Blazing for the Bratva: A Russian Mafia Romance Novel Page 3

  Natalia nodded and went back to the table. Pavel counted up to sixty in his head and then joined her.

  Irena and Kate were both watching them. Pavel hunched his shoulders like he was still tense and upset but trying to calm himself down. Natalia was doing a good job of looking mildly irritated as well.

  With any luck, both the other women would think the two of them were in separate bathrooms trying to calm themselves down from the argument.

  “So,” Natalia said casually. “Changing the subject. How many bugs do you think are on this table?”

  Pavel smirked. “I’m pretty sure Kate put one in my shoes.”

  “I think there’s one stuck to the underside of the table,” Natalia replied.

  They both turned and looked over at Irena and Kate, who were glaring at them.

  “They can definitely hear us,” Natalia laughed quietly.

  Pavel liked this other, more mischievous side of her. “I am sorry that you were not given more advance notice.”

  Natalia sent a quick glare her sister’s way. “Well. It wasn’t your fault, you didn’t plan this.”

  Pavel shrugged and she looked back at him. “It’s hard when we remember that we are not always in control of our own lives. That we answer to someone else.”

  A shadow passed over Natalia’s face for a moment before she got a hardened look in her eyes, like she was willing away any unwelcome thoughts. She raised her chin a little. “Well. I will find a way to be in control of my own life again. Just you wait.”

  Pavel wasn’t going to be the one to argue with her on that. She’d just scheduled a clandestine meeting with him and she’d found a way to convince him to say yes to it. Even knowing the risks. If she wanted to declare she was in control, then he wasn’t going to be the one to stand in her way.

  Besides, now that it wasn’t directed at him in anger, he… couldn’t say that he didn’t like the fire she had. It wasn’t the disdain that he was used to from a lot of people still, but it wasn’t letting herself get walked all over by any means. He found that he wanted to see more of it. See what happened when the spark was playful and casual and not being used to fuel her anger.

  “Well. I suppose I’ll look forward to seeing you.” Natalia flashed him a dismissive smile.

  Pavel rolled his eyes. “Not even a handshake?”

  “We could practice making out, if you wanted, since we’ll have to do it at the wedding.”

  Pavel looked over his shoulder in time to see Irena choking on her coffee. “You know you shouldn’t say things just to rile your sister up.”

  Natalia looked disappointed. “You’re just impossible to frazzle, aren’t you?”

  “I wasn’t promoted to lieutenant because of my bad temper,” Pavel replied.

  “Well. I hope there’s a little… steel in you somewhere. You’re a Russian man, after all.”

  Pavel glared at her. When they met alone and he wouldn’t get in trouble for it, he’d definitely show her that he wasn’t going to put up with her goading.

  Natalia apparently considered that her parting shot, because she stood up and looked over at Irena, indicating that it was time to go.

  Pavel stood as well, nodding his head in respect at Irena. Kate walked up to him as the two women left the café.

  “That could have gone better,” Kate noted.

  “You two were listening in. How did you think she’d behave, nicely?”

  “You could have done better.”

  “Me?”

  “You could have charmed her.”

  “She didn’t want to be charmed, ma’am, she wanted to be argumentative and pick a fight.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “I’ve asked you to just call me Kate, Pavel. And yes, I could see that. At least you two won’t have to deal with one another until the engagement is announced, and possibly not even until the wedding day.”

  Pavel kept his face carefully neutral. If only Kate knew just how soon he would have to deal with Natalia Mikhailova again.

  He hoped that her apology had been sincere, and that she would be better once they were alone together and could speak plainly about themselves.

  Otherwise, he’d be stuck in a loveless marriage for the rest of his life.

  Chapter Six

  Natalia was nervous about meeting Pavel alone.

  Not that she feared for her safety. But she was risking her reputation—and her family’s reputation. If it was discovered that she and Pavel had been meeting, before any engagement was announced, it would look like the engagement was just a covert-up for an ill-advised affair. Some would even say Natalia was pregnant and that was why a hasty engagement was being done.

  Father would be furious. Natalia didn’t think that meeting a man for a casual discussion in a park should be a big deal in this day and age, but everything had double layers in their world. Sometimes she wanted to grab those smarmy politicians that she saw on the news every day and ask them if they really knew what it was like to play the game. Their children could marry whoever they wanted, after all.

  She put on headphones and said she was going to meet some friends for a movie and lunch. She and her sisters were old enough that they didn’t need bodyguards with them everywhere, although Irena and Father always preferred that they take one, especially when they were going out alone. But she wasn’t going to take someone with her for meeting friends, and so no one batted an eye.

  After all, it would hardly do for ‘normal’ people to see her with a bodyguard and know that their former classmate and friend was the daughter of a major crime boss.

  Natalia walked instead of taking the subway, so that nobody could log where she’d gone. Just in case. Part of her relished breaking the rules like this. Try to control one of the most important aspects of her life, would he? She’d find her ways to fight back.

  The spot she’d chosen was a quiet little park that was technically a part of what the families referred to as no man’s land. There were several so-called no man’s lands scattered around, little pockets that didn’t belong to any particular family. They filled in the cracks and made sure there were neutral spaces for people to meet if necessary.

  She was walking through safe, allied territory, but she couldn’t help but feel like every shop window and dark alley held a potential spy. As if someone really was going to run to their boss and say, do you know what the youngest Mikhailov daughter is up to?

  As if she was really important enough for anyone to notice what she did. She went and got a damned art degree and nobody in the mafia world had batted an eyelash.

  If only Father would understand that times were changing. That things didn’t have to be so restrictive. Sometimes, she just wanted to let him have it and give him a piece of her mind and damn whatever the consequences were…

  Natalia paused as she turned the corner and found herself facing the park.

  She took a deep breath, turning off her music but keeping the headphones on. If anyone tried to sneak up on her, they’d be caught off guard, thinking she was unaware.

  Natalia told herself sternly that there was nothing to be worried about. It was broad daylight, neutral ground, and she’d arranged this meeting. She’d asked for this.

  The bench was deserted when she went to sit down. Pavel apparently hadn’t arrived yet.

  Natalia kept her headphones on. She hadn’t brought her phone, in case it could be tracked, but she could use her music player like a phone and pretend she was texting on it so nobody would try to come up and talk to her.

  What if this was a mistake? What if Pavel was going to decide it wasn’t worth showing up? What if he was looking out for the opportunity to get her alone?

  That last possibility didn’t strike her as likely. If he’d wanted to get her alone to harm her or kidnap her—the Sokolovs were once known for kidnappings, after all, although that had been before Ivan had taken over the family, back when Bogdan ruled the bratva—surely he would’ve been charming and more talkative the whole time durin
g their lunch meeting. He would have tried to get her to like him. Instead, he’d been infuriatingly calm the entire time.

  She hated that she couldn’t help but admire a little how he’d refused to match her rage. He’d been upset, obviously. But he’d stayed calm in a way that Natalia certainly hadn’t. Couldn’t.

  She looked around as she sat, keeping an eye out. But the one place she didn’t think to look—like an idiot—was behind her.

  Didn’t matter. The moment she felt a hand on her shoulder she stood, grabbing the person by the wrist and twisting their arm, flattening their hand and pushing until the person had to go down on their knees or break their wrist.

  “Ow!” Pavel yelped.

  And then she was on her back, knocked flat, her legs kicked out from under her. She rolled away as Pavel took a step back, his hands held up in surrender.

  “Self-defense,” Natalia informed him, staggering to her feet.

  “I should know better than to surprise a Mikhailov,” Pavel replied. He looked amused, smiling at her in a way that made her heart thump. It was a sweet and eager smile, and she understood the nickname better than ever before.

  “That was a good kick,” she acknowledged. “We could spar someday.”

  “Do they have couples’ sparring classes?”

  She laughed, caught off guard by the joke. Pavel looked delighted that he’d gotten her to laugh. He gestured for her to sit down, almost as if they were at a restaurant and he was pulling out a chair for her.

  Natalia sat and Pavel took the other side of the bench, keeping a respectful distance. She almost wanted him to push, she wanted to see what it would take to get him to actually show some fire. She could sense it somewhere under there, which was why he’d stormed off to the bathroom when they’d met before—to keep himself from unleashing it on her.

  It was sweet, actually. That he didn’t want her to have to deal with his anger, even if she’d been the one who caused it.

  “So,” Pavel said, gesturing at her. “Let the interrogation begin.”

  “I brought a list,” she lied, just to see what his face looked like.

  Pavel’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead. “Oh, did you? Is there a test at the end too? I need to get your favorite movie and the name of the childhood monster under your bed correct?”

  Natalia laughed, again caught off guard by the humor. “There’s no list. Or test.”

  “Oh, good, I was never good at those. I didn’t even bother finishing high school.”

  “You don’t sound…” Natalia caught herself before she could say ‘dumb’, realizing how that sounded.

  “Sokolov—the former one—didn’t see the point in my continuing school. Most of us don’t, you know.”

  Natalia did know. Especially since, judging by his accent, Pavel had been born in Russia and had come over to the States. Having to learn the language and customs of a new country and culture had to have been hard. “When did you come over?”

  “Ah.” Pavel smiled at her in a way that told her he’d been asked that question before. “When I was ten. My father served Sokolov and I was going to, as well. I grew up with Ivan and his brother.”

  “The one who murdered his father.”

  Pavel sighed and looked away. “That will follow us for a long time. Yes, that happened. But Ivan’s father, the old boss… he was psychotic. He kidnapped a girl and was going to—doesn’t matter what he was going to do. I’m not going to get into details. But his cruelty led to his death, and nothing else. Ivan is not his father, he’s a good man. I serve him happily.”

  “But you’re not going into this marriage thing happily.”

  “Could be worse,” Pavel replied. “I’m not… I’m all right. It’s better than if we did an exchange.”

  “Why? An exchange only lasts a few years.”

  “Ivan Sokolov is my best friend. I’ve spent my whole life serving his family. Then I have to spend a few years around people I do not know and do not trust and then, if things go sour, who is the first on the chopping block? At least if I marry someone, we have options about it.”

  Natalia snorted. “Being legally stuck to someone for the rest of my life that I don’t love. That’s an option, all right.”

  Pavel leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “But we can make it what we want. I would like to get to know you. Perhaps we could become friends.”

  Natalia raised an eyebrow, unable to completely keep from goading him a bit. “And you don’t have any other girl you had your eye on? No girlfriend who’s going to be miffed?”

  “Ah, no.” Pavel shook his head. “I’m not what most people, I think, expect from a bratva boyfriend.”

  “Your nickname?” Natalia blurted out. She regretted saying it almost immediately. It was probably insulting to him.

  Pavel bit his lip, like he was unsure if he should smile or grimace. “Yeah that… wasn’t a fun nickname, at first. The old man gave it to me. It was an insult, all right. But Ivan says it affectionately and other people have started using it that way too.”

  “It fits your eyes,” Natalia said, desperate for a positive spin on the nickname. She didn’t want him to think she’d been laughing about it—although she had, actually—and she didn’t want him feeling bad. “You have soft eyes.”

  “I’m hoping that’s a compliment.”

  “It is,” she assured him.

  “So, you know my story.” Pavel gestured at her. “What about you, princess?”

  “Don’t call me that.” Natalia rolled her eyes. “It’s not as if it’s gotten me anywhere good in life.”

  “Let me guess, your sister would be appalled if she heard you say that.”

  “My body would never be found.”

  Pavel chuckled, his eyes sparkling and his lips upturned in a smile. Natalia felt her chest warming up, knowing that she made him laugh. Dammit. He needed to stop being attractive. This was just so they could get to know one another and be honest. And so she could make up for their less-than-cordial, tense first meeting. “But seriously.”

  “All right. Um. I went to college and got a degree in Fine Arts.”

  “You’re an artist?”

  Natalia nodded. “I’d like to be, anyway, but of course Father’s first thought was that I should open up an art gallery that was a front for the family business. Which I’m—it’s not that I don’t want to help out—of course I do—but I’d like to actually deal with art, and you know when something’s a front nobody cares about the actual product, they just care what it looks like on the books for the IRS.”

  “What sort of art do you do?”

  “Painting,” Natalia admitted. “I like the Impressionists. Father thinks it’s all frou-frou and nonsense and that I should’ve gotten a business degree or something, but I’m the youngest so I guess I don’t matter enough for him to really dig in his heels about it.”

  “You matter,” Pavel replied. His voice was soft but appalled, as if he couldn’t imagine Natalia thinking that about herself.

  “I’m—I don’t mean to offend you, honestly, but I’m marrying the lieutenant of a small family. You’re an up-and-coming family. You’re young and hungry, Father respects that. Or at least Irena does. But you’re small and I’m not even marrying the boss, I’m marrying a step down from the boss. It’s an insult. A decade ago, Father never would have stood for anything less than a Capone.”

  “Pity there aren’t any of those left,” Pavel replied.

  Natalia smiled, glad he got her joke. “Pity.”

  “I know I’m not what you wanted,” Pavel murmured. He stretched his arm out over the back of the bench, and it didn’t seem to be conscious but it almost put his arm around her shoulders. “I knew that from the moment I was told about this. But I’d hoped we could be friends.”

  His accent sounded best when he was murmuring like this, his voice deep and low and rolling. “Friends?” she asked, forcing herself to keep looking into his eyes. It felt like she’d entered a game of chi
cken without even realizing it, but she’d be damned if she lost.

  The corner of Pavel’s mouth ticked up in amusement. “Call me optimistic.”

  “You weren’t looking for some… love-at-first sight romance?”

  “I’m sure I have the reputation for being naïve, or at least I used to, but I’m not the type to think I’ll take one look at someone and fall in love with them. Lust, that’s one thing. To look at someone and think they’re beautiful, to want to kiss them, that’s something that we see every day. But to feel that—that thing that my father and mother had, that thing I see between Ivan and his wife, that thing that made a man who had everything kill and leave it all behind for a woman—that doesn’t happen all at once.”

  “How do you think it happens?”

  “Getting philosophical on me?”

  “I’m getting to know you. We’re going to be married, after all, I think it’s important to know what you think on love, wouldn’t you say?”

  Pavel huffed out laughter, as if she’d challenged him to climb a tree or something equally ludicrous. “I think it happens before you know it.”

  “And what kind of person did you think you’d fall for?”

  “Someone who didn’t spend our first meeting insulting me the whole time,” Pavel replied.

  She deserved that one. “Well, I pictured someone who had a little more fire in him.”

  “I was wondering why you were goading me.”

  “Oh, no, could you tell?” she teased, smirking at him. “But you’re dodging the question.”

  Pavel sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m not going to be able to get away with anything with you, am I?”

  “If you’d like, you can tell me what side of the bed you prefer, if you’re allergic to anything, what kind of TV shows you like…”

  “I wanted a woman who saw that I wasn’t what everyone thought I was,” Pavel blurted out.

  “What did everyone think you were?” Natalia asked, unable to stop herself from pressing the matter. Her curiosity overruled anything else.