Page 12 of Secret Bratva Baby (Dubrov Bratva #16)

Luka is more agitated than I’ve ever seen him.

He’s pacing and moving around the small room with erratic steps as he mutters about calling his brother. I say his name once, and he doesn’t hear me. That guy outside has left him far more shaken than the shooting at the safehouse. Why? Why would one guy have that effect on him?

Then I realize it’s me he’s worried about.

The way he pushed me out of view when that guy looked at me.

He’s anxious because I was there, and whoever that was, he took note of me.

Luka is worried about me.

“Hey,” I say, louder, trying to pull him out of his thoughts. “Look at me. Stop walking for a second. Just look at me.”

Luka huffs in annoyance, but he stops pacing and turns towards me.

I look up at him, searching his eyes to try and understand if I’m right. As I stare into them, his gaze softens. His shoulders drop a little, the tension leaving his body. The smallest smile touches my lips. It’s my presence in that situation that had him more on edge than he should have been.

I reach up and touch his beautiful face.

“I’m completely fine, Luka. Everything is fine,” I whisper, my heart racing.

He cares about me.

I trace my finger over his jaw, feeling the roughness of his stubble, the outline of his perfect features.

His lips part as he takes a slow breath.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, not taking his eyes off me.

“I’m fine, I promise,” I whisper again. My heart is beating so fast it feels as though it’s going to burst through my chest.

I take a step closer to Luka. We are alone.

Completely and utterly alone.

Locked away from the world in this room. I can’t hear a sound from outside, and it’s like we’ve been transported into a bubble, private and safe.

Luka clenches his jaw as my body brushes against his.

I reach up with my other hand, spellbound by his eyes. I wrap my hands around the back of his neck and stand on my tiptoes, my eyes on his lips.

His hand is warm as it runs up my waist, across my back, down to the curve of my spine, just above my ass.

He pulls me tighter against his body, and I gasp.

A low, deep groan rumbles through his chest as his breath turns erratic. My blood races faster.

Whether this is right or wrong, I don’t care.

Holding onto his neck, I pull myself closer to him. My lips can already feel his even before we kiss.

The moment our lips touch, the entire world disappears.

Fireworks explode in my thoughts, his tongue slips into my mouth, and the kiss deepens.

Heat floods between my legs.

His hands hurriedly move over me, holding me tighter. Desperation swarms through both of us, and intense urgency takes over.

I pull away to look at him, his lips, his eyes darkly delicious and fully focused on me.

I open my mouth to say something, but I don’t want to stop whatever is happening. I want more.

Luka reads my thoughts.

His hands drop to below my ass, and he lifts me, turning me around and sitting me on a shelf up against the wall. He presses his lips against mine again with new heat, a rough growl escaping him as he pushes my legs open and runs his hands over my thighs, pushing my dress up to my hips.

I can barely breathe. I reach out and grab his shirt, knotting my fingers into the fabric as I rock my hips forward, seeking his touch.

His hand slips between my legs, running up the inside of my thigh. His fingers brush over the thin fabric of my panties, and he groans again.

I moan against his mouth, and he slips his fingers beneath my panties and rubs them over my pussy.

“Oh fuck. You’re soaked,” he says, his words tight with desperation.

His fingers slide into me, and my mind goes blank to everything but his touch. I fight for breath as I tilt my head back and he traces kisses over my neck.

His fingers move inside me, expertly touching all the right places as my pussy throbs over him. He pushes deeper into me, and his thumb presses against my clit.

I cry out, pleasure shooting through me. I push my legs wider apart.

His body pinned against me, he starts to move his hand faster. His thumb traces circles over my clit while he fucks me with his fingers.

My hands dig into his side, gripping tightly, but I’m not aware of it. I’m holding on for my life as my world spins away from me in wave after wave of pleasure.

Luka grabs my jaw in his hand and forces me to look at him.

The sight of him makes my pleasure ten times more intense.

He slams his mouth over mine and forces his tongue into my mouth, kissing me hard, dangerously rough, trying to claim me with his lips as he steals my senses with his hand.

He moves his body against mine, his cock as hard as a rock, and I want to feel it. I want him inside me. I want him to slam into me—but I also don’t want him to stop doing what he’s doing with his hand.

I forgot how he had this power over me. The power to make me forget everything. The power to steal my body and my thoughts and take me into the stars.

I am gasping for air when he chuckles against my lips.

“That’s right, my angel, let go. I can feel how close you are,” he growls against my mouth. “I can feel your perfect little pussy tightening. Oh my fuck, you are beautiful.” He pushes his hips forward, rocking against the back of his hand so that his fingers push in deeper.

I cry out as the first wave of my orgasm pulses through me.

Then another.

My pussy throbs over his fingers, every muscle in my body tightening. I can’t breathe. His fingers lock around my jaw, forcing me to keep my face turned towards him as the orgasm dilates my pupils and leaves me breathless and at his mercy.

He slides his fingers out of me; his eyes still locked on mine, he dips them into his mouth and licks my wetness from them.

I gasp as he slowly draws his fingers from his mouth, then leans forward to kiss me again.

I taste myself on his lips, and a fresh wave of desire steals through me.

Luka pulls away.

His cock is throbbing against the fabric of his jeans, threatening to rip the seams.

I bite my lower lip, but he turns his back on me.

I watch as his shoulders move, his breathing heavy.

“Luka?” I ask, pulling my dress down and sliding off the shelf I was sitting on.

“Mm?” he says, not looking at me.

“Are you okay?” I ask, reaching out to touch his back.

“No,” he says, and the regret in his voice is heavy and spikes anxiety inside me.

Why is he upset? Does he immediately regret what just happened between us? Do I repulse him? It can’t be that. I can see his reaction to me. He was as turned on as I am.

What is going on?

I pull at his shirt, trying to get him to turn around so that I can see his face. I want to look into his eyes. I need to see his eyes to try and understand what he’s thinking.

“Luka, please—talk to me,” I beg.

He sighs. A slow, deep breath of tension. But he does turn to face me. His eyes are flooded with emotion.

“What’s going on?” I ask, my voice small, barely a whisper.

Luka pulls his mouth to the side, biting at the inside of his cheek.

“Everything is my fault, Rose,” he says quietly.

“What do you mean?” I ask, knotting my brows in confusion. “With Romain?”

He shakes his head, raising his brows, he says, “Everything that has happened to you. The man who tried to take you and Lily outside your house, and the men who tried to shoot you at the safe house. It’s because of me. It’s because of things I did to piss them off.”

“Luka, you’re not making sense. I haven’t seen you in years,” I stammer, trying to understand.

He nods, pressing his lips together. Reaching out, he crushes his hand over my cheek.

“Someone found out you were connected to me. Someone that I pissed off. I was playing games with them—purposefully trying to aggravate them. I had no idea they’d come after you, though.

How could I have known that? But the bottom line is that they are after you and Lily because of stupid choices I made. ”

“You played games with them?” I say, frowning at Luka.

“Yes. Taunting them. Setting up traps to annoy them.” He sighs, turning away from me and starting to pace again.

“I thought they were the bad guys—not you?” I whisper.

Have I misunderstood everything?

“They are, Rose,” he says, defensive.

But I don’t know what to believe now.

I continue to frown at him, watching him walk, then I shake my head.

“Take me home,” I say, a little too harshly.

“It’s risky, we should wait—"

“Take me home, Luka. I refuse to stay locked away in here when my daughter is out there. Anything could happen to her, and it’s my responsibility to keep her safe. That’s all I care about.”

He studies my face for a long time.

If he doesn’t want to push me, he should do as I’ve asked.

Finally, he nods and turns towards the keypad set against the wall by the thick steel-plated door.

He punches in a code, and the door mechanism releases.

“Please, just stay close to me.”

“Fine,” I snap.

His shoulders drop in defeat as he walks out of the room, his arm stretched backward towards me, guiding me to stay behind him.

We get to his car without any incident.

My thoughts are a rage of anger and confusion.

And hurt.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I watch the world go by as we drive through the city, back towards his mansion.

I don’t say a word.

If I speak now, I’ll fight with him. I’ll shout and yell about how he is the reason our baby girl was almost taken.

I don’t want to lash out.

I want to think.

I need time to process, and once I’ve done that, I can decide what the best thing for Lily and me is going to be.

It doesn’t matter how I feel about Luka. It doesn’t matter that he makes my heart fly and my body sing.

All that matters is Lily.

I close my eyes and tilt my head back against the car seat.

In anger, I wish I’d never met him.

But immediately, that thought shoots pain through me.

I would never have had Lily.

And even now, in the heat of this anger, I never want to lose him.

But that’s my emotions.

And I need to think with my head. Clear. Logical. Not tainted by my feelings for him.

My heart breaks a little. Regretting the fact that I have to be strong enough to walk away if that’s what it takes.

He pulls into the long driveway of the mansion, nodding at the security guards by the gate as we drive through.

“Rose,” he says, turning the engine off. “Can we talk for a moment before we go inside?”

I unclip my safety belt and shake my head.

Pushing the passenger door open, I turn away from him, but pause. Looking back over my shoulder, I say quietly, “You need to give me some space to think. Please, Luka. I need to clear my head and think.”

He sighs softly and nods. “I understand.”

Luka stays in the car as I walk towards the front doors. I pause at the top of the stairs, closing my eyes to take a moment. I force a smile onto my face before I step inside to find my little girl.

As soon as I walk into the living room, Lily squeals in delight and rushes towards me with her arms spread wide open, her dragon teddy gripped tightly in her tiny hand.

My fake smile becomes real as I crouch to my knees to pull her into a hug. “Hi, baby,” I laugh.

“Mommy, we read a story and made a picture, and we ran in the garden and…” She starts listing everything she did while I was gone.

I stand up with her on my hip, still talking excitedly.

My eyes turn towards Mila, and I mouth the words Thank you. She smiles and nods.

Carrying Lily upstairs, my heart is heavy and tainted with worry.

How do I disregard everything my heart is screaming and only focus on what’s right?

We are human. Our lives are made up of moments. Those moments have meaning because of how they make us feel.

Luka —Luka has the ability to fill my life with meaning.

But will it be good for us, or bad? Will those moments be an endless stream of worry about our safety, or can they be something more than that?

I set Lily down on the bed, and she scrambles up the pillows, reaching over to grab the dragon books piled up there. She wiggles into a comfortable position, nestled amongst the pillows, and opens the book, turning the pages until she finds the right picture.

She holds the dragon teddy up so he can see the page.

“That you,” she says.

“Have you thought of a name for him yet?”

She frowns at me. “That him, Mommy.” She points to the page.

“Oh, how silly of me. He already has a name,” I laugh, crawling onto the bed next to her to take the book. She snuggles into my side.

“Banana brain,” I say, pointing at the picture of her dragon in the book.

“No, Mommy.” She squeals with laughter. “That not his name.”

“Oh, isn’t it. Okay. Maybe it’s Lemon Soda?”

“No, Mommy.” She says again, shaking her head.

“What’s his name, Lily?” I grin.

“Drago the Dragon,” she says proudly.

“Oh wow, that’s a good name.”

She rolls her eyes at me. I’ve been reading the books to her for a week now, I should know his name. She’s getting too smart, this little cupcake. She’s growing up so much faster than I’m ready for.