Page 57 of Plus-Size Bratva Bride

“Ugh, no. Who puts pineapple on pizza?” I say in horror as I slip my arm around her and lead her towards my car.

“Thank goodness, for a second there I thought we couldn’t be friends anymore,” she laughs.

“Friends,” I say, a slight note of mischief in my voice.

She turns to look at me, blushes, and then quickly looks away.

Before starting the car, I quickly order our food for delivery, then without driving like a maniac, I get us home as fast as I can. Jade looks like she’s ready to fall asleep in the car.

At home, I take her hand and lead her into my bedroom, into the massive black and gold bathroom attached to my room.I sit her down on the side of the tub while I fill it with hot water, brimming with bubbles and rose scented oils that I purchased specifically because they remind me of her.

Slowly, I help Jade undress. Removing each item of dirty clothing, black and dusty from the fire, and throwing it into the washing basket.

“Covered in ash and still the most beautiful girl in the world,” I whisper, leaning down to kiss her lips.

She moans softly against my lips and closes her eyes.

From downstairs I hear one of my security men shout up to us, “Sir, your food order has arrived.”

“Thanks,” I shout back down, grinning at Jade.

“I’ll go get the food and come sit with you in the bath?”

“A bath picnic?” She giggles. “I’m in.”

Chapter 17 - Jade

We are on our way to another family dinner with Radmir’s brothers and their wives. I’m less nervous than I was the first time I met everyone, but it’s still leaving a trace of anxiety rustling through me like crispy autumn leaves. It’s colder this evening than it has been the last few days and I’m cozy in a hoodie and a pair of jeans.

I shift in the car seat, looking out of the window at the passing street lamps, each casting a bright circle of light beneath them.

Sitting in a room filled with Kuznetsovs when I am here as a spy, an infiltrator—it’s not the most settling of ideas. I keep forgetting I am a mouse in a house of cats. Sneaking around and looking for their weakness.

I’ve become too comfortable here.

I lean forward and grab handfuls of my hair, tugging it up into a high bun, leaving messy waves hanging here and there. I pull the hairband from my wrist and wrap it around my hair, sighing softly as I settle back into my seat.

Besides, ever since the cage fight night when Renat came to the car door to let me know he has his eyes on me, I’ve had a bitter taste in my mouth.

It wasn’t just the threat.

The threat was actually called for. He notices something about me that Radmir doesn’t. He might even see the truth of what I’m up to without realizing it.

So, no, it’s not just the threat that has left me shaken.It’s the guilt.

Rich and thick and salty guilt that sometimes aches in the pit of my belly when I watch Radmir, when he turns to smile at me, and his eyes are full of tenderness. His lips curved into that beautiful smile I’ve come to enjoy.

What is going to happen when he finds out who I really am and what I’ve been doing here this entire time?

Not that I’ve actually done anything.

I’ve been slacking, ignoring my duties to my own dead brother. Ignoring the fact that I made promises to the Enzos that I would find information for them so that they could exact vengeance on my behalf. Ignoring the fact that I am living and spending time with the man who murdered someone I love.

I just keep pushing all of the thoughts of my brother aside so that I can embrace Radmir without the guilt swallowing me up.

But the guilt is still there, and it’s worse after Renat’s warning.

“Hey, are you ok?” Radmir asks, reaching across the car to place his hand on my thigh. His warm smile touches me in ways I don’t understand, and I find myself smiling too.

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