Page 79 of Paved in Hate

“Well, shit, I can’t say no then.”

“Can I go with you when you meet with my brothers?”

He laughs. “Nice try, but no way in hell. I can compromise with small things,ptichka, but if it concerns your safety, then I’m putting my goddamn foot down.”

“Such a caveman,” I say, but I’m smiling too big to sound angry. The truth is I like it when he goes all alpha male on me.

Chapter14

Vitaly

When Dominic steps off the elevator, Katya is right by my side. I look down at her and give her a wink before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She’s clearly proud of herself for weaseling her way into the meeting, but the truth is that as long as there isn’t any danger, I love having her by my side. I was planning on inviting her to the meeting anyway, but I’m not going to tell her that. She looks too damn cute when she’s gloating.

“Finally invited to the Melnikov home,” Dominic says with a smile. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“You and me both,” Lev says with a pretend groan. Ever since Lev shot Dominic over a misunderstanding, they’ve had a bond of sorts and they like nothing more than to get under each other’s skin.

“Well, it’s a day of many firsts,” Roman says. “I’d like you to meet my wife, Emily.”

Emily holds out her hand. Dominic shakes it and leans down to kiss her cheek. “It’s nice to meet you, and congratulations,” he says, nodding towards her stomach. “Roman said it’s a boy.”

Emily beams up at him. “It is, yes. We’re pretty excited.”

Dominic looks around the room, smiling at Simona, who he’s already met, before looking over at Jolene. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says, holding out his hand.

“Don’t try and kiss her,” Lev says before Dominic can lean down.

Dominic mutters something in Italian and then switches to English to tell Jolene, “Your husband is ridiculous. Did he tell you he shot me?”

“I did,” Lev says, answering for her, “and I told her that you’re still whining about it.”

Dominic gives Jolene a wink. “It hurt like a son of a bitch.”

Jolene laughs and leans back against her husband while Dominic looks over at us. His dark eyes run over Katya before he gives me a smirk. He pulls an envelope from the inside pocket of his expensive suit and hands it to me.

“Congratulations on your wedding.”

“What is this?”

“A wedding gift.”

I hand it to Katya so she can open it. When I see the business card for an Italian restaurant, I look up at him.

“It’s the best Italian restaurant in the city,” he says.

Katya turns the card over, and on it Dominic’s written,Guests of Dominic Alessi.

“Take your wife out and have a good time. You can hate the Italian mafia all you want, but you can’t deny we have the best goddamn food on the planet.”

“You haven’t tried my grandma’s borsch,” I tell him.

Lev laughs and says in Russian, “You don’t have a grandma.”

“Don’t tell him that,” I say. “Besides, I bet whoever the hell my grandma was, she could cook one hell of a borsch.”

“You’re terrible,” Katya says, laughing. I kiss her head, loving that she speaks Russian. I speak English fluently, but Russian is my first language, and it will always be the one I prefer.

Dominic looks at Katya. “I don’t want to know what he’s saying, do I?”

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