Bratva Boss

by Flora Ferrari

I gritted my teeth, fists clenched, breathing through the urge to grab her by the waist and force her to come with me. This wasn't something we were going to agree on and all the brute force in the world wasn't going to help me out.

  "Come, I will walk you home. It has been a long day for both of us. Perhaps tomorrow we can try again."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Mia

  After we left the theater, Valentin took me back to our building just like he'd said he would, but this time there was no question of me coming inside his apartment. All day I'd been thinking about having dinner with him, but after the weird interaction with his boss, I didn't know what to make of anything.

  All I wanted was to slip into my apartment, maybe have a bath, wash the day off and try not to overthink the way Valentin had reacted in the green room. It reminded me all too strongly of Maria's warnings.

  Seeing Yakov with me at the theater had really spooked him, and that spooked me too. Maybe Maria was right - I should just focus on my dancing and try to forget him. There was obviously some very serious stuff going on between him and his boss, and getting tangled up in it all sounded like the worst idea in the world.

  Like it or not, now there was a strange energy between us. I hated that he called me naive, even if it was possibly the truth. And I hated that he didn't kiss me until he'd walked me fully inside and made sure the door was bolted and all the curtains were drawn across. I just wanted things to be normal and easy between us, but I was starting to see that that was never going to happen.

  "Tomorrow. We will have dinner," Valentin reiterated, and I nodded my head slowly.

  "Sure. I guess I'll see you then."

  "Mia… don't be mad with me. All I want to do is keep you safe."

  I let out a frustrated breath, walking him back towards my front door. "I'm not mad with you. How could I be, Valentin? You're this perfect gentleman and I - I just - don't like that you think you have to do that."

  "Do what?"

  "Stop your boss from hurting me."

  Valentin's jaw clenched and he looked down at the floor, hand braced on the door frame for a long solid moment before he looked up at me again. "Tomorrow. I will make you see that all of this is worth it for us to be together. I promise you."

  I hardly slept for churning over every version of the future with and without Valentin at my side. All I'd ever really wanted was to be a dancer, but what if my life on the stage made me too much of a target? Could I give it all up for him?

  Just the thought of that made me feel clammy and trapped. I'd worked so hard to get to where I was, and I didn't want to have to give it all up for him. But he thought his boss was threatening me, and no matter whether I agreed with him or not, it had been so, so easy for him to walk right into the theater and talk to me.

  If he'd had anything worse in mind, I was certain we would both know about it by now, but Valentin seemed convinced that the man was taunting him.

  I woke up with more questions then I'd gone to sleep with and bags under my eyes so heavy that I was going to have to go through double the usual amount of concealer to cover them up on stage.

  After a hard day I was only going to look worse, which made me glad that it was Wednesday and that the performance was a matinee. I'd have time to get home and maybe take a nap, freshen up and figure out what I was going to wear to go over to Valentin's in the evening.

  After all, despite everything, I still wanted to impress him. And I still wanted this date. He'd said he would do whatever he could to stop me from getting hurt, so maybe I just had to understand a little more about what that meant and what he really did for a living.

  Eva banging on the bathroom door startled me out of my daze, and I snapped myself out of it, toweling my face dry and pulling back the bolt.

  "Sorry. Sorry. Bathroom's all yours."

  Valentin

  We missed each other in the studio in the morning. I was there, with my hands wrapped, slogging away at the speed ball to exorcise some of my frustrations that I'd hoped to bury into Mia's body the night before. But she didn't show up.

  All day I'd thought she might change her mind about everything, and meetings meant I couldn't go to the theater in the evening to watch the performance just to see her. Viktor had to go in my place, and he promised me that he would guard her like she was part of his family.

  As much in return for his diligence as to give us privacy, I'd given him the evening off and paid for a hotel for him to stay in. But as the time I was expecting her to arrive came closer, I began to regret it. If she didn't show, I had a long night of drinking alone ahead of me.

  Maybe that was for the best. Being commiserated by a man who already had the woman of his dreams sounded like something that would make me want to put a fist through the wall.

  I'd almost talked myself into the fact that she wasn't coming when right on time, there came a knock on the door. Trying not to rush too much, and failing, I pulled it open without even glancing through the peephole.

  And there was Mia.

  I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding onto, taking in the sight of her out of sports gear for once.

  She had on a bright white shirt dress, cinched at the waist with a broad brown woven belt and little matching ballet pumps on her feet. I could just make out the outline of her panties through the cotton, and I could see enough to tell that she wasn't wearing a bra.

  Her pert breasts stood proud without support, and just the barest shadow of her nipples and darkened areolas showed through the fabric. It was the buttons that went all the way down the front tempting my fingers to slip between them and undo them one by one that I was focused on. My cock surged harder in my pants, throbbing needily at the thought of cupping her breasts in my hands again and feeling the small, perfect weight of them.

  For once her hair was down around her shoulders and I wanted to run my hands through it and breathe the scent of her in.

  "God, you're beautiful."

  Mia flushed, looking to the ground and then up to me again with a smile she couldn't contain. "Thank you."

  All at once I realized I was standing there staring at her, and I snapped myself out of it, stepping back to make space for her in the inner hall. "Come in. Please. My home is your home."

  She peered inside my apartment with undisguised curiosity. It was a good thing that she was on time. It had taken every ounce of self control that I possessed not to go down to the theatre to walk her home the way that I wanted to, but after the words we'd swapped the night before I didn't think that was wise.

  She said that she wanted a normal life. Well, the truth was, that was a life away from me. But I wasn't going to let that happen. All the same, I could tell that if I wanted her for the long haul, I'd have to try not to force her to accept a life that frightened her. The only way was to make her see she would never have to be afraid.

  "Oh," she said when she walked in along the inner hall and through to the living room, turning on the spot to look around so she could take in the full view of the apartment. "I thought it would be bigger."

  I let out a laugh. "Why? It is only me living here." I had no desire to rattle around in a cavernous house. My meetings were mainly conducted at the office, or online via video conference. I had no need for acres of extra space.

  I liked the open plan living room kitchen, with the full height windows looking out across to the theater, and I liked that my bedroom was large enough to prowl around. I hadn't skimped on the size of the bathroom or the closet space. I had a safe built in. These were all practical things to suit my lifestyle.

  But it was the integrated sound system in every room that I was most proud of.

  "Yes, but… you're like some kind of mafia kingpin, aren't you?"

  I let out a dry grunt and walked over to the kitchen, pulling open the fridge door.

  "Would you like a drink? I have a bottle of Bollinger waiting to be opened."

  Mia bit her lip. "Uh - what's the occasion?"

&nb
sp; "You being here."

  She flushed again, and I saw her chew her bottom lip a little. "Well, I guess that's a pretty good reason to celebrate."

  "I think so. You could have broken my heart by not showing up. I think it is definitely worth toasting our first dinner together."

  One of the sound system remote controls was on the counter top, and I tapped on the last thing that I had been playing, filling the space with the rich warmth of a full orchestra.

  Mia frowned as she tilted her head, listening to the first few bars as they came through with perfectly balanced bass. Her smile came through slowly, looking at me with renewed interest. "This is Prokofiev."

  I tipped a slow nod in her direction. "Yes."

  "Romeo and Juliet."

  "Very good. You do know your ballet."

  To the soundtrack of the Balcony Scene pas de deux, I popped the cork on the bottle, suppressing the fizz as I poured two glasses. That was the only thing that I planned on suppressing this evening.

  Mia took hers in a graceful hand and I saluted her with a raise of my glass.

  "To your successes on the stage."

  She blushed and I wanted to kiss the color from her cheeks.

  "And to your successes," she said softly. "I hear that Moscow will be under your control very soon."

  Where that had come from, I didn't know, but there was a note in her voice that I thought it wise to be wary of. She didn't exactly sound taken with the idea.

  "Not Moscow. Just… my organization."

  Mia's eyes leveled on mine and she refused to look away. "The Bratva."

  "Yes."

  She pressed her lips in on each other, drawing a breath in through her nose and I could see she was doing her best to school her reaction. Perhaps I should have lied to her, but I didn't want to do that. When she accepted me as hers, it would be with her eyes open, or not at all. I knew that we were meant to be together and I was confident that she knew it too. What I did for a living shouldn't get in the way of that.

  "Yakov is retiring?"

  I ducked back into the fridge for a pot of caviar and took out a couple of small spoons in mother of pearl.

  "One way or another, yes. It's time for him to step down. You have more questions?"

  "Yes. No - I mean, I don't know."

  I opened the caviar and scooped a generous helping into a matching shallow bowl and put everything onto a small tray so that I could carry it over to the sofa that Mia had gravitated towards.

  "Lean back," I encouraged. "You look like a goddess. I should pay somebody to stand right there and feed you grapes all day long."

  Mia blushed. "If anyone's feeding me grapes, I'd rather it was you."

  "Good. Me too." I sat down next to her and took a spoonful of caviar. "Try this, and then you can ask whatever you like. I want to tell you everything."

  She wet her lips and I couldn't tell whether the dart of her tongue was just to tease me, or whether she was really as guileless and innocent as that. "I don't know if I like caviar."

  "This is Beluga. It is the finest in all of Russia. If you do not like this, then you will know you do not like caviar and I will throw the rest of it out for the alley cats. But I think that you will."

  She gave me a little roll of her eyes, and I laughed. Taking her hand in mine, I drew it towards me and smeared a little run of the black sea-fresh eggs along the skin between her thumb and first finger.

  "It tastes best straight from the skin."

  Mia's jaw hinged open, but I didn't wait to see whether she was going to protest before I ducked my head down and sucked and licked the little trail I'd made clean off her. She let out a soft little murmur, and I knew that whatever else she thought she knew about me, the way she reacted to me was still certain.

  I met her eyes and she slowly drew her hand back in, ducking her head and clearing her throat. "My turn."

  I handed her the caviar spoon and she took a little bit from the dish. She took my hand delicately in her own and turned my palm over, smearing the little line of black across the pulse point at my wrist, where my skin was thinnest and I felt my cock stir at her ingenuity. Trust Mia not to copy me directly.

  Her eyes darted to mine as she drew my wrist up and the flat of her tongue lathed a teasing path across my skin, making my cock harden instantly. I had to find a way to convince her that being with me was what she wanted above all else. There was no way that I could walk away from her now, I was in too deep and I had been since the first time I met her.

  Mia let out another soft groan that matched the heat of the one that I was barely holding back, and she licked her lips as she sat up again, catching the last of the taste of the sea.

  "Do you like it?"

  Her smile surfaced and she nodded softly. "I think you're right about it tasting better straight from skin."

  My eyes roved down to her neckline, where the promising swell of her breasts gave me ideas of so many other places we could test that theory. "It's a very sensual experience. Just like the bubbles of the champagne bursting on your tongue. There is so much for you to experience, Mia. So much I want us to do together. I don't want anything or anyone to get in the way of that."

  Mia nodded again. "I understand that, now."

  All I wanted was to push her back against the cushions of the couch and straddle her slim body, slide beneath her parted legs and find my place between her thighs. But there was so much still hanging in the air between us. So much that I couldn't afford to ignore.

  "Tell me, about the Bratva," she started, her voice just as soft and lusty as her eyes on me. I wanted to kiss her swollen lips and bathe her with my tongue. She toyed with the caviar spoon between her fingers and I picked up its twin.

  "What do you want to know?" I smoothed a line of clustered black dots across her collarbone, ducking my head to nibble and kiss each exquisite taste clean from her skin. The taste of her walls was the one I wanted more than this.

  Her chest heaved beneath my palm and I skirted my hand down along her ribcage, smoothing my thumb along the seam of her shirt dress, aware of her unrestrained breasts and the slim, musculature of her frame.

  "Have you - have you killed for them?"

  I met her eyes solidly, my lips staying in a solid, silent line. "I am, primarily, a businessman."

  "Primarily?" Her skin was flushed and she was breathless, practically arching under me for more. One way or the other, I was going to take it.

  "Fundamentally." So far, killing directly had not been necessary to make my point in day to day deals, but I was a made man, just like any other member of the Bratva. And I knew the time was coming close to when I would have to prove that I would do whatever it took.

  Mia was too clever for me to pull the wool over her eyes, and I wouldn't want to live a lie with her.

  She bit her lip, letting out a little groan that she didn't seem able to hold in any longer. "You've ordered men to be killed?"

  "Yes."

  "Bad men?"

  "They were not innocents." My hands mapped her body and she gasped as I pushed her dress down, closing my mouth over the hot peak of her nipples, one after the other. Each one was dusky and perfect, topping the petite swell of her rounded breasts, and she gasped as I palmed them in my hands.

  "What happens if you get caught?"

  "I won't get caught. Not here. We do the government too many favors. And everything financial is tied up very carefully by my money man in Miami. Once I have the Bratva secure, my job is just an office job. I promise you."

  I could see she was warring with herself, torn between what she thought she knew of good and bad and right and wrong, and what she was feeling right now. Everything about the world I lived in was grayscale and it was never a case of black and white, but that could be difficult to get used to.

  "Mia, I would never put you in danger."

  "I know," she whispered. "I know that. It would just be so much simpler if you were… just a guy I met in the studio who likes to box before
work."

  I gritted my teeth, hoping that this wasn't the start of her decision that she couldn't handle being a part of my world. "I am that guy."

  She looked at me and I could see the doubt in her eyes, the little bubble of fear that hadn't left her.

  "Don't tell me that I'm not." I stopped her lips with my own before she could say another word, pulling her in against me and her arms wrapped around my shoulders drawing me into another deep kiss. Her legs wrapped around my sides and I pulled her in hard against my straining cock with my hands clasping her ass to me as firmly as I could while she arched back sharply, groaning beneath me.

  "Oh, Valentin."

  Whatever else she felt, she had to know the charge between us was real. My body and her body were made for each other. No one else in the world could fit me the way she did.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Mia

  I couldn't help myself. One touch from Valentin and all my misgivings about who he was and what he did vanished beneath his lips and his clever, clever hands. I knew he'd answer any of my questions now, but that was all the reassurance I needed. He wasn't going to keep anything from me, and that was the important part.

  How could I have thought that anything would be too much of an obstacle to come between us? So many people had jobs that legitimately allowed them to do terrible things. At least I knew that deep down, Valentin was a good man.

  Maybe I was being distracted from the important things, because nothing felt as good as his hands did on my body, but I didn't care.

  He reminded me that, deep down, our only purpose on earth was to find a mate. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was supposed to be mine. Something primal grabbed me every time I got as close to him as this. The taste of his skin had me under his spell and when he breathed, I breathed; when he kissed, I kissed him back. I couldn't have done anything else if I'd wanted to. But stopping was the last thing I wanted.

  He had my dress undone in moments and I didn't have time to be embarrassed over my lack of bra, especially not when he was fondling my breasts with such adoration. I'd never been worshiped before, but that was exactly what Valentin was doing to me. And he was hardly alone in that.