Chapter 16
Dubai, two weeks ago…
Andrei
The private shopping gallery smelled faintly of expensive perfume and polished marble. It was the kind of place I normally found insufferable unless I was there to amuse myself with Viktor’s bad behavior, but today, I barely noticed any of it. My attention stayed fixed on her.
She walked slightly ahead of us as we exited the final boutique, her dark brown hair catching the ambient light, dress hugging her hips in a way that made it very difficult to keep my thoughts professional.
The bags she carried swung lightly at her side, and she moved with this quietly formidable confidence that made everyone in that overpriced corridor step out of her path without realizing why.
She tossed her hair back without thinking, chin tilted, eyes sparkling for half a second before she remembered herself and smoothed her expression. She kept trying to hide joy like it was weakness. She didn’t understand yet that none of us wanted to smother her joy or keep it small.
Especially not me.
As Mikhail and Viktor argued about something pointless near the curb, I took the moment to study her, really study her.
The dress she wore was expensive, but she looked like she could fight in it.
The short-heeled boots she wore elongated her legs, but she stood like someone who could run full speed if necessary.
Her face was flushed from the afternoon heat, lips faintly parted as she caught her breath.
Most people looked fragile in Dubai’s relentless sun. She looked carved from it. Absolutely radiant.
And yes, my body reacted before my mind caught up. She’d been with Viktor first, then with Mikhail, and that should have made me step back, should have triggered every self-preservation instinct I had. My brothers didn’t share easily. Dragunovs didn’t, by nature. And yet…
I wanted her too.
It wasn’t a passing flicker of desire. It wasn’t a stray recognition of beauty.
It was hunger mixed with amusement, fascination laced with a much darker desire.
She wasn’t just physically beautiful, though she was, painfully so.
She was intelligent, bold, sarcastic, and sharper than a well-honed blade.
I’d felt that spark when she smiled at me, when she threw that verbal grenade at my chest earlier, when she told me I might be afraid to show her ‘how small my dick was.’
That one had punched straight into my spine and stayed lodged there.
My brothers had touched her, tasted her, left their marks on her skin and in her memory. And something in me—a part I didn’t want to examine too closely—didn’t find that threatening. I found it challenging. Almost like a gauntlet thrown down right at my feet.
I didn’t want what they had. I wanted something else. Something that was mine alone. Something she hadn’t given them. Something special…
And I would take it. Eventually.
She reached the limo before the rest of us, sliding into the back seat with a practiced ease that made the hem of her dress ride up her thigh.
I saw the line of her skin and felt heat wash through me in a constricting wave.
I swallowed hard, forcing my brain to focus on anything other than the constant pulse that was making my cock jump.
Keep it together, Dragunov.
My brothers filed in next—Viktor loud and careless, Mikhail quiet and watchful.
I took the seat across from her, tugging the door shut behind me.
The interior smelled like leather and faint citrus.
The tinted windows bathed us in cool shadows, giving just enough privacy to make this limo feel like a confession booth.
Petty thoughts tried to slip in—Mikhail had her shower-warm scent still clinging to him; Viktor wore her satisfaction like an invisible tattoo—but I shoved them away. The thoughts weren’t jealous ones, at least not exactly. Just frustration mostly. Maybe a little envy.
She rested her hands on her knees, fingers tapping an uneven rhythm she probably didn’t realize she was making. Her breath still came a little fast from the walk. She caught me looking at her. Really looking. Instead of turning away, she held my gaze.
Issuing me a challenge.
No. An invitation disguised as one.
“What?” she asked, pretending she wasn’t aware of how she looked. “You stare a lot,” she added. “Should I charge you a fee?”
I leaned back into the soft leather seat, ignoring Viktor’s smirk. “Just admiring the scenery,” I lobbed back.
She raised a brow. “The skyscrapers or me?”
“Both,” I said without hesitation.
A flush touched her cheeks. She tried to hide it by shifting her gaze toward the window. A small victory, but a victory, nonetheless.
Mikhail noticed. His jaw flexed slightly, but he said nothing. Viktor saw it too and smirked like he was cataloging ammunition for later fights.
The limo pulled away from the curb, the city sliding past us in streaks of silver and gold. Katya exhaled softly and stretched her legs out. The dress rode up a fraction higher.
I felt it in my dick.
She turned her face toward me again, chin raised. “You don’t strike me as the shopping type,” she commented.
“I’m not,” I replied. “But I do enjoy watching my brothers make fools of themselves in public.”
“Hey,” Viktor protested.
“Only one of us behaved,” Mikhail said pointedly.
“I was charming,” Viktor defended.
“You were loud,” Mikhail corrected.
“You were both predictable,” I added.
Katya snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
My lips curved. “See? She understands perfectly.”
She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them when the motion pressed her breasts higher in a way she clearly hadn’t considered beforehand. Her eyes flicked to mine, almost daring me to comment.
I didn’t.
Not aloud anyway.
She bit her lower lip, flustered for half a second. “And you?” she asked. “What predictable trait do you have?”
“I’m the thoughtful one,” I said. “The quiet one.”
“That’s code for devious,” she replied.
“It can be,” I said.
Viktor leaned into her shoulder playfully. “He’s trying to say he’s the safe option.”
I laughed. “Safe? No. But I am the one who thinks before he acts.”
“Thinking is overrated,” Viktor said, stretching. “Reacting is more fun.”
Katya looked at me again, eyes narrowing in a slow, assessing sweep. “Maybe you think too much,” she suggested. “Maybe that’s your fatal flaw.”
I leaned forward, elbows resting on my knees. “Or maybe it’s the thing that will let me keep up with you.”
She lifted her chin just a hair and that was the moment I realized something I probably shouldn’t have.
I could fall for her.
Easily. Quickly. Completely.
And I wasn’t sure I cared to stop it.
Her lips curved. “Careful, Andrei,” she said. “You’re starting to look like you want something from me.”
I didn’t blink. “I do.”
She swallowed, barely, but I saw it.
“And you?” I asked. “What do you want?”
Her breath hitched.
That was all the answer I needed.