Expose' (Born Bratva Book 3) by Suzanne Steele Read Free Book Online Page A

right here, this is different…so very different. I pull her back against me with a hand pressed across her abdomen as I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. My lips brush the shell of her ear as I tell her how it’s going to be from now on. “Mmmm, I want you. I’ve decided you’re mine, Logan, and I keep close tabs on what’s mine. I’ll be watching you even when you don’t think I’m around. God help you if you go out with any of the jocks at that school you go to.” I press an open-mouthed kiss along the side of her neck, and grin when I feel her shiver. My fingertips slide along her baby-soft inner arm and up over her shoulder until I clasp my hand around her neck, squeezing just enough to get her attention. “No one touches this silky skin but me, do you understand what I’m telling you?”
    “Not happening, Kodiak,” she replies breathlessly. “I’m not going to be another notch on your bedpost.”
    I chuckle and nuzzle her neck. “This isn’t just about me fucking you, it’s about me protecting you.” My voice loses all playfulness as I straighten, release her neck and turn her around to face me. “You don’t have a choice here, Logan. I’ve been given the job to guard you, to watch over you, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” I pull back to look at the dress she’s wearing. “Hmm, that dress is missing something.”
    “What, it doesn’t look good? But you just said it looks good.”
    “It needs a statement piece,” I say as I trace a fingertip down the plunging neckline just to see how she reacts. Her eyes widen at the unexpected, rather intimate skin-on-skin contact. I grin when she tries and fails to act nonchalant about the whole thing. “Go put on the jeans and the cream muslin top, the one with the gold around the edges -- and the Jimmy Choos. Then we’ll go. We need to check on your little friend--”
    “What the hell do you know about fashion?” she interrupts skeptically.
    “When you live in my world, perception truly is reality. Image is everything.”
    “Oh,” she scoffs, hands on her hips. “The whole organized crime thing?”
    She needs to respect the seriousness of what I’m about to say. I place my hands on her shoulders and lean down to look intently into her eyes. “I have to know I can trust you. Other than showing up at the gambling house the other night like a sexy Little Red Riding Hood in a sea of Russian wolves, you haven’t done anything yet to give me a reason not to. But if you are up to something,” I hiss as her throat muscles convulse in a gulp, “trust me, I’ll know soon enough. Either way, understand this -- you don’t breathe a word about anything you see or hear. Nothing. Even if it seems trivial or harmless. You will respect the Bratva code of silence…or you will die by it,” I murmur as I raise my hand to once again clasp her neck. I savor the hectic thrum of her pulse beneath all that silky skin as I slowly tighten my grip…just so. “And, sadly, so would I.”
    “No! Your father would never allow it,” she gasps. So very naïve is my little one.
    “That is where you are wrong, Logan. Glazov is Bratva. They are one and the same. In matters of justice…or vengeance…the Pakhan has no wife, no child, only Bratva. But if you have nothing to hide, then there is nothing to fear. So, relax,” I drawl, slowly releasing my grip on her neck. “Now, to answer your question…Yeah, the whole organized crime thing—clothes matter.”



Chapter Nine
    Logan
    I’m exhausted by the time we’re ushered into the Glazov mansion to prepare for tonight’s event…soiree…reception? Hell, maybe I should think of it as a ball since I feel like I’m just waiting for my fairy godmother to show up. I’m reeling from an afternoon of Bratva power shopping, the trunk of the car loaded down with finery that I’d never be in the same room with otherwise. As tired and overwhelmed as I am, my veins are buzzing with enough adrenaline