Page 84 of Goodnight, Sinners

“I know!” she said desperately, clutching her purse and racing up the stairs to the mansion.

She cringed when she saw Jozef standing at the top waiting for her. His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were narrowed on her. She tried to concentrate but he was wearing faded blue jeans with a black T-shirt stretched taut over his chest, a thick leather belt and work boots. She wanted to lick him all over, but if his frown was anything to go by, she was more likely in for a spanking and not the fun kind.

“I know, I know,” she mumbled as he opened the door for her, and she slid past. “I can be ready in ten minutes. Promise!”

She raced up the stairs to her suite.

“Where have you been?” Saskia appeared at the top of the stairs. “You’re supposed to be halfway to Russia by now.”

“I know!” Shaun shot past Saskia who fell in step behind her. “I got held up at the hospital. The surgery was more complicated than I expected, then I had to wait for the patient to come out of anaesthesia.”

“I don’t think the Russians will care much about your bedside manner when they ask Jozef why they were kept waiting.”

Saskia followed Shaun into her room and flopped down on the bed as Shaun rifled through the walk-in closet, throwing an empty suitcase out, followed by handfuls of clothes, which landed all over the floor.

“What do you think I should pack?” Shaun’s voice was muffled. “Casual, formal, beachwear?”

“Formal, definitely formal. The Bratva aren’t known for their casual attitude toward anything, let alone the foreign wife of one of their newest members. Maybe if you look hot enough, they’ll forget about your tardiness.”

Seconds later a series of evening dresses, cocktail dresses and business suits were thrown from the closet. Shaun leapt over them and reached down to pick the pile up, tossing everything haphazardly into the suitcase.

Shaun glanced around the bedroom, wondering what she was missing.

“Hair products, makeup, shoes, tampons.” Saskia listed off the things Shaun hadn’t thrown in the suitcase yet.

Shaun snapped her fingers and lunged back into the closet, tossing out a couple pairs of heels and a pair of running shoes. She ransacked the washroom, tossing her makeup bag through the door and hoping it would land on the bed. She looked over her hair products and selected the ones she would need.

They were going to Russia for five days to meet with some of the higher ups in the Bratva. Jozef was confident, Shaun was nervous. It didn’t help that Havel had spent the past few days following her around the mansion, giving her advice. Only his advice made her even more worried.

“Don’t speak when you haven’t been spoken to. Don’t give your opinions. In fact, don’t have any opinions. In fact, don’t speak at all, to anyone. You must remember that you’re a representative of the Koba organization. You can’t have any slipups with these people.”

Jozef had wanted to take Havel with him, but ultimately decided to leave him behind. Jozef had spent the past several months reorganizing and reestablishing the Koba organization, and he didn’t want to risk a single problem while he was away. He trusted Havel to keep things in order while they were gone.

Shaun had learned a new respect for Havel over the past few months, while watching him work as hard as Jozef to create a solid foundation for their empire. He was loyal and he took his job seriously. On more than one occasion, Jozef had commented that the other man was invaluable, and he didn’t know what he’d do without Havel.

The door to the suite banged open just as Shaun was zipping her suitcase.

“I’m ready!” she called out, then turned to Saskia. “Distract him while I change.”

Saskia gave her a mischievous grin. “Of course!”

She slid off the bed and launched herself out the door, using a singsong voice as she called out, “Jozef, will you bring me back a souvenir? I want one of those little dolls you and Shaun have.”

Shaun peeled off her top as she headed for her closet, grabbing for a shirt at random.

She pulled it over her head and reached for her scrub bottoms, shoving them down her thighs as Jozef opened the closet door wider and stared in at her. His eyes immediately went to her panties and she flashed him a teasing grin before deliberately turning and bending over to grab the pair of jeans she’d chosen for their trip north.

Jozef growled and slammed the closet door shut, reaching for her. She giggled as he filled his hands with her ass and kissed the side of her neck. He reached around her and cupped her breast through her shirt.

“We’re going to be late,” she said, her voice husky as he kissed a path from her neck down to her shoulder, shoving her shirt aside so he could get at the bare skin.

He turned her around and gave her an accusing look.

“Okay, yes, my fault,” she admitted. “But you knew that I would have the occasional late shift. I warned you, I won’t leave the hospital until my patient wakes up.”

He swooped in for a kiss, telling her with his tongue and mouth his feelings on her working late.

Jozef gave her hell every time she worked late at the hospital. To his credit, he hadn’t once threatened to terminate her job. In fact, since she’d started working at the Prague hospital, Jozef had been surprisingly supportive. He enjoyed listening to her talk about work and bragged to anyone who would listen that he was married to one of the world’s preeminent neurosurgeons.

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