Sinful Promise (Koslov Bratva #6)

2. Danil

2

DANIL

Emily Mullens in a skintight red dress should be illegal.

The fact that I’ve managed to walk across the bar despite my throbbing erection is nothing short of a miracle.

But then she turns around, and her red painted lips part in a way that has me imagining all sorts of filthy things, so I have to slyly adjust myself as I approach her.

She’s fucking killing me.

Emily’s green eyes widen as she realizes I’m standing right behind her, and I grin.

I didn’t mean to sneak up on her, but when I saw she was about to leave, I had to go over. I knew she was going to insist on walking home by herself, as her apartment isn’t far, which is exactly why I intervened.

There’s no way in hell I’m letting her out of my sight when she’s wearing a dress like that.

The fact that I’ve already noticed most of the men ogling her ass as she walked over to the bar has my temper rising. But, unfortunately, it’s not my place to say anything. For all I know, she wore that dress, trying to catch some guy’s attention, hoping to take one home tonight.

Though I have absolutely no right to be annoyed by such a thought, my body tenses at the idea of another man putting his hands on Emily. I’m not her boyfriend, no matter how much I wish I was. No matter how much I want her to be mine.

So, if she wants to wear a dress that leaves nothing to the imagination, then so be it. But I’ll make damn sure she gets home safe.

“Hey.” I try my best to keep my eyes on hers and not on her incredible breasts that are barely contained by her dress.

“Hey.” Her voice is a little breathy, and from the slight flush to her cheeks, it’s clear she’s far from sober.

I force myself to look away from her before I do something stupid like lean in and kiss those plump, red lips.

“Did you have a good birthday, Jana?” My throat is painfully dry, and my voice comes out as more of a croak.

I can still feel Emily’s eyes on me, but I purposefully keep my attention on her friend.

“Mmm…” Jana sighs sleepily.

Mason chuckles. “I’m going to get this one home. Thanks for a great night, Danil.”

“No problem.”

“Bye, Jana. Hope you’re not too hungover in the morning,” Emily teases.

“You have to be drunk to be hungover…” Jana slurs, which has Mason rolling his eyes.

“See you guys later.” He turns and guides Jana toward the exit.

I know the moment they’re out of the door, he’ll pick her up and carry her to his car. The guy might look like a neanderthal, but he has a heart of gold.

I appreciate how he’s always looking out for Emily, and I usually have no issues with him walking her home.

But not tonight.

Tonight, I want to be the one she leaves with.

Emily is oddly quiet as we watch Mason and Jana leave, but I put it down to tiredness. It’s rare for her to be out past ten, and I make a mental note to tease her about it on the walk back to her place.

Because teasing Emily Mullens is one of my favorite pastimes.

"Give me two minutes so I can organize someone to cover me, okay?”

“Sure.” She offers me a smile that draws my attention back to her lips.

Fuck. They’re practically begging to be kissed.

I wonder if she likes being kissed softly, or if she prefers it a little rough. Would she want me to lick slowly along the seam of her lips with the tip of my tongue, or would she prefer if I pushed her up against the wall and forced my tongue into her mouth like I own it?

All the blood rushes to my cock, and that has me blinking out of my fantasy.

Fuck. I need to get laid.

“Stay here.” I turn and dive into the sea of drunken patrons.

Anton has done an incredible job with Espionage . The place is always busy, no matter the day or time, and since I’ve come on as manager, we’ve been in talks about opening up another location.

Perhaps if I do a good enough job here, he might let me take over the new location. Or I could step away completely and open up a place of my own.

I can’t deny how much it would mean to step out of my family’s shadow and prove that I’m more than just my name. It’s one of the main reasons why I went to university and got a BA in business as well as an MA.

As I approach the bar, I notice my best friend, Luca, chatting up a group of girls who barely look old enough to be in here.

I make a mental note to speak to Reid on the door on my way out. He’s a trustworthy guy, but some of the fakes out there now are so convincing that it takes an actual ID scanner to pick up on the discrepancies.

I’ve been trying to get Anton to invest in one for months, but he’s not sure it’s worth the money.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, a few thousand bucks is nothing for him. Especially considering the fact we could lose our license if we’re caught serving underage patrons.

But I’m not one to talk, seeing as I’m the one who persuaded Anton to let Emily drink in here tonight.

Luca smiles at me when I approach. “Hey, Danil. Want a beer?”

“You’re supposed to be working.”

Luca flashes me one of his trademark smirks that has all the girls swooning.

“That shit won’t work on me, Luca. I don’t have a pussy.”

“Chill out. You should be thanking me for all the extra revenue I bring into this place. The girls love it when I give them a little attention, which keeps them coming up to the bar to buy drinks. That’s the whole point, right?”

“Whatever. I need you to be in charge for a little while.”

“How long is a little while?”

“Twenty minutes or so.”

Luca narrows his eyes at me.

“Why?”

“I need to walk a friend home.”

Luca glances over my shoulder toward the exit, and I find myself cringing when his eyes light up.

He winks. “Take an hour. It’s about fucking time, Danil.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, you don’t…” Luca chuckles. “You’ve been obsessed with this chick for months . I'm surprised your cock hasn’t fallen off from lack of use.”

He’s not wrong.

I used to have no issues with hooking up with random girls that come into the bar. But ever since Emily and I started hanging out outside of our study sessions, it felt wrong to sleep with someone else when I started developing feelings for her.

“I’ll be back in twenty .”

Luca rolls his eyes before turning his attention back to his fan club.

I only hope he’s not giving away too many free drinks, as I'll be the one who will end up taking the blame for it.

Emily is hovering by the exit, looking uneasy. Her arms wrapped around her middle, as if she’s trying to shield herself from view, which makes me frown.

Why did she wear that dress if she didn’t want male attention?

A few guys look as if they’re about to approach her, but I step in before anyone has a chance to even get close enough.

She noticeably relaxes when I appear, and I offer her a reassuring smile.

“Ready?” I place a hand on the small of her back.

She nods, and I don’t hide my smugness when I catch a few of the guys giving me death stares as I walk out with Emily.

Not one of them is worthy of even a smile from her.

Unfortunately for me, the walk to Emily’s apartment is short. Even walking extra slowly, we get there in under ten minutes.

I wish I had an excuse to take a different route; that would mean I could spend more time with her, but I don’t.

“You looked like you were having fun tonight.”

We turn left at the end of the street. It’s barely midnight, so there’s still plenty of people roaming the sidewalk, looking for somewhere to finish off their night.

I keep close to Emily, my left hand hovering at the small of her back to guide her through the oncoming crowd.

Emily chuckles. “Oh, yeah. It was a good night.”

“Jana certainly seemed like she enjoyed herself.”

“I don’t know why she likes tequila so much. It tastes disgusting, but she assures me that drinking it is the only way to ensure that the night will be fun.”

“Is that so?”

“Apparently.”

“Well, maybe we should test that theory some time to see if the results can be replicated.”

“It would be very important research.”

I glance sideways at her to find her grinning up at me; her green eyes lit up with mischief.

Even in her heels, she still barely comes to my chest.

I love how delicate she seems compared to me. It makes me want to wrap her up in my arms and never let her go.

“I look forward to it.”

Her cheeks flush pink, and she looks away.

She keeps her eyes forward. “Thank you again for getting us in. I know you could’ve gotten into a lot of trouble if someone found out you were letting in underage girls.”

I laugh.

“I’m a Koslov. If the worst thing I do is let an underage girl into the bar, then I’d consider myself a saint.”

“I think the ship with your sainthood set sail a long time ago.”

“Hmm… What’s the opposite of sainthood, then? Can I have that instead?”

“Uh, I think that’s just called being a sinner.”

“Oh, I have many sins to repent,” I murmur in her ear.

Emily’s throat bobs, and I chuckle quietly to myself.

I’m desperate to make a move, and finally get my hands on her after all this time. I want nothing more than to sink my fingers into the soft curve of her waist, or to pull down the scrap of material that covers her breasts and take one of her peaked nipples in my mouth.

My cock twitches in my pants at the images playing out in my mind, as if to remind me of the fact that I haven’t slept with a woman in months.

As we come to a stop outside the entrance to her apartment building, I take a moment to admire her.

Fuck, she’s so beautiful.

She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and glances shyly up at me under her lashes. There’s an innocence to her I find refreshing.

Usually, if I approached a girl in a bar and offered to walk her home, we would have barely made it to the back alley before she was ripping open my pants, and I was fucking her against the wall.

Not that I’m complaining. I’m all for some quick and dirty sex.

But not with Emily.

When I imagine sex with Emily, we’re tangled up in bed, where I can easily spend hours with my head between her thighs. I would wear her out so much that she would drift off to sleep in my arms with a smile on her face.

That’s how it should be with Emily.

When we first met at Zara and Dimitri’s wedding, I was honestly surprised that we didn’t hook up that night, considering the fact that we spent the whole evening sitting in the corner of the ballroom drinking champagne straight out of the bottle.

A few times, I thought she was going to make a move, but then the night ended, and we went our separate ways.

Perhaps it was for the best. We can’t ignore the fact that my brother is married to her sister, so our lives are permanently tied together.

That is, until Zara decides she’s had enough of Dimitri. I’m honestly surprised she’s put up with him for this long.

The guy is a massive pain in the ass.

So instead, Emily and I have become friends over the last few years.

I’ve learned that not only is she beautiful, but she’s kind and funny and fiercely loyal to her family. All qualities that I didn’t know I looked for in a woman.

Getting to know her on a deeper level has only confirmed my feelings for her, but now we’re too far into our friendship to do anything about it. The thought of making a move and her not feeling the same way seems like too big of a risk.

I don’t want to lose her, or my friendship with her. It’s too important to me.

Her eyes are on her feet as she turns to me. “Thanks for walking me home. You didn’t have to do that.”

Why isn’t she looking at me?

Emily isn’t usually shy around me like this, and I’m desperate to know what she’s thinking.

“I wanted to. Believe it or not, Mullens, I like spending time with you.”

The way her cheeks turn slightly pink has me feeling a little smug.

“Do you want to come in? We could watch Godfather II if you wanted… I know you prefer it to the first one.” She looks up at me under her eyelashes, and something like hope flashes in them.

Is that why she’s acting so shy? She wants me to come up?

“Uh…” I want to say yes. So bad.

If she looked down and saw the current state of my cock, she would know just how much I want to say yes.

But I don’t think that’s what she’s asking for here, so I need to walk away before I do something I might regret. “I have to get back to the bar. If Anton finds out, I left Luca in charge; he’ll have my balls.”

“We wouldn’t want that.” She chuckles under her breath.

“No, we wouldn’t. Because I know you’d much rather have them than Anton.”

Emily hits me on the arm. “Danil! You are so filthy.”

“We’ve already established that.”

She rolls her eyes, but her lips pull up into a wide smile.

I grin at her. “Next time, though. I promise.”

Her smile falters, and my chest tightens.

I hate disappointing her, but I have a responsibility to Anton that I can’t afford to fuck up.

I watch Emily disappear inside the building, my eyes lingering on the soft curve of her ass as she walks.

It would be so easy to just follow her inside, to take her up to her apartment and the moment the door closed, rip that dress off her and fuck her against the wall.

Even if I had the balls to tell her how I really felt and something did end up happening between us, I couldn’t be sure if it was what Emily truly wanted. She’s been drinking, and I’m not about to take advantage of her like that.

What if our hooking up was nothing but a drunken mistake in her eyes?

The thought is like a knife to the gut.

I’m not sure I could handle losing our friendship, all because I couldn’t keep it in my pants.

But that isn’t going to stop me from taking myself in my hand tonight while I think about how fucking mouth-watering Emily looked in that red dress.