Chapter 11: Monday morning: No avoiding her

Shit, I had hoped to avoid Sonia when I returned to the Estate briefly to collect my suit for tonight’s dinner, but there she was, coming down the stairs and looking gorgeous.

There was no way to avoid her. At least I managed to speak to her this time, saying “Hi” to her when Ash did, but I did my best not to look at her, praying she wouldn’t speak to me directly.

“Romi, I was wondering if you would mind taking me somewhere this afternoon?” she asked.

Aw heck! My stomach clenched. I so wanted to spend more time with Sonia alone, but I knew it was a bad idea. I opened my mouth about to make an excuse, but Ash beat me to it, opening his own big mouth first.

“Sure, he will. We are just going to have a quick word with Miki, and then I have some work to do, but Romi’s free,” he told her.

“Aren’t you?” he directed at me.

Oh hell. I felt myself break out in a cold sweat. If I tried to get out of it now, it would look odd, and I couldn’t let Ash have any inkling that something was wrong.

“Yeah, sure,” I nodded and tried not to look uncomfortable while I panicked inside.

Sonia smiled widely at me. Shit, shit, shit! I couldn’t take my eyes off her luscious, full lips. How the hell was I supposed to get through an afternoon with her without doing something stupid like kissing her. I was bloody doomed!

“Great, I’ll wait for you outside!” she said before heading out.

My eyes followed her. I couldn’t stop them from tracking her every move or from noticing how great her bum looked in those tight black jeans she was wearing. My body swayed slightly towards her as if it had a mind of its own. Luckily, I managed to stop myself before I actually moved. However, I noticed Ash giving me a thoughtful look. Fuck, I needed to get a grip!

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t get much sleep, and I’ve got a bit of a headache coming on, that’s all,” I said, running my hand across my forehead and briefly closing my eyes to avoid looking directly at him.

“You’re working too hard,” he said, obviously thinking I had been overdoing it with the flat renovations.

We quickly briefed Miki on the state of our investigation into who was really behind the attacks. Our lack of progress was frustrating, but we were hopeful that some more information would be forthcoming soon.

We’d spoken with Sergei, who ran the drug-dealing side of our operation on the ground. He was Bratva through and through, and his twin worked for our Uncle Maxim in Russia in the same role. He was completely loyal, and we trusted him to do his job well.

Sergei was the liaison between us and our dealers higher up the totem pole. He distributed the drugs to them, and they sold them on to other dealers lower down the totem pole, who then sold them on to our lowest-level street dealers. That way, we had no contact with the dealers. It was a good model of business as it made tracing things back to us so much harder.

However, even if he didn’t deal directly with all of our dealers, he knew who they were and kept a close eye on them, no matter what level they were. So we could rely on him to ensure they were warned about this new threat to their lives. Whether that would do any good remained to be seen, but at least they would have been forewarned of the possible danger they faced.

It didn’t feel like enough, but until we knew more about what was going on, it was the best we could do.

Marko had hacked Siri’s phone and was trying to get into a couple of his more senior soldiers’ phones, too. He was also looking at all of Siri’s bank accounts, those in his name and those he thought were hidden but Marko, being a bloody genius hacker, knew about.

We needed to know exactly what they had planned for us and what these attacks were leading to. They had only started a week ago, and so far, there had only been a few. However, that our guys had been attacked at all was a huge problem that needed to be dealt with quickly. Otherwise, we would look weak, and then the sharks would start to circle, and we didn’t want that.

We needed to get more information soon, and our lack of progress was frustrating, so naturally, Miki was not at all impressed.

“Keep up the pressure on our informants. I want to know who is behind this!” he fumed before dismissing us.

Ash headed to his own office after reminding me when we had to pick up the delightful Peacocks.

“I need you with me!” he stated, ensuring I couldn’t bail out on him.

Darn, I had almost convinced myself that creating a flood in the flat might just be worth it to get out of that dinner. I sighed at the prospect of spending more time in the company of that despicable woman.

It looked like I wouldn’t be going to the flat anyway since Sonia wanted to go somewhere—probably shopping. I huffed at the thought. This was going to be another difficult day. Why hadn’t I said I was sick or something? I told Ash I had a headache. I should have played that up and got myself out of this situation.

It was too bloody late now. Sonia was already waiting in the car, and everyone else was busy. Cursing my stupidity, I quickly collected my suit and forced myself to go out to the car. Somehow, I would get through this. There was no other choice.

“Where to?” I said as I slid into the driver’s seat.

“Your flat!” she stated, making me freeze.

“My what?!” What the heck?

“I thought you might like to show me the flat you were telling me about?” she said, smiling.

I blinked at her. Shit, I would love to show her the flat, but that was not a good idea. I was hanging on to my control by a thread as it was. Having her in my own private space, alone, would likely be catastrophic for maintaining my distance.

“I’d love to see it!” she said again, and I could hear the pleading in her voice as she gazed up at me.

She looked so adorable. How could I say no to that? I gulped.

“Okay, I would love to show you it,” I said, although my voice sounded strained to my ears.

All I could think of as she smiled up at me with her beautiful big blue eyes was that I really did want to show her my flat. The straining bulge in my pants was reminding me that I really wanted to show her something else, too, but that was definitely not going to happen. Down, boy!

So much for staying away from her, damn it, I needed to control myself. I needed to get out of this, but I didn’t know how and frankly, deep down, I didn’t want to. I longed to spend more time with Sonia, even though I knew I shouldn’t. I desperately wanted her to see my flat. I wanted to get her opinion on it. I wondered if she would be impressed by the work I had done. I was thrilled by the idea that she might be. Shit, this was bad, very bad.

“So where is it?” she asked, oblivious to the storm of emotions tormenting me.

“Islington,” I replied, taking a long, slow, steadying breath.

I started the car and pulled into the driveway as I made a decision. I might not be able to have Sonia the way I wanted to, but I was going to enjoy spending time with the one other person I knew who would appreciate the renovations I had made and who would be as interested in them as I was. I would just have to control my libido. I could do that, no matter what my unruly cock thought.

So, I spent the ride talking about my project and basking in her interest.

Islington was an up-and-coming area neighbouring Hackney and Shoreditch, and this particular flat was the first one I’d bought in that area. It was a two-bedroom flat with a living room, bathroom, and spacious kitchen-diner. It even came with its own car park space, which in the busy London area was a bonus. I was renovating it to market it to young professional couples looking for a starter home and hoped to have it ready to put up for sale in a few weeks.

Sonia was smart and asked a lot of questions about the market and area, and I really revelled in discussing this stuff with her, so by the time we reached the property, I was feeling much more relaxed and, thankfully, so was my cock.

Opening the door with a flourish, I let her inside before giving her a quick tour.

“The living room and kitchen-diner are complete except for flooring,” I said.

“Wow, Romi, this is beautiful. The workmanship is excellent,” she said in awe as she walked around it, her hand gently caressing the worktops.

I’d already told her that I’d fit the whole thing myself, and I couldn’t help grinning and feeling proud when she admired it.

Grabbing her hand, I pulled her up the stairs, excited to show her the rest of the flat.

Upstairs were the two bedrooms and a family bathroom. Unthinking, I pulled her towards the master bedroom first. It was almost finished and only required the carpet to be lain. I had carpets arriving in a couple of days.

Her eyes landed on the blow-up mattress I had set up.

“Have you been sleeping here?” she questioned.

“Em, yeah, last night I stayed late to install the bathroom, so I thought it best to stay for the night.”

Sonia’s face lit up again. She seemed happy to hear that. Her eyes returned to the blow-up bed, and she licked her lips, and suddenly my semi was back. Uh uh, down, boy! I chastised it as I quickly closed the door and led her to the bathroom instead. It was safer for both of us if we didn’t need to see anything resembling a bed.

“Wow, it’s great! You are so talented to be able to do all of this yourself,” she gushed, and my chest swelled with pride.

“You got skills!” she teased, nudging against me. I beamed at her. I really loved how much she liked what I was doing here.

“So, what do you plan to do next?”

“Paint the second bedroom.”

“Let’s do that now!” she said, delight dancing in her eyes as she bounced on her feet.

Looking her up and down appraisingly, I laughed.

“You are hardly dressed for painting!”

“Haven’t you got any overalls?”

She looked around, her eyes catching on some lying at the end of the hall with the paint supplies.

“Come on!” she cried, “we can change into these.”

Chuckling at her enthusiasm, I shook my head.

“They’ll be too big!” I said, but she had already gone into the bathroom with a pair of dungarees and a T-shirt and shut the door.

Well, I guessed we were painting then. I grinned at the idea of doing what I loved with the woman of my dreams. I had thought bringing her here would be a special kind of torture, but actually, I was beginning to really enjoy myself.

After quickly pulling on the remaining overalls over my jeans and T-shirt and tying them off at the waist, I grabbed the paintbrushes, some rollers, and the paint tin and took them into the second bedroom. There was a dust sheet already down, so I opened the tin, ready to start painting the walls.

Sonia entered the room wearing her t-shirt with the dungarees. She’d rolled up the bottoms and cinched the waist with a piece of string. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she looked funny but totally cute. I couldn’t help but laugh.

She pouted, giving me a twirl, then strutted a few steps before striking a pose like some supermodel, “I think this should be the new fashion! DIY couture!”

I laughed again, shaking my head at her antics.

“Come on, then, show me what you’ve got!” I challenged, handing her a brush.

While she started doing the cutting in at the skirting board, I climbed the ladder and began doing the same on the ceiling. I had the radio on, and she started singing along to the music as I secretly observed her.

She was on her knees, and I couldn’t help thinking dirty thoughts about that. Every now and then, she stopped painting to shake her arse in time to the music whenever she re-loaded her brush, and I smiled because I couldn’t remember feeling as relaxed and happy in a woman’s company before. We just seemed to fit.

I’d poured some of the paint into a roller tray for her to use while I took paint directly from the tin. When she told me she needed it refilled, I headed down the ladder and poured more. I was getting hot, so I removed my T-shirt without thinking.

She gasped as she dipped her brush in my paint tin, getting paint on my hand while removing it. I glanced down to see her staring at my chest, eyes wide. Oh hell!

Our eyes met and held. My whole body froze. Sonia gulped, blinking up at me several times before slowly grinning.

My breath hitched, and I couldn’t look away from her. I wondered what she was going to do. I knew I should move away from her, but I was rooted to the spot.

She took the brush and dabbed it on my cheek. “Oops,” she said, looking mischievous. She stared me in the eye in an open challenge.

So, she wanted to play, huh?

My inner voice screamed at me to break our gaze and step away, yet I couldn’t. Instead, I took my brush and dabbed a little bit of paint on Sonia’s nose, chuckling. She laughed and dabbed some paint on my left pec, then bit her bottom lip before licking it. She looked at me as if she was imagining licking my chest, and that was it. That was all I could take.

Before I could stop myself, I dropped the brush, leaned forward, grabbed the back of her head, and kissed her. I heard her brush drop to the ground as her arms came up and around me as she kissed me back. It was heaven—better than anything I had imagined.

The sweet taste of her on my lips set my soul ablaze. I groaned and closed my eyes, pressing her more tightly to me. I couldn’t get enough of her. She tasted wonderful, and the zing of energy passing between us sparked through all of my nerve endings and went straight to my cock. I was lost in her, kissing her like a man possessed. I felt my erection press into her stomach as my tongue delved deeper into her mouth.

She moaned and pushed up against me, and my eyes snapped open as reality hit with the force of an articulated lorry coming at me at full speed. Oh shit, what the hell was I doing?

Gasping for breath, I jumped away from her, quickly backing up a few steps and stared into her eyes as the shock of my actions struck me.

We were both breathing heavily. Sonia’s eyes were still partially closed, and she had a look of pure ecstasy on her face. I really, really wanted to kiss her again, but one of us had to be sensible. This shouldn’t have happened. I needed to stop this before it went any further.

“That was a mistake!” I said, hurrying from the room.

I quickly stripped my overalls off and used them to frantically wipe the paint from my chest and hand, trying to not think about the look of hurt on her face when I’d said those words.

What have I done?

“Romi?” she called as I was putting my T-shirt back on.

“Get changed, Sonia, I’m taking you home!” I told her firmly without looking at her.

“Wait, what?” she asked, “You are just going to kiss me and then act as if nothing happened?”

“Nothing did happen! At least it shouldn’t have. Forget about it; we need to leave. Get ready, I’ll meet you in the car,” I told her before heading for the front door.

How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let things get so far? I’d kissed her! I’d bloody well kissed her!

Outside, I took some deep breaths. My hands shook as I ran them through my hair, feeling like a bloody idiot. I’d told her we’d made a mistake, and we had. Yet, nothing had ever felt as right as kissing her. Why hadn’t I stayed in control? Everything was going so well until I screwed it up and ultimately hurt Sonia. I cringed as I realised that I would need to hurt her even more to ensure we didn’t make the same mistake again.

I was going to have to ensure that she knew we could never be. I was going to have to pretend our kiss hadn’t meant anything, and the thought of that tore at my soul. I dragged a breath deep into my lungs, closed my eyes, and then slowly released the air. I continued to do this as I calmed myself and fortified my resolve. I needed to put a stop to this, now. I was about to be a bastard to the only woman I wanted in the world, and it was going to be the hardest thing I’d ever done.

It needed to be done.

But why did my heart feel so heavy?