Page 78 of Born into Blood

“Thank you,” she tells him, even though we all know it’s not exactly a compliment. Her eyes dart to Vitya before she says a little louder, “I don’t need to get married. I’ll just learn to be content with late-night booty calls.”

Vitya raises a brow but doesn’t say anything.

Val laughs. “And who exactly are you going to be booty calling?”

Svetlana shrugs. “Whoever the hell I want.”

“Such as?” he presses.

“Okay, so maybe not booty calls,” she relents, but then she says, “but I could do one-night stands.”

“You’re not allowed to go to clubs,” Max reminds her.

She glares at everyone except Lara and Yelena. “This is what I’m talking about. The men in this family are impossible.”

“Yes, we’re so terrible because we won’t let you get drunk at clubs, put your life in danger, and sleep with random men,” Val tells her.

“Pretty much,” Svetlana says, leaning back in her chair, legs crossed and foot swinging in an angry rhythm. “I’m just saying it’s not fair. You guys can go out and do whatever, but we can’t. It’s not fair.”

“We don’t, though,” Max reminds her. “You know we don’t do any of that. There’s too much riding on all this. We all feel the responsibility of not fucking up what our dads started. You’re not the only one with clipped wings, Sveta, even if it does feel that way.”

“Ugh,” she groans. “I hate it when you make sense, Max. It’s so annoying.”

He laughs right before his dad hollers over to us that supper is ready. Everyone gets up to grab a plate, but I keep Lara with me while the others walk over to the tables that are stacked with food.

“You doing okay, kisa?” I ask, cupping her face and looking into her blue eyes.

She smiles up at me. “I’m good. You’re so lucky to have all of them.”

I nod because I know she’s right. There’s never been a time in my life where I haven’t been grateful to have all of them, just like I’m now grateful to have the woman in my arms.

“I told you they’d like you.” I smile down at her, running my thumb along her cheek. “My uncles are already planning our wedding, I think.”

“It’s hard to believe you all do what you do,” she says, making me laugh at her reluctance to breathe the word bratva out in the open. “They’re so nice.”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, baby.” I lean closer and whisper, “They don’t look nearly as nice when they’re working. None of us do. We’re different when we’re with our family. Everything we do is to keep the people we love safe and protected from the Bratva side of things.”

“My mom is so wrong about all of you,” she whispers.

“She’ll learn the truth of things. We’ll get it all sorted out. I promise.”

Lara nods and then smiles when I lean in for a kiss. With my entire family behind me, I keep it somewhat chaste, but I can’t resist parting her lips with my tongue and sliding in for a taste. With a groan, I delve deeper, wanting her more than I want my next breath, and when I start to lose myself, it’s a loud catcall whistle that pulls me back to reality.

“Oh my god,” Lara whispers against my lips, making me laugh.

“Perks of having an enormous, nosy family, kisa. You’ll get used to it soon enough.”

Her cheeks are bright pink when I grab her hand and lead her over to the table that’s piled high with food. Dominic has a cook, but Lucia always gets Sundays off because Dominic knows she’d insist on cooking for all of us, and he doesn’t want her to wear herself out like that.

“Please tell me you’re not a vegetarian,” Alessandro jokes when she sees the huge pile of hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks.

“No, I’m not,” she tells him, quickly reaching for one of the steaks. “This looks amazing.” She stabs a fork in and looks up at me. “Is this okay?” she whispers.

“You can have anything you want, kisa.” I grab my own steak and give her a wink. “If you want another one, let me know, and I’ll get it for you.”

She smiles and ducks her head before scooping out some of my Aunt Jolene’s potato salad. I watch her load her plate up, and it probably shouldn’t turn me on as much as it does, but goddamn I love that she’s a woman of many appetites. If she insisted on chewing on nothing but a leaf of lettuce when we ate together, I’d be bored out of my damn mind.

We take a seat by Max and my brother, and spend the next few hours eating and laughing and enjoying the time we have together. No matter what’s going on with work, my dad and uncles have always made a point of carving out time for huge family gatherings. It’s ingrained in me as deeply as everything else, and with Lara by my side, I appreciate it in a whole new way. Family is everything, but now that I’m on the verge of having my own wife and kids, it also changes everything. Our line of work is dangerous, and none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow, but instead of fearing death and letting it control us, we’ve all made the choice to embrace life to the fullest and to do everything within our power to make sure the people we love are safe and protected.

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