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“Stop looking at me like that,” he says after a pause, his dark mood clear.
“It’s been a day,” I tell him, referring to how long I’ve been searching for the rats in our organization. Before our father died,he basically admitted that he and Nikolai planted people in the Sokolov Bratva. Meaning we don’t know who we can trust. I’ve got several programs running to look into people.
“I’ve started work, brother,” I go on, “but it might take a week. Maybe two. This is some serious digging.”
“Hmm. I better go say hello.”
I shouldn’t let myself stay here. It’s just going to drive me even crazier. I end up standing at the kitchen window. When Mila hears him coming, she looks over her shoulder in the most beautiful, come-here way. I squeeze the counter, wishing I was the one she was looking at like that.
She touches her skirt and does a bow-curtsey combo that seems awkward and rehearsed. Of course, it does. She doesn’t want to be with him, but that doesn’t mean she wants to be withme, does it?
They have a short conversation, maybe a minute or even a little less. My head starts heating up like there’s a bomb in there getting ready to blow. When Dimitri returns to the house, I walk into his path, focusing too hard on not clenching my fists or letting my emotions show.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“It’s fine,” he says shortly.
“That didn’t take very long.”
What am I doing, exactly? Do I want to force Dimitri to win her over? Do I want to condemn myself to a life of watching them together when I feel this strange longing for her?
“How long ishellosupposed to take?”
“You just left her out there.”
“Then show her where the bedroom is. You’re the underboss now, remember?”
I haven’t technically agreed to that, but Dimitri seems majorly pissed. I don’t bother mentioning she already knows where her bedroom is. Seeing him like this is rare, but he was on the phone when our father ended it. It’s not like he’s just going to be okay, magically. When Dimitri tries to storm away, I walk right into his path. I’m the only person alive who would dream of confronting Dimitri Sokolov like this.
“Look, it’s okay to mourn him. I know he had his problems, but it’s okay.”
“You think this is aboutour father?”
Dimitri tries to bump me out of the way with his shoulder, but he’s forgetting I’m big and strong, too. I don’t budge.
“What is it, then?” I ask. “Something’s different with you.
“Can you blame me?”
His tone gets even lower, containing even more confusion and sadness. This time, when he tries to leave, I let him.
There’s no point keeping him here to beg him to be nicer to her. A cynical smirk touches my lips. The two ideas that pop into my head almost have me laughing like a loon. The first is the idea that I could want somebody this badly this quickly. The second is that I’d try to persuade my brother to take this woman from me when I crave her like nothing else.
Mila remains outside, her back still turned. I watch her as my pulse stutters in my neck. It’s like an animal trying to get free.There’s suddenly all this life in me, hunger and passion that never existed before. She’s even got me wondering that if I’m passionate about programming, that’s nothing compared to this new feeling.
My gaze moves to her legs. Her calves look like they were sculpted for the sole purpose of driving me crazy. She’s thick and beautiful and so sexy. I want to touch her and run my hands slowly over her body.
She turns and catches me staring. As she walks toward the house, she looks somehow determined. When she steps inside, she gives me a look, opens her mouth, says nothing, and walks away. I spend the next several minutes making a coffee and trying to decode the look she gave me: hard, angry eyes, soft, pursed lips, her cheeks a glowing red. I wonder if I’m nuts for letting myself believe there was desire hiding in there somewhere.
CHAPTER 3
MILA
This bedroom already has one up on my bedroom at home; there’s a lock on the door. I turn it and go into the en suite, taking off my silly outfit and jumping into the waterfall shower. I only changed into the skirt because I knew I had no choice. As I put it on, part of me wondered if Mikhail would find me more or less attractive. The meeting with Dimitri wasawk-waaaaaaard. We barely even said hello. I don’t know how I’m supposed to marry him.
In the shower, I try not to think about Mikhail. I’m a ones-and-zeroes girl. Many of my favorite books contain androids and robot people who can turn themselves on and off and experience any emotion they want. They havecompletecontrol, but I don’t.
Ones and zeroes seem meaningless as the water drips down over my body, clinging to my nipples, teasing my sex, tickling my clit. Closing my eyes, I let the water wash over me, imagining turning around to find Mikhail standing there. I never expected to feel anything for my future husband, let alone his brother! From the moment I met Mikhail, I felt something I never in a million years expected to feel: desire and longing. My breath hitches asI imagine him walking into the shower, not even caring that he’s wearing clothes. He’s so obsessed he can’t stop himself.
