Page 37 of Secret Bratva Baby
Luka steps off the patio, walking towards me. I pull in a sharp breath, begging myself not to do anything stupid.
He smiles and stops right where I’m sitting.
“It’s a beautiful day today,” he says, looking towards Lily and her butterfly antics.
“It is. It’s nice to get some real sunshine.”
His gaze drifts over my legs again; this time, I feel the heat of his stare more intensely than the warmth of the sun. My cheeks flush pink.
Luka notices the corner of his lip curling upwards before he looks away. “I see you’re enjoying it,” he smirks.
For a while, we are quiet, watching Lily.
“I should get her a butterfly catching net,” he chuckles, watching her fall again.
“No, I think she’ll just end up squashing them. She’d be devastated if she did that by accident.”
“True,” he nods.
I begin to feel awkward sitting on the grass with Luka standing over me, his presence looming and commanding above me. Standing up, I brush my hands over my legs to dust the grass off.
“Yilian just called.”
“Oh,” I say, turning towards him. “Are they coming for dinner?”
Yilian and Ark stopped by the day after we had pizza to drop off a dragon toy for Lily. I was so stunned by their kindness and eagerness to make her smile. It wasn’t pink, it was red, but it was a weird sort of red, and the moment Lily saw it, she shouted excitedly that it was a pink dragon. A big, cuddly dragon with floppy wings. It also came with a stack of storybooks. Every book is a different adventure that this dragon has gone on, which can be read while she plays with the dragon. It’s perfect. Luka said he will read her one story a night until they’ve read about all of the dragon’s adventures.
I told her to bring the toy out into the garden so she could play with it here, but I’m glad she left it up in our room—apparently, he wanted to sleep for a little while. If she’d brought it, it would be coated in several layers of dirt by now. I think somehow she knew that would happen and wants to take care of her new toy.
It melts my heart that Luka’s family did that for her.
“No, not for dinner. It was about the stuff I asked him to look into. He let me know that they figured out how the rivalsmanaged to find the safe house. It was the phone call you made that night.”
“Really?” My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach. “It was my fault we almost died. I’m so sorry, I had no idea that I was taking that risk.”
I look anxiously towards Lily. What if something had happened to her because I was acting recklessly?
“Hey, it’s okay,” Luka says, reaching towards me, sensing my anxiety bubbling up. His brows are knitted with concern as he looks down at me.
I let him wrap his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. I can feel his muscles ripple over his torso as he holds me, and I sink deeper into his embrace. I shouldn’t like this so much. This is the closest I’ve been to him in ages, and it’s making my body ignite in every way possible. I want him so badly it hurts. I trace my fingers up his sides, over the muscles that shape his ribs. His body is perfect. I always thought he was the most beautiful man on earth.
In my eyes, no one could match him.
My heart is yearning for him. My skin wants to feel his touch.
I’m still so in love with him. It’s painful to accept just how much I need him.
I close my eyes, leaning into him, resting my cheek against his chest.
Suddenly, I realize they might track us to this place, too.
“My phone,” I blurt out, the horror clear in my voice. He jumps a little and chuckles at my outburst.
“Rose, take a breath. I disposed of it before coming here because I thought it might have been the reason they found us. It’s not here. It’s gone.” He holds my face in his hands, gently brushing his thumbs over my cheeks as his eyes stare into mine. His eyes are so dark it’s difficult to differentiate between his pupils and his irises.
My heart flutters like those butterflies Lily is chasing.
I glance towards her, then back to her father.
