34
“I t's raining again.”
Roman looked up from his laptop’s screen to see Alessandra standing in the threshold to his study. Her hair was down in loose curls, her eyes bright and full of warmth, and he took a moment to admire just how beautiful she was.
The blue skirt she wore barely reached mid-thigh, exposing the smoothness of her tanned legs, and he could make out the imprint of her nipples against the fabric of her cropped tank-top.
It was October already, but her wardrobe hadn't changed since the summer months.
Not that Roman was complaining. If he could have just stared at her for hours on end, he would have done it.
He didn't think he'd ever been so infatuated with a woman before her. She was perfect in every way, but even more so when she looked so natural being in his home and wearing his rings on her finger.
“That’s what usually happens in the fall,” he said, leaning back in his chair.
She sighed dramatically. “I'm bored.”
“I’d like to say the same.”
Ignoring his dry tone, she advanced into the room and stood in front of his desk. “What are you doing?”
“Working.”
“I can see that, but on what? It's the Lord's day, Roman. Even bad guys have some respect for the Lord's day.”
Amusement filled him. “So I'm a bad guy now?”
Alessandra shrugged and propped her hip against the edge of the desk. “You're like a good bad guy.”
“That doesn't make any sense.”
“Yes, it does. You do bad things, but you're also a pretty decent person.”
Roman ran a hand over his mouth to hide a grin. “Pretty decent, huh?”
“Yup.”
“Come here.”
Her eyebrow arched. “Why?”
“Don't question me, woman.”
“I don't like your tone.”
“And I don't like your attitude. Come here before I spank your ass red.” Alessandra rolled her eyes, though she was already rounding the desk toward him.
Roman caught her by the waist, pulling her down on his lap.
His hand caressed her thigh as he pushed up her skirt to reveal the blue lace thong she was wearing. “Hmm, I like these.”
She ran her fingers through his dark hair and smiled. “I'm starting to sense a pattern here with you and lace panties. You said the same about the red pair.”
“What man doesn't like lingerie? If it's see-through, all the better.”
“Charming,” she deadpanned.
He kissed her neck. “Actually, now that you're sitting on my lap, horny. Want to take care of it?”
“Watch a movie with me, and maybe I will.”
Roman drew back to look at her. “Are we negotiating now?”
“I'd rather call it me incentivizing you to spend more time together.”
His hold on her thigh tightened slightly. “Smartass.” Then he went back to kissing her throat and lips for another minute, before pushing her off his lap. “I need another half an hour and then we can do whatever you want.”
She gave him a dirty look, and Roman fought a smile. “Cool,” she said in a voice that should have sounded blasé, but her annoyance seeped through.
“Cool,” he parroted, his focus already back on his work.
As Alessandra left, she closed the door behind her, and he appreciated the thoughtful gesture. He worked in silence for the next forty minutes, the only sounds in the room coming from the laptop's keyboard as he replied to e-mails and followed up on some offshore transactions.
Roman was good with numbers, algorithms and everything that required logical thinking.
Had been for as long as he could remember.
It was one of the reasons why Vitaly had tasked him with most of the financial-related aspects of the Bratva's various businesses.
That meant an increased workload for him and little free time, but Roman couldn't deny that he also enjoyed it.
By the time he was done for the day, more than an hour had passed. Powering off his laptop, he stood from the desk and headed for the living room. Alessandra was stretched out on the couch on her stomach, holding a pillow under her chin as she watched something on TV.
“I see you started without me,” he said, discarding his phone on the coffee table. Grabbing her calves, he lifted her legs and sat on the couch. Alessandra turned onto her back, keeping her feet on his lap.
“It's just some sitcom.”
Roman had been busy for most of the day, but now that he was more relaxed, he remembered there was something he wanted to discuss with his wife. “I talked to Laney about house renovations, and she has someone for us. We can set up a meeting for next week.”
Alessandra sat up, seemingly interested in the subject. “So, about that. I was thinking that I'd like to convert one of the guest bedrooms into a study room for me.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Let's see; we have your study room, my gym, the master bedroom, the patio area. Anything else?”
“I think that's it for now.”
With a nod, he turned his attention to the TV. “What are we watching?”
“We have two options: The Conjuring or It.”
“Horror again? I thought you said you were done with horror flicks after the last time.”
She shrugged one shoulder as if to say that was in the past. “I'm just getting a taste for the genre.”
“I'm not holding you tonight when you're too scared to sleep on your side of the bed.”
With a knowing grin, she crawled up to him on the couch, her arms going around his neck. “Yeah, you will,” she whispered against his ear.
A smile pulled on his lips. “Maybe I will.”
They eventually settled on watchingIt. Alessandra even made a bowl of microwave popcorn and brought Roman a beer from the fridge.
They managed to actually watch the movie for about twenty minutes.
As soon as Roman's hands were empty, they started wandering, and it didn't take long before Alessandra was straddling his lap and they were making out, the movie forgotten.
???
It was almost midnight when Roman made his way downstairs for a glass of water.
On this way back from the kitchen, he walked past the living room and something caught his eye in the dark.
Pausing, he looked into the room and noticed that his cell phone's screen flashed with an incoming call on the coffee table.
Before he could reach it, the phone went dark again.
Roman drained his water, put the empty glass down and grabbed his phone. He froze when he saw nine missed calls, the last one from Stepan. A chill ran down his spine when he realized most of the calls were from Alek.
Tatyana was his first thought. He'd always insisted that she needed more protection, but she was too damn stubborn for her own good. If anything had happened to her, it was Vitaly's fault for letting her do whatever she pleased, all the damn time.
With a sense of dread slithering through his veins, he pressed his thumb to his brother's name on the screen and brought the phone to his ear.
Alek answered almost immediately. ”Roman, thank fuck.”
“What happened?”
There was a cacophony of noise in the background, and Roman already knew where Alek was before he even spoke.
“I'm at the hospital. Dad's been shot. He was leaving the club and... it's bad. It's really fucking bad.”
It took Roman a second to grasp the enormity of what his brother was telling him. A second of hesitation was all he allowed himself before his body took over, injecting adrenaline into his system and kick-starting his alert mode.
“What hospital, Alek?” He turned to leave the room and took the stairs two at a time as he rushed to the bedroom.
“Weiss Memorial. Fuck , hurry.”
Alek sounded panicked. Scared even. Passing Alessandra in the bedroom, Roman went straight for the walk-in closet for some clothes. “Try to calm down. I'm on my way.”
After hanging up, he quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a lightweight sweater and put them on, not even bothering with socks.
“What's wrong?” Alessandra nearly ran into him as he exited the closet. She frowned when she saw that he'd dressed.
“Vitaly's been shot. I need to get to the hospital.”
She stared at him, eyes wide and lips slightly parted. He started to walk out of the room when she called after him .
“Wait, I'm coming with you.”
Roman knew he didn't have time to wait for Vladik and he also didn't want to leave her alone.
“Fine. Get dressed quickly.” He was already in the hallway. “I'll wait for you in the car.”