Prince of the Brotherhood: A Mafia Romance

by K. Alex Walker

“Dom.”

  “Hmm?” He dragged his tongue along her neck. “What’s wrong?”

  “Five minutes.”

  “Bring everything. All your stuff.”

  He plucked.

  She hissed, fingers sinking into his shirt, and gave in.“Okay. All my stuff.”

  He released her.

  This time, when he dragged her back, she whined.

  “Dom, come on.”

  “What was that?” he asked. “That noise you made just now.”

  “Shut it.”

  He mimicked it, a high-pitched sort of squeal-snort. “Dom…”

  “Stop it or I won’t come back,” she threatened.

  “Like I won’t just come get you…Eija.”

  He reached for her, but she ducked out of his grasp and hurried to the elevator.

  “It’s cute,” he called after her. “It’s like a flirty, congested pig.”

  Eija unlocked her hotel room door and entered, tingling all over. She’d told Dom five minutes, but if she could get everything chucked into her luggage in under three, she’d sprint the remaining two minutes to get back to him.

  She grabbed her suitcase, raised it toward the bed, and subsequently screamed, nearly dropping it on her toes.

  “Leah?”

  Leah Strinati, of all people, pulled the bedspread up to cover her naked breasts. “Oh. Hi, Miss K.”

  “Look,” Eija squeezed her forehead, “I’m flattered. Really, I am. But I fulfilled all my curiosities by my junior year of college and verified my appetite for dick, even though it’s useless seventy-five percent of time.”

  At least.

  “Oh!” Leah’s face turned beet red. “No, I…I thought this was Dom’s room. Yuri had me fly out last night. Or, I guess you’d say, fly in.”

  “Why would you think this is Dom’s room?”

  “I saw him come in here late last night, and I didn’t see him leave.”

  “And you thought you’d,” Eija motioned to the outline of Leah’s body, “surprise him?”

  “Yes. With sex.”

  Jesus, be a fence.

  “Leah, how old are you?”

  “Twenty-seven.”

  It was seven years older than she would have guessed.

  “Why was Dominik here so late last night?” Leah pressed. “Is…is he choosing you?”

  Eija moved about the suite, gathering everything she’d unpacked since they’d arrived in London. Leah could have the room. Even if it hadn’t been the last day of the trip, there was no way she’d sleep in the same bed where another woman had likely gotten wet thinking about the man she…

  Crap.

  Crap, crap, crap.

  “I’m not in the running,” Eija answered. “I won’t be Dominik’s wife.”

  “Why not? Because you work for the Sokolovs?”

  “No.”

  “Because you’re Black? That’s stupid.”

  “I’m actually still not sure. I guess it’s because my family doesn’t come from,” she motioned to Leah, “lineage like yours. Old money or whatever.”

  Leah snorted. “You’re a knockout, you’re smart, and he likes you. He doesn’t look at me, or anyone else, how he looks at you.”

  “Really?” Eija zipped up the suitcase and draped the tote over her shoulder. “How does he look at me?”

  “It’s not really a way. It’s a frequency. He’s pretty much always looking at you.”

  Which was why she would have to cut this conversation short and hurry back to him.

  “Look, Leah…” Eija tapped the mattress and Lyu came sprinting from under the covers. “What the…why is the cat under there with you?”

  Leah fumbled for a response.

  “Know what? Never mind. Not my business.” Eija headed for the door. “Keep the room. It’s yours. And, good luck. Something tells me you’ll be Mrs. Dominik Sokolov by the end of the dostavka.”

  “I was keeping her warm!” Leah yelled, but Eija shut the door and fast-tracked it to the elevator.

  Dom took Eija’s bags and held the door open for her to enter his suite. “That was longer than five minutes.”

  “I had a…situation.”

  “Yuri?”

  “No. Leah.”

  “Leah Strinati?”

  “Yeah. She was naked in my room.”

  His gaze covered her from head to toe, mind already in director mode.

  “We didn’t do anything,” Eija clarified. “She thought it was your room. She wanted to surprise you, and I quote, ‘with sex.’ And, get this. That’s not the craziest part.”

  “There was a plot twist, and she really was there for you?” he asked, setting down the bags.

  “No, horny. Lyu was under the covers with her.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Visiting her cousin? I don’t know.”

  He raised an eyebrow, and when realization of what she meant dawned on him, he laughed. Hard. He laughed so hard, it made her laugh. Even when she tried to get him to stop laughing, he simply kept laughing.

  “I’m kidding, obviously,” she added.

  He cupped her face and found it extra warm. “Yeah, but that was even better than the sandwich maker.”

  She grinned. “I’m in a good mood.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He backed her toward the bed. “Why’s that? Did you find that rich guy to wine and dine you?”

  “Sure did.”

  She fell back onto the mattress.

  “Back in Grenada,” he began, climbing over her, “not long after the first time we went out, I told myself that if we’d had more time, we would have meant more to each other. What do you think?”

  “I think you were right.” She stroked the back of his neck. “You mean a lot to me.”

  “I feel the same way about you. So, what do we do?”

  “Enjoy the time we have together.”

  “What if I don’t want to do that?”

  “How about this?” She settled her gaze on him, and fuck, she was beautiful. He loved everything about her, from her shimmering complexion to that dimple next to her chin to the mole on her calf that was such a perfect circle, it looked like a dot from a Sharpie. “I’ll be your mistress.”

  He snorted. “Whatever.”

  “You don’t think I’d make a good one?”

  He supposed what he was proposing was a lot. It wasn’t like he was the average man asking her to be his girlfriend. Everywhere they went, she would have a target on her back, and he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing he’d drawn her into that.

  “Eija, women like you aren’t mistresses.” He kissed her neck. “Women who look like you, smell like you, sound like you, whose skin radiates like yours…you aren’t mistresses.” His lips grazed her shoulder. “You’re wives. Queens. Conquerors.” He nipped the tops of her breasts. “If you’re going to be in my life, it won’t be behind a curtain or creeping with me in the shadows. It’ll be right next to me for the world to see.”

  When she didn’t respond, he looked up.

  “I want more, Eija. But,” he added, when she started to protest, “I get it. It would be…complicated.”

  Even more complicated than she knew.

  “Too much is wrong,” she said. “Too much has happened. There’s so much I haven’t…”

  “Told me?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me now.”

  “I can’t. It’s too late. I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how you’d react. How you’d feel.”

  “Eija, what is it? Tell me.”

  Her palm warmed the side of his face, and he leaned into it.

  “Dom, I’m falling for you…”

  She’d said it.

  He couldn’t believe she’d said it.

  Eija the flirt, and Eija the woman who would have taken Mr. Blond home if he hadn’t shown up, and then he would have had to have Mr. Blond assassinated.

  “…but I wish we’d never met.”

  It stung. He
understood what she meant, but it still stung.

  Between kisses, they undressed each other in the moonlight.

  Head buried between her legs, he devoured her until she came, twice, then spread them and entered her slowly. As he pushed his hips into hers, her ankles locked at the base of his spine, he kissed her like it would be the last time the universe allowed him a taste of Eija.

  She turned over, and he entered from behind, tongue tracing the shell of her ear, teeth nipping at her earlobe.

  He moved inside her until she came, and he followed not long after, dick jerking and spilling, his lips grazing the back of her neck and the apex of her spine, over and over.

  When they were both spent, wrapped through and around each other, she took his hand and pressed her lips to the center of his palm.

  “I hope, one day, you’ll forgive me,” she whispered.

  He didn’t ask her what for.

  Chapter 21

  Twenty-four hours until Dostavka-Koronatsiya

  Dom hadn’t picked a wife. He hadn’t even thought about picking a wife. Some days, most days, he forgot about the whole thing. The only time he remembered was when Yuri brought it up. It was simple—he didn’t want one of them.

  He wanted her.

  But they’d made an agreement, and no matter how much he wanted her, for this to work, Eija would have to want him too.

  Yuri, Ekaterina, and Pavel all stood over him in Yuri’s office, watching and waiting for his answer.

  “Fine, I’ll marry Leah.”

  Yuri grinned, his face porcelain on the verge of cracking. Pavel remained expressionless. Ekaterina’s smirk was the closest she’d come to a smile out of fear of wrinkles and fine lines. They were all over the woman’s face, anyhow. She might as well have expressed herself over the years.

  “I’ll finalize the preparations.” Yuri headed for the door. Just before he exited, he looked back. “Now, my son, is she out of your system?”

  Dom snorted. Eija would never be out of his system. A small part of him hoped tomorrow went differently—for her to accept them trying to be together in some form. They were too good together. Chemistry like this only happened once, maybe twice in a person’s life. Eija was the right person at the wrong time, and when it was all said and done, no matter what, he believed she’d learn to trust him again after tomorrow.

  Yuri sighed, shook his head, and Pavel tailed him as the two men left, the door shutting behind them.

  “I thought you should know that tomorrow will be Miss K’s last day with us,” Ekaterina said, turning to Dom.

  He shot to his feet. “Why?”

  “Yuri’s reassigning her to another family within the brotherhood.”

  “Why?”

  She gave him a knowing look. “Dominik, sweetheart, your eyes follow her wherever she goes. Your heart then joins the pursuit. Personally, I don’t want to see her go. I like her quite a bit.”

  “I thought your decisions were your husband’s,” he said, harsher than intended.

  “In public,” she replied, matching his coarseness. “But you don’t get to be the wife of a man like Yuri Sokolov by lying down and turning over. It’s why I knew, before he said anything to me, that Miss K was the woman from Grenada.”

  So Yuri had orchestrated his reunion with Eija. He wanted to thank the man…while driving a knife through his chest.

  “He says it’s because having her around will make you more agreeable. That he always has the option of threatening her life.” Ekaterina smoothed her hand over his head. “Dominik, I’ve known you since you were a little boy. Since you were Yuri’s secret. In some ways, his shame. Regardless, you were a sweet boy, and it was hard not to show you extra attention knowing you carried my husband’s blood. I adore you. You know that. But, if it were up to me, I still wouldn’t pick Eija to be your bride.”

  He tugged his head away.

  “Son, as long as she’s around, you’ll never see straight,” Ekaterina added. “And, when you step into your role, you’ll need to look forward, over your shoulder, and behind. The person at your side must either be strong or dispensable. Think about someone hurting Leah, and then think about someone slitting Eija’s throat.”

  Leah didn’t deserve to be hurt for her association with him either, but just the thought of someone touching Eija…

  “You understand?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “Say your goodbyes tonight,” she said, headed for the door. “And make it count.”

  Colin paced the apartment’s front room, one hand in his hair. Leave it to him to pick the worst time to unravel. It was the night before the ceremony. There was nothing else to do. Nothing else they could do. The objective was to get Dominik alone, subdue him, and then INTERPOL would arrive to discreetly carry him out of the building through the back of the venue’s north exit. Colin had asked her, dozens of times, how she planned to get Dominik alone, and each time Eija had told him she’d figure something out.

  Little did he know…

  Eija steeled her nerves and readjusted herself on the sofa. “This is our best chance. We both know he’ll be there.”

  “Something doesn’t feel right.” He let his gaze fall to the rapid rise and fall of her stomach, the soothing rise and fall of her hand. “You’re scared too.”

  “Yes, but how many of these have I done scared? Completed while scared? I need this, Colin. This is mine. Dominik Sokolov…is mine.”

  In more ways than one.

  In more ways than five.

  Colin crouched in front of her. “Things are different now. Nana, she has no one else. You might think she wouldn’t know or understand if you,” he swallowed, “got hurt, but I beg to differ.”

  Eija let her head fall. “I know.”

  “Did Yuri threaten you? Are you required to be there? You’re hiding something from me, and we both know how terrible you are at that when it comes to me. Exhibit A.”

  He pointed to the spot Dom had found that first night at her apartment.

  The knife wound.

  “I won’t fuck this up. Not again. But, if something does happen to me—”

  “E, shut up.”

  The door behind them opened, and April entered with two paper grocery bags in her hands. She’d, shockingly, fit right into her faux domesticated role, and the way she and Colin looked at each other, Eija was certain he no longer slept on the sofa.

  “Eija, I went up to your place first, and there was a man outside the door,” April said. “He was on the phone. Spoke Russian. Tall, low cut, gray eyes. Fine as hell.”

  Colin’s brows lowered.

  “Did he ask you anything?” Eija asked. “Did he say what he wanted?”

  April set the bags on the countertop. “No, he seemed preoccupied.”

  “Could be related to the event tomorrow.”

  “Why’s he there, though?”

  “I don’t know, but I have to go. As usual,” Eija let her gaze fall, “I have to go.”

  She quickly finalized the details with Colin and hurried from the apartment. Seconds after the door closed behind her, she heard Dom’s voice.

  “Eija?”

  She rushed over, grabbed his hand, and pulled him in the opposite direction, toward the elevator bay.

  He glanced back. “Were you just coming out of that apartment?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why were you there? Do you know the couple who lives there?”

  The elevator doors opened, but he didn’t get on.

  “Eija, do you know them?”

  There was something in his voice, in his tone. Had he made April and Colin? Did she, after getting this far, just blow her cover?

  “Are you accusing me of something?” she asked, needing a moment to scramble for a plausible answer. One she could remember should she have to repeat it while being tortured.

  “No.” The doors slid together, but he stopped them with his arm. “Should I be?”

  “In case you haven’t notic
ed,” she flailed her arms in no particular direction, “when I’m not with you or Nikolai, I’m alone. I met the wife downstairs in the lobby not too long ago, and I’m hoping to make a friend. When you’re finally…married, I’d like to be able to get over you. What other way to do that than talk shit about you over wine and cheesy romance films?”

  He glanced back toward the apartment.

  “Why are you on this floor anyhow?” she interrogated. “Were you going through floors looking for me?”

  Their eyes met. “There was an issue. Since I live in the building, I volunteered to personally take care of it.”

  First, his mother not being Ekaterina and the fact that he lived in the building, which was how he was able to get to her apartment so quickly.

  “You know what? That makes sense. Plus, I’m just now realizing that I didn’t know where you lived.”

  After one more glance behind him, he stepped into the elevator. “I’ve never taken you to my place because of some shit that happened there,” he said. “But I want you there now. If this really is our last time together, I want it to be in my bed.”

  Dom she could dupe about the real reason he’d caught her leaving Colin and April’s. Colin would take one look at her and know this man was Dom, and that she’d known he was Dom all along.

  “Your father wants me at the ceremony tomorrow,” she told him. “I have to get myself together.”

  “I already hired a personal stylist and a make-up artist,” he said, and she felt herself get warm all over. “That natural hair stylist whose page you follow? Her plane’s touching down at Sheremetyevo within the hour.”

  “For who?” She touched her chest. “Me?”

  “Yes, you. Eija, whatever’s supposed to happen tomorrow, with me or whoever, in my eyes, you’ll still be mine. You’ll always be mine. I’ll be damned if you’re not going to be the most beautiful woman in the room.”

  The last word was barely out of his mouth before she pounced on him, his arms reflexively reaching out to catch her as she climbed his body. The elevator’s metal wall was cool against her back. Her tongue explored his mouth, and her teeth sank into his bottom lip.

  The pain stole a rough hiss from his throat, and he grabbed a fistful of her hair. One yank and her neck arched, bared for him to drag his tongue up the column of her throat.