by Daiko, SC
“I will give instructions to Mrs. Konin first thing tomorrow that you may use my credit card to order some outfits, if that’s okay with you?”
Zoe was proud, she might not accept my offer. I stared at her while she deliberated. “Thanks,” she said eventually. “I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”
I stroked her arm, “No need to thank me, my sweet. It’s I who should thank you. Consider it a gift.”
She gave me a smile of such beauty, it stole my heart.
For the umpteenth time, words failed me. I wasn’t what you’d call a romantic man. Instead, I touched her sweet lips wonderingly, then enfolded her in my arms and took her mouth in a possessive kiss.
After a second session of lovemaking, I went to the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror.
Had I been lying to myself all along?
Zoe said I wasn’t evil, and I wanted to believe her.
I wanted to believe her so fucking much.
Except, I couldn’t.
I hadn’t been fully honest with her.
Yes, I thought it time Emma mixed with kids her own age.
But that hadn’t been the full reason why I wanted to visit with the Abramoviches next weekend.
My face stared back at me.
Dark as sin.
Chapter Twenty
Zoe
The Abramoviches’ weekend place in Meadow Lane, Southampton, was one of those swanky beachfront homes beloved of wealthy New Yorkers. Svetlana took us onto the deck outside our bedrooms when we arrived late this afternoon, and the view of the Atlantic Ocean literally took my breath. I’d always loved visits to the seaside, the sound of waves crashing on the shore, the salty scent of the brine, throwing myself into the surf and getting my feet covered with sand. “This is simply gorgeous,” I swept my arms wide. “Thanks for including me in your invitation, Svetlana.”
“Take the elevator down to the family room when you’re ready,” she beamed a genuine smile. “Alyona and Valentin can’t wait to meet you.”
Emma’s face pinked; she seemed a little nervous, which wasn’t surprising given her sheltered upbringing. I gave her a quick hug to reassure her and said to Svetlana, “We can’t wait to meet them too.”
Taras was busy on his phone. Emma and I left him to it and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Worry creased her brow. “Do you think they’ll like me?”
“Aw, sweetie. They’ll LOVE you,” I hugged her again.
Dressed in a tie-front white cotton mini dress, she looked freaking adorable. The Abramoviches’ daughter was only a couple months older than Emma and their son was fifteen. I wondered if Taras had done the right thing exposing her to them; she was so naive.
“You two go down first,” he said, disconnecting his call. “There’s something I need to discuss with Semion before I join you.”
I knew it, knew he had an ulterior motive bringing us here, although why he couldn’t have met up with Abramovich in the city made me shake my head. I tugged at the ruffle sleeves of my gorgeous new floral-print silk blouse and tried not to be pissed with him.
He’d behaved totally in character, he was a Boss after all, and I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d vowed to accept him warts and all… and I would.
Down in the family room, Svetlana introduced Emma and me to her kids. Their manners were impeccable, I had to admit. They shook hands and made polite conversation, asking Emma where she studied and not pressing her when she admitted to being tutored at home. They told her about the co-ed boarding school they attended in Switzerland. “It’s so cool,” Alyona enthused. “There are students from fifty-eight different countries.”
“Sounds great,” I responded, smiling at the blonde girl. She was a younger version of her mother, barbie-doll pretty, but with an intelligent demeanor.
“We get to ski in Gstaad in the winter and sail on Lake Geneva in the summer,” Valentin bragged.
“I wish I could go there,” Emma’s eyes fell on him and she blushed.
No wonder. The boy was super-cute, with curly brown hair and twinkling bright blue eyes.
Crush alert, Emma.
“What about your ballet?” I reminded her.
“Oh, yeah,” she sighed. “How could I forget?”
The Abramovich kids asked her about her dance studies and seemed impressed when she told them how far she’d come. “I’m gonna become a professional ballet dancer one day,” she said, and I so hoped that she would.
“Where are the men?” Svetlana glanced at her watch.
She pulled the cell from her pocket, apparently about to call her husband, but the door opened, and he and Taras appeared with drinks in their hands.
A maid came into the room. “Dinner is ready, Madam,” she announced.
I gave Taras a searching look, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
What the hell had he been up to?
I made a mental note to find out.
* * *
Later, Taras and I went to check on Emma, she’d had a busy day and was sound asleep. She was a good sleeper, something for which I envied her. Separately, we kissed her forehead, then went to our rooms.
Part of me hoped he would come to me; the other part hoped he wouldn’t. The dynamics between us had changed. We’d gotten used to our routine in Fairwood; things were different here. I’d caught Svetlana eyeing me speculatively all through dinner. After the kids had gone to bed, the four of us had sat out on the lower deck, and I knew she wasn’t quite sure if she should treat me as Emma’s nanny or Taras’ mistress. I’d found the entire scenario a tad embarrassing, to be honest.
I’d just cleaned my teeth when the door creaked open; he locked it behind him and strode into my room. As soon as I saw him, all my doubts fled. The walls between us tumbled and it was just the two of us again in our own little world. “I couldn’t stay away from you, not that I wanted to,” he groaned.
I went to him, wrapped my arms around his neck, buried my chest into his. “I’m not used to being with you away from the house in Fairwood. It’s a whole different ball game.”
He kissed the top of my head, breathed me in. “Yeah, I get that. Sorry for throwing you into the deep end.”
“It’s okay,” I giggled. “I can swim.”
He laughed, and I couldn’t resist laughing with him. I pressed my lips to his. He kissed me back passionately, his hand in my hair, angling my head up to him. His tongue sought mine and he moaned, deepening the kiss, almost starving me of oxygen.
I came up for air and quivered against him, rubbed my body against his hardening length. His hand in my hair tightened and he rested his forehead against mine, breathing in and out with me. “There’s so much I want to tell you, Zoe. And I will. There are a couple of things I still need to sort out with Semion tomorrow.”
A snicker escaped my throat. “I knew there was an ulterior motive to you agreeing to this visit.”
“I told you I was evil,” he smirked.
“You’re the devil,” I came back at him, not entirely joking.
“And you are an angel,” he stared straight into my eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”
He kissed me again, gently this time, his hands roaming down my body, squeezing at my curves. He pulled up my night shirt and tossed it onto the floor. Then he walked us both to the bed and lowered me onto the mattress. His hand flew to his sleep shorts, and he kicked them off. Before I could do anything, he moved down the bed and buried his face between my thighs, sucking on my already wet pussy.
I bucked my hips up, tingles flooding my core. His breaths quickened as he tongued my clit. I whimpered in ecstasy, tangling my fingers into his thick dark hair and grinding against his mouth. I was so close I could taste it, but he pulled away abruptly.
“Nice and slow, my sweet. I want to enjoy you.” He closed my legs, lay down next to me before wrapping his arms around my abs and positioning me on my side. Breathing raggedly, he parted my thighs and stroked his fingers up and down my slit.
&nb
sp; I felt the head of his cock from behind and released a long moan. He slid straight in I was so ready for him, and I gasped at the fullness, pressing my ass against him. We stayed without moving, his dick pulsing inside me, my pussy twitching in anticipation. So incredibly erotic, to have him buried that deep and immobile. I was restless, though, and needy. I whimpered and writhed, wanting more.
“What?” he tormented me, keeping still.
“Taras,” I moaned.
“You know how good you feel?” He nuzzled his nose between my shoulder and neck. “You know how I’ve been wanting to do this all day?”
I grabbed hold of his hand and tried to get him to rub at my clit; but he chuckled, ran his fingers up my belly and between my breasts instead. He hooked them around my chin and turned my head toward him, kissing me roughly, possessively claiming my mouth as he began to thrust at last.
Hard, controlled thrusts.
Deep into me.
YES!!!
He took his time, inch by inch, neither fast nor slow. My mouth widened as an orgasm finally slammed into me. He didn’t let me come down from it but rolled me onto my front and carried on fucking me from behind. Ahhh!
With a cuss in my ear, he slid his hand between the mattress and my legs. He found my clit and rubbed it as he fucked me, moving faster and faster, triggering those aftershocks inside me, building them back up until I was bucking my ass against him, moaning through another release.
Cussing again, he withdrew and flipped me onto my back, throwing my legs over his shoulders and pounding into me. The angle was freaking intense, the sensations more acute. I was so sensitive, I could barely take it, but then he started speaking in Russian, and the words sparked more heated tingles. It was my turn to cuss as another pulsing orgasm ripped through me and I moaned his name.
He dropped my legs back down and covered me with his body, fucking me more slowly now, circling his hips as he dove in, his pelvis rubbing against my clit. He kissed me softly, my eyes, the end of my nose, my lips. His face was tight, like he wanted to come but wouldn’t let himself. “You are so beautiful,” he rasped. “I’m hooked on you, rybka. Wrapped around your little finger.”
“Taras,” I whispered, digging my fingers into the flesh of his lower back, his words making my heart rejoice.
He was savoring me, building me up again little by little. I didn’t want it to end. I felt so freaking complete with his cock deep inside me. I could never be with any other man. He’d ruined me for anyone else.
I came with an almighty shudder, his mouth on mine while he swallowed my moans.
He thrust hard, a dozen or so more times before he too stilled, a growl tearing through his lungs as he quaked on top of me. I felt his dick jerking, filling me with him, and I loved it.
I so loved being filled with Taras.
I lay underneath him, my leg over his hip, my cheek on his chest. He ran his fingers up and down my sides. We were sweaty and stank of sex, but I couldn’t bear the thought of detaching from him.
I love you, I wanted to say. I love you so much, it hurts.
He rolled off me and I gazed at his cock. Ran my fingertip along the tip. He tensed and let out a breath.
“Do you think you’ll ever reverse your vasectomy?” I blurted out the question before I’d even thought about it.
“It depends,” he answered.
I stopped moving my fingers and looked up at him.
He gazed back, a tender smile on his lips.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow night,” he said out of the blue. “Let me take you on a date, just the two of us. Emma will be having so much fun with Alyona and Valentin, she won’t notice if we’re gone for a couple of hours.”
I stared at him, shocked out of my mind.
He wanted to take me on a date.
I couldn’t believe it.
“Won’t that be rude?” I asked. “We’re guests of the Abramoviches. How can we just take off?”
“Let me handle it, Zoe,” he said firmly. “I can make sure they won’t be offended.”
I pursed my lips. “I still don’t get why you want to do this…”
“You were right, rybka, when you said things have changed between us.” He kissed my cheek. “I want everything to be out in the open, for us to have a future.”
A bubble of happiness formed in my chest. “What kind of future?” I suddenly felt weightless, like I was floating.
“All will be revealed tomorrow at dinner,” he enfolded me in his arms. “Now let’s get some sleep.”
I closed my eyes, willing dreams to take me, but I was too overcome to drop off completely. Only yesterday, I’d fessed up to Olivia that I was sleeping with my boss. She’d sounded upset, warned me I’d get hurt, but I’d told her I’d fallen for him and would accept the consequences.
I was aware of him stirring shortly before dawn to go to his own room. Dare I believe Taras wanted us to be a couple? I hugged myself, tears of hope spilling down my cheeks.
Chapter Twenty-One
Taras
“You didn’t explain fully yesterday why the Polombo are trying to infiltrate your bratva.” Semion added a lump of sugar to his coffee and stirred. We were down in his den, sitting in overstuffed armchairs, our right-hand-men behind us, while Zoe and Svetlana were on the beach with the kids.
“I had one of their pushers killed when I caught him dealing cocaine to my ex-wife some years ago. They’re filthy drug barons. I’ve seen what that shit does to people.” I frowned. “So, now I do everything I can to fuck up their business.”
“Like what?” Semion quirked a brow.
I took a drag from my cigarette. Could I trust him? He and I went back a long way. We’d met when I was climbing the ranks under Balandin in Moscow and Semion was one of his captains. He’d come to America before me, had passed a lot of arms trade my way when I was getting established in Fairwood.
Never trust anyone, I remembered Papa’s words.
Except, if I was going to take down the Polombo, I needed Semion at my side. There was strength in numbers, and he had more men than me. If I’d guessed right, he was probably salivating at the prospect of extending his territory once the Italians were either sleeping with the fishes or behind bars.
I decided to stall Semion by asking, “Have you ever given the FBI a hand?”
He laughed self-deprecatingly. “Which crime boss hasn’t? In return for me helping them nail certain suspects, they turn a blind eye to my existence.”
“I’ve been involved in a sting against the Polombo,” I said, deciding to finally get to the point. I told him about intercepting, seizing and dumping their cocaine shipment. How the feds later claimed responsibility in order to stop La Cosa Nostra being suspicious of me.
Semion scratched his jaw. “Why didn’t the FBI carry out the operation on their own? Did they prosecute the Polombo after claiming it was them?”
“It was a case of strike while the iron was hot. A little bird told me about it, and my boat was in the right place at the right time. The feds are waiting to get all their ducks in a row before prosecuting.”
“Any chance the Italians have found out it was your boat?” Semion asked.
“Not sure, to be honest,” I shrugged. “Shortly afterwards, I sniffed out a rat. The guy who used to run my nightclub was snooping around. We caught him red-handed, but he wouldn’t talk, despite every effort we made to ‘persuade’ him.”
Semion cracked a bloodthirsty grin. “I miss wet work, sometimes.” He inclined his head toward me. “The good old days in Moscow, eh?”
“Yeah,” I smirked.
Those days were anything but ‘good’.
“How’s trade?” He slid his chair closer to mine. “I see you’ve profited from a number of wars around the globe.”
“As have you and Uncle Sam,” I quipped.
Semion laughed from his belly. “So, why the sudden hurry to take down the Polombo?”
“They threatened someone close to me,” I curled
my lip.
“Not… Emma?” His body stiffened.
I shook my head. “Zoe. My future wife.”
Semion’s mouth fell open. “Congratulations! Why didn’t you tell us you and Zoe were engaged?” A brief pause. “She’s a lovely young woman, by the way, and Emma clearly adores her.”
My throat grew thick with emotion. “I haven’t asked her to marry me yet. I hope you and Svetlana won’t mind, but I’d like to take Zoe out to dinner tonight and propose.” My heartbeats accelerated. “She’s said that she loves me, just hoping she’ll agree to be my wife.”
Semion leaned across the space between us and clapped me on the shoulder. “Svetlana will be thrilled. She told me how much she likes Zoe.”
“Please ask her not to mention anything about my proposal,” I gave him a half smile, “I want to surprise my girl.”
He made a zipping motion with his finger across his lips. “You have my word.”
“Just one thing, though,” I said, almost like an after-thought although it had been my intention to mention it all along. “I have one of the fucking Polombo associates under lock and key. The shitass who threatened Zoe. I’m gonna hand him over to the FBI next week. Then I’m going after those motherfuckers.” I stood and fixed Semion in my gaze. “Can I count on your support?”
Semion pushed himself to his feet.
We faced each other, eyed each other up and down.
Two lions, but we belonged to the same pride.
The Vory.
“Of course, you have my support, Taras,” he said.
I shook his hand, and said, “I never doubted it for one second.”
* * *
After our meeting, Semion and I joined our families by the ocean. I already considered Zoe ‘family’ and couldn’t wait to ask her to marry me. I’ve been wanting to ask her since last night, from the time when she’d inquired if I’d ever consider reversing my vasectomy. It wasn’t something I’d have countenanced with any other woman, I realized, but I’d known immediately, without any shadow of a doubt, that I wanted to have more children, and I wanted to have them with her.
