Page 36 of The Bratva’s Stalked Pregnant Bride

“I’d give half my fortune for them to play a slow song,” I said, the next time I swung her close.

“Just half?” she asked, slowing down despite everyone jumping and gyrating around us.

Her fingers locked around my neck, and we swayed, locked in each other’s gazes. Who the hell cared what anyone thought?

Luk bumped into us, grinning at how foolish we were being and how little either of us cared. “Can I cut in?”

“Nope,” I said, turning my back on him.

“What about kiss the bride?” he asked.

“Fuck all the way off, Luk,” I said, making Laurel burst out laughing.

“Fine, hog the happiness,” he grumbled, forgetting all about us when a busty redhead draped herself over him and dragged him to the middle of the dance floor. Sofiya popped up and waved at us, quickly disappearing in the crush of people again.

“Looks like they’re buying it,” Laurel said.

I frowned and pulled her closer, giving her a searing kiss. I was glad everyone thought our marriage was real, just not thrilled that Laurel didn’t forget it wasn’t. Maybe she wasn’t convinced this was real yet, but she would be soon enough.

Chapter 21 - Laurel

Meeting so many of Mik’s relatives at once made me dizzy, and he was right. I couldn’t remember half their names, but they were all warm and welcoming, even his father. I noticed Konstantin Fokin giving me an odd, perusing look right before the spectacle with the cake, and took into account what Mik said about him putting on a show for the rest of his family.

It didn’t make much difference if he approved of me or not, since Mik was just buying time to get out from under an arranged marriage, but I couldn’t help but hope he might approve of me. Thankfully, he and his wife, Tati, left before we started dancing, so I could have some fun without any judgmental eyes on me. Mik and I were always at our best on the dance floor.

I came within a hair of losing my resolve when we got home that night, and with Mik’s arm slung over my shoulder as we stumbled up the stairs, it would have been easy to turn into his room instead of passing on to my own.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he grumbled, pulling out his phone. His relaxed face tensed, and he shook his head. “I’ve got to go.”

“Oh no, what happened?” Everyone had drivers after how much we imbibed, but I still hoped it wasn’t a car accident.

He paused a moment, tensing up, looking disappointed and pissed off at the same time. “Not one of them. It’s…”

He kissed me quickly and left, and I was too close to being drunk to think too much about it. Was I relieved he was rushing out again? After the fun family dinner, I was close to giving in to Mik’s charms again, but of course, that would be a bad idea.

This wasn’t real, even if we did have so much fun together, and his family was one I would have loved to fit in with. I needed the job too much to risk another bad breakup, and what about these late-night outings he didn’t feel the need to tell me anything about? If I were really his girlfriend, or yikes, his wife, hell yeah, I’d need to know. As of now, it was none of my business.

The next morning, he was waiting for me in the kitchen, as if he hadn’t been out partying and then off on some mysterious emergency. He handed me a cup of coffee and said if I wanted to ride in with him, I better hustle.

And once again, he was too engrossed in his phone to pay me any attention, and the sinking feeling in my gut didn’t let me ask a single question. At the restaurant, he pulled the rug out from under me by calling in everyone who was there and announcing we were married.

“Oh my God, I knew it!” shrieked Chase, high-fiving the sous chef.

Todd grumbled, and I figured he and Chase had a bet running on us, and Todd admitted he had to do the morning coffee runs for a month. “You couldn’t keep hating him?” he teased, giving me a congratulatory hug.

“It was all the bickering that tipped me off,” Chase said, pumping our boss’s hand. “Nobody actually looks for reasons to fight unless there’s something else going on.”

“I never looked for a reason to fight with Laurel,” Mik said.

“Well, now you don’t have to, do you?”

We planned to get everyone together for lunch later in the week, and then everything went back to normal. A month went by in a flurry of work, missed deliveries, construction noise, paint smells, and mostly excitement.

The countdown had started to the grand opening, and I wasn’t sure everything would be finished in time. How could it ever be complete when Mik kept changing things? The bathrooms alone had the unflappable builders tearing their hair out on their breaks out back, but by the time the final configuration was figured out, it was easy to see the lounges were going to look like miniature palaces.

The menu was perfected, and then discarded. Andre walked out and came back. Todd had to take a break to visit his sick mother in Toledo, and some wires got crossed, making Mik believe he just hadn’t shown up. The volcano that erupted was a sight to behold until he learned the reason, and it was snuffed out instantly.

“Well, why didn’t anyone tell me?” he asked, abashed. “I hope she’s feeling better.”