Page 20 of The Bratva's Innocent Pregnant Bride
That kiss reignited a fire. I’d expected her to storm off the moment I leaned closer, and was braced for a slap. Instead, her soft lips molded to mine, there was a slight tilt of her head, an almost imperceptible sigh against my mouth. She was seconds from sliding off her chair and into my lap, both of us completely forgetting where we were, completely lost in the kiss. No, this was far from over.
Back at the house, I learned that Paisley was going to be taking Alina on a shopping excursion so she could pick out presents for her parents. I intercepted the guard who was assigned to follow them.
“You’re sick,” I said, pulling out a hundred dollar bill. “There’s no way you can go into town.”
This was a ruthless killer who was utterly loyal to our family. We’d worked together before and I’d seen firsthand what he was capable of. Alina and Paisley would be perfectly safe in his care, but I had other plans.
“Nice try,” he said, turning up his nose at the bill. “That’s a great joke.”
I peeled off four more, all I had in my wallet at the time, but I’d take off my Rolex and hand it over if necessary. I was going on that shopping trip. “Start puking, pal. And keep quiet about this little bonus.”
My cousin paid him well, but five hundred bucks for doing nothing made him grab his midsection and moan, heading off to inform Katie that he couldn’t make it. I followed, looking as innocent as a newborn lamb.
“Sorry, honey,” Katie said to Alina, who was about to erupt at the cancellation. “Papa and your uncles are busy. You’ll just have to wait for another day.”
“Wait for another day for what?” I asked, shoving the overacting bodyguard out of the room.
“Aleks doesn’t want Alina going out without protection,” she said.
“Of course not,” I agreed, meeting Paisley’s eye as she tried to console her little charge. A slow grin took over my face and she looked horrified as I jumped in to save the day and offer to accompany them.
Alina’s joy was louder than Katie’s assurances that I didn’t have to give up my afternoon, and since Paisley didn’t have a heart made of ice except where I was concerned, she couldn’t say a damn thing.
Once we were in the busy shopping area, I basically had her all to myself since Alina was completely preoccupied with whatever was in every shop window. This was the first time she’d taken any of the kids further than the nearby slopes, and it was clear she was a little apprehensive about the need for a bodyguard at all.
She finally worked up the nerve to ask about it when Alina wanted to go into a crowded leather shop to pick out a wallet for her father and I told her we’d wait until it was more manageable inside. Used to it, Alina took it in stride, but Paisley glanced around nervously.
“There’s nothing to be worried about,” I said. “I’m as capable as the regular guard.”
“Yeah, but why do we need any guard?” she asked. “I thought Russia did away with their royalty a hundred years ago.”
While Alina wasn’t secretly related to the last monarchs of Russia, she was royalty of a sort. The chances the Collective would have known we were in Aspen were miniscule, and they’d be utterly foolish to follow us here, but we would be even bigger fools to act like we didn’t have a constant target on our backs. Even the little ones.
Of course I couldn’t tell her we were the biggest Bratva family in California, and risk scaring her off. That was something I never worried about before, usually glad for any reason to keep women from getting too close. I finally just told her what was already obvious.
“We’re pretty rich.”
She snorted. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one.”
There was no way she had already forgotten the electricity that coursed between us during that kiss only a couple hours ago, but she was acting like she did. She wasn’t acting like she was still mad at me, and I probably had Alina to thank for that. I pointed out the sign for a toy shop halfway down the block.
“What was that doll you were showing me yesterday?” I asked.
She brightened. “It’s not a doll, it’s a collectible figure,” she said with a sniff, then talked about it until she ran out of breath.
“I’ve never heard about those,” Paisley said.
Alina looked stunned. “Every kid I know has them. I only have one so far.”
I was a little stunned too. It made sense I wouldn’t know about these crazy figurines flying off shelves, but someone who was constantly around kids that age group should have known them all by name. “That’s outrageous,” I said. “Let’s go get you another one.”
Alina jumped up, then sat back down, looking at the leather shop. “No, today is for buying presents for Mama and Papa, not myself.”
“I never agreed to that,” I said, winking over Alina’s head at Paisley. “I need to do some shopping for your cousins, too.”
“He’s right,” Paisley said, surprisingly backing me up. “We can’t get the wallet right now anyway since the shop’s too crowded.”
We both stood on either side of her and took a hand and ended up swinging her along, stepping off the crowded sidewalk to keep from hitting anyone with an ecstatic six-year-old. The toy shop was overflowing with everything from wooden blocks to high tech gadgets. The dolls Alina wanted were behind glass and I could see right away why she only had one. They were close to a hundred bucks each and while Aleks would have filled the house with them to make his daughter smile, Katie was more practical.
