by Ashley Logan
"To what? March in protest?" I laugh. "I do not think that will help."
"Actually," Nikolai says as he pulls my hat on, taking care that my ears are covered before continuing, "I thought we would pick up our marriage license - if you were serious about your response when I asked you to marry me earlier."
I stare at him. His eyebrows are more twitchy than I've ever seen and his hand gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"Please say you were serious. It's the only way to guarantee you'll be able to stay. I don't want to rely on the Bureau to make good on this. I already gave them a decade of my life. I don't want to play their game anymore."
Opening my mouth to respond, I look at my friends.
"You are all in support of this?"
"Are we all supportive of you staying?" Smith asks, looking at the others. "Hell yeah. Let's go. If you don't want to marry him, you can marry one of us. Either way they'll have to let you stay," he says with determination.
Niko makes a disapproving noise in his throat that sounds a lot like a growl.
"Purely for green card purposes," Smith adds, raising his hands and grinning before looking around the group and gesturing at Nikolai. "But we like this guy that makes you smile and sing, Nat. We're glad you found each other again. It's really romantic," he says with a sigh as he gazes off into the distance.
Watching him a moment, Niko gives him an easy smile and looks to me.
"Your friends are very nice and love you very much."
"Yes." Rubbing the tightness in my forehead, I can't seem to iron out the wary furrows.
"Aren't there laws against marrying people like that? And they check on you? Are you not a policeman?" I ask, smacking him in the stomach.
"Yeah, but I also love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, so that's a real marriage, yes? If they want to check to see if we're living together and... doing stuff, I'm pretty sure we can cover those things," he adds, blushing a little.
Reeni giggles and I glare at her.
"You want to stay in the country or not?" she asks, grabbing my hand and laughing again. "I could marry you. We already live together, but I don't know if I'll be able to make you sing and stuff..." she teases, squeezing my hand as she playfully bumps into me.
I turn back to Nikolai as the serrated jaws of anxiety gnash at the base of my stomach. "We don't live together."
"So, move in with me."
I hold Reeni's hand tighter. "In your studio apartment with the mattress and your bag? Like on the Moskva-Liis?"
His face falls and he shakes his head with conviction.
"No. Never like that. Natascha..." Running his hand through his hair, he scans the group and shakes his head again.
"This is your home. Your family. I won't take you from that. I don't want you to give up any more dreams." Exhaling slowly, he nods to himself as if a decision has been made. "We'll pretend. We're good at pretending. We'll marry for real, and pretend about things like accommodation. We'll just tick the boxes until it's not pretend anymore. Yes?"
"Or you could actually live together..." Nina suggests, looking about the room. "We're an accepting and eclectic bunch, with an open-door kind of policy. Anyone opposed to Nick moving in?"
"Yeah. Do that!" Reeni cries, bouncing up and down as she clutches my hand to her chest. "Then we get to see your sweet face being happy everyday - and hear you sing!" Bouncing a little faster, her free hand clasps over the top of her other one as she tugs me in close. "Will you sing on stage?" she whispers.
"I-I do not know. Is a lot happening right now."
"I know." She nods, stepping back and slotting my hand into Nikolai's. "Maybe it's happening faster than you thought, but deportation is looming and time is of the essence. You did say you'd marry him, right?" she asks, eying Nikolai more warily and stepping in front of me slightly.
"Yes. I said that." Touching her shoulder, I let her know I'm strong enough to stand on my own. She shifts aside again as her shoulders relax.
"Did you mean it?" Niko whispers as he steps into her place, cupping my face with his hands.
I blink up at him, knowing he doesn't really need to ask. I nod. "Of course, Niko."
Smiling, he kisses me tenderly on the lips.
"Good. Let's go."
Tugging me towards the stairs, we descend to the sound of cheering.
"Serge is rounding up a judge who can waive the waiting period. If all goes well, you'll be my wife by dinnertime," he informs me as we walk to the corner for a cab.
I'm walking hand in hand with my future husband, who until yesterday had been a ghost. One of my actual dreams is about to come true.
Looking down at me, he frowns and slows a little.
"You're worrying. You don't want to marry me today?" His jaw tightens as he pauses momentarily, the he tugs me along as he keeps walking. "Someone else then. It needs to be today. You should marry Ireeni, not one of the men. I don't want to kill anyone."
Laughing, I shake my head as I swat him on the arm. "You are being silly, Niko. I am only thinking that dreams can come true and what that means for other dreams I had set aside. Is a big day for me. Overwhelming some, but I am definitely wanting to marry you. Before dinnertime," I add with a shy smile.
Watching me as he holds the door of the cab open, he returns my smile.
"So... is okay?" he asks, leaning in to block me from a gust of wind blasting us with dust.
I feel my smile growing; can feel it spreading through me like his love. Pressing myself to him instead of climbing into the cab, I tilt my face up to his.
"Is good Niko. I love you."
His lips brush against mine as he whispers his reply. "I love you too."
HEY AWESOME READER!
Thanks for reading BEYOND TAKEN!
I hope you enjoyed reading about Natalia, Nikolai, and the Beyond crew. If you did, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review - it'll help others to find this book.
If you want to hear about new releases, updates and freebies, you can sign up for my newsletter (I won’t clog your mailbox; I’m too busy writing books!)
You can also find or follow me through
Facebook
The Ashley Logan Romance website
And my Amazon author page.
I'd love to hear from you!
Keep reading for a sneak peek of BEYOND CONTROL – the story of Nina & Mitch.
BEYOND CONTROL
The Story of Nina Pryzbylewksi and Mitchell Jones
Slipping through the door after my K9 partner, I hustle to shut it behind us before pressing my forehead to the wood, and praying we wouldn't be followed.
"You're a pussy magnet, Muz. Every badge-bunny in a two-block radius was on high alert, and now Serge's cop-sucking neighbor’s tried to ambush us."
Straining my ears, I hear no sign of pursuit and finally release my grip on the door handle. As I turn to face Murray, I freeze.
"Nina."
Her name croaks from my throat, giving the exact impression I'd wanted to avoid when I saw her. I'd planned to be smooth, and act totally unaffected by her so I could play it super-cool. I've dropped that many hints in recent weeks that I... appreciate her, but either she's not picking up what I'm putting down, or she's not keen to reciprocate.
Either way, I need a new tactic, and a cool head until I can figure out how to make her mine. Inside I am anything but calm when it comes to this woman. She makes my chest pound and my nuts ache.
Serge had said she'd be at his engagement party, but I hadn't had a chance to find her before I'd had to hide. As I look at her now, I'm beginning to think that she came into the sparsely furnished office to hide too.
Perched on the little chair on the far side of the desk, Nina offers me a brief, polite smile to acknowledge my presence, and continues to rub Muz behind his ears. The German Shepherd X shuffles his front paws and leans into her touch. His tongue lolls out to one side as we exchange a glance and he looks as if he's fucking grinning.
He's already in. Smug bastard.
One look at Nina and I know that my approach will have to be far more calculated than Murray's had probably been. Her eyes had held mine only for a second before skittering away in a rush, but not quickly enough to hide evidence of her recent tears. Slightly bloodshot, her usually sparkling brown eyes that tend to be heavily rimmed in dark eyeliner are now somewhat smudged. Her publicly projected image of cautionary tale meets ferocious indifference, has now morphed into something softer, and more vulnerable; closer to what I know is lurking beneath her beautiful, but crumbling protective exterior.
Hiding her face by keeping her eyes on the planner diary in her lap, she doesn't stop petting Muz, and there's something about the way her slim fingers almost hold his ear as she strokes it with her thumb that makes me think she doesn't want to let him go.
I take a tentative step closer.
"Alright there Nina?"
She clears her throat and nods, but doesn't look up.
"Yeah. Fine. I just needed... to sort something out," she says, lifting the planner in her lap an inch as if it would explain everything.
Not buying it, I take another step closer.
"You've got a lot on right now, huh?"
"A lot on always," she corrects, still not looking up. "I keep pretty busy."
Her tone is light enough to suggest that she likes keeping busy, and from what I know of her, she does, but there's something that feels a little off about her excuse for hiding. I look to Muz for clues and see Nina's delicate hands moving with a degree of tension that wasn't there a moment ago.
With one more step, I crouch next to Muz and duck my head to look up at Nina.
"Who are you hiding from?"
Please don't say me.
Sighing, she leans back. "No-one, really. Everyone? I don't know. You just got here?"
I nod.
"Well," she begins, rubbing her hands up and down her legs, "You’ve missed some pretty exciting stuff. Although it probably wouldn't have been that exciting to you," she adds, frowning a little as she gives a dismissive shake of her head. "One of my good friends just found out that the love of her life was alive after thinking he's been dead for several years and they’ve just left together - probably to rekindle the greatest love story of the season. Hey, you might know him. Didn't you and Serge go through Academy training at the same time?"
"We did. Who's the guy?"
"Nick."
"Nick?" I ask, genuinely shocked, because I only know one Nick who trained with me and Serge. "Nick Rigby?"
She nods.
I give her a crooked smile, and a sideways look. "Nick's capable of love?"
"Apparently."
"Wow." I say it slowly, but quickly realize that makes me sound as if I'm being a jerk about it. "I mean he's a good guy, but the Feds changed him, you know? He's never been the same since he came back to us. Barely talks. Nick?" I ask again, just to be sure. "We're talking about Nikolai Rigby?"
Nina nods. "He's Natalia's dream guy. Natascha's," she says firmly as she shakes her head again. "Her real name is Natascha."
"Shit. Really?" Nodding now, I think about how my friend went undercover and never really seemed to have returned, even though he was physically present. Maybe Nina’s dancing friend Nat had been the same.
"Is that why you're in here?" I ask, trying to read her face as she avoids my eyes. "The evening of celebration took a weird and super-intense turn?"
Nina lifts one shoulder in response. "I don't know. I'm really happy for them. And for Vi and Serge getting engaged. For love to triumph over adversity, it's..."
Her face becomes all wistful as she talks about her friends finding love. She's normally so staunch and aloof unless she's with her crowd. Smiling, I watch her shake her head to dismiss her whimsical statement instead of completing it, before trying to regain her stoic composure.
"I didn't pick you for a hopeless romantic, Prez."
"I'm not," she's quick to deny. Her posture firms a little, but doesn't come fully out of its slight hunch. "I'm just not used to happy endings. I needed a minute to... get my head straight. Several minutes," she admits quietly. "It's not like I don't hope happy endings exist, it's just that proof sometimes smacks you in the disbelieving face." Shrugging again, Nina glances at me. Some of the sparkle returns to her eyes as she flashes me an amused smile. "At least I'm not hiding because I'm prey."
Smiling back, I point to Muz. "He's a real problem. When he's off-duty, he flirts indiscriminately with everyone. Men, women, cats... he's a total dawg."
"I don't think the women are hunting him," she says with a quiet laugh before giving Muz a more final rub on his head and closing her scrawled upon planner. Tucking it away in the bag by her foot, she runs her fingers under her eyes.
"Am I making this situation worse?" she asks, gesturing to her eyeliner. "I don't have a mirror and I don't want to go out looking like I did when you and Muz got here, or other people will give me unwanted attention too."
Her words sting a bit, but I hold my hand to my chest as if mortally wounded and look to Murray. "Did you hear that? Our attention is unwanted."
Whining, Muz nudges Nina's hand with his nose and slips his head under her palm again as if she were still petting him. It gets him a quiet chuckle and a few more rubs. Always so easy for him.
Smiling bravely, I return my gaze to Nina's large, beautiful, and very smudged up eyes. She's made them more of a mess. Pressing my lips together, I pluck a tissue from the box on the desk and hold it up.
"It's worse than before."
Sighing, she snatches the tissue from me and begins removing charcoal-colored smears... and making new ones.
Shaking my head, I take the tissue. "Here," I murmur quietly as I lift her chin and gently sweep the tissue under her eyes to collect the smudges.
Nina watches me the whole time as if she might claw my eyes out. She just might.
Ignoring that, I focus on her flawless porcelain skin, trying not to irritate it. It'd be so easy to leave red marks in my wake, but I'm trying to help her conceal her secret release of happy tears for her friends, not make it worse.
"You want me to reapply it too?" I ask when I’m done.
She stares at me, a crease forming between her brows as her chin twists from of my gentle grasp.
"You still look good," I assure her. "But now that most of it's gone, you don't look nearly as fierce as you usually do. People will know you've gone soft."
The crease between her brows deepens and I back up a little.
"I said it wrong," I continue in a rush. "I meant that people will see that your armor is down, so maybe you'll get more of that horrible attention you don't want. I mean, you're fine letting your guard down with your friends, but you don't want to alarm anyone while you're in public. You want your shields at their strongest, right? If word gets out that you believe in love, and fairy stories, people will know you're actually sweet and that would make you prey too. The hunters will come running. Competition for hiding spots in Serge and Vi’s apartment is already an issue for creatures like us."
Regarding me carefully a while, Nina tucks her black bangs behind her ears. No longer hiding behind the asymmetrical fringe of her pixie-like hairstyle, she twists one of her many earrings as if in thought.
"Creatures like us?" she asks, the corner of her lips curling slightly. "Why are you hiding? Most guys would jump at the chance for an easy lay. Too much pussy throw your little 'dog squad' off-balance?"
A nervous laugh escapes me and I rub the back of my neck as Muz and I exchange a glance.
"I have standards. And I'm already interested in someone." Trying not to scare her off by looking directly at her, I peer up at her from under my brows.
This isn't the right time.
She's too vulnerable and I'll ruin it for sure. I'll make some dick move and push her too hard, too soon; end up scaring her off for good, when all I want is to find out what makes her tick so I can wind her up and set her
loose in my bedroom. Forever.
She's a keeper, that's for damn sure.
Just being this close to her is enough to make me light-headed, but when the tip of her tongue-piercing runs back and forth between her lips as she becomes lost in thought, it's almost too much to bear. My dick that had been sporting a partial as I fawned over the smooth skin on her gorgeous face, is now threatening to rise up and cause a scene.
I mean to make her mine, but I can't do that without getting myself under control. That's going to take a whole lot of restraint.
Clearing my throat, I try not to watch Nina's lips, or get distracted by the tiny diamond stud that sparkles at me from her cute little nose.
"She's probably interested in you too," she says, making me zero in on her face again, despite the attempt to distance myself.
"Pardon?"
"This girl you like," she says, giving me a playful shove in the shoulder.
Physically I stay put, but mentally, she's pushed me right off-balance.
"Have you told her you're interested?" she asks, looking at me sideways. "I didn't peg you as a shy guy, but you're acting kind of weird right now. Does she know you're keen?"
How can she not know? I've been flirting with her for weeks. Perhaps a little too mildly.
"I thought she might, but... maybe not," I reply quietly.
I'd not wanted to come on too strong; didn't want to frighten the girl. Commanding myself to breathe normally, I shake my head. "She's not ready. I can be quite intimidating."
"No," she says in a joking tone as she waves me off, but I can see that she agrees with me whole-heartedly.
We're friendly, casual acquaintances, who've shared a few hours in the company of others as I helped our mutual friend run a self-defense program, but in the context of a relationship, I'd scare the shit out of her.
"Clearly the woman you're running from doesn't think so," Nina adds with a teasing smile.
That smile looks delicious and I'm going to taste it one day, if it's the last thing I do.
"Fooled by my accent probably. They learn soon enough that I'm no half-British gentleman."
