Page 63 of Creed

It was me that had him pulling me closer and getting lost in my touch.

We were both lost in the moment and hanging by a thread, but then, reality set in, and I remembered where I was and who was just in the next room.

A pang of guilt cut through the haze, and even though I didn’t want the moment to end, I pressed my hands to his chest and broke the kiss. I leaned my forehead against his and muttered, “The kids.”

“Damn. I wasn’t thinking.”

Neither was I.

“It’s fine. I’ll see you later.”

He nodded, then opened the door and left me standing there in a haze.

Even after he was long gone, I could still feel the warmth of his mouth on mine. It was a steady reminder that no matter how hard I tried, this thing between us wasn’t going away.

15

CREED

“How long?”

The tension in Sergei’s voice had me stopping in my tracks. I wasn’t exactly eavesdropping. I’d been in his office shooting the shit when his phone rang. He held up his hand and signaled for me to wait as he took the call. The air seemed to thicken around me as he shouted, “And you’re just telling me now?! What the fuck?”

His voice boomed as he roared, “It’s your fucking job to know! Get on this and find out everything you can. I want everything there is to know within the hour!”

He ended the call and slammed it down on his desk so hard that I was surprised it didn’t shatter. I waited a beat, giving Sergei a moment to collect himself before I said anything. And it looked like he could use it. His jaw was clenched, and he was holding onto the edge of his desk like it was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and controlled, even though I felt anything but.

“We got trouble.”

“Figured that much. What’s going on?”

I wasn’t exactly surprised. It had been weeks, almost two full months, since the two douchebags tried to take the girl at the Vault. Since then, there hasn’t been much of anything. Just the typical nonsense. A drunken brawl here and there and a greedy asshole or two looking for an easy win.

This kind of quiet wasn’t the norm for us, so I knew it was only a matter of time before something came up. I just didn’t think it would be such a hit to the balls. Sergei grimaced as he told me, “Members of the family have been inquiring about the casino.”

“By family, you mean your mafia buddies.”

“The one and only.”

“What the fuck do they want?”

“They’re trying to figure out if they can use what we have going here as an asset for themselves.”

“Damn.”

“Exactly.” He raked a hand through his hair. “We stepped away from all that shit when my father died, you know that. We wanted no part of it, and I thought we’d secured our separation when we proved our uncle was skimming from the top.”

“I’m aware.”

“We thought that was it done.” His expression was a mix of regret and exhaustion, and I felt for him when he mumbled, “What the hell were we thinking?”

I let out a slow breath and let it all sink in. There were no certainties when it came to the Russian mafia. We all knew that. We all knew there was always a chance this shit would come back around. The Bratva didn’t just forget, even if you give them a traitor on a silver platter. “You were thinking you could do something big here, and you have.”

“Only for them to come in and fuck it all up.”

“What do you think they’re gonna do?”