Page 27 of Trapped By the Bratva

I flinched, looking at her sharply. “What do you mean?” My panic kicked into a higher gear, making my heart race faster.

“You look freaked out.”

That’s putting it mildly.I was ashamed that I caved to his naughty requests. I felt embarrassed that he proved how easy I was. And I hated this guilt over abusing the situation.

I was here to be Dmitri’s nurse. Not a hired piece of ass or anything like that. I was being paid—generously—to bring him back to health. Not ride his face.

“Are you still worried you’re not ‘qualified’ or something like that?” She crossed her arms and sighed.

“No.” I blinked, smiling again for Emily as she hugged my neck. “Well, sort of. I’ve never been hired for exclusive home health care services.”

“You are a professional, Hannah. I know this. And if you’re not registered to offer this care, it’s only a technicality.”

Professional. Are you sure about that?Nothing about what Dmitri and I did felt professional at all. Usually, I was a stickler on ethics and propriety. But I caved. So easily.

How could I not?Unbeknownst to him, Dmitri had already been on my mind since our first meeting. Maybe I’d played him up and mentally projected him to be a larger-than-life presence Iwanted in my life. The mystery of who he was on a traumatic night helped to make him stick.

Now, seeing him again, I realized how unprepared I could’ve been to reject him or insist on being proper.

He was so skilled, knowing exactly how to go down on me and make me burst apart with my first real orgasm. His mouth was magic—on mine or elsewhere. I couldn’t deny how damnably hot he was, even in his wounded state. Those scars didn’t subtract from his rugged appeal. If anything, they gave him more of a badass look that drove me wild.

“Is he giving you a hard time?” Becca guessed next.

A housekeeper came by, and Becca smiled at her. “Margie? Could you entertain Emily for a few minutes? I want to speak with Hannah.”

Emily gladly went over to Margie, babbling as the older woman tickled her and skipped to make her giggle.

“Let’s sit for a minute,” Becca said, gesturing for me to enter a nearby room. The doors opened up to reveal a library that could rival the one inBeauty and the Beast.

“Wow!” I took it all in, glad for the distraction of talking about Dmitri with her.

“I know. Isn’t it crazy?” She sat, smiling up at the shelves.

“So, the Valkovs are pretty well off, then,” I surmised.

She nodded. “Very. Alek recently took over the family business, and he’s making everything more profitable than ever.”

I sat and raised my brows. “Family business, huh?”

She pulled her lower lip in and nodded. “Yep.”

“Cut the crap, Becca. What is this place, really? Who are these people?” I furrowed my brow. “Dmitri said he was tortured. I thought he was wounded from an accident or something, but…”

Becca sighed and clasped her hands over her baby bump. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more upfront on the way here, but I was so determined to get you here.”

I snorted a laugh. “Well, dangling that advance and the salary did most of the heavy work of convincing me.”

“And it worked.”

“But…”

“But it was wrong of me not to be more upfront. That’s not fair to you.”

“Okay. Then fill me in now.” I had a strong hunch who my employer was, and I wasn’t sure whether that detail should scare me off or tempt me to stay and discover more. On the principle of it, I should’ve told Becca that I had to leave. Crossing the lines to be intimate with my patient was all kinds of wrong. When I rehearsed owning up to that incident, though, I couldn’t make myself say it. I didn’t want to leave, despite my assumption that I was nursing a Mafia man.

“The Valkov Bratva?—”

I lightly slapped the armrest. “I knew it.”

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