Page 8 of With This Kiss

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I shot Baran a look.

What the fuck?

“The fuck went on in your brain to use that kind of metaphor?” Makar asked.

He shrugged, grinning. “Stacy’s been making me watch a lot of cat videos.”

“And she won’t sleep with you if you don’t?” I asked.

“Fuck you, I got Stacy in the palm of my hand.” He held out his hand in front of us, as if to prove a point. Makar shot me an amused look.

Yeah, it was the other way around. It was Stacy who got him trapped in the palm of her hand. He just didn’t know it yet.

I rolled my eyes. “Maybe you should worry less about me and more about when you’re going to marry Stacy.”

“It’s not like that,” he said, glancing away. “We’re just having fun.”

“Right,” Makar said, looking at me. “Just having fun.”

Baran reached out and punched his arm. I moved between them. “Let’s focus on the job, yeah? Go and direct everyone to get ready for transport. And send a few of the men out to start doing ‌mock runs with the rented trucks, in case we were followed here.”

Baran and Makar nodded and got to work. I stood where I was for a moment, taking a deep breath before letting it out, seeing the white air billow in front of me from the cold.

Then I got to work.

It was going to be a long fucking day.

2

JAMIE

Ishouldn’t be here.

That was the first thought in my head.

I really shouldn’t be here.

I moved away when I felt a body push in close to me, only to bump into another one.

Why was it so goddamn crowded?

What the fuck was I even doing here, and alone?

I could have brought Preston along, but he probably wouldn’t approve of me wanting to come to this bar owned by the Bratva.

Not just anyone in the Bratva.

Kingston Mahankov.

I just…

I just wanted to see him.

I didn’t really think it through. It wasn’t like I had planned this tonight. I had just gotten off work. I looked down at my outfit and grimaced. While it wasn’t as revealing as some of the outfits I saw on most of the women here, it wasn’t exactly the same as my everyday clothes. And people were getting too close to me.

Too close.

I hated being touched.

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