Page 75 of Savage Bratva King

“You’re worried about your family, aren’t you?”

I nod. “My father would never agree to me working for Leo.”

“But you wouldn’t be working for my brother. The refuge would be in your name, Gianna. Didn’t Leo tell you this?”

“I… No, he didn’t.”

She rolls her eyes, and I can imagine them bickering when they were kids, and Victoria always coming out on top. I wonder if she resents his position as the head of the family, but it isn’t the kind of question you ask a mafia family member. At least not if you want to keep your kneecaps intact.

“Typical Leo.” She sucks in a deep breath. “He expects people to know what he’s thinking.”

“Why? I mean, why would he put it in my name? Does he not want to be associated with it?”

“You really haven’t figured it out, have you?”

Sniff. My tears are drying up, but emotions are still swirling around my gut like a whirlpool. “Figured what out?” I wish this family would just learn to say what they mean.

“You’re really not like the others. No wonder my brother has fallen hard.”

My heart chooses this moment to start fluttering like a butterfly on crack, and I can’t concentrate on what she’s saying.

Victoria tugs a lock of my hair over my shoulder in an action that mimics her brother. “Leo is doing this for you, Gianna. Because, although he hasn’t had the balls to admit it yet, he’s in love with you.”

And just like that, my world flips on its axis, and the sun comes back out with a vengeance.

24

LEONID

Gianna is leavingthe dining room with my sister when I go in search of her. Victoria winks at me as we pass in the corridor, and for the first time in my life, I’m left standing in front of a beautiful woman not knowing what to say.

Gianna isn’t like any other woman I’ve ever met. She gives a whole new meaning to the idiom ‘beauty is only skin deep’ because she is beautiful inside and out. When I look at her, I want to collect all the stars in the night sky and present them to her as a gift fastened with a silver bow. If I could bottle how she makes me feel, I could kiss goodbye to this way of life and live like a king off the proceeds.

“I…” My stomach churns, and my palms are slick with sweat. This isn’t me, but then again, perhaps this is more me than I’ve ever been. “I missed you last night.”

Her smile sets her face aglow. “I missed you too.”

I don’t know what Victoria said to her in private, but I make a mental note to thank her later. When I grip Gianna’s hair and pull her to me, her body melds with mine. Our lips meet, and my erection grows inside my pants, rock solid between us.

“Don’t ever leave me again, printzessa,” I murmur against her demanding lips.

Reaching behind me, I push open the door to the drinks room and, in one fluid movement, we slip inside where we can be away from the security cameras and patrolling guards.

I came to ask if she’d reached a decision on my proposal, but it’s forgotten now. At the moment, all I can think about is claiming her, making her mine because I can’t imagine a world in which our bodies never get to do this again.

I can’t imagine a world in which her smile isn’t all for me.

I can’t imagine a world in which my heart doesn’t know who to beat for.

Gianna instinctively raises her arms, and I drag her thin sweater over her head. I lower my mouth to her breasts, squeezing them together so that I can tease both nipples at the same time, and Gianna arches her back, pushing them into my mouth.

“We have a lot of catching up to do.” I slide my hand inside her pants and find her warm, moist sex. Collecting her juices on my finger, I slide my hand back out again and suck my finger. “Were you saving this up for me, printzessa?”

“Yes.”

She wraps her hand around mine and sucks her taste off my finger, curling her tongue around my skin and licking me slowly, mimicking her performance at our first meeting over breakfast. If only I’d known how impossibly sexy she was beneath that bravado, I would never have wasted so much time.

“What do you want me to do to you?” I tug her hair backwards, exposing the smooth creamy flesh of her neck. I dip my head and suck on the skin below her left ear, branding her as mine.

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