Leather jacket.
Black shirt.
Shoulders broad enough to block the sun.
Expression a perfect unyielding mask.
My heart skips. A fluttering starts in the pit of my stomach.
This is…not good.
Or maybe it’s exactly the kind of good I shouldn’t want.
“Evening,” he says, voice low, smooth, and so deep it vibrates in my stomach.
I grip the counter. “Hi. Um, Andrei’s out of town. Visiting Mikhail.”
“I know.”
Of course he knows. These men know everything.
“I’m here for the monthly,” he adds.
Right. The protection fee. Andrei always handles that and I never have any reason to interact personally with Viktor.
“Okay,” I manage. “I’ll…I’ll get it from the office.”
I flee—there’s no dignified word for it—to the back, unlock the safe, and take out the envelope. I take a breath, tell myself I’m an adult, and step back out and the Shikini meet is breathtaking…
Viktor is crouched on the floor in front of Vanda, not touching her, just holding out his hand, palm open, letting her decide. Vanda creeps forward, body trembling, nose twitching. She sniffs…once, twice. And instead of running away, she rests her chin gently on his fingers.
My mouth falls open.
“No way,” I whisper.
Viktor glances up at me, eyes unreadable but intense. “She’s cautious,” he says. “But she’s a good girl.”
“I—she doesn’t seem to like men,” I stammer. “At all. She hides from everyone who walks in.”
“She’s not hiding from me.”
There’s no arrogance in his tone. No smirk.
Just truth.
I swallow. “I’m surprised. You must have a way with dogs.”
He gives Vanda one more soft touch beneath her chin before standing to his full height, towering over me.
“I like dogs,” he says simply. “They’re honest. Unlike most people.”
The words hit somewhere deep.
Raw.
Unexpected.
“I agree,” I whisper.
