bowl on the MC stand and tossed them to her adoring fans.
Who the hell was this woman? And why did I like her so damn much?
As charming as it was, enough was enough. I grabbed her hand, saluting the audience, and tugged her toward the stairs. We could get out of there as soon as we melted back into the crowd, and hopefully I wouldn’t get any shit from my brother.
“Are you kidding?” she asked as I began to pull her away. “They love us.”
“They’ll have to find a way to survive,” I told her as she dug in her heels. “We’re done.”
“Oh are we? I don’t think so.” She gave me a smile that was full of the devil and turned to the DJ, calling for him to put on another song. The whole audience saw my attempted escape and cheered Paisley’s determination, thinking it was part of the act.
“You asked for this,” she said, grabbing her microphone from the stand and belting out the first line of the new song. Her look told me she was very much in charge now, and she was loving her own bit of revenge.
Once again it was one I wasn’t familiar with and I had to jump behind the karaoke machine screen to be able to follow along. What I really wanted to do was haul her over my shoulder and hurry her back to the car, to either spank her or kiss her senseless. I wasn’t sure, and both sounded equally fun.
Damn it, I was already having fun, just like I’d had a shockingly good time doing one of the things I hated most in the world—shopping. I wanted to keep having fun with Paisley, justoff this damn stage. And preferably all alone together with no little munchkins or nosy family members getting in our way.
If I was pissed off, it was only at myself. Watching Paisley shine gave me such a warm feeling, something that was so unfamiliar and yet so appealing, that I let her grab my hand to do a fancy bow at the end of the song.
“Okay, we’re done,” I said.
“We can win the whole thing,” she said, pointing to the giant stuffed teddy bear with a Santa hat that was the grand prize.
“I’ll get you a damn teddy bear,” I grumbled, not about to let her get the DJ to put on another song when Rurik was shooting daggers at me from the crowd.
Leaning over, I scooped her up around her waist, flinging her over my shoulder. She yelped as the crowd burst out laughing. A hard little fist slammed into my back but I waved at our new fans and hustled off the stage.
“I guess they forgot they had an appointment,” the male MC said, raising more laughter.
Rurik and Lilia were waiting for us on the outskirts of the crowd and neither one of them looked particularly happy or carefree. I put Paisley down, grabbing her hand to keep her from stumbling as she lurched away from me, claws out like a baby tiger.
“You’re the one who dragged me up there,” she sputtered.
“And I also dragged you down,” I said mildly.
Lilia jumped in and suggested Paisley go with her to get some waffles from one of the nearby stands selling all sorts of enticing junk food. The moment they were out of ear shot, Rurik laid into me.
“That was stupid.”
“Probably, but no one knows we’re in Aspen.”
“They will now, if anyone recognized you,” he said, pacing a few steps away. “I don’t know what got into you. You basically just sent out an engraved invitation to the Collective to come tear our heads off.”
“Lower your damn voice,” I hissed. “No one here knows anything about the Collective, or us, and if you shut the hell up, it’ll stay that way.”
When I looked over at Paisley in the line only a few feet away, her face had lost all its glow from being the star of the show. Now she was as pale as the moon that shone down from behind the towering tree tops and she seemed to gaze past me with a lost look in her eyes.
Did she overhear us? Would anything we said even mean anything to her? Rurik was upset enough that maybe that was what put that look of abject terror on her face.
They returned with waffles buried under piles of whipped cream and caramel sauce but Paisley’s went uneaten. With Rurik in a sour mood and Lilia worried but staying quiet about it, and Paisley acting like she was going to throw up, I suggested we head home without staying to see who the winner was.
