Alexander
“Where are you going, brother?” Katya asked, sliding her sunglasses to perch atop her head so she could study me with a frown.
She was lying by the pool, her slender body barely covered by a luminous lime green swimsuit. On anyone else it would have looked vile, but on Katya… she had the figure and tanned skin to pull anything off and she knew it. She sat up, looking me over with narrowed eyes.
“That’s new. Bespoke, and not your typical style.” Katya didn’t miss much, despite acting like she was always above and beyond everything happening around her.
It was true, I practically always wore a suit. Being part of the Bratva meant always looking the part, and the part was of sophistication and ruthlessness. Still, I knew I looked even better than normal in the new suit I was wearing. Tailor-fit in a crisp gun metal gray, the jacket was stretched across my muscular shoulders. My braided hair was pulled tight against my scalp, my beard tidied. Yes, I knew I looked damn good.
“Don’t you need to get ready for tonight?” I asked, hoping to derail her questions.
Katya smiled and stood up, coming towards me with a watchful gaze. “Big brother, you’re hiding something.”
She reached for my collar, but I grabbed her hand at the last moment, raising an eyebrow at her. “You’ve been out in the sun too long. I think you have heat exhaustion.”
Her smile widened. “It’s a woman, isn’t it!”
I rolled my eyes. “I need to go.”
“Go where?” she taunted.
“Out,” I bit off the word sharply, turning away from her smug gaze just as Nikolai came out from our house wearing his swimming trunks and a towel thrown over his shoulder.
“Where are you going?” he asked as he sauntered over, his own suspicious gaze going up and down me.
I sighed. This was becoming tedious now. “Out.”
“Out where? You’re going to a party without me?” he scowled.
“I think he’s met a girl,” Katya said.
Nikolai’s gaze fell to her, and I didn’t miss the hungry look on his face as he studied my sister’s barely covered body, eyes roving up and down every inch of her. I’d seen that expression on my bestfriend’s face many times before, and for once a drop of doubt came to mind.
But, no. Nikolai would never pursue Katya sexually.
He may be an idiot in some ways, but he wasn’tthatstupid.
“I did not meet a girl,” I growled.
Katya and Nikolai exchanged a look and I sighed.
“Fine. I might have met a girl,” I relented.
Katya jumped up and down clapping. “My brother, finally settling down!” she squealed.
Nikolai held a hand to his heart. “Say it isn’t so.”
“It’s just a date,” I replied dryly.
“It starts as just one date, and before you know it, you’ll be married off and having children and I’ll have lost my partner in crime and I’ll have to seduce all the beautiful women alone. I thought we were a team, Alexander.” Nikolai looked appalled by the idea of me settling down, his hand still resting over his heart dramatically, but we both knew that it had to happen sooner rather than later. For both of us.
“Awww, is poor Nikolai losing his best friend,” Katya teased with a laugh.
Nikolai reached for her, his hand going to her tiny waist, and he pulled her against his body. Her hands slammed against his chest as he held her tight against him. “I’ll always have you, Katya,” he said with a throaty growl and a wink.
“Ewww, have you even been vaccinated?” she pushed against him and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Nikolai scowled and let her go. “One day, Katya,” he warned, “one day you’ll say differently.”
