Page 8 of Brutal Loyalty

Roman didn’t care to mention Elena’s help; it would only solidify her position as a friend and might work against him if he needed to prove later on that she was, in fact, a foe. He forced a polite smile in response to Viktor’s. “Thank you,” he replied simply.

“I know you just had a ten-hour flight and a two-hour drive, but I need to ask you for something,” Viktor said solemnly, pulling him off to the side, out of the women’s hearing range. “There is an important shipment that just came in. It’s sitting at a private address, and I need you to pick it up for me.”

Roman’s mouth ran dry. If he was away picking up this package, he wouldn’t be able to supervise Elena. His eyes flickered to her and Alexandra as they continued talking. With any luck, Elena would be as worn out as he was and would want to go to bed soon.

But if she didn’t? Who knew what she could get up to now that she was back in Boston? Roman’s mouth tightened and he looked back to Viktor with uncertainty. It seemed he had no choice.

“Absolutely,” Roman finally responded. Viktor clapped Roman on the back once again, seeming so relieved that it made him wonder what was in the cargo.

“Great! I’ll send the address to your phone. You might want to grab a dolly and take a van, though—some of those boxes might be heavy,” Viktor said.

A lightbulb went off in Roman’s head. He turned toward Elena and Alexandra, clearing his throat.

“Elena. Would you mind helping me?” Roman asked. Elena looked at him with a slight squint.

“Uh. What?” she asked.

Roman felt Viktor’s surprise, but moved forward anyway, stepping toward Elena and waylaying any objection from his boss. “I have some packages to pick up, and I’ll need some help keeping the hand truck steady.”

“Wait, you want me to leave with you again?” she asked, her eyes widening.

“Don’t worry, you won’t be doing any heavy lifting. Consider it your way to repay me for saving our lives up there.” Roman pointed toward the ceiling with a forced smirk.

“As if—I wastotallythe one who saved the day!” Elena huffed. Her agitation slowly turned to amusement, and Roman could see the gears turning in her head even as Alexandra and Viktor exchanged confused looks. “But, yeah. I guess if you need my help again, I can go. But we’re stopping for coffee first. I haven’t had a decent soy mocha since I left Boston.”

“Thank you,” Roman said with a deep nod.

This was perfect, he thought. Not only would he be able to keep an eye on Elena, but he’d also have the opportunity to ask her some more questions—more casually, so she might actually answer them—and gauge her loyalties.

Alexandra and Elena quickly finished their conversation—Roman overheard plans to go shopping since Elena hadn’t brought much luggage with her—and Elena followed him out to the garage. Roman loaded a hand truck and some mover straps into the back of a plain white van, helped Elena into the passenger seat, and then got in and turned the key in the ignition.

“Hopefully, we won’t have any more engine problems,” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t even go there, Roman! Ugh, not after the time we just had,” Elena replied playfully. Roman punched the address Viktor had sent into the GPS on his phone, and they pulled back out onto the road. As they drove, Roman listened to Elena talk a mile a minute, listing out all the things she wanted to do, and found himself enjoying her company. Perhaps he wouldn’t even need to question her further—she would tell him everything, and he’d have the comfort of knowing she couldn’t be pulling any tricks outside of his sight.

“Turn right here,” she told him as she pointed to a small coffee hut on the corner. He grimaced, wondering if it was a good idea. What if she ran off? She punched him in the arm when he hesitated before making the turn. “It has a drive-thru. We won’t need to get out of the van, but Iwillhave my mocha. Now…” she waved to the right. “Get me my drink.”

“You’re awfully bossy for someone sitting in the passenger seat,” he told her as he turned. Maybe some caffeine was a good idea after the night they had.

“Damn right, chaufferone, and it will only get worse if I don’t get my soy mocha.”

CHAPTER6

Roman

Roman turned to look at her. She gave him a dazzling smile, and he realized that if this was the side of her that Alexandra saw, then he could understand why they were friends. Pulling up to the window, he stared at the menu of coffee choices—lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, flats, espressos. “Don’t they have regular coffee?”

“Ugh, chaufferone, live a little. I got this.” She pushed at his chest to get him to sit back, then she leaned toward the barista waiting in the window. “I’ll take a large soy mocha with an extra shot of espresso and chocolate sprinkles on top. And give Mr. Grumpy here a double macchiato with light foam from two percent.”

“I don’t even know what that is,” he told her. She just smirked at him. The barista rang up their order, and Roman looked at Elena. “What, you aren’t paying too?”

Elena scoffed at him. “Nope. I might be here to expand your horizons on yummy goodness, but I draw the line at paying for it. Now, pay the man and be sure to leave a good tip.”

Roman glared at her as he handed over a twenty. The smile that lit up her face when he told the guy to keep the change was worth it. When they got their drinks, he set his in the cup holder as he pulled away to get back on the road. He watched Elena cradle her drink in both hands as if it were a piece of expensive crystal. When she took her first sip, she groaned, and he damn near hit the curb at how orgasmic she sounded. Over coffee.

He pushed away the thought of what she would sound like as he pulled orgasms from her. They drove in silence for several long minutes. Well, silence other than the sounds of pleasure coming from her as she drank her mocha. He needed to do something other than imagining her beneath him, so he grabbed his cup and took a large sip. It was…good. He took another hefty sip, enjoying the smoothness of the drink.

“So, you like it?” she asked him.

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