Page 6 of The Bratva's Weakness

I hope this is the right decision.

***

The workday is off to an interesting start, to say the least. When I got to James’ house, we promptly jumped into his Range Rover to head to a meeting.

“Do you want me to drive?” I asked.

“No, I don’t want to risk getting kidnapped again,” he rumbled. I looked at him in shock but then noticed the upturn of his lips. I hit him with a light slap, and we were on our way.

The first stop was at a jewelry store that I see ads for all the time. Their stuff is truly beautiful and when we went inside, I spent the entire time admiring this gorgeous emerald necklace and praying for the day I could afford something like it.

James came out of his meeting in the back, and we headed to a warehouse on the outskirts of town.

“Stay in the car,” he ordered. I looked at him in surprise; he’d never used this voice on me before.

“How am I supposed to help you from out here?” I argued.

His only response was the look on his face telling me it wasn’t up for debate. I sat in the car scrolling my phone for an hour before he appeared again.

When we were in the car heading back to his place, he finally gave me my first task for the day. Ordering us lunch. Not exactly what I was hoping for when I took this job.

I’ve basically been twiddling my thumbs, which is ridiculous because this morning he told me my salary is nearly $100,000 a year and I choked on my coffee. He’s paying me that much and not having me do really anything at all for him?

I should be fine with it, but if I wanted to be in a position where I didn’t do anything with my degree, I would have just stuck with the dog walking and babysitting rather than working for a questionable—but very hot—man.

It’s nearly 5 o’clock when James emerges from the back room where he’s been running off to take his mysterious calls all afternoon and the urge to ask him why he hired me has taken over.

He stalks into the living room looking annoyingly handsome. Dark hair is casually styled, and I can still see the tips of his tattoos peeking through the unbuttoned collar of his baby blue button down. He was wearing a full navy suit this morning for his meetings and I have to admit, he looks absolutely delicious in both.

“Sorry about that, the call went a bit longer than I expected,” he says, sitting down on the coffee table across from where I’m seated on the couch. He rests his elbows on his knees and leans towards me. His smell—like oranges and wood and justman—takes over my senses, but I can’t let my attraction to him overwhelm my need for answers.

I gather my courage, “James, I don’t think this is going to work out. You haven’t given me anything to do besides order lunch today. I don’t feel right taking an obscene amount of money to do nothing.” I wait for his response hoping my voice sounded confident and secure and not as nervous as I feel.

He doesn’t say anything so I stand, disappointed, and round the couch, heading for the door. I’m about to open it when I feel a hand wrap around my wrist followed by a gruff, “Wait. Don’t go. I want you to work for me. I’m just not used to having someone else help me with my work.”

He pulls me close, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as he asks, “Stay for dinner.”

“Okay,” I say, staring up at him and finding his chocolate brown eyes swimming with warmth. “But you’re going to have to give me more to do tomorrow; just being here to keep you company isn’t something I want paid for.”

“I promise I’ll give you more responsibility.”

“How do you feel about sushi for dinner?” he asks, leading me back towards the living room.

“Perfect,” I say, hoping I’m not making a huge mistake by agreeing to stay.

Chapter Four

James

I can’t fuck this up.

I’m feeling more and more desperate to be around Allie as the day goes on, like letting her out of my sight would be detrimental to us both. I want to tell her that the reason I’m keeping things from her is to keep her safe, but I think that will just freak her out more.

She’s right that I need to give her more to do, but when she showed up this morning looking like a goddess, as always, I knew I would do anything to keep her around me. So, I had her shuffle with me to meetings I couldn’t let her into rather than having her stay here and do the work I actually need done.

It was stupid, and a mistake I won’t be making again.

I call in an order to my favorite sushi spot, ordering a mix of dishes. I then grab us a bottle of white wine to split, and we settle back in the living room once the sushi arrives.

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