Eric glanced away from me. He stared at the hanging pots of brightly colored calibrachoa decorating the porch. "You can call off your dogs. I'll get the dossier and bring it to you tonight."
"Thank you."
He nodded and stepped back. His gaze landed on Boychenko who was beginning to wake up behind me. "Tell the kid I'm sorry about that. If he ever needs to get out of a ticket or something, tell him to call me. I'll take care of it."
Knowing Boy, he would consider a throbbing head a fair trade for the chance to get out of a future scrape with Houston PD. Eric left without another word, and I closed the door. When I turned around, Nikolai knelt next to a moaning Boy and whipped out the knife he kept in his boot. He quickly cut the zip ties binding Boy's wrists and ankles. Without warning, he ripped the strip of duct tape off his street soldier's mouth. Boy cried out in pain and slapped a hand to his red lips.
"Sorry." Nikolai patted Boy's chest. "It's better to just get it over with, Roman. Can you sit up?"
"Yes." He grasped Nikolai's hand and groaned when he was upright again.
"Vee, get Ten."
"Okay." I scurried out of the entryway and across the house. I opened the French doors in my studio and called out for him. "Ten?"
"Yeah?" He emerged from the small potting shed where Nikolai kept most of his garden tools.
"Come inside."
He must have heard something in my voice because he jogged across the yard. "What's wrong?"
"I think Boy may need to be taken to the emergency room."
"What?" He stayed a step behind me on the trek back to the front of the house.
We found Boychenko sitting on a chair in the living room. Nikolai crouched down in front of him. He didn't look happy. He barked a set of orders at Ten in rapid-fire Russian. Ten helped Boy off the chair, and Nikolai followed them out of the house.
I made my way to the dining room where I surveyed the damage. With a heavy sigh, I started picking up unbroken dishes and tableware.
"Leave it," Nikolai ordered gently. He stood in the doorway between the kitchen and dining rooms looking a disheveled, exhausted mess.
"But—"
"Leave it," he said more firmly.
I put the serving platter in my hands back on the sideboard. Holding his gaze, I asked, "Did you hear everything Eric said?"
Nikolai nodded stiffly.
Wringing my hands, I asked, "What are we going to do, Kolya?"
"We do nothing." His answer surprised me. "Right now, I'm tired. I need a shower—and I need you." He closed the distance between us, cupped the back of my neck and tilted my head back before crashing our mouths together. The intensity of his kiss made my knees weak. I clutched at the lapels of his wrinkled suit jacket and held on for dear life as he kissed me as if it might be the last time he ever tasted my mouth. "I need you."
"I'm yours." I lifted up on my toes to return his kiss with the same ferocity. "I'm yours right now."
Nikolai locked lips with me again and walked me back toward the dining room table. He grasped my bottom in both hands, kneading and squeezing my plump flesh. I pushed his jacket off his shoulders and jerked on his belt buckle. This wasn't about sensual lovemaking. This was about the two of us reconnecting in a burst of heat and passion.
I moaned as his wicked mouth dotted kisses along my throat. Shivering, I gasped when he jerked down the front of my tank top to gain better access to my breasts. He kissed the swell of each one but couldn’t get what he really wanted. Grasping my shirt in both hands, he jerked it up and over my head. I hadn't worn a bra this morning because my breasts were so sensitive, and none of them fit well anymore.
He cupped them gently. I marveled at the way they filled his hands now. He brushed his thumbs across my nipples and swirled them in a circle to tease my flesh to stiff peaks. His head dipped, and I cried out when he suckled me. A rush of wet heat went straight to my core.
While his mouth tormented me, his hand rode the curve of my belly to the juncture between my thighs. His palm settled there, and I rocked against it, desperate to get some stimulation where I wanted it most. My wanton movement broke his control.
Without warning, Nikolai spun me around. A hand between my shoulders pushed me down toward the table. I trembled with need as I leaned forward on my arms. Nikolai gripped the waistband of my yoga pants and panties in both hands and jerked them down my hips and thighs. He ripped off my shoes and then grasped my left ankle and then my right, lifting them so he could pull my clothes off my body.
"Don't move." He gave the order gruffly. "There's fucking glass everywhere. Hold still or you'll get cut."
I couldn’t explain it, but the risk of getting hurt while Nikolai ravished me made my clit throb. There was something outrageously wrong with that response, but I couldn't help it. In the back of my mind, I knew that a member of his crew could show up at any moment. It would be so easy to discover us here in the dining room. The danger of it all excited me so much I could feel the slick wetness spreading on my inner thighs.
"I've been thinking about this since I watched you board that plane in Tirana." Nikolai nipped at my shoulder and swatted my bottom twice. "Did you think about me? Did you dream about this last night?"
His hand sneaked between my thighs. His fingers traced the seam of my sex. His deep breaths buffeted my ear as he began to say filthy things to me in Russian. "You're soaking my hand." He bit my earlobe and thrust a finger inside me. "Do you want me to pound your tight cunt until you scream?"
I pressed back against his invading finger. "Yes."
"Say it." He sucked hard on the curve of my throat. It would leave a mark that he would idly trace later.
"Make me scream."
Nikolai gripped my hips and tilted them up. He pushed my knees wider apart with his leg while unbuckling his belt and lowering his zipper. I blushed hotly when I felt his hands pulling apart my backside so he could get a better look at my pussy. His finger slid between my cheeks. I gasped when he pressed his thumb against the pucker hidden there. We had never done that but I sensed he wanted it on the table as a possibility.
"After the baby comes," he said, as if reading my mind.
I didn't have to ask why he wanted to wait to try something so naughty. He was old school through and through and so outrageously overprotective. The slightest hint of discomfort or the tiniest chance of causing harm was too much for him to accept when it came to me, especially while I was pregnant.
The head of his cock nudged my slick folds. He adjusted the angle of his probing and slid home, filling me up with his hard shaft and making me arch up onto my tiptoes. He retreated slowly, leaving just the crown of his cock inside my wet channel, and then thrust forward again.
After a few teasing moves like that, Nikolai held onto my waist with one hand and clamped the other on my shoulder. He held me right where he wanted me as he did exactly as promised. He pounded into me from behind. The table shuddered beneath me. My fingertips squealed against the polished wood. Mouth agape, I cried out again and again. "Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The hand that had been on my waist snaked around to my front. Nikolai clutched my thigh and forcefully lifted my leg. He placed my left knee on the table, opening me even more and making it possible for him to thrust deeper and harder. My stomach wobbled with the intensity of it. The sounds of our bodies slapping together and our panicked, hard breaths filled the house.
Flushed and trembling, I wanted to come so badly. I could feel the tell-tale stirrings in my core. Nikolai could read me like a book. His hand moved to my clit. He framed that swollen little pearl between two fingers and rubbed tight, fast circles. I clawed at the table and panted for air. "So close. So close."
He knew. He didn't need me to tell him. Grasping my hair, he shoved it aside and bared my neck. While his fingers strummed my clit, he leaned down and bit the back of my nape. I exploded with a wild scream. My pussy fluttered around his cock, and I prayed that I wouldn't pass out as the incredibly powerful ripples of pure bl
iss overwhelmed me.
"Solnyshka!" Nikolai gripped my shoulder again as he rocked against me with jerky thrusts and filled me with a spreading heat. He stayed buried inside me for a long time. My eyes closed as he peppered light kisses up and down my back and across my shoulders. He eased out of me and tucked himself away before kicking aside a dining room chair and dropping onto it like a falling tree.
"Come here." He wound his arms around my waist and dragged me down onto his lap so that my legs were draped across his thighs. He nuzzled my throat and kissed my cheek. Sated and content, I placed my head against his shoulder and enjoyed the soft caress of his warm hands.
"That dossier changes everything." Nikolai's voice was rough and unsteady, his breaths still coming in small pants after all that exertion. "I shouldn’t be surprised that someone from the old country has me in their crosshairs."
"What are we going to do?" I played with the top button of his shirt. "What can we do?"
Nikolai's lips brushed my forehead. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep you and the baby safe." He lowered his head and claimed my mouth in a promising kiss. "Whatever it takes."
And that was what scared me the most.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Later that night, I was catching up on recorded television episodes from my favorite summer shows when the doorbell rang. Ten set aside the Sudoku puzzle he had been working on and hefted himself off the couch. He had returned after taking Boychenko home to help me clean up the dining room while Nikolai crashed out upstairs. Ilya had come to house to take Boy's place, but I hadn’t seen much of him. He liked to spend more time outside, smoking and talking on his phone.
Ten wasn't gone long. He returned faster than I had expected with an oversized gift bag that he placed on the coffee table with a loud thunk. "From Eric."
Curious, I tossed aside the remote control and leaned forward to investigate the bag. Inside I found a crystal vase nearly identical to the one he had destroyed and a thick but well-worn oversized envelope. The brads no longer worked so three big binder clips and a rubber band kept the files safe inside.
"That's an interesting gift." Ten had settled back onto the couch but hadn’t picked up his puzzle.
"Yes, it is." Envelope in hand, I headed for the door. "I'll be in Nikolai's office."
"And I'll be here, watching housewives catfight," he grumbled before kicking back on the couch and grabbing his puzzle booklet.
I smiled at that. Ten liked to pretend that he couldn't stand my guilty pleasure televisions choices, but he sure liked to discuss the episodes when we were done.
The door to Nikolai's office was shut. I leaned in and heard him talking to someone. He spoke Russian but I couldn't make out much of the conversation. Not wanting to eavesdrop, I knocked on the door and stepped back. He continued talking as he strode toward the door and opened it. The smile inspired by finding me in the hallway disappeared when he saw what I was holding.
Still talking, he reached for my hand, entwined our fingers and tugged me inside his office. He led me over to one of the chairs surrounding his chess board, and I took a seat. Nikolai returned to his desk and grabbed a notepad so he could jot down something as he finished his phone call.
"That was a contact of Yuri's who works in the immigration office," he explained as he scribbled something on his notepad. "I was going through my closet after my shower, and I came across my tuxedo. It made me think about Sergei and Bianca's wedding. I thought we might do something special for their wedding gift."
"Like?"
"I want to see if we can get Vladimir and Galina here."
"Is that even possible? I mean, the immigration process is really slow, right? I'm sure that Bianca and Sergei are going to rush their wedding because of the baby."
"I think I can swing it, but let's not say anything, okay? I don't want to disappoint them if it can't be done."
"I totally understand. I'll pick up something ridiculously expensive from their wedding registry, just in case."
Nikolai laughed and dropped his pen onto the desk. He went to his office door first and turned the lock before walking over to the chess board. He lowered himself onto the chair directly opposite me and held out his hand. "May I?"
"Yes." I gave him the dossier. "I didn’t get a chance to look at it yet."
"Clear the board. We'll go through it together."
I picked up the chess pieces and dropped them into the basket that fit underneath the table. Nikolai retrieved the stacks of papers and folders from the envelope and placed them on the chessboard. There were a few pages of notes from Eric where he had tried to translate the information by himself. Apparently he had been smart enough not to let anyone else see any of this.
"I'm surprised he didn't come to you," Nikolai admitted as he picked up a folder and began scanning the contents. "I would have put money on Eric dragging you into this in the hopes it would drive a wedge between us in the early days of our friendship."
"Maybe he worried it would put me in danger." I chose my own folder and began reading. "Or maybe he knew even back then that I was too connected to you to be convinced to let you go."
"It's selfish of me, but I'm glad you're so stubborn." Nikolai watched me over the top of the folder. "I feel so guilty some days about the life I've pulled you into, but then I think of how happy I am with you and how much I already love the baby. I would do it all over again. I would fall in love with you and marry you again and again and again."
"I chose you. Don't ever feel guilty for loving me and building a family with me."
Nikolai glanced down at the papers in his hands. He seemed unable to look into my eyes as he confessed, "I never thought I would be this happy. I never thought I would earn the love of a woman like you. I was so jealous when Dimitri announced that Benny was pregnant. I didn't see how any woman would ever agree to give me the chance to be a father."
"But I did," I said quietly.
He lifted his head, his eyes glittering, and swallowed. "But you did, solnyshka. You've given me the chance to live. To really and truly live. I will never be able to thank you enough for that." He cleared his throat and dropped his gaze. "But I'll spend the rest of my fucking life trying."
I didn't know what to say after that so I said nothing. I sensed that Nikolai didn't need me to say a word.
We sifted through the pile of information for hours. I moved from the chair by the chessboard to the small couch and then stood at his desk while reading to keep my legs from cramping. He left the room and returned with a light snack of fruit, crackers and cheese and ordered me to eat. I wasn't hungry, but I humored him and nibbled on some grapes and cheese cubes while trying to make sense of a hand-drawn web of underworld ties in the Eastern bloc.
"This is making my head hurt." I tossed down the papers and grabbed a handful of grapes. "Is there anything in this dossier that’s, like, a bombshell to you? Is there anything that we should worry about?"
"There are some interesting connections here with the Middle East that I knew nothing about," he said. "It's helped make sense of some strange dealings that I witnessed as a kid working the streets for Maksim."
"Is there anything in here that can hurt us?"
"These photos of Tatiana's faked death could be a problem." He touched the folder he wouldn't let me see. Even though the photos were fake, he didn’t want me to put those images in my head.
"This stack is troublesome." His fingertips brushed a thin stack of papers. "There are some crimes in here that I was never arrested or prosecuted for when I was a teenager and in my early twenties. I doubt anything will ever come from them, but it's probably a good idea for us to never set foot on Russian soil."
"Was that ever even a possibility?"
"No. When I left, I cut ties for good." He shot me a strange look. "Why? Did you want to go?"
"There was a time when I wanted to visit Russia. I wanted to see where my mother was born and where my grandparents grew up."
"You wouldn't lik
e any of those places."
"Probably not," I agreed, "but it would have been nice to know where I came from."
"If it's that important to you, I can get pictures or video."
"It wouldn't be the same."
He sat back in his chair. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." I moved to the seat across from him. "That's just life." I popped a couple of the sweet, firm grapes into my mouth and enjoyed the flavor that burst onto my tongue.
"I'm not concerned so much about what's in this dossier. I'm more concerned about the fact that it exists." Nikolai began stacking up the folders and papers on the chessboard into one neat pile. "The person who put this together wants to hurt Maksim."
"You know what they say." I handed him the battered envelope. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
Nikolai glanced at me in surprise. "You think this is romantically motivated?"
"Eric said a woman brought it to him. He said she was an older woman, right? So what if Maksim did some KGB lady dirty and this is her way of giving him the middle finger?" I gestured to the files I had been reading. "The woman that compiled this spent a lot of time keeping track of all the different ladies Maksim dated and, um, visited."
One side of his mouth lifted at the way I had carefully glossed over his father's penchant for high-end prostitutes. I had been terrified that I would find Nikolai's mother's name among the list of sex workers, but if her file was to be believed, she had been a young schoolgirl his father had seduced and cast aside. Of course, that bit of truth wasn't exactly a good thing to discover.
"The money," he said cryptically.
"What money?"
"The payments Tatiana uncovered," he reminded me. "She said they've been coming from Moscow to Houston for twenty years. What if those were payments to this woman?"
"So what? Something happened seven years ago that set her off? The money is still coming, right? Wouldn't he have stopped sending it once he found out she had betrayed him with this?"
"But nothing happened," Nikolai insisted. "Eric didn't use the file to come after me. Maksim wasn't implicated in anything. As far as he knows, this doesn't exist."