Page 11 of Forced Bratva Hostage (Dubrov Bratva #15)

Whatever happened last night in the pool is still looping in my head.

I lay awake for hours thinking about her, trying to deny that she had any effect on me, but the truth is that I was forced to basically flee the scene to hide how fucking hard she made me.

And then I wasn’t able to sleep until I finally gave in and sorted myself out because the frustration was too much to handle.

All I wanted was to put her in her place. To try and put an end to these pranks. I planned to make her nervous or uncomfortable by being naked in the pool with her, but it went too far.

It backfired, and when I kissed her, my hand was drawn to her skin like a magnet. I had to know what she felt like. Her body is the ultimate perfection, and I couldn’t stop myself when I slipped my hand between her legs.

Even while I was doing it, I convinced myself that it was all part of my plan. But it wasn’t. And it felt so incredible that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Dammit.

Even now, sitting at my desk, my cock is going hard as images of her flash through my mind. The soft little moan she made almost pushed me right over the edge.

“Alright, if we order today, we’ll be in time to get the lower pricing,” a voice comes through my speaker.

Shit .

I wasn’t paying attention. What did he just say?

I turn back to the Zoom meeting playing out on my laptop. Four squares, each showing someone’s camera stream, are lighting up my screen. The people in each block are focused with serious expressions. None of them are as distracted as I am.

The new stock. Right. Yes. Ok. This is important.

“How much are you planning to order? We already have a full warehouse, and we need to move that out before we see profits,” I say, tapping my fingers on the desk, agitated and frustrated that I wasn’t fully attentive for such an important discussion.

Tatiana is disrupting my entire life in ways she doesn’t even understand. I’ve never been one to daydream and lose track of what’s going on around me.

Last night’s prank—it started off with me being annoyed that she was naked, but ended up with me kissing and touching her in the pool. That was never supposed to happen. Why the fuck did I get in there with her? I should have ignored it all and gone to bed.

If I hadn’t managed to get a grip on myself and stop, I would have taken her, right then and there, where any of my staff or security could have seen us.

Dammit. I’m thinking about it again.

I brush my hand over my cock, trying to adjust it to a more comfortable position as the semi pushes against my pants.

Focus, Andrei.

Stop getting lost in fantasies.

The meeting goes on, and now we’re arguing over whether or not we should order more product at the lower price or move what we have first.

Footsteps sound down the hallway leading to my home office, and I look up at the door, waiting to see who’s coming. It’s probably Maggie, coming to see if I’m ready for lunch.

To my surprise, Tatiana walks in, making a leisurely show of it. I watch her wander in, not saying anything.

“Was there something you needed? I’m in the middle of a meeting,” I say sternly.

“Mm. A meeting. You mean business . But where is your mistress? Shouldn’t she be here, too—if it’s nothing more than business, as you said?”

She brushes her fingertips over the edge of my desk as she walks around it.

I have a feeling she wore that dress on purpose.

It’s a little too short, very provocative.

Her long legs have my attention. The way the dress sits tight over her ass is making my cock stir even more.

I could bend her over this desk and that dress would just slip up with barely any encouragement.

She knocks a pile of papers to the floor.

“Oops.” She smiles sweetly. “How clumsy of me.”

In the Zoom meeting, everyone has gone silent. They are all staring expectantly at me, waiting to see what’s going on over on my side and whether or not they can carry on with the conversation.

“Tatiana, I’m busy right now,” I snap, annoyed by the intrusion, but loving the view.

She walks right around my desk, and to my amusement, she gets a fright when she sees the screen and realizes that I really am in the middle of a meeting.

“Oh,” she says, quickly stepping back. Her cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

I smirk. If she wants to toy with me, I can toy with her, too.

“Actually, while you’re here, perhaps you can help us with a problem we’re having.”

“Um. Sure,” she says, shifting from one foot to the other, looking cute and nervous at the same time.

I lean back in the office chair and fold my arms across my chest.

“We have an opportunity to order our usual stock at a lower price, meaning we could make more profit in the long run, even though we don’t need stock right now. We have a warehouse full already, and space is an issue. Should we take advantage of the discounted price, or leave it—“

Tatiana tilts her head to the side. She bites her lower lip and narrows her eyes.

For a moment, I think she’s going to blush brighter and leave without saying anything.

But that doesn’t happen.

She’s giving this proper thought, and now I’m curious to hear her answer.

I turn the laptop towards her, putting her on the spot even more as all four of the other people stare at her, expectantly.

Tatiana leans over the desk, towards the screen, talking to the people on the Zoom meeting.

“If you have a full warehouse, does that mean you would need to rent additional space to store the new, discounted product? If so, then the price per unit of the new product would go up, based on storage costs, and it might not save as much as you think it would. It might even be more expensive depending on how long you have to rent the additional space.”

There is a long moment of silence as they mull over her answer.

I’m completely shocked.

It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I thought she was going to be embarrassed and fumble over her words if she could manage to come up with any kind of answer at all.

Someone in the meeting is talking again.

“She’s right. We need to check how the storage costs are going to affect—"

“I’ll talk to you later,” I say, closing my laptop and putting an end to the meeting, because I’m flabbergasted by her ability to answer so efficiently.

Standing up, my eyes are locked onto her.

I have so many questions.

I didn’t know she was involved in her brother’s business. From what I could tell when I stalked her for my research and planning, she was kept completely away from all of that.

“What made you answer like that? Have you been working in your brother’s business?” I ask abruptly.

She grins and swings her body from side to side. Then, without answering, she turns her back on me and starts walking towards the door.

Hell no, she’s not walking away from me. I want to know.

I move quickly around the other side of the desk and block her off, stepping close to her, I force her back up against the wall.

She looks at me with innocence in her eyes but a sly smile on her lips. My pulse quickens.

“Did you need something, Andrei?” She asks sweetly, throwing my own words back at me.

“What business background do you have?” I ask again, setting my hand against the wall on the side of her head, making it clear that I’m not moving or letting her go until she answers.

“Why does it matter?”

“I want to know. That’s all that matters.”

“Why would I care about what you want?”

Her attitude is getting to me. I push closer, locking her against the wall, my face inches from hers.

I’m thinking about kissing her again.

I’m thinking about the pool and what it felt like to slip my fingers inside her.

Dammit .

With a deep breath, I close my eyes for a second. I can’t be making the same mistake twice. Her body already feels too good trapped beneath mine, and I desperately want to touch her again.

“I was impressed with your answer,” I confess, hoping that my compliment will defuse her sassy defensiveness and get her to tell me what I want to know.

She tilts her head to the side, examining my face, searching for any hint that I’m lying or taunting her. But I’m not, and I think she can see that. Still, I push more to try and reassure her.

“Seriously, it was a well-thought-out answer, and something my team hadn’t considered until you mentioned it. You must have some business experience.”

She huffs and shakes her head.

“I don’t.”

“Then what—"

I take a step away from her because being this close isn’t helping anything. She eases a little, her shoulders relaxing as she takes a deep breath, still leaning against the wall.

“I used to get bored at home and sneak into my brother’s office when he wasn’t around.

I spent a number of hours going through his documents and teaching myself about the business because he refused to teach me anything.

It was a way to stay busy and to understand what he did, because he always tried to keep it a secret. I don’t really like secrets.”

She shrugs, biting at the inside of her cheek.

I chuckle, imaging how furious Boris would have been if he had caught her snooping around like that.

“Did you and your brother get on?” I ask. “Were you guys close?”

She snorts loudly. “ Hardly . I don’t think Boris even knew I existed most of the time. He and I have never even had a decent conversation. From the moment I was born, I think I was just a pesky little annoyance in his life that he wished he could throw away.”

She spits the words as though she’s angry, or maybe it’s the hurt I see in her expression. Then she realizes how much she’s said and bites her lip, looking anywhere but at me. “I don’t care, though. It doesn’t matter,” she tries to brush it off.

“So, not much in terms of brotherly love,” I say quietly, watching her face.

“ Half -brother. He’s only my half-brother,” she says, as though it really matters to her. “Our father had a one-night stand or something after Boris’s mom passed away. That woman dumped me at his doorstep when I was a few weeks old.”

“And did you get on with your dad?” I ask, curious to know about her.

“My dad was amazing. He was good to me. But when he died, my life changed. And he died way too soon.” The pain in her voice is clear.

“I’m sorry,” I say, with genuine sympathy.

“Your brother is a hard man. He’s always been that way; it’s not just with you.

He’s like that with everyone. When I worked for him, he treated everyone like shit.

” I shake my head, remembering how much I hated it.

Why in the world did I stay with the Enzos for so long?

I should have left way before things got as bad as they did.

Way before I lost my best friend because of them.

When I look at her again, her eyes are wide as she stares at me in shock.

“You worked for my brother?” she stammers. Her mouth is hanging open and her brows are raised high.

Shit.

Fuck.

Did I really just do that? Giving away information about my past was not on my list of things to do today.

I’m not supposed to let her know anything about me, and now I’ve just blurted out shit about my history with her brother.

“Andrei—did you work for Boris? When? What happened?” she pushes.

My insides go cold.

“You need to get out. I have work to do,” I snap, grabbing her arm and pushing her towards the door.

“Andrei, what did he do—"

“Tatiana, I told you to get out.” I push her right through the door and quickly pull it shut behind her.

She stands on the other side of the glass door, fuming and glaring at me, but I turn my back on her and walk to my desk.

Dammit.

She managed to pull my guard down completely and get some very sensitive information out of me.

I need to be so much more vigilant when I’m around her. She’s dangerous.

She shouldn’t know anything, as my prisoner .

Why the fuck haven’t I kept her locked away where she can’t get in my way? I’ve been too soft on her.

I let out a sharp, angry breath and sit down at my desk, lifting my laptop open to try and distract myself with work.

I punch out an e-mail, hitting the keys too hard, taking out my frustration on the machine.

I want an update on how the meeting ended.

I should have chased her out of my office right away and carried on with work. Instead, I ended up letting her have all of my attention, and then I ended up letting her know things about me she shouldn’t.