Page 20 of Taken by the Bratva (Bychkov Bratva #1)

Aria

Sipping champagne in a hot tub while naked is one of my new favorite things.

Daniil spent the afternoon torturing me in the best ways possible, then set me up out here to relax my very sore and used muscles.

“I can feel you staring at me,”

I mumble, my head back and my eyes closed.

“You shouldn’t fall asleep in there. It’s dangerous.”

“I was just relaxing. You should try it.”

I pop one eye open to see he’s fully clothed in his black trousers and black button-down dress shirt.

“In fact, you should join me in here.”

Daniil eyes me with his hands on his hips and a disapproving look on his handsome face.

“Maybe I will,”

he finally says after a minute and starts to unbutton his shirt.

I remain in my relaxed position and only keep one eye open so I don’t scare him away with how much I want to see him completely naked. I haven’t gotten to yet, only getting the brief glimpse in the bathroom on Monday morning before I was sent running.

He shrugs off his shirt and lets it drop to the stone patio, his pants following. He meets my hungry gaze, but I’m quick to roam mine over his body in slow motion, wanting to commit every inch to memory.

He really is a beautiful mix of stoic fury, cocky confidence, quick temper, power, and killer capabilities, with a sprinkle of untapped humanity and a man who can care about more than he thinks he’s capable of. It’s all clashing inside the most dangerously handsome exterior, scarred and all.

“You like what you see,”

he points out obviously in a rough voice, thick with tension.

“Yes,”

I answer honestly.

“Very much so.”

His dick is thick and long, and rising to meet my gaze the longer I look at him.

“You’re forgetting what’s on the other side, Aria.”

“I’m not, Daniil. Are you going to join me?”

“Are you done checking me out?”

My lips lift.

“No, but I’ll get another chance, I’m sure.”

Ever the stoic man, he doesn’t react, but his eyes gleam with approval.

Daniil climbs in, and sits opposite me.

“Would you like some champagne?”

I offer him my glass and he takes it from my outstretched hand, his fingers brushing mine as he does and sending sparks up my arm and into my chest.

He’s had me naked and at his mercy in so many vulnerable positions, yet it’s a simple touch of his fingers against mine that has me blushing and my heart racing.

Daniil downs what’s left in my glass and then moves closer to me to refill it before passing it back to me.

“Will you tell me about your brothers? I know one runs the club, one the vodka label, and another the jewelry store, but what about the other two?”

Daniil stretches his arms out behind him on the lip of the tub.

“Andrei is the next oldest behind me. He runs a little gambling operation for us in Chinatown. Lexi knows all about it.”

“Wait, Lexi? Vinny’s Lexi?”

“The one and only.”

My cousin finally married Lexi last year, but what the hell would she be doing at a bratva gambling den?

“How does she know about it?”

“The same way everyone who comes to us knows about it.”

“She was there to gamble?”

“She can play poker better than most I know,”

he tells me.

“She took us for a few hundred grand that night.”

“Seriously?”

I ask incredulously.

“I’m going to have so many questions for her the next time I see her. I’m also going to have to ask her to teach me to play poker.”

“Going in order, next is my brother Maksim,”

Daniil continues.

“He runs the jewelry business. Liev runs the gambling and protection in Coney Island and Brighton Beach, where we’re from. Kirill runs the club, and Nikolai the new vodka label.”

“I’ve never been to Brighton Beach. Is that where we are now?”

“I’ll never tell,”

he says, but his mouth tilts up in a smirk that lets me know the hot tub is doing its job in relaxing him.

“Five brothers. That’s a lot.”

Daniil clears his throat and takes the champagne flute from my hand again to finish it off.

“My brother, Saverio, runs a club with my cousin Matteo in Miami. I’ve been many times and love it there. Both the club and Miami.”

“Your brother isn’t around to protect you?”

“I don’t need him to protect me, but no, he’s not. He calls and texts to check in. Plus, I have Sammy.”

With the mentioning of Sammy, I look at Daniil with round eyes, hoping the innocent look will pry an answer out of him.

“Is Sammy okay?”

“He’s fine.”

“Do you promise?”

Daniil’s face turns to stone and his eyes grow serious.

“Yes, I promise. I gave you my word.”

“Okay. I trust your word.”

His eyes turn into two blue flames, and I know it’s exactly what he wanted to hear.

“You know, it’s not good to stay in here too long. You’ve been out here over an hour.”

“I have sore muscles I need to soothe.”

The wicked gleam is back in his eyes.

“Time for a break so I can make them sore again and then we can come back in.”

“Okay, but I need to call Gia first. I waited too long to call last night again and she was freaking out.”

I roll my eyes. I really don’t know why my sister won’t take my word that I’m fine. More than fine, actually.