Chapter 3
KAZIMIR
Roman sinks into his leather armchair situated at the head of his conference table in the fight club offices.
Every eye is on him as he goes over the latest figures.
We've pulled in a million dollars in the last quarter, with more cash flow than we know what to do with at this point.
Things are looking up as we enter into the new arrangement with the Radin organization to expand into other ventures.
"So with the wedding approaching," he says, making eye contact with each of us seated around his table, "things have to shift for a while.
" He looks directly at his brother, Timur, our tech man, and nods.
"Tim, you'll be heading things up while I'm in Italy.
" Then he turns to me and says, "And Kaz, I'm depending on you to ensure our fights run smoothly. "
I feel a little tense that his focus is on me to lead this.
Ro never leaves town. As Pakhan, everything hinges around his leadership and choices, so trusting me with this is huge.
It's a chance I've been waiting for to prove myself, and if things go right, he may let me take full control as he moves into leading his bride-to-be's family’s empire.
"I got you," I tell him, jerking my chin up, but the reassurance doesn't land. His lips purse and his eyes narrow, causing me to sit a big straighter and tug the collar of my shirt into place.
We're raking in more cash than ever, and things are wildly successful with the police major-general in our back pocket following some excitement last week at the fundraiser. I know, more than anyone, how important it is that I not mess this up.
"Kazimir, you're a good man and a good leader.
I've watched you grow and mature over the past several years and really come into your own.
But I'm telling you if you drop the ball on this, it could cost us everything.
" Roman leans forward and drums his fingers on the table as Stepan snickers under his breath, hiding behind a hand.
With all eyes on me, Roman and Timur don't notice it, but they do notice my scowl.
"You think this is a joke?" Timur asks, lifting one eyebrow. It's all fun and games while we're bored running security, but I know this is no place for screwing off. He's giving me a chance to show the world how well our organization functions even if the leader is away.
And Ro deserves his honeymoon too. He's worked hard building everything his father handed down to him, and his father before that. I won't let anything derail me from following those footsteps.
"No, I get it, okay? It's not a joke, and I won't fuck it up.
" My throat constricts as my family all stares at me, though Stepan still has a stupid smirk on his face.
His constant reminder of my past eats away at me.
I did some pretty fucked up shit when I was younger, but that was then. I'm a different man now.
"Good…" Roman sits back and looks more at ease with my reassurance.
"The American will arrive on the fourteenth for the fight later that week.
You'll have to provide travel and security for him, though he may come with a few of his own men.
Then the fight will have to run smoothly, no room for surprises. "
I listen intently as Roman details the entire plan for me, but I feel my phone buzz, trying to distract me from where it hides in my pocket.
I'm meeting Zora tonight for some drinks and dancing, though dinner would've been my preference as I suggested that night we met.
Still, it is facetime with her and I won't pass that up.
God knows, I need a little relaxation with the new responsibility being put on my shoulders.
The meeting wraps up with all of us knowing the plan for a few weeks from now when Roman marries and leaves town. And I'm already halfway to the door when Stepan falls into step beside me, nudging me with his elbow.
"Hot date tonight, huh?"
I scowl at him and ignore his playful side.
He likes to make everything funny. I want this to go right.
Seeing my uncle fall in love and plan a wedding with the new woman in his life has made me crave more too.
It's not enough to have success, power, and money.
What's the point of any of those things without someone to share them with?
Stepan thinks life is one big game to play and he's winning.
"Shut up," I grunt as I jam the elevator button.
"She's hot, Kazzy. Gonna take her home?"
I turn on him with a glower and shove him with both hands in his chest. "I said, shut up. Don't talk about her like that." Stepan gets my point, backing away while laughing like he proved his point, and the elevator doors open. I step in and press the button for the ground floor and descend.
Twenty minutes later, I'm walking through the doors of the Pulse nightclub.
Music pounds loud enough that it's hard to think and strobe lights flash wildly from several different places around the room.
A large crowd of bodies gyrates in beat to the music, forcing me to weave between them to search for her.
I find Zora at the bar already, half a drink in, with one elbow on the counter and her body angled toward the room like she's been people-watching.
She's wearing a black top that fits snug over her tits and she looks like she belongs here more than I do, which is saying something because I've had a stool at this club since I was twenty-two.
She spots me before I reach her and her mouth pulls into a grin that makes my chest twist. God, she's beautiful.
"You're late," she says playfully, sipping her drink through the thin black straw.
"You're early," I tell her, and I take the stool beside her and signal the bartender. "How's the drink?"
"Better than the wine I wore last time you saw me." She takes another sip and sets the glass down then turns her body toward me. When her knee brushes the outside of my thigh, I feel my dick twitch. "I figured I'd get a head start so I'd be relaxed by the time you showed up."
"Were you nervous?"
"I was thirsty," she says, and the grin stays put. "Don't flatter yourself."
I chuckle at her and admire how good she smells, like she bathes in perfume or something. And the way she's looking at me with interest says she's as into me as I am to her. It's a good feeling.
My drink arrives and I take a sip, and her green eyes track the movement of my hand, then return to my face without any hurry. I like that she's checking me out, probably noticing the ink on my skin, which I don't try to hide.
"So, what do you do when you're not saving damsels at hospital galas?" she asks.
"I run a gym," I tell her, which is true enough for a first date. "Fighters, training, events. Family business." She doesn't need to know it's a new position for me or that I am part of an illegal underground fight ring. Those details may never come out if this doesn't go well.
"Family business," she repeats, then her lips wrap around that straw and suck. God, it's erotic watching her do that. "That sounds like a lot of early mornings."
"Every morning. What about you?" I like the way we flow right into conversation, not the surface level stuff like weather or the song playing overhead, but real stuff like our lives and our habits. It makes me like her even more.
"I work with my brothers," she says. "Mostly, I do paperwork and budget stuff, consulting… It's boring."
"You don't look boring," I tell her, and her cheeks flush. She picks up her glass and takes a sip to give herself a second, and I file that reaction away because I want to see it again. The real humility behind her good looks only makes her that much more appealing.
The music shifts—something with a heavier bassline that vibrates through the bar top under my forearms—and she glances at the dance floor and then back at me and tilts her head.
"You dance?" she asks.
"When the company's right."
"Get up, then," she says and slides off her stool.
When she holds her hand out to me, I take it because there's absolutely no version of tonight where I say no to this woman about anything.
If she wants to dance, we dance. If she wants more, we do whatever the hell keeps that gorgeous smile on her face.
The floor is packed and the music is loud, and she pulls me in by the front of my shirt until we're chest to chest in the middle of the crowd.
Then she turns and puts her back against me, and my hands find her hips and she starts moving with a slow, rolling rhythm that fits the bass perfectly and sends heat climbing up through my stomach.
Her head tips back against my shoulder, and I can feel her breathing—the rise and fall of her ribs against my chest. Her pulse flutters along the line of her neck, tempting me to lean down and nip at it, but I restrain myself for the moment, focusing on her hips pumping against my pelvis.
When I pull her tighter, she presses back into me, arching her spine until there's nothing between us except fabric and body heat.
My thumbs press into her hipbones and her breathing hitches, fingers wrapping around my wrists.
Every brush of her body on mine is making me swell, and she knows it.
The quick, flirty glances over her shoulder tell me she's doing it on purpose.
I drop my mouth close to her ear. "You're trouble," I tell her, and I feel her laugh more than I hear it.
"You have no idea," she says.
She turns in my arms and faces me. Her hands slide up my chest to my shoulders and her fingers curl into my shirt.
Her eyes are dark, the green barely there behind her blown pupils.
Her mouth is only inches from mine, so tempting, and still I maintain my self-control as I bring my hand up and run my thumb along the line of her jaw, tilting her chin toward me.
Her pulse jumps hard under my fingertips when I brush the edge of her throat.
"Come home with me," I say against her ear, low enough that the words belong to her alone, though I know she hears it over the din of music.
Zora rubs her body all over mine as she hooks her fingers around my neck and pulls me down. Her lips brush over mine gently, then she trails them along my stubbled jawline to my ear where she whispers, "I'm not an easy girl, Kazimir."
It sends a hot flush through my chest as her breath dusts my ear. I pull her hard against my body and grind, letting her feel what she's done to me. We've been on this date less than thirty minutes and I already know I want to take her to my bed and ravish her.
"See what you're doing, Zora?" I grind again, swaying my hips in beat to the music. "Either you're gonna have to stop doing that, or you're gonna have to help me fix this problem I have."
Zora snickers and lets her hands slide across my shoulders and down my arms where she hooks her fingers around mine and starts pulling me toward the exit. We haven't paid our tab. We haven't even exchanged last names, and my cock is throbbing at the way she's looking at me.
When we burst through the front door into the crisp evening air, she's all over me, pulling me in, kissing me hard, crushing her tits against my chest. I grab a handful of her ass and squeeze it, grinding on her more, but the excitement stops cold when my phone rings.
The timing is so brutal, I keep my eyes closed for a full ten seconds before I reach for it. She catches the shift in me before I even pull it out. The whole mood between us cracks down the middle as I lift my phone and look at it. Roman's name is on the screen and I already know the night is over.
"I have to take this," I tell her, and she steps back to give me room while I press the phone to my ear and turn away from the building. I don't dare ignore him, not even for a second, but God, would I love to. I look up at her from a few strides away.
"Kaz." He sounds irritated, which isn't a good sign.
We had a few practice sessions going on and he planned to sit in and watch.
"One of the heavyweights went down in a sparring session and he's at the hospital.
I need you to meet him there and make sure he's taken care of. I can't leave the gym right now."
"Which one?" I ask him, scowling. A trip to the hospital means no taking Zora with me. Questions would be asked and I wouldn't have answers for her. God, this is infuriating.
"Rostik… Have the doc check his knee out good, but he's been favoring that right shoulder too. And he's too damn stubborn to get it looked at. We'll pin him down while he's there."
I exhale through my teeth and pinch the bridge of my nose. This is the last thing I wanted to hear tonight and there's only one answer I can give. "I'm on my way, Boss."
I hang up and turn back to Zora. She's standing there watching me with her arms loose at her sides, and I can tell from her face that she already knows what I'm about to say. The disappointment is evident on her whole frame, from her drooping shoulders to her pouting lip.
"Work emergency," I tell her. "I have to go and I can't get around it."
"Yeah, that's okay," she says, and she smiles at me easily. The way she transitions from disappointed to accepting makes my head spin. I don't want her to be okay with it. I want her to be sad, but maybe I've been reading too much into this.
"It's not really okay that we're getting interrupted, but I can't do much about it," I tell her. I walk back over to her and cup both of her cheeks, pulling her in for another kiss to savor and remember all night as I sit in some damn emergency room.
When I pull back, her mouth curves into a smile. "Raincheck," she says.
"Yes, soon," I tell her. "I'll make this up to you."
"I know you will."
I back away, watching her smile as I head toward my car.
I hate leaving her here, but I don't have time to take her with me.
My gut says her brothers are probably stalking around nearby anyway, waiting to make sure I don't hurt her.
It's what I would do if I had a younger sister out dating criminals like myself.
Seven years ago, I'd have ditched Roman’s orders a little longer to make sure I got what I wanted. But he stuck his neck out for me and helped me get on the straight and oh, so narrow. I owe him, and I have to pay my dues now.
But soon, Zora… Very soon, you'll be mine.