Page 17 of Pregnant Bratva Hostage (Dubrov Bratva #17)

My brother walks away, and I’m relieved to finally be alone with her.

I don’t like what she has to do for this plan to work.

I don’t like watching them together. Even though my brother is a good man, and he wouldn’t take advantage of her, even if I wasn’t here keeping an eye on them, I don’t like it. Plain and simple.

I press her against the wall, fighting the jealousy raging inside me. I’ve had to endure two hours of watching my brother have his hands all over her. The way they were dancing together fuels intense anger in me. I want to be the one dancing with her.

She belongs to me, not him. It’s been grating on me the entire night, and what I really want to do is punch him for touching her at all.

But I know he’s doing what he has to do. This is all an act. Nothing real.

But he must be loving it.

Who wouldn’t want the chance to be all over such a perfect, beautiful creature?

I want to ask her if she’s enjoying his attention, but that’s childish; instead, I ask her if she’s doing okay. Because I am worried about that as well.

“I’m okay. I don’t like the idea of my uncle’s men watching me the whole time. It feels icky,” she sighs.

“I don’t like this whole situation. It’s—it’s not right. I can’t believe your uncle is fine with asking you to do this. He’s a fucking asshole.”

She shrugs, biting the inside of her cheek nervously. “I can’t wait to be away from him forever.”

“Soon, darling. You won’t have to deal with any of this,” I say, brushing my hand over her cheek.

She shouldn’t be used like this. And my brother doesn’t have the right to have his hands on her like that.

And soon, I have to watch them go back to the party and start pawing at each other all over again.

I clench my jaw in frustration.

She looks up at me and her eyes dart over my face, studying my expression.

Are you ok?” Her eyes narrow as she watches me.

“Fine,” I snap. “I just want this night to be over, though.”

I don’t know how much more of it I can handle. If my brother kisses her neck one more time, I might actually punch him for real.

It’s an act, Arkady. Calm the fuck down.

It doesn’t matter, though. He’s still touching her, pulling his moves on her. He’s doing a brilliant job too. The ultimate charmer. A perfect date. What if she’s enjoying it? What if she’s really attracted to him? The thought spikes anger in me.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks, reaching up to touch me, letting her fingers brush over my neck.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” I say, too abrupt.

Her lips slowly curl upwards into a beautiful smile, her eyes glittering with mischief. She tilts her head to the side.

“Are you jealous, Arkady Andreev?” she asks, with a hint of amusement in her voice.

I push my body harder against hers, trying not to smile because she’s worked it out. “Why would I be jealous? I’m the one who had you first,” I say, feeling silly for my surging emotions.

“Mm. But who says you’ll be able to keep me. I have options now. How do I know you’re the best choice?” She jokes, raising her brows.

“My brother doesn’t stand a chance against me. I’ll take him down if he thinks he does. This is mine.” I brush my hand possessively over her body. I know we’re not in a relationship, but the games we play are fun. And I don’t want anyone else interfering with that.

“Is that so?” she muses. “And here I thought I was a free woman.”

I love how she teases me. I grab her jaw in my hand and kiss her, unable to hold back, desperate to feel the beautiful lips against my mouth.

It’s a stolen moment in the middle of a dangerous night. We shouldn’t be doing this, but how can I not? She’s perfect. She’s gorgeous. She drives me wild, and I’ve been watching her all night, wanting her for myself.

The kiss burns like wildfire inside me and floods me with desire.

My cock grows hard against her, and I thread my fingers through her hair, pulling softly, wanting to claim her right here behind the pool house.

If we weren’t in the middle of this whole stealth operation, I would.

I would pull this short, beautiful dress right up over her hips and make her bend forward with her hands against the wall.

I’d claim her outside in the cold night air, wrapping my hand over her mouth to keep her silent.

Tania’s body is moving abasing mine. Her mouth against my lips, returning my kiss with enthusiasm. But we both hear Yulian’s footsteps as he walks back towards us, whistling some annoying tune. She tenses and drops her hands from me.

I step away from her, grateful it’s too dark for anyone else to see what she’s done to me, the bulging evidence of my attraction for her, pressing against my pants.

She straightens her dress and runs her fingers through her hair, trying to pretend like nothing happened. I watch her in amusement.

I’ve missed having her at my home, even though she’s only been gone for one night. I want her back there.

“I guess we can head back now, let them see us all ruffled. You might want to mess up your hair a little more,” Yulian says, eyeing Tania up and down. “Make it look like we had an amazing time.” He chuckles. My blood runs a little hotter thinking about him being with her.

“Oh, isn’t this enough?” she says quickly, shaking her fingers through her hair again as though that was the plan all along.

“Good. That looks good.” He nods.

“Ready?” I ask, smiling at her.

“Yep,” she nods.

“I’ll be close by,” I say, eyeing my brother. “Watching you both.”

Yulian smirks and steps close to Tania.

I watch my brother slip his hand around her waist, and the jealousy stings through me again. That asshole even has the cheek to glance over his shoulder at me and wink before they disappear around the pool house and out of sight.

I give them a good head start as they walk back to the party, laughing and looking cozy together. They’re very snuggled up, grating on my nerves.

While I’m standing alone behind the pool house, I stare into the darkness, at the silhouettes of trees and plants, taking a moment to try and calm myself down because if I let myself get this worked up over a girl I’m not even dating—I’m just asking for trouble.

When I go back to the party, I first stop at the bar, grab a vodka soda, then find a seat near the patio, close to the dance floor, where I can watch everything and not have to deal with the other guests.

A few women try to hit on me, but I wave them off, disinterested. Even if I wasn’t working tonight, none of them caught my eye. It seems no one has my attention except for her.

I can’t tear my eyes off her all night.

The party goes on for another few hours, and the entire time I’m glued to her.

I love the fact that I’m sitting here, and no one knows what she and I have been through together.

No one else knows how cute she looks in her sweatpants with her hair all messed up in the morning.

No one else has seen that lost, lonely gaze I’ve noticed in her golden-brown eyes when she stares out of the window, drinking a cup of tea.

I want to save her from that sadness I’ve seen in her. I want to protect her from it.

No one here knows how bad she is at humming. I can’t imagine what she’d sound like if she tried to sing, but now I’m curious.

And no one here knows that we’ve shared secret moments, moments I can’t stop thinking about.

What surprises me is that when I look at her now, I don’t see an enemy anymore. I don’t see someone I’m rivaled against or someone I want to use.

She’s just—her. She’s Tania. She’s beautiful, and sweet and gentle and a little broken inside, but it hasn’t taken away from the fact that she is a good, kind, strong person.

I do miss having her at my place. Just for the company, you know. It was nice having someone around.

It’s not like there is something going on between us.

Although I am dangerously attracted to her, it’s not more than that.

It’s getting later, and I’m struggling to hide my yawns. I was ready to go home over an hour ago, thinking they’d put on enough of a show, but I think Tania just wanted to be sure. We don’t know how many of her uncle’s men are here, watching her.

Finally, Yulian and Tania start making moves to leave. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that this night is over. I hope like fuck we don’t have to do this again. I can’t face it. This was hell.

I wait for them to walk out, then I leave the party as well, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone because I didn’t even speak to anyone while I was here. It’s easy to make people avoid you when you wear such a dark expression.

And then expression came easily, because I was genuinely annoyed.

Outside in the dark, near the edge of the parking lot, I catch Yulian getting into his car.

“Hey man, thanks for that,” I say. He rolls his window down to talk to me.

“All good. I think we put on a good enough show. Do you know when her uncle is going to ask her to report back to him?”

“Yeah, you guys put on a good show. I’m not sure about her uncle. Might be tonight, might be tomorrow. We’ll wait to hear from her,” I grumble.

“You still trust her?” he asks.

“I do. She’s given me no reason not to. And with what her uncle’s done to her…” My words fade away. It’s not my place to share her story with other people. “Fuck, it’s been a long night,” I complain.

He chuckles at me. “You okay?”

“Of course.”

“Mm,” he says, eyeing me as though he knows something I don’t. Or something I was trying to hide.

“Go home, get some rest. You’re obviously overtired. It can’t possibly be anything else bothering you.” He’s smirking at me.

“Asshole,” I mutter. “Drive safe,” I say a little louder.

“Bye.”

In the distance, I see Tania getting pulled aside by her uncle.

He must have been waiting out here for her, wanting the report immediately.

It makes me sick. I want to go over there and rescue her from that fucking monster.

But he’s obviously here for an update on how the night went, and we want him to get that update as soon as possible.

We’ve already planned what she’s going to tell him.

She’ll pretend she coaxed the information from Yulian when he fell for her seduction.

I climb into my car, forcing myself to turn away from her and her uncle. As much as I want to stick around and make sure she’s okay, it will be suspicious if he spots me. It will put her in danger.

I start the engine, turn out of the parking lot, and into the main road.

I should go home.

This night has been too long already.