2. Kenji

"I'm out," I grunt, pushing from my spot on the velvet couch.

"Come on, man. At least finish your drink," Dmitry drawls, turning his intense gaze my way. "Don't leave me alone with these fuckers." He nods towards our friends.

Alessio DeLuca, the Italian mafia capo, and Jacques ‘Jack Frost' Corsi, former green beret and the most lethal man you'll ever meet. If you don't count me…

I can't hold back a twitch of my lips. "You just want me here so you can show off when your woman arrives."

Dmitry's scary face cracks into a wide grin. Eyes fucking twinkling and shit. How the mighty have fucking fallen.

I shake my head. "Asshole."

He chuckles.

"What's wrong, brother? Plenty of sweet things to go around here," Frost teases me.

"Yeah, and we all know what they want. Money, gifts, connections. I'm fucking tired of all that shit, man."

"The fuck else you want?" Alessio asks me, eyebrows raised. "A goddamn fairytale like these two motherfuckers?" He tilts his head in Maksimov's and Frost's direction. "You think you're also gonna get your perfect woman handed to you on a fucking golden platter?"

My smirk grows.

Dmitry chuckles, raising his big hands, open-palmed. "Hey, don't hate, brother." He turns back to me, adding with a mocking smirk, "maybe you should sign up for Maty's dating thing."

Alessio grumbles, sending Mitya a death glare that only makes the psycho laugh harder.

"What? She's matching chicks with their fantasy dudes. Maybe Ken is someone's wet dream."

Asshole is having a field day with this shit.

"Fuck you," I repeat, giving him the finger with both of my hands.

We all fall out, except Alessio. He's super protective of that woman and seems to hate the idea of her meeting dudes to find them the right women.

"I think Les should sign up for that shit," I poke him, and it's my turn to be the target of his dagger eyes.

I don't get why he doesn't just claim the girl. She's smart, funny, hot. Part of our world. And I've seen them together. She's definitely into him. Stubborn ass.

I change the subject before smoke starts coming out of Alessio's ears. "Just wanna get off, man. Not looking to sign NDAs, get a psych eval, fucking lab work, and all the shit Maty asks for."

Les relaxes a bit. "Then you're on your own, brother. She's dead serious about all that stuff."

"How the fuck did this dating agency thing come about, anyway?" Frost asks in his deep rumble.

"Not even sure, man," Les replies. "Chicks are fucking crazy." We all raise our glasses to a chorus of ‘amen to that'. "Like, one minute she was pitching me a business idea, the next she starts talking about book boyfriends." He shakes his head.

"Book what?" I ask, confused.

Frost chuckles. "That's what women call the heroes in those smutty books they read."

My eyebrows climb up on my forehead. The fuck?

"Yeah, Ana reads that shit, too. You wouldn't believe how nasty those stories can get. Good shit." He wags his eyebrows and we all crack up.

When his chuckle dies down, Frost adds, "and get this, the ones about mobsters sell like dope at a frat party."

"shit, we in the wrong business," I mutter, and we all laugh again.

* * *

Our banter is interrupted by the small group of women walking toward our table. Four beautiful ladies smiling and chatting animatedly. We stand to greet them. Dmitry and Frost each going to take their wives in their arms, leaving Les and me to face the last two girls. I recognize three of them, but my mind instantly fixates on the fourth one. She's fucking magnificent. All full curves, deep brown skin and big chocolate eyes. Her red-painted lips are parted. And she's staring at me like a fucking deer caught in headlights. Her rapid breathing making her round tits rise and fall under the tiny dress that molds to her delicious body like a second skin. Without even consciously telling my body to do so, I take a step forward and grab her hand, pulling her close.

* * *

"I'm Kenji," I hear myself rumble, barely recognizing the low, guttural timber of my voice. Am I fucking growling?

"Nia," she responds. Her voice is a caress all over my body. A maddening mix of soft and throaty. The deep chocolate pools of er eyes stare back into mine with mirrored fascination. I take in her beautiful features. The long lashes, discreet make-up, the loose curls of her dark hair falling to her round shoulders. She's so fucking beautiful, she makes my chest hurt.

"You wanna get out of here?" The words escape my lips before I even fully think through my actions. Fuck, what is this woman doing to me? I'm Kenji ‘The Katana' Watanabe. My life is about order and discipline. Not fucking tripping over my feet for a chick I just met. But this think between us. It's fucking all-consuming, irresistible. The most powerful emotion I've ever felt.

Nia nods and her eyes widen like she didn't mean to do that shit. Like her body is reacting to mine in a way she's not in control of. I know exactly how you feel, baby girl.

"Let's go," I let out in a commanding tone.

Then I wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her into my side, finally feeling her soft curves melt into my hard muscles. Fuck, she feels good. My dick is hard as a rock. My heartbeat out of control. I feel like I'm gonna explode if I don't get my hands under Nia's dress very soon.

"We're out," I announce to the rest of the group, barely meeting my friends' eyes. The other women look at Nia with wide-eyed expressions. My brothers are smirking knowingly. These assholes all fell deep and hard for their women at first glance, and I've always teased them about it. Now look who's fucking talking.

"You sure, babe?" Mitya's woman asks my girl.

Nia simply nods, giving her friends a reassuring smile. Then she breathes, "I'll call you later."

As simple as that. Because she knows. We both fucking know. The way she feels against my body, how she looks, the smell of her. The way our bodies instantly feel connected by a fucking live wire. We're going home together. Or wherever is the closest place I can get her naked and under me.