Page 6 of Secret Baby for the Bratva Boss

I glance up from my drink, which I down at as measured a pace as I can manage. I need the liquid courage, but I probably need my wits, too. Unfortunate. “Yeah,” I say, defensive. “I’m confused, and freaked out. And cold.”

Without a word, he sheds his jacket and swings it around my shoulders. I’m too stunned and slow to protest, and the jacket itself is suffused sweetly with his heat. I feel it like his body is against mine, and my face blazes, silencing me further.Fuck it.I throw back the rest of the whiskey, shoving my glass across the counter.

“OK,” I say, backing away, slowly, until my back touches up against the cabinets. I cross my arms over my chest. “We’re here. Safe as we can be. And my family is…”

“Secure.”

I don’t like the sound of that. I don’t like any of this. I want my son. I want him in my line of sight, in my arms. I want to make sure my mom and brother are OK. But if I’m the bomb that could go off, if I’m the thing this enemy gangster is after—my family is safest far from me. The truth never hurt quite so much.

“So, we’re safe,” I repeat, looking sheepishly at the tile floor of the kitchen. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”

Aleks rakes a hand through his wet curls. He backs up, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest.The long-sleeved black tee he wears clings to his chest and shoulders, his biceps, the subtle ridges of his abs. He’s taller than I remember. Was he always that tall? I’d have to stand all the way on my toes to kiss him…

No! Jesus, what iswrongwith me? I shake myself, flushing. Grateful that among Aleks’s many talents, mind-reading isn’t one of them.

“Konstantin Sidorov…we came up together. In Russia.” He looks coldly out the front window. In the dark, shapes move around—his men, walking the perimeter like guards. I guess technically, that’s exactly what they are. “We’ve been rivals a long time. But over the last few years, things have gotten…more unfriendly.”

“And?”

“And…recently, I…”

I stare at Aleks, searching his fine, handsome face. His averted eyes. I’m not sure I can recall ever seeing him at a loss for words. It’s strange. Unsettling. “Recently, you…?”

He runs a hand roughly over his jaw, looking at me. “I killed his brother.”

I feel the blood drain out of my face, leaving me cold. Killed. He killed someone.It’s his line of work, remember?This comes from the cold, impetuous voice in the back of my head.This is why you shut things down years ago, remember?I knew Aleks Lukin was a dangerous man. When he told me that night—after we slept together—I could think of little else but the fear that filled me. And it has since. More so because of the birth of my son.

The birth ofourson.

Yes, I knew Aleks was a dangerous man. And I’ve thought about what that might look like. But to think of him killing someone, of killing a man, of killing many men…it makes the fear real, and close, hot as a flame against my skin.

“I don’t know how he learned of you,” Aleks admits, his dark eyes rising again to meet mine. Cutting into me like a pair of blades. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter. As soon as I learned he was coming here…”

“You came to…what, save me?”

Those dark eyes dance, but his face remains cool, impassive. A mask. “Something like that.”

I rub my arms, suddenly gaining awareness of the more immediate situation. Me, and Aleks. In this house. In this room. Alone.

Together.

Not so different from that night…

“How does it end?” I finally ask, quietly. “How do…”

“How do you get your life back to normal?” Aleks watches me. “I’ll kill him. And then you will be free.” He stops, tipping his head to one side. Slowly, his gaze shifts over me, dripping down my body like hot oil. When those eyes find mine again, my heart is beating so hard it’s all I can hear, like thunder in my ears. “It will be like I never came back.”

“Good,” I say, but my voice shakes. “As it should be.”

“As it should be.” Again, his eyes dance, in a dark, almost bemused way. I remember when he used to look at me like that—when I was just James’ little sister to him. Before he and I were anything. “Your family will be safe, Kat, with my men. Don’t worry about that.”

But I will. I am. I couldn’t stop even if I tried. “When can I see them? Tomorrow? First thing?”

He eyes me, then moves back toward the whiskey, pouring each of us a glass this time. My legs are too shaky to take me over to him, but I don’t have to. Watching me, head tilted in that curious, contemplative way, Aleks crosses the room toward me. Slow and measured, like I’m a scared animal he might spook. I guess, given the situation, that’s not so far off from reality, is it?

“I’d prefer you stay away longer,” he says softly, upon reaching me. He’s inches from me, so close now I can smell the rain on his clothes, the soap in his damp, curling hair. “But I have a feeling you’re not going to stand for that.”

“No. I’m not.” It takes every ounce of control to keep the tremor out of my voice. It’s not fear now, with him so close I can feel his warmth. Sense him. His body, his breath, his heartbeat.That night, he touched me like I was made of glass or velvet. He ran his tongue over every inch of me. He made me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of; made my body combust in ways I didn’t know were possible.“Aleks…what is the plan?”

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