by Ava Bloom
“Sounds like a plan,” Dmitry said, grinning at me.
6
Dmitry
Watching Vitoria in San Sebastian was like watching a whole new person. If I had thought she was cheerful before, it was nothing compared to how she was now. She was vibrant as she showed me around the city. She practically raced me up the hill to the top of Monte Igueldo—and though it was no secret that I liked the chase, with a woman, there was something almost sexual about running after her and letting her get away from me each time I came close. Like foreplay.
When we reached the top, both breathless from exertion, Vitoria had the biggest smile on her face. “You let me win,” she accused.
I shrugged unrepentantly, and she laughed, bumping her shoulder against mine. Then, she gestured out at the view. “Pretty incredible, huh? That’s Monte Urgull and Castillo de la Mota, over on the other end of the bay—we could run up there too, if you wanted a rematch.”
I laughed and shook my head, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close into a somewhat sticky embrace. “You’d win again,” I promised her.
“Not if I walked up as slowly as possible,” Vitoria said, her eyes twinkling. “You’ve got long legs; I bet I could go slower than you.”
I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t sound very fun,” I pointed out.
“No, it doesn’t,” Vitoria said, laughing. “I guess surfing is probably next on the agenda. But we can enjoy the view for a minute first.”
We grabbed bottles of soda from one of the vendors and sat on a nearby bench, looking out over the U-shaped swath of beach and the city, spread out beneath us. “This place is beautiful,” I said to Vitoria.
“If you finish that thought with ‘much like the current company’,” Vitoria threatened.
I laughed and hugged her again, not sure why I felt so touchy at the moment—except that again, this all felt like foreplay. Watching her toss her hair back, watching her laugh… She was sexy, but she was also just so down-to-earth, so wonderfully relaxed. She wasn’t fussy like a lot of the girls that I had been with in the past. It was possible to really connect with her.
Not that I was looking to…connect with her. I frowned thoughtfully over at her, wondering suddenly if my feelings were shading towards something more romantic than I normally allowed myself.
But no, I was just relieved to find out that I didn’t need to worry about a connection between her and Audaz. Surely.
Eventually, we made our way down from the hill and wandered out onto the beach, having rented surfboards from a small shop that Vitoria knew. Again, it had been great just watching her—she clearly knew the owner; they embraced when we entered the shop, and then she chatted with him in rapid-fire Spanish for a few minutes, before blushing and shyly introducing me to the guy.
We paddled out onto the water and sat there lazily for a little while, idly pointing out the waves that we might like to try but not making any move to actually ride any of them just yet.
“It’s been a while since I went surfing,” I admitted to Vitoria.
“Then plan for me to show you up,” she said smugly.
I stuck my tongue out at her, not sure what motivated me to do it, but it made her laugh.
“It’s been a while since I felt this content,” I told her as well, frowning thoughtfully as I tried to explain it. “When I’m in Barcelona, I know that there are people everywhere who might recognize me. I never really let my guard down. Don’t get me wrong, I love living there with my family, but sometimes, I guess I wish my job were the type that I could leave at the end of the day and not think about until the next morning.”
Vitoria hummed thoughtfully. “I guess that’s part of why I’ve always loved San Sebastian,” she admitted. “It’s always sort of been an escape for me. No Audaz here. The Basque are proud, and although this city has its own underbelly of sorts, I guess it’s more insular in some ways.” She laughed. “Or something; I won’t pretend I know how all of it works.”
I started to say something in response, but suddenly, she was paddling away from me. I watched as she expertly jumped up on her board, precisely finding her stance and letting the wave carry her. God, that was attractive—a woman who could find her feet doing something athletic. It wasn’t anything I had ever paid attention to in the past; as long as a woman could keep up with me in bed, I was pleased. But right now, I felt a tug of lust in my groin.
And the familiar tug of competition in my soul as well. I grinned and grabbed the next big wave, fearlessly charging in even though it had been just as long as I’d told her. I wobbled a little, slightly uncertain, but I managed to hold my own as the afternoon progressed.
We were both grinning with elation as we settled on the beach a little while later, putting our surfboards down on the sand beside us.
“You’ve spent a lot of time out here,” I guessed as we sat there watching a couple surfers.
Vitoria shrugged and smiled at me. “I have,” she admitted. “It’s one of my favorite cities in all of Spain.”
“More-so than Barcelona?” I asked in surprise.
Vitoria paused and then shrugged. “Like I said, this city is my escape. I may not be part of Audaz, but my parents have raised me paranoid that someday they’re going to approach me. I don’t particularly want to get involved with them, but I’m afraid that at a certain point, they won’t give me an option.” Her face clouded with worry.
“Stick with me,” I suggested, not sure where the words were coming from—except that I wanted to protect her, for some reason. Even though she had proven that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.
Sure enough, Vitoria laughed. “What are you going to do, stand up like a great big Russian bear and tell them they can’t have me?”
I shrugged. “If that’s what it takes.”
Vitoria shook her head. “I just don’t want to be involved in any of it. There’s so much violence. I imagine Audaz can’t have been too happy when you came encroaching on their territory.”
I stared at her for a long moment, wondering what she was really asking, in that careful, nonchalant tone. Finally, I just shrugged, trying not to give too much information away. “Audaz wasn’t happy, and as I’m sure you know, they’re still not happy having us there. But we’ve reached certain agreements.” If she stuck with me, I couldn’t promise that I could keep her away from everything to do with the Volkov family. But she undoubtedly understood that, having grown up with a father involved in Audaz.
The truth was, I still felt like I had to hold her at arm’s length. I remembered the latest email from my uncle, outlining a potential plan to attack Audaz’s headquarters in an attempt to expand our territory further in the city. With the way that he’d orchestrated it, the casualties should be mostly one-sided—theirs, not ours.
But I couldn’t exactly parade those plans around, and especially not to the daughter of someone involved with Audaz. For all I knew, Vitoria’s father could be one of the men killed in the attack. I didn’t want her to think that I was involved in any way.
For the first time, I started to understand the problems that could arise from being with her. I didn’t want to think of myself as compromised, like Sergei had said, but at the same time… Well, Romeo and Juliet had nothing on this.
At the moment though, I just wanted to enjoy the day with her in San Sebastian, consequences be damned. Like she had said, this place was a sort of sanctuary—free from Volkovs, free from Audaz. It was a nice place to be.
I put my arm around Vitoria’s shoulder, and she turned into me, tilting her face up for a kiss. It ignited something inside me, sparking the fire that we had spent all day stoking. I wanted her desperately, right there on the beach. But of course, I couldn’t have her.
And that was the hottest thing of all—that much maddening desire, all building to a crescendo that couldn’t yet be reached. I was going to fuck her hard once we got back to the plane.
Vitoria could clearly read th
e look in my eyes when we pulled apart—or maybe she was grinning because she could feel my dick twitching beneath her palm as she not-so-subtly played with me right there in public. Daring little minx.
But she cooled things off for now by pulling back a little. “Do you miss home sometimes?” she asked. “Russia, I mean.”
I was silent for a long time, thinking that through, wondering how much I should admit. This wasn’t the sort of thing I ever talked about, not even with my brothers. But there was something about the open expression on her face, the sincere way in which she had asked the question, that made me want to answer her.
“I miss it,” I said finally. “It’s the stupid things that I miss, too. The food, more than the people. The landscapes and the colors. Barcelona is colorful, but it’s a different set of colors like it was painted from a different palette.” I shook my head. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Barcelona too. I love the beaches and the warm weather. The company.” I knocked my shoulder against hers, and she laughed.
I frowned seriously. “And I have my family here, or a lot of my family anyway. I’m lucky. I get to speak Russian regularly. But all the same, I miss knowing what’s going on around me, without having to work to figure it out. I miss going into a shop and knowing exactly what I’m going to buy, down to the brands that I’m going to buy. It’s silly. But sometimes, living in Barcelona is just so much work.”
“I understand that feeling,” Vitoria said, nodding her head, and of course she probably did; she had been sent away for school.
“Where did you go to school anyway?” I asked, realizing that I didn’t know. “Madrid?”
“Audaz is still big in Madrid,” Vitoria reminded me sadly. “I had to leave Spain entirely. I only got to come back for vacations, to see my family—hence why I’m so familiar with San Sebastian; my parents have a holiday home here, and Audaz doesn’t have much of a presence here.”
“That must have been difficult, being out of your home country so much.”
“No more difficult than you leaving Russia,” Vitoria retorted, smiling at me. “Actually, it was probably easier for me! They sent me to France first, and I already spoke French. And then afterwards, I lived in Switzerland and practiced my English and German more.” She laughed. “I guess maybe it was a blessing in disguise, since it gave me a very well-rounded background that will help me in business one day.”
“But now you’re back in Barcelona,” I pointed out. “What happened there? Did Audaz make you come back? Threaten your family or something?” I wasn’t sure why the very idea of that made me so mad. But I didn’t like the idea that Vitoria might be dragged into something that she didn’t want to do with the gang, and I had no doubt that those scumbags might do something just like that.
Vitoria laughed, though, laying a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to run off and defend my honor,” she said. Then, her face sobered. “My mother got sick. I had to come back.” She shook her head. “Do my parents still wish I weren’t around? I’m sure they do. They just want to keep me safe. But they also know they can’t keep me away, not with something like this going on.”
“And has Audaz bothered you at all while you’ve been back?” I asked.
Vitoria paused for a moment and then shook her head. “I’ve talked to some of the guys I know are involved—they’re friends of my parents, and there would be no way to avoid them. I see them at the hospital or at my dad’s house. But no one has asked me to join Audaz, so I’m grateful for that. I stay polite to them, and they don’t bother me.”
“That’s good,” I said, even though I didn’t really like the idea of her being around them at all. But then, if they knew that she was hanging around with me, they probably didn’t much like the situation either. That thought made me smile a little.
Vitoria hopped to her feet. “Come on,” she said, offering me a hand up. “I know this great little place for pintxos. You’ll love it.”
7
Vitoria
That evening was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky—perfect weather to fly back to Barcelona. I loved flying, I decided: I was mesmerized by the twinkling lights that spotted the ground below, and watching Dmitry confidently handle the controls turned me on in a way that I would never have expected.
I glanced over at Dmitry. “It’s been a really good day,” I said. “I’m not sure I’m ready for it to be over.”
Dmitry raised an eyebrow at me. “What are you suggesting?” he asked. There was something guarded to his face, and I would have given anything to know what he was thinking.
I frowned. “You don’t want to have a repeat of what happened on the yacht?”
“Now that, I could do,” he said, looking relieved. “Although maybe in a proper bed this time…” He cleared his throat. “To be honest, I wanted to have you here in the plane, before we even took off, but with the weather coming in over San Sebastian, it looked like we might miss our one window to get out this evening.”
I shook my head. “We could have just stayed,” I pointed out. “Gotten a hotel room and made good use of it all night.” I didn’t know where the words were coming from, just that I wanted him. He had really opened up to me that day, and I had enjoyed showing him around the city. I couldn’t help wanting to have sex with him again, not after watching him surf, his muscles rippling even as he made it look almost effortless to pull himself up and find his balance.
Dmitry glanced over at me. “I’ve been picturing you spread out on my sheets,” he said, his voice husky. “I realized I’d rather have you there—if you were willing.”
“That sounds perfect,” I told him, my pulse already quickening.
The truth was, I knew I probably shouldn’t sleep with him again. For the sake of keeping him interested, I needed to be careful. But we’d had fun that day, and I couldn’t deny that I wanted nothing more than to go home with him. There had been something moving about hearing him talk about his family, growing up in Russia. And the way that he’d been ready to defend me when he’d asked if Audaz was giving me any trouble now that I was back in Barcelona.
I was under no illusions, of course. This tattooed gang member was no gentleman, but he was sweet, in his own way.
And this could be the best way to gather the information that Roberto needed from me.
I still hated using Dmitry this way. The more I started to have feelings for him, the more I hated that I was doing this all to get information for Audaz. But if he was really involved in a violent attack on Audaz, he wasn’t the kind, caring person that I thought he was anyway. For my own sake, I had to know just what they were planning.
Anyway, I didn’t know what Roberto would do to me if I didn’t get the information to him soon. I knew that my mother’s health was at stake, but I didn’t know what the other consequences would be. I had a feeling Audaz wouldn’t just let me disappear to some foreign school again.
I was actually surprised that Dmitry had brought up the Audaz thing at all. It raised my hackles and made me wonder what the Volkov family knew, how much they suspected about what I was really doing with Dmitry. I had to wonder if I was being played instead. Dmitry seemed sincere, but I didn’t really have any way of knowing for sure.
There wasn’t anything that they could gain from his relationship with me, though, I was sure of that. I didn’t know anything about Audaz except for a few of the members’ names and faces—information that I was sure the Volkovs were already party to. And Audaz weren’t the ones planning an attack on the Volkovs.
Or were they? I started to wonder whether Roberto had told me the whole truth. Maybe the real reason he wanted me dating Dmitry was to distract the man. Maybe there was something else going on.
I was starting to get a headache just thinking about all of it. One thing was for sure: after this, I was going to have nothing more to do with Audaz, not ever again. I just didn’t have to right mindset to continue playing their power games.
Dmitry’s place, when we eventually got to it, was ev
en nicer than I might have imagined. An older building—though immaculately maintained—near the waterfront. “Come on,” he said, getting out of the car and coming around to open my door for me. I laughed as I followed him up the paved front walk. “And to think that a Russian owns a place like this in Barcelona. Oh, the locals must hate you.”
Dmitry laughed. “Actually, I get along pretty well with my neighbors,” he said. “Or at least, they know to leave me alone.” His eyes glittered as he flashed a smile over his shoulder at me.
I snorted and shook my head. We walked into the large foyer, and I looked around in marvel at the sweeping staircase and the second-floor balconies. “This honestly is nothing like what I would have pictured for you,” I said, turning to stare at Dmitry for a moment, trying to reconcile this house with the man that I knew already.
“What do you mean?” Dmitry asked, looking slightly self-conscious.
I waved my hand at the surroundings. “I mean, it’s obvious that you’re rich and this place cost a lot of money,” I said. “But it’s not as ostentatious as I would have expected. I guess I pictured you living somewhere ultra-modern. Or if not, then I pictured…gold plating on all the banisters or something.”
Dmitry chuckled. “My younger sister helped me find this place, one time when she visited Barcelona. It isn’t really my taste, but she really loved it. I had the feeling that maybe someday, when she’s ready to move to Barcelona as well, I’ll give the place to her and go buy something else for myself.”
“That’s sweet of you,” I said. I paused. “I didn’t realize you had a sister.”
Dmitry shrugged. “I don’t know her very well—she’s much younger than me,” he said. “One of the other things that I miss about life in Russia.”
“And you want her to come here and get involved in…all of this?” I asked.
