Page 43 of The Bratva Betrayal

“This.” I step closer without releasing her wrist. “My warnings. The shooting. Me telling you to stay away from things that don’t concern you.” My gaze drops briefly to her mouth before returning to her eyes. “You ready to stop dating my brother?”

Her breathing changes, just a sliver. “No.”

I tilt my head. “You sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t even like him.”

She makes a face. “Excuse me? You’re doing a very bad job at allegedly knowing everything.”

“I know enough.”

Her wrist twists once in my grip, testing me more than trying to escape, and I don’t let go.

“You think I’m scared of you,” she says.

“I think you should be.”

“I’m not.”

I step close enough to smell the faint floral scent on her skin, and to see the tiny freckles sprinkled across her nose.

Close enough to kiss her.

The thought hits hard and immediate.

Wrong brother.

Wrong woman.

Wrong everything.

“You should’ve picked me,” I say before I can stop myself, because I would love nothing more than to have had one night.

One night, with my lips all over her body to see how quickly I could get her to shut up and submit to me. To hear the sounds she would make over the lies she freely spills.

Her lips part, and I clench my teeth. “Why?”

Because you look at me like a challenge instead of a monster.

Because if you were mine for a night, I’d already know every secret you’re hiding.

“You’d have gotten closer to the information you wanted. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“What if it isn’t?”

I look down at her for a long second, my fingers still wrapped around her wrist while tension stretches between us.

“If you keep lying to me,” I say, “eventually, I’m going to stop being patient about it.”

“And if you keep threatening me,” she whispers back, “eventually, I’m going to stop letting you.”

I’d love to see how she’d manage that.

What is she going to do? Sic her dumbass brothers on me?

She should.