INSATIABLE CRAVINGS
Insatiable Cravings – Episode 24
Subtitle; {Loving You Is A Loosing Game}
TAGS: Age-gap, Mafia, Forbidden Love, Drama, Tragedy and Betrayal.
Settings: United Kingdom, Russia and others.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
~ Genevieve ~
“So, when you said you wanted to go grocery shopping, this is what you meant?” Dominic’s voice inquired, disbelief woven into the rhetorical question.
I paused, packet of crisps in hand, plastered on my brightest smile and turned to meet his gaze. Wetting my lips, which felt a tad dry, I replied as if it were a foregone conclusion, “Yeah.”
Just a few hours earlier, before the man towering over me had dozed off with his head resting on my shoulder, I had informed him that we would go grocery shopping once we landed in Male, the Maldives. He’d agreed, so someone ought to explain why I’m now being interrogated. I never specified what I was going to buy, so he has no right to question my choices.
Dominic sighed heavily, as if he were bearing the weight of the world, his gaze soft yet incredulous. “You’re just shopping for snacks?”
I offered him the same answer again, this time laced with more sass. “Yeah.”
“Oh, Vixen,” he heaved another sigh before chuckling softly. I felt my face shift into a mock frown. “You are something.”
I know that!
Wait, what if it wasn’t a compliment?
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I stepped in front of him, causing him to halt in his tracks.
“It means exactly what you heard.”
“Well, if I’m something, then you’re something too.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders slightly, a gesture so subtle you might miss it if you weren’t paying close attention. “I choose to take that as a compliment.”
“It’s not.”
“It’s not,” Dominic Morozov, the dón of the Russian bràtva, mimicked me, echoing my tone and mannerisms. My jaw dropped in shock, and his only reaction was a smirk as he walked away.
Excuse me, you just gave me a heart attàck.
I huffed out a sigh, trying to calm the cardiac arrest I almost had thanks to a certain someone, and continued shopping for my bits while Dom picked up everything he thought we might need for the week’s meals.
He looked so domestic, you know, checking the expiry dates on food before tossing them into his trolley.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Dominic Morozov in casual clothes—a hoodie and sweatpants—was simply a sight for sore eyes. His hair, ruffled and boyish, with bangs falling over his eyes, was a far cry from his usual style.
Ugh, he looked so handsome right now that I wanted to stàb any girl gawping at him.
Why does he have to be so appealing?
By the time I glanced over again, he had vanished. I quickly tossed a few more snacks into my trolley and strolled towards where I thought he might be.
I guessed correctly, but nothing could have prepared me for the appalling sight that greeted me. There he was, and not alone. A rather unfórtunate-looking woman stood beside him, laughing at something I knew wasn’t funny while twirling her hair around her fingers.
Dominic was clearly uninterested in whatever she was prattling on about, but he expertly masked it. A proud smirk crept onto my face, knowing he only ever relaxed in my presence.
I mean, he literally slept on me. He was just chatting with the lady, but it was obvious he would rather be anywhere else than right there with her.
As if on cue, his eyes met mine, and a smile instantly broke across his face. But before he could make his way over to me, a shop assistant beat him to it.
“Hey,” his voice startled me slightly. “Do you need any help?”
“No, she doesn’t,” Dominic interjected from beside me, taking hold of my trolley. “Right, Little Vixen?”
I glanced over my shoulder to find his heated gaze fixed on the poor shop assistant, who was subtly trying to hide his trembling. I shot Dominic a look, a smug smirk playing on my lips. Upon seeing it, he gave me a gentle squeeze on my waist.
Looking back at the shop assistant, I shook my head. “Right, I’m fine.” He nodded vigorously and left. “Oof, who knew you were so possessive?”
“I am not.”
“Jealous, then?” I asked, tilting my head slightly.
“No.”
His gaze was locked on me, just as mine was on him. “No?”
The single word dared him to deny it again, and he knew it. His expression darkened at my audacity.
“If I say yes, will you let it go?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you mean it or are just saying it to placate me.” As soon as the words tumbled from the hole I call a mouth, I regretted it instantly; it was the tone, not the words themselves. I let out a resigned sigh, exhaustion suddenly washing over me. “Let’s just pay and be off.”
Whether my tiredness stemmed from being on a flight for hours or from this specimen of a man who wouldn’t grant me a moment’s peace, I couldn’t tell.
How long does it take for him to crumble?
The thought of resignation tickled the back of my mind, but I scoffed at the horrible notion. It clearly didn’t belong there.
I am Genevieve Dove King, and “give up” isn’t in my vocabulary. With a flourish, I tossed my hair, which I’d let down today, over my shoulder and sashayed to the counter to pay.
Dominic was standing right behind me, and even though I couldn’t see him, his towering presence never failed to make itself felt, even in a crowd. It only served to infuriate me further; why was I still sensing his aura when I was supposed to be annoyed with him?
A scoff may have slipped from my lips before the chap behind the counter glanced up in inquiry, and I politely shook my head. After a brief smile, he returned to scanning my items.
He informed me of the total amount, so I retrieved my phone from my pocket and attempted to pay—if one could call it an attempt, as it was unsuccessful due to Dominic giving my hand a gentle slap.
We faced each other. Well, technically, I was the only one who turned to face him, doing so with quizzically arched brows. “What are you doing?” we asked in unison. “Paying.” We echoed again.
“Can you stop repeating what I say?”
“I could easily say the same to you.”
“No, you cannot,” I retorted. “Look, I can pay for my own things.”
If he thinks I’m some sort of charity case, I shall have to correct him. I have more than enough money in my bank account to buy two islands if I so wished.
After all, one cannot expect less from the granddaughter of a duke, can one?
Dominic softly hummed. “Who said anything about you not being able to pay for your own things?” I was about to reply when I realised it was a rhetorical question. “Of course, I know you’re more than capable, but I want to help. Allow me, please?”
Dominic Morozov needs to be studied scientifically. How can a man know exactly which words can soothe a woman? It is a rarity to encounter men like him, and it will be even rarer when he is wrapped around my little finger.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Alright.”
After he paid and our goods were bagged up, we headed out to the car he had rented for the entire week. I had no idea where we were staying, as he had refused to divulge that information since I first inquired.
However, as he drove along the road, I noticed he was heading towards the hills. Still somewhat vexed with him over earlier, I fixed my gaze out of the window, watching the trees and people whiz by.
“You’re upset with me.” It wasn’t a question; he was astute enough to read my body language. “Why? I didn’t do anything.”
“Exactly.” I nearly snapped. Deciding to voice my anger, I let it flow. “Because you let her flirt with you, yet you have a problem when I’m flirted with. That’s not fair.”
“It’s perfectly fair.” Dominic interjected, giving me his attention while keeping his eyes on the road like the expert he was. “Did you see the way he was looking at you?”
Well, not every male specimen on earth is like him. Some don’t waste time stalling the inevitable; they go straight for the girl they want, unlike someone I know.
“Why do you care?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because you had your attention on some bínt in the supermarket,” I snapped.
Alright, I knew that was a fib; I saw he didn’t want to engage with her and was merely enduring it. But I was too annoyed to take it back.
He scoffed almost mockingly and then uttered the words that made me turn my head to him in utter surprise. “There’s no person, girl or boy, capable of capturing my attention like you always do.”
It was the words, the way he said them, and the glance he shot me while saying it; it was everything and more than I could articulate.
“You really think I would do this with anyone else? Coming all the way from England to the Maldives for a nobody? Or even leaving my companies unattended because of some random tart in the shop?” His rhetorical question had me peering up at him in anticipation and admiration. “You have no idea what you do to me, Vixen, absolutely no idea. So, please stop fretting your pretty little head about things like that, alright?”
Things like what? I knew, but I wanted him to be specific.
So, I asked, “Things like what?”
He said nothing, just glanced at me before turning his attention back to the road. I finally settled into the leather seat of the car, eagerly awaiting our arrival at the destination.
“And that bloke wasn’t flirting with me,” I said after silence enveloped us.
“You don’t know that.”
“I actually do. He wasn’t.”
“That’s because I didn’t give him the chance.” Before I could voice a contradictory thought, he quickly added, “Denying it will only make you look fóolish.”
Fóolish is how I didn’t want to appear, so I kept my mouth shut.
Not long after, Dominic pulled up to a cabin-like house. From a distance, I could hear the waves crashing against one another, and the thought of seeing it in the morning made my lips curl into a smile.
I get a proper holiday plus Dominic Morozov, because this house right here is where he will lose himself to me, Genevieve King.
TBC
