Nothing Burns Like You | 18+ Mafia Romance

23 Longing For You

DANIEL VOLKOV

"God, I miss Irina's cooking..." I sighed, staring at the heating instructions on the back of the frozen chicken tikka masala.

Andrei, Niko and I were at a grocery store on an early Tuesday afternoon. It had been a week since our wonderful Witness Protection Program transition in this charming beach town. We all hated it. It was way too sunny. Too many seagulls and too much sand.

Running a six-figure mob organization? Check. Ordering fifty-five guys around to make me rich? Check. Operating the best casinos and underground gambling parties? Check and check, baby.

But cooking? Uncheck.

"Well, well, well..." Niko not-so-discreetly eyed a woman in a summer dress across the aisle.

"Unless you're well-well-welling the chocolate chip ice-cream she's looking at, don't even think about it." I tossed five masala boxes in the cart. "We have to keep a low profile."

He pouted. "I'm bored. I miss the townhouse. I miss working with Grigor and Artiom."

"First of all, I'm offended that you're not more excited about fixing cars with me. Second, would you stop using their names while we're in public? What part of we are hiding does your pea-sized brain fail to remember?"

"It's not that I'm not excited. It's just...how come Adam gets to have such a cool job, huh?" He pointed at Andrei as if working as a security guard at a high-end lingerie store was being wasted on him.

"I mean, can you blame him?" I waved at Andrei's attire. "It's a hundred degrees out and he's wearing a button-down. He was born for it."

Andrei adjusted his rolled-up sleeves. "Who'd trust you to work security? You have the attention span of a squirrel."

"Hey. Don't make me visit while you're working, buddy," said Niko. "You'll find it very hard to focus when I decide to try on a thong."

'Oh, I'd love to see that," I purred. Niko growled back, wiggling his eyebrows.

Andrei rolled his eyes and walked away. "The car is filled up, enough shopping."

Because we had spent the morning going into every store in town to get to know the people. Scope out who was a threat and whatnot. It wasn't my fault that everywhere I looked, there was something that reminded me of Clara. So I kept buying stuff.

The hypocrite stopped before a section of fresh flowers. I told Niko to get us milk so that he'd leave me alone, then I snuck up on Andrei. He was eyeing a pale pink bouquet.

I picked an obnoxious one. "Hm...women like sentimental junk, don't they? I should cheer them up. Charlotte would love this."

Andrei scoffed.

"What?" I acted ignorant. "She loves this color."

"What? No, she doesn't."

"I think I know my sister, thank you."

"Clearly, you don't. She won't like that at all. It looks like a flamingo diarhea."

"Didn't know you're such an expert on color composition. Enlighten me, then."

He lifted the one before him. A delicate and soft shade of flowers that looked a lot like cherry blossoms. He brought it under his nose and smelled them, then nodded to himself.

Whipped. "Yeah?"

"Mhm."

"Cool, you get that. I'll get this one for Clara." I grabbed the one I was secretly eyeing this whole time.