Kostya: A Dark Mafia Romance (Zinon Bratva), Nicole Fox [life changing books txt] 📗

of a smile. It’s in that moment I realize I’ve never heard him laugh. Or even seen a genuine grin. Not that he’s grim, exactly. He’s more what I would call chronically serious. But seeing him truly relaxed is like seeing a completely different person.

“Charlotte, swim with us!” I hear the pitter-patter of little feet on the pavement and turn my head to see Tiana scampering towards me.

“Walk, honey,” I warn. “You could fall!”

She ignores me and takes my hand to tug me to my feet. She’s strong for a little girl, though I could make it easy for her to yank me towards her daddy.

As much as I would love to swim with her and Kostya, I can’t. I haven’t bought a swimsuit in years. I may live in California where the miles of ocean and beach almost outnumber the residents. But swimsuits have never been high on my priority list.

“You swim. I’ll watch.” But she’s insistent and pulls again so that I stumble at the edge of the pool. I fight my forward momentum and catch myself just in time with a pinwheel of my arms that, if gravity was just a hair weaker today, might have lifted me in flight.

Tiana laughs because, at three and a half, all her life is a game. And now she’s discovered a new one. I teeter and totter. Beside me, she mimics my antics. I wiggle and wobble, and her giggles turn to belly laughs and clapping hands.

And then I hear it. The richest, most delicious and resonant sound in the entire history of sound: Kostya Zinon’s laugh.

A purr starts in my stomach and works its way up as goose bumps rise on my skin. Then it becomes a nervous chuckle that bubbles out of my throat.

I am a thousand degrees of hot for Kostya, and every minute I stand here, this pool and the man in it each look better and better.

“Swim, Charlotte!” Tiana’s big eyes blink up at me again, while Kostya lounges at the side of the deep end with his arms spread. “Pretty, pretty please.”

“Come swim,” he drawls.

It feels less like an invitation and more a dare. At least that’s how my imagination takes it. And I’m not one who backs away from a dare.

I take a deep breath. “Okay.”

And I jump in.

Because, why not? I want to swim with them. I want to hear his laugh again. I want to be a part of this day, not a spectator to it. And if I have to spend the rest of the day plucking my T-shirt off my torso a hundred times so my nipples don’t poke through and give me something else to be embarrassed about, then I will gladly pay that cost.

Kostya’s eyes are dark, his tongue gliding along the inner edge of his lower lip, and I’m thinking of shedding my top altogether. If I had anything even remotely sexy underneath my Bon Jovi T-shirt, Kostya would be getting an eyeful of it, but the last time Victoria told me a secret, I was a senior in high school who didn’t have a car payment or rent and my mom gave me clothes money. Nowadays, my lingerie comes from the sales bin at the discount department store. And a man like Kostya deserves better than a cross-my-heart whose lace is only sewed onto one cup.

“Catch me, Daddy!” Tiana is poised to jump, hands pressed together like a fin over her head, knees bent, toes pointed. I wait, although I can see a thousand dangers I want to scoop her up and shield her from. But I also know she needs to try new things, test her courage, and Kostya is here to save her if necessary.

Not that she cares about any of that. She’s jumping on three. “One. Two. Three!” And into his arms she goes, flailing, giggling, like the star of a commercial about a perfect little girl having a perfect summer’s day.

The sun hits her honey-colored hair, and I can’t quite digest how lovely she is. I wonder if, when Kostya looks at her, he sees her mother. I see Kostya in her eyes and her smile, but I wonder about the woman who gave birth to Tiana. I do it more than is probably healthy and much more than I’ll ever admit to anyone else.

He’s smiling as they play, the genuine smile I wish he would wear all the time. He’s too young—early thirties—to be so serious all the time. And I don’t like to think about why, because the answer is probably one I don’t want.

He lifts her out of the pool, and she runs around again to stand in front of me this time. “You catch me this time, Charlotte!”

I could do it with no problem, but Kostya moves to stand behind me. His breath warms my ear. “Move back just a little.” He slips his arm around my waist and pulls me against his chest.

Before I can settle in, Tiana jumps, and he catches her in front of me.

“Again!”

I nod and this time she swims to the edge and climbs out. Kostya moves us toward the slope where the pool goes from waist height to over my head. Way over my head.

Our legs tangle as I kick and wait for Tiana, who’s running from one end of the pool to the other. Kostya is still pressed to my back, his arms still tight at my waist as we tread water. My stomach flutters and my pulse dances in my chest. Since I started working for him, there haven’t been many nights where I don’t dream of something like this, but the reality is so much better.

His chin nuzzles my neck, and I tilt my head. Wrong. I know. But … so right. His beard rasps against my skin, and I’m a goner. I know it. He knows it. Tiana probably knows it.

I can’t see anything but him. And I want him so badly I can’t even look at