Page 21 of Forced Mafia Bride
“If it isn’t the notorious Nikolai Yezhov himself.” Tristan’s extended hand reminded me that he was present. I took his wrinkly hand in a firm shake and let go. “I heard about Onyx’sopening but never expected to see you here in person. I see you came here to unwind then.”
His eyes lingered on Katherine. “This is Katherine Davis, a friend and business partner.”
It might have been a figment of my imagination, but the princess visibly relaxed after I introduced my companion.
“Business partner, huh?” He cackled. “It must mean something if she is working with you.”
Every man in our circle of business understood the dynamics of operations and the importance of confidentiality. Our world had proven over time not to be a woman’s world, but only a few, like Katherine, proved themselves to be smarter than average.
I stole another chance to eye the princess dangling on his arm. “And I see you came here unwind as well.”
She offered a shy smile, and I blocked a smirk, returning my attention to Tristan, who was too eager to introduce her to us. “This is Rosalyn Gallagher. My fiancée. I would have extended an invite to the wedding, but the whole world knows the enmity existing between the Bratva and the Irish. I don’t want bloodshed on that special day.”
I smiled brighter than I’d done all night. We weren’t friends, Tristan and I, so even if the Bratva and Irish were allies, he would not hesitate to fish out another reason why he withheld an invitation to his wedding. His excuses were subtle strategies to keep me at arm’s length.
“I heard the rumors,” I gestured to her. “She is a beauty. Too bad, it seems the Gallagher family sells more than just stocks now.”
Her head snapped up to mine, and I caught the unmistakable glow of hurt and anger. I blinked, mirroring a triumphant grin as I dragged my eyes back to her husband-to-be, watching as he laughed more pathetically. He coughed,dragged her closer, and groped her ass. Her eyes widened, and she shifted uncomfortably, but he groped her harder, snuggling his face into her neck.
“Oh, I paid a hefty price for this one. Gallaghers don’t come cheap.”
A string tightened around my neck, and my chest squeezed and puffed like hot air in a balloon. My smile faltered, and my first instinct was to slice off one of his fingers for touching her, but then I began to imagine the look of horror on his face if he found out that I’d molded that soft ass, felt her bare skin, and breached the entrance between her legs before him.
Maybe he would finally die from a heart attack.
Rosalyn whispered a quick excuse to the bathroom, and with her eyes lowered and purse clutched to her side like life support, she scampered away before he could say no. My eyes trailed her as her silver heels clicked and her hips moved with precision, and with every step farther she took away from me, I felt disconnected from reality.
“Katherine?”
She smiled up at me. “Yeah.”
“Take Mr. Gomez here to one of the finest reservations there at the lounge.”
“But....”
I didn’t wait long enough to entertain her protests. My own feet needed to move.
****
She stood by the sink, her manicured fingers under the rushing faucet. When I locked the door behind me, she looked up, meeting my eyes with a disinterested look on her face. She didn’t move or utter a word. She just stood there, washing her hands like the clock moved to please her. The golden ceiling lights blessed her skin with a celestial glow, and the rich red on her hair enhanced her enchantment.
Because that was the only possible explanation as to why our sudden connection felt like a magnet pull.
In that short span of time, I realized that I liked watching her. I liked seeing the volume of hair pour down her shoulders when she moved forward and how she took extra time to arrange the unruly strands when she straightened up. I liked watching her retouch her makeup. It seemed more meaningful than when Katherine did it. And when she was done, she smacked her lips, cat-walked away from the skin, and stopped by the hand dryer on the wall.
“You really enjoyed humiliating me, didn’t you?”
Her voice bounced off the walls, sounding guarded yet filled with unexpressed emotion. The hand dryer hummed loudly and clicked off, but she didn’t move away from the wall.
“Well, if I am going to kidnap you, we can’t act like best friends. I can’t have anyone suspecting me. So, it’s better to act like I don’t see you.”
“Even if you do.”
Heated blood rushed from my veins to my groin. I saw her. I saw every inch—I wantedevery inch of her. Without thinking, I closed the distance, keeping her locked in between the wall and me, and when my palm touched her hip, the rest of me came alive like a ferocious inferno aiming to lick and devour every obstacle on its path.
She felt it, too. The way she pressed into me, eyed my lips, and exhaled ragged breaths told me just how much she wanted me, and I remembered the old man’s hand on her; the mix of anger to this budding infatuation set off combustion.
“You let him touch you too easily, princess. You need to learn how to reject intimacy when you don’t want it.”