1.1 | The Yakuza Bride

Chapter 15

He wished he could have been anywhere but at the dinner table.

His knees wobbled as he rose to his feet, and he pressed a firm hand onto the table to stabilise himself. He could barely fathom the girl prancing to them in a pair of impossibly high heels.

She was vastly different from when they last met. When had it been? When they were sixteen? A shudder coursed through his frame at the memory.

Natalia Tambov shimmied to his side, leaving her poor father to lag behind.

'Lyonya!' she cried out with her red lips pulled back into a wide smile. She had her arms open for an embrace.

'Natalia,' he murmured as politely as he could, taking one hand and shaking it instead.

The move had left her reeling in surprise but she recovered quickly to smack a light hand on his chest.

'Darling!' she teased with an effeminate pout. 'It used to be Talia or Tanechka, but now it's Natalia? How you've changed.'

Leon tried to hide his grimace as he plucked at the hand on his chest and artfully deposited it away from him with a laugh.

She took a step back and with one perfectly arched brow, scrutinised Hana like she was a specimen under a microscope. Her lips curled at what she saw.

'So that's your wife,' she said in Russian. 'She's tiny. You must be disappointed.'

'We – have fun,' he finally said through gritted teeth despite the forced smile. Did she have to say that?! When both their father's were at the table?!

Trilling laughter left her plush red lips. And to think he'd once kissed that mouth!

'Well, you definitely had fun with me!'

Fortunately, Mr Tambov decided to address him at that moment, and Leon was saved from providing her with a biting reply.

~

Dinner was a sordid affair. At least, it was so at their side of the table. His father and Mr Tambov had dove straight into business, and Leon itched to join them, wanting to hear their views on certain affairs. But with the way Natalia was glaring at Hana across the table, he had no choice but to entertain her.

It was also very distracting to have a hand inching up his thigh. He had plucked her hand away numerous times but it would only return, straying dangerously close to his groin.

'Lyonya, isn't this dress pretty?' she asked, leaning to him.

He cast her a glance and came face-to-face once again with her abundant cleavage. Her fingers casually caressed a mound of firm flesh that sent him swallowing deeply and turning away. He had forgotten to tell her to drop the diminutive.

What had made him think that a relationship with Natalia Tambov was a good idea? Oh, right. Business. He had been reckless then, but he didn't think he would have been that impulsive as to not foresee how Natalia Tambov would turn out to be like that.

'You should come and see me in Moscow,' she suggested lowly, her head dipped to his.

A flourish of her fingers, and suddenly they were dangerously close to his crotch.

Hana, on his left, was blissfully unaware of his predicament.

'Have you been to Japan?' he asked abruptly.

'Japan?' She withdrew her fingers to sniff distastefully. 'No, never.'

Then she added sultrily, 'Do you want to bring me?'