by Sherie Keys
“I love you.” He wanted to keep saying it. It was so good to embrace the feeling. He did not think that he had ever been in love before, and he wanted to experience every moment of it…especially with Alicia.
“I love you.” She pulled him fully under the stream to rinse out his hair. He helped her before she added the conditioner.
Once she had finished with his hair, Dimitri picked up a bottle of body wash. It was one moment where he was glad that she bought normal scents. He didn’t embrace the idea of spending the rest of the day smelling like lilacs. Slathering it onto his hands, he began to rub it on her shoulders. Alicia turned, resting her forehead against the shower wall so that he had full access to her back. His fingers massaged into her muscles.
Alicia reached a hand back to pull him to her. She spread her legs, adjusting her position to give him the angle that he would need. She felt the tip of his cock brushing against her.
“Yes?” Dimitri whispered into her ear.
“Yes.” Alicia whispered back. He needed no further encouragement. Dimitri eased himself gently into her. He was never particularly rough with her, but he reminded himself that he was going to have to be more gentle than ever now.
Alicia sighed softly at the contact. She had heard from friends with kids that pregnancy sex was some of the best that you could have. While she believed that any sex she had with Dimitri was the best, she couldn’t wait to see how it felt.
She put her hands on the wall to steady herself as Dimitri pushed into her. She closed her eyes. His body pressed against her as he thrust over and over into her. One of her hands dropped down to stroke over her clit.
“Keep going.” She whispered. “Don’t stop.”
“I didn’t plan on it.” He chuckled into her ear.
The sensations built. The feeling of him behind her, and the hot water rushing over her was glorious. It was one of the most passionate, erotic moments that she had ever experienced. Alicia whimpered and cried out as she came around him. Behind her, Dimitri groaned before thrusting once more into her. She allowed him to rest on her for a moment before she turned to capture his lips once more. This time, there was no need to say it-they loved each other.
“You are wonderful.” Dimitri murmured. They had left the shower to lay naked in bed together. Alicia was curled against his chest, and he was stroking his hand slowly down her back. “Truly, you are wonderful.”
“It’s only because you are.” Alicia smiled, lifting her head to look up at him. They were silent for a long moment. Then Alicia spoke again.
“We can afford this, right?” She met his eyes. “I mean, we can afford to have a baby, right?”
“Of course we can.” Dimitri hadn’t really thought about it, but he was sure that they could. “I make good money with Stan. And you bring in some too, plus your benefits. We will be fine. The baby will be fine.”
She was glad that he was so confident. Surprise babies weren’t always the way to go.
“I know this wasn’t exactly planned.” That was a bit of an understatement. They hadn’t ever talked about having children. “But as you can tell I’m pretty excited.”
“We are both excited.” Dimitri pressed his lips against her forehead. “I have always wanted children of my own.”
“Me too.” Alicia smiled. “We’ll give them the best that we can. We’ll show them that they don’t have to be rich to have a wonderful home life.”
“That is true.” Dimitri nodded. “I suppose that it is time to tell my parents.”
“You haven’t told your parents about us?” Alicia was curious. Dimitri didn’t often speak of his parents, but she knew that he did keep in contact with them.
“No,” he admitted. “There just seemed to be no point, you know? I mean, they are so far away from us.”
“Do you think that they will be happy?” Alicia asked softly. She supposed that it didn’t really matter. Dimitri’s parents were far enough away that if they hated the idea, it would be of no huge loss.
“Most likely.” Dimitri kissed the top of her head. “Perhaps someday, we will go there. Or they will come here.”
“After you have your official paperwork,” Alicia reminded him.
“After that,” Dimitri agreed. Once again, a comfortable silence fell between them. Alicia played her fingers slowly over his chest. She listened to the sound of his heart beating against her ear.
“Do you think that we’ll have enough room here?” She finally spoke.
“I am sure that we will.” Dimitri looked at her. “How much room does baby need?”
“Babies have a lot of accessories,” Alicia told him. “You would be surprised.” Dimitri groaned. There were apparently a lot of things about babies that he didn’t realize.
“Why do they need so many things?” Alicia enjoyed the confused look which was now playing across his face.
“Well, I guess it’s not all necessary. And we won’t need it all at once. We can take our time. I’m sure that you’re right, we’ll be fine here for the time being.” Dimitri nodded his agreement.
“No matter. We will be fine here. Maybe we find a house to rent after baby is a bit older. One that has a yard, so that he or she can play outside.” He liked the idea of their child playing on a swing set in their backyard. Secretly, he liked the idea of having his own garage to store his gear in. This seemed to be his version of the American dream coming true.
“Good idea.” Alicia was amazed. He was such a good man. He was already so in tune with their child, and what it would need later on in life. “I want to start putting a little money away for it. I want him or her to have the opportunity to go to college if they would like. Not like me. I never had that chance.”
“Not that we do bad for ourselves,” Dimitri added, “but it would be nice to see my son as a doctor.”
“Or your daughter.” Alicia teased. “Girls can grow up to be doctors, too.”
“Yes they can.” Dimitri gave her another quick kiss. “What name will we give it? American or Russian?” Alicia smiled, thinking for a few moments.
“I wouldn’t mind teaching him or her to embrace their Russian heritage.” He had asked a bad question. It made him think suddenly of that afternoon. Dimitri suddenly needed a change of scenery-and fast.
“Why don’t we get up and go out? We can have dinner out to celebrate. Maybe we will drop by your parents’ house on the way home to tell them the good news?” Alicia laughed. She sat up, stretching languidly.
“That’s not a bad idea. I hope they’ll be happy.”
“How could they not be?” Dimitri kissed her again. “This is the happiest news that any of us have ever heard.”
Dimitri had a nagging fear that Alicia’s parents would be less than thrilled. As they headed to the house after dinner, he had a reoccurring fantasy of her father taking after him with a shot gun. Marrying his daughter to stay in the country was bad enough, but getting her pregnant was an entirely different story.
Chapter6
As it turned out, his worry was for nothing. Alicia’s parents were thrilled-ecstatic actually. They had always wanted grandchildren. Now their dream was coming true. Her mother immediately began to lay out plans for Alicia’s health, wanted to know what type of nursery décor that they wanted, and what type of name they would lean towards. Her father was already advocating that they move. He thought they would all do better in a bigger place. Dimitri calmly and patiently told him that they would remain where they where they were until the baby was a bit older.
By the time they were heading home, Alicia looked exhausted. Dimitri reached over to rub his hand over her thigh.
“You can’t push yourself now.” Dimitri looked over at her. “You have to rest. For the baby.”
“I will.” Alicia sighed as she got out of the car. “Do you think that I should get a better car?”
“How do you mean?” Dimitri followed her up the stairs into the apartment. Alicia unlocked the door. Letting them in, she flicked on
the living room light.
“Well, maybe not something new exactly, but maybe something bigger. Maybe like an SUV that a baby seat would fit in easier. And something safer. I don’t always feel safe in my Focus.”
“Ah.” He understood. Dimitri was not much of a Ford man himself. He had never really liked anything of theirs save for the Mustang-and he figured that was not exactly a family car. “I do not like Fords anyway, is not good car.”
“Don’t tell my dad that.” Alicia warned with amusement in her voice.
“I will not.” Dimitri chuckled softly. “But I will keep an eye out for something that might come into the shop. We can do better for you.” Alicia smiled. She took a step forward, taking his hand and kissing him once more.
“I always know that I can trust you.”
“Of course you can.” Dimitri thought vaguely of earlier today. He had tried to put it out of his head. He didn’t want to let his memories of the past drag him down. He would handle that later. “Go to bed. I will be along shortly. Just want to…see the news.”
“OK” That sounded like the Dimitri that she knew. “I’ll see you soon.” Dimitri kissed her once more. Alicia let go of his hand and headed off to their bedroom.
Dimitri went into the living room to turn on the television. He wanted to make sure that he gave it some time for Alicia to settle before he did what he needed to do.
He could not do the job-that was for certain. He was not the type of man who did that anymore. Besides, he knew that even if he did this particular job, they would keep coming back. He would hear from them regularly over the years until something snapped. That was not a situation that he wanted to be in. These men were dangerous. They were a threat to both he and Alicia-and now the baby. He had to do something.
After a half of an hour, Dimitri got up. He slipped into the hallway, opening the door to the master bedroom. The room was dark. Alicia was settled into bed, tucked onto her side. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing even. She was sound asleep. Dimitri breathed a sigh of relief.
Returning to the living room, he turned down the volume on the television set. Picking up his phone, he scrolled through his contacts. He pulled up a contact that he had not expected to ever dial again.
Victor.
Victor was the only one in the group to which he could make an appeal. Deep down, he was a good man too. And he had his own family to protect. If there was anyone who would listen to him, it was Victor. Setting his jaw, he pressed the call button. It took a moment of ringing, but Victor finally picked up.
“Dimitri.” He muttered. “What is it that you want?”
“I need to speak with you about this afternoon.” Dimitri kept his eyes on the doorframe, planning to terminate the call if Alicia woke up. “This is important. You know that.”
“I have no interest in being in your deal with Rudolph.” Victor told him. “I have a family to support. I want no parts of this.”
“So do I!” Dimitri snapped. He immediately became conscious of the noise, and lowered his voice. “My wife is pregnant. I cannot expose her, or my baby, to this world.”
“Then you know exactly how I feel,” Victor grumbled. “Kristina and the baby are my life. I need to stay out of this for them.”
“But you are already involved.” Dimitri did not see how Victor didn’t get that. “You are already involved with Rudolph. Just by showing up today, you have made a point to him that you are also in this life. You know that this must be stopped.”
Victor was silent for a moment. Dimitri waited, wondering. Finally, the other man spoke.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Let us figure this out together.” Dimitri tried. He wanted desperately to get Victor on his side. Together, perhaps they could do something. From the other end of the line, Victor heaved a heavy sigh.
“All right. What do you want to do?” Finally.
“That I do not know.” Dimitri admitted. “Why don’t we meet tomorrow? We can sit down, and discuss all of this. Together, we can find a way out for all of us.”
“All right.” Victor repeated. “Meet me at your work?”
“Yes,” Dimitri agreed. “I will close everything down so that we can talk. And Victor, make certain that you are not followed.”
“All right, all right.” Victor sounded irritable now. “I will be there. I do not know what time. When I can safely get away, I will come.”
“Fine.” Dimitri glanced again towards the bedroom door. “I will be expecting you.”
“Good night, Dimitri.” The phone line went dead. Dimitri flipped off the television. He didn’t want to say that he felt better, because he didn’t; but at least he had a plan now.
Dimitri went into the bedroom. There, he stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed beside Alicia. He snuggled against her, wrapping his arms around her. She looked so peaceful there in sleep. He had never seen anyone look as beautiful as she did when she slept.
“It will be ok,” he whispered into her ear. “I will take care of you-and the baby. I promise.”
He had not slept well that night. He spent all of the next day, watching and waiting for Victor to appear. He did not come in the morning. By lunchtime, he was still not there. It was now late afternoon, and Dimitri was beginning to believe that the other man would never arrive. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was almost four. If Victor didn’t show up soon, the plan would apparently be off. Dimitri would have to come up with an alternative. He was not looking forward to that part. He did not believe that he could take down this gang alone.
Finally, he heard footsteps behind him. He crossed his fingers, hoping that it was not Stan-or worse, Rudolph. Turning, he was pleased to see Victor standing in the large garage doorway.
“Finally.” Dimitri grumbled irritably.
“Nice to see you too.” Victor snapped. “Come on, Dimitri. I wasn’t followed, but that does not mean that they are not watching you. If we are going to have this conversation, let us do it and get on with it.”
Dimitri nodded grimly. Victor was right. They had to be quick. Neither of them knew how much time that they had before someone else turned up. Dimitri left the car. He moved to the controls for the garage door. Understanding, Victor took a step inside. Dimitri pressed the button, closing the garage door. Now they could talk in private.
“You had best hope that they didn’t see that.” Victor glanced at the now closed door.
“Shut up.” Dimitri rolled his eyes. “We will do our best, all right? Besides, if they are already watching us, what can we do?”
“Our best might get us killed-or at the very least, met with some very serious questions.” Victor leaned against the wall. “You look well,” he finally said. “Marriage is good for you, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Dimitri nodded. “I marry Alicia to stay in the country, but we find that it worked out. She is good woman. I love her.”
“And you’re having a baby.”
“It was unplanned.” Dimitri couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “We just find out about it-yesterday actually.”
“Well, congratulations.” Victor pulled out his phone. He held it out, showing the wallpaper. On the screen was an image of a smiling blonde-haired, blue-eyed little boy playing in a mud puddle. His eyes were shining as he held up one muddy hand. Dimitri took the phone. A faint smile played over his lips.
“He is beautiful. His name is Joey, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Victor smiled proudly. He was clearly pleased with his son. He took the phone back, slipping it into his pocket. “He will be two soon. I do not want him to grow up exposed to this kind of world.”
“I understand what you are saying.” Dimitri folded his arms over his chest. “Do you plan to raise him here?”
“We are hopeful that everything will work out that way, but you never know, right?” Victor shrugged. “There are still some details that we must work out.” He did not say what those details were. He did not really have to. Dimitri understood. If Vi
ctor couldn’t get away from Rudolph and his cronies, he was running a risk for the rest of his life.
“I do not want my child to be born into this world either. I want them to have a good life-a good honest life without this type of danger. It would ruin everything if it was always hanging over their heads.”
“Agreed.” Victor nodded glumly. “So what do we do?”
“That is good question.” Dimitri admitted. “Just what do we do? Rudolph will stop at nothing.”
“That is too true.” Victor shook his head. He unfortunately knew Rudolph too well. “You have no idea what he has been like since you left.”
“I do not need to know.” He didn’t. Rudolph had never exactly been known for his pleasantries. He was a violent man by nature. Dimitri had watched as he had beaten others senseless for silly reasons. He knew that expressing you wanted out for family reasons would get you nothing but laughed at.
“So what do we do?” Victor repeated. Dimitri considered. Reasoning with Rudolph was out. In fact, there was only one thing that Rudolph would respond to-and that was violence.
“I believe that you know.” Dimitri met Victor’s eyes. When Victor hesitated, Dimitri added: “we have to kill them.” Victor closed his eyes. He licked his lips thoughtfully.
“Dimitri, think about what you’re saying. This is not a good idea. Rudolph is a professional. And with Alexei by his side, what could we possibly do to the two of them? That is without mentioning to other men that they--"
“It is not what I want to do either.” Dimitri cut him off before he could finish. He knew that it was not the best idea. Dimitri was not a killer. He did not want to go this route. But he knew that these were desperate times, and desperate measures. Sometimes, when those things happened, he had to resort to the worst case scenario.
“Think about what you are saying.” Victor argued. “Just think about it. Rudolph has people behind him. If they find out, we’ll be next despite our efforts.”
“Then we will not get caught.” Dimitri gave Victor a serious look. “We will have to be discreet. We will have to be overly cautious. But I believe that we can do this. Remember, we are professionals too.”
