Page 79 of Sinful Wrath
Fuck.
I turn my double vodka into a triple and down in it one before turning to face my brother.
“You caught that, huh?”
Alexei’s shoulders are shaking with silent laughter as he looks at me, his eyes twinkling.
“Everyonedid. I think I’m going to have to triple my staff’s bonuses this year just to compensate for the mental scarring you caused them.”
“Fuck off.” I turn to pour myself another drink, but my lips twitch at the thought of everyone knowing how much Lucia was enjoying herself as she rode my cock.
“You weren’t exactly being discreet, Mikhail.”
“I guess we sort of got caught up in the moment.” I avoid my brother’s gaze as I cross the room and sink into the armchair opposite him.
“Want to tell me what’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing’s going on.” I swirl my drink around in my glass.
“Last night tells me otherwise.”
“That was just sex.” I shrug and take a sip of my drink.
Last night might have just been about sex, but waking up to Lucia in my arms this morning meant something so much more. It was more intimate than anything we’ve shared together, and I already crave more.
“I heard about your little bucket list.” Alexei grins.
“I swear I’m going to murder Anton.”
“It seems like Lucia’s having a positive influence on you. I worry sometimes that you’re too serious.”
“I have to be.” I cross an ankle over a knee. “What we do, the responsibility on our shoulders, I can’t afford to mess around,brat.”
“I appreciate your commitment to this family, but you also have to live your life, Mikhail. Otherwise, what’s the point?” Alexei takes a sip of his drink.
I shrug, unable to find an answer to his question.
“I am happy to hear that your relationship with Lucia is evolving into something that’s more than just a business deal.”
“She’s not the woman I thought she was. There are so many layers to her that I never expected her to have. Perhaps I was a little too quick to judge…”
“In what way?”
I blow out a breath as I think back to that very first dinner withLucia.
To me, she was nothing more than a spoiled brat who went looking for trouble. And now?
She’s the woman who wakes up in my bed, who makes me laugh in a way that no one has in a very long time.
She might drive me crazy, but she’s trying her hardest to workwithme rather than against me, and I can’t ask for much more than that.
“She understands what it’s like to grow up in this world. She knows the risks and yet, she doesn’t let fear control her. She still goes out and lives her life because she won’t allow anyone else to dictate her happiness.”
The realization makes me pause.
I swirl my drink around in my glass as I compare Lucia’s attitude to my own. We’re like two magnets facing different directions and yet, we can’t stop ourselves from coming together.
“Growing up in our world comes with a lot of sacrifices,” Alexei says, interrupting my thoughts. “It’s something I constantly worry about with Leo. You can’t wrap them in bubble wrap for their whole lives. At some point, you have to let them out into the real world and they’re going to make mistakes.”