Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(76)

But that was obviously not something he was ready to do. He reached for her again, impossibly long arms nearly snaring her ankle, but she was quick, darting out of the room before he was even off the bed.

Hearing him stumble out of the room after her only made her laugh harder as she raced through the house trying to get away. But he was faster and more determined, and before she had even cleared the living room, he had an arm around her waist, hauling her up against him.

Alex shrieked, slapping at his back for him to put her down, but he kept moving, and she realized, almost belatedly, that he was walking them into the kitchen.

“Luka, let’s talk about this!” She couldn’t see what he was doing, but knowing him, she wasn’t going to like it, especially if he was thinking retaliation.

Finally, he seemed to see reason as he set her on her feet. She took a deep breath, about to look at him when she heard the water turn on and the whirr of him pulling the hose next to it.

“Wait!” She threw her hands up, and he did pause, his face slowly spreading into a grin that, despite the circumstances, made her return it. “We can work this out without weapons.”

“Really? Explain that to me.”

“We can—”

Before she could finish that statement, he sprayed her directly in the face.

“You were saying?” he asked with a smirk, not in the slightest bit ashamed of what he’d done.

“Luka—”

He sprayed her again, laughing when she tried to dodge it. Water was getting everywhere, all over the counters and floors, soaking through the T-shirt of his that she was wearing.

“What were you saying? I can’t hear you! It’s the water, I think.”

She was laughing so hard her sides hurt, and finally, after she managed to knock the hose from his hands, the water stopped. They were both completely soaked, dripping even more water onto the floors.

But neither seemed to care much about this fact.

Alex didn’t think she had ever seen Luka look so carefree, his guard down for once. The feeling that swelled inside of her at seeing his smile was indescribable.

She went up on her tiptoes, kissing him gently, feeling his lips turn up beneath hers.

“Taking me out for one night won’t kill you.”

Sighing, though he didn’t look the least bit annoyed at the idea, he said, “Probably not.”

“Then let’s go somewhere, just us.”

Stepping forward, she kissed the underside of his jaw, and then smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

In answer, he shook his hair, spraying her with more water. “You’ve got twenty minutes.”

“Luka, I could never be ready in twenty minutes.”

And she was right about that. Even after leaving him in the kitchen to deal with the mess they’d made, she still wasn’t close to ready by the time he came back upstairs an hour later.

“Fucking Christ, what are you doing in here?” Luka grumbled as he entered the bathroom, already fully dressed and ready to go.

When the hell had he bothered to get clothes on?

Alex had only managed to shower and dry her hair, find a dress and shoes to wear, and she was still sitting in front of the mirror, a makeup brush in hand as she readied to finish applying the layer of foundation she’d started.

She met Luka’s eyes through the mirror. “I told you I would be a while.”

“We could be leaving now if, you know,” he gestured to her display of cosmetics. “You weren’t creating a new face.”

Rolling her eyes, she turned back to what she was doing. “I’ve never heard you complain about my new face.”

He plucked the brush from her hands, placing it back with the others, using the stool she was sitting on to turn her around. Without having to ask what was what, he reached for her makeup wipes, pulling a few free.

“I like when you do all that shit to your face.” He gently rubbed the cloth along her skin, meticulously removing every bit of color she had added. “But I like this side of you better. Take it easy, you can be soft with me, I won’t take advantage of it.”

Tossing it, he pulled at the band holding her hair up next, removing it and tossing that as well. Her hair tumbled forward over her shoulders and his fingers immediately came up to tuck it behind one of her ears.

“I think you’re beautiful, Alex. Like this.”

She could feel the flush in her face and couldn’t stop the shy smile that bloomed on her face even if she wanted. No one had ever given her a compliment quite like that, and even if they had, they weren’t Luka. For him to say it just made everything she was feeling for him that much more intense.

“Now, can we go because I can go back to sleep…”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

____

Alex’s hair was whipping behind her as they sped down the road, exits and trees just a blur as Luka gunned the gas.

“Where are we going?” she shouted to be heard over the wind.

Her bare feet were kicked up on the dash, her heels on the floor. They’d been riding for a little more than a half an hour, and no matter how many times she asked, he refused to answer. Soon after, they pulled into a parking lot of a building without a sign, and she still didn’t have an answer.

But he obviously knew where they were.

Parking and pocketing his keys, he hopped out and came around to her side, opening her door.