by Bella Rose
“I didn’t mean to pry,” Viktor told her in a mild tone of voice. “I was just making conversation.”
“Then make conversation about something else,” Katie suggested flatly.
“Where are you working?”
She sent him a sideways glance. “City Dental Associates.”
“That sounds interesting.”
Katie laughed, the sudden sound of merriment almost musical to his ears. “It doesn’t sound interesting. You’re just saying that because you don’t even know what a person would do at a job like that!”
“Okay, maybe.”
“Maybe, my behind,” she teased. “I answer phones and make appointments for people.” She shot him an evil grin. “When was the last time you went to see the dentist?”
“I have no idea.” He couldn’t help the distasteful expression that spread across his face. “And I hope I never have to go.”
“That’s actually the point of going regularly,” she teased. “We call it preventative.”
“Do you like what you do?” He made an attempt to grab the Frisbee from Max’s mouth as he returned, but the dog ducked to avoid him.
“I do enjoy my job.” She put her hand out and Max promptly deposited the Frisbee. Katie grinned at Viktor. “He’s trained to give the toy back to whoever threw it.” She handed Viktor the Frisbee. “Try it.”
Viktor was a good deal stronger than Katie. She almost protested when he drew back and let the thing fly as though it had been shot from a rocket launcher. But Max was in heaven. The dog sprinted off so quickly that he was nothing but a blue-and-white blur streaking through the grass. His hindquarters bunched and he leaped into the air to catch the Frisbee.
“Wow.” Viktor turned and smiled. The expression was so honest. It reminded her of the way he’d been before. Then he pointed to indicate Max. “Did you train him like this?”
“Actually, yes.” She swallowed uncomfortably. This was getting into territory she really didn’t care to discuss. “A friend of mine’s family raises these dogs for show. They gave Max to me as a gift and I spent a lot of time on obedience and agility training.”
“Dog shows?” Viktor’s tone was incredulous. “I would have never thought you could be into something like that.”
“They’re certainly not for everyone,” she said stiffly. “But they can be fun.”
Max trotted up and triumphantly put the Frisbee back in Viktor’s hand. Viktor held it up and Max’s butt dropped obediently to the ground as he waited. Then Viktor pretended to throw the Frisbee. He swung his arm out in a wide arc, but didn’t let go.
To Katie’s amusement, Max stayed put right where he was and continued to stare at Viktor. Katie poked Viktor in the arm. “He’s not stupid. But he is wondering why you would bother trying to play that trick since he can both hear and smell the thing behind your back.”
“Nice. So even the dog thinks I’m a moron.” Viktor threw the Frisbee and Max took off.
* * *
Viktor realized as soon as the words were out that he’d just started a conversation he didn’t want to have. Although, he kept getting the feeling that Katie had several of those as well. She had alluded to a friend, but never seemed to want to discuss it any further. Was this “friend” a guy?
“What?” she asked. “I can tell you’re gearing up to ask me something.”
He cocked his head, trying to get a better read on her facial expression. “Ah, but you already told me you don’t want to talk about it.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t ask,” she reasoned. “You just might not get as comprehensive of an answer as you would like.”
“Comprehensive?” He sighed and gently nudged her with his shoulder. “Okay. You keep talking about a friend you had while you were away, but you never seem to want to say more. What gives?”
“You’re right. I don’t want to talk about it,” she said in a tight voice. “I thought he was a good guy. I was wrong. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
Viktor’s gut clenched. He found he did not like the idea of some nameless, faceless jerk treating Katie badly. “Did he hurt you? Because I swear I will track him down and—”
She laid her hand very lightly on his forearm. The effect was instant and staggering. The tension seemed to leach right out of Viktor’s body. He felt soothed by her touch, as if nothing would ever anger him again.
Katie gazed up at him, meeting his eyes and holding him captive with hers. “He didn’t hurt me like that. Not physically. I promise. But he was a very selfish man.”
Max trotted up and sat down. Viktor took the Frisbee, but didn’t throw it. His mind was too full of other things. “Would you go to dinner with me tonight?”
“Oh Viktor, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” The expression in her wide gray eyes suggested something completely different, but he let that go for the moment.
“Come on,” he coaxed. “It’s just dinner. We could even do something completely low-key like getting pizza at Franco’s.”
He had her there and she knew it. The woman had loved Franco’s since before he’d met her. She gave him a squinty-eyed glare. “That’s cheating and you know it!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just offered to buy you pizza at your very favorite restaurant.” He stuck his tongue out at her. “That makes me the nice guy here, not the villain.”
“I don’t know about that,” she groused. “I think you’ll always be the villain.”
“But will you go get pizza with me?”
She sighed and snatched her Frisbee out of his hand. “Yes. I’ll meet you there at seven.”
“Deal!” He couldn’t believe how eager he felt for something that should have been mundane.
Chapter Three
Katie pulled open the front door of Franco’s Pizza Parlor with mixed feelings. It was great to walk in and smell the yeasty goodness of Franco’s signature thick crust. On the other hand, she was here meeting a man she had no business hanging around with.
“Katie!” Franco Parelli waved to her from behind the counter. “It’s good to see you. I heard you were back in town!”
She grinned at the old man who looked exactly the same, save for the extra hair growing out of his ears. “I couldn’t stand going without your pizza anymore, Franco. I had to move back to town just for that.”
“I’ll make you your favorite and have it right out to you!” Franco called out with a wave.
“Thank you!”
Katie took a seat by the back window where she and Viktor had always sat when they came here after school to do their homework. It was like being in a time warp. She half expected Viktor to come sauntering in carrying his backpack over one shoulder. He’d been narrow chested with good abs, but no real size to speak of.
The front door swung open and Viktor strode inside. Katie felt her heart start to pound. He certainly didn’t look like he had in high school. The guy was huge and buff, with broad shoulders that looked as if they could carry the whole world.
“Hey.” He took a seat across the table. “Did you already order?”
“Franco didn’t let me order.” Katie gave a little laugh. “Apparently I was very predictable when I came here.”
“Medium chicken and spinach Alfredo pizza with extra pepper and plenty of parmesan.” He gave her a hard nod. “That was you.”
“Nothing has changed in that respect,” she admitted.
He cocked his head to one side. “Implying that it has changed in others?”
“Don’t things always change with time?” She looked intently at him. “Take you, for example. You seem the same in a lot of ways, but you’re also very different.”
“How am I different?”
Franco appeared, setting two sodas on their table and frowning at Viktor. “You can be here, but I want nothing to do with those hoodlum friends of yours.”
Viktor bobbed his head, acknowledging Franco’s war
ning. “Yes, sir. I’ll make certain my associates remain outside.”
Franco muttered something else and left the table. He did give Katie an indulgent smile before he headed back to the kitchen.
Katie made a gesture to indicate the old man. “That right there is sort of significant, don’t you think? Franco liked you when you were a kid. Obviously that ship has sailed.”
“Crashed and burned more like,” he said jokingly.
“Why do you joke about something like that, Viktor?” Katie wanted to know. “You were never a bad kid. What happened?”
“Life?”
“I almost think it was more like you decided to stop actively trying not to be a bad kid.”
His expression clouded over. She could tell she had made him angry. Then he seemed to get control of himself. “Life doesn’t always turn out the way you think it will, Katie.”
“I already knew that.”
“Yes, but when you left I had no reason to walk away from the easier road.” He fiddled with his straw before taking a drink of his soda. “When I was with you, I tried to steer clear of the people and things that would take me down that path.”
“The mafia path,” Katie said to clarify things. “That’s what you’re talking about. Right?”
“Yes.” His gaze seemed to focus on something far away. The scar bisecting the left side of his mouth gave his expression a somewhat sinister appearance. “You were my credibility. I didn’t realize that entirely until you left. I had begun to count on the odd jobs with people like Franco or the dry cleaner to make money. I had even thought to get a job stocking groceries at night and try to go to community college. But after you left, Mr. Phillips wouldn’t hire me.”
“Because you had already started hanging out with your deadbeat friends all the time,” Katie guessed.
“Who else was there?” He looked angry. “I was alone. Nobody trusted the little Russian boy whose father was a mafia enforcer for the Karkoffs before he died in a knife fight.”
Katie’s heart went out to him. He had always felt pigeonholed by his origins. She knew that even if she had always disagreed. “You aren’t your father, Viktor.”
“I might as well be,” he said darkly. “I haven’t sworn myself to Karkoff, but he was the only one who would give me work after you left town.”
“So you consider yourself his creature now, is that it?” she guessed. “You’re more than that, Viktor. I know you are.”
He snorted derisively, sitting back in his chair and staring balefully at her. “Listen to you! You know I am more.” He muttered something in Russian, too quickly for her rusty and deficient language skills to follow. “I am surprised you care at all.”
“That’s not fair!”
Franco brought her pizza. He put the steaming pie on the table between them and handed out plates and silverware. Then he glared at Viktor. “If he is bothering you, Katie, I’ll have one of my boys get rid of him.”
“He’s not bothering me, Franco,” she assured the old man. “We’re just catching up after a very long time.”
“Ha!” Franco said sarcastically. “I bet he has a lot to tell, if he will.”
“Enough, old man,” Viktor growled.
“You be respectful,” Franco told Viktor. “I may be old, but I can still kick your ass.”
“All right then, I think that’s enough,” Katie told them both. “Thank you for the pizza, Franco. It smells just as amazing as I remember.”
Franco smiled broadly, forgetting his irritation with Viktor, at least momentarily. “You eat up, Katie. It’s so good to have you home.”
* * *
Viktor watched Katie take a big bite of her pizza. She waved her hand in front of her mouth, obviously trying to cool things off since the food was so hot. She was as adorable now as she had been five or so years ago.
“I should have never let you go,” Viktor told her quietly. “I was angry that you left. I took it personally. I’m sorry. It was childish of me.”
She wiped her hands on a paper napkin and shrugged. “You were young. It was understandable that you’d be angry. It’s not like I really spent much time explaining why I went.”
“Why did you go?”
“At the time?” She pursed her lips. “I went because of you.”
“What?” That unexpected announcement sent him reeling with shock. “What did I do?”
“Nothing, really.” She seemed to be struggling to find the right answer. “It was more what I was afraid I was going to do.”
“With me?”
“My mother came to me. She was worried that we were too serious.”
“Because of my past?” he guessed bitterly.
She shook her head, rolling her eyes. “Would you get over yourself? No! It wasn’t because of your anything. It was our ages. My mother had married very young and had always regretted it. She didn’t want me to make the same decision.”
“So she asked you to leave?” Viktor was trying to wrap his head around the notion of a mother who wanted her child to leave, when Katie continued speaking.
“My mom had an aunt who lived a few hours away. She arranged for me to live there and go to school.” Katie’s pretty face took on a soft smile. “It was a good life. I had a scholarship and a place to live, and my aunt was really nice.”
“So you were happy.” Why was it so hard not to begrudge her that happiness?
She shrugged. “In a way. Yes. I was happy.”
“Did you ever think of me?” Why oh why had he asked that? Was he trying to make himself out to be a weakling? Viktor rubbed a hand down his face, wishing he could take the words back.
“Actually, yes,” she admitted softly. “I missed you a lot.”
There was an awkward little silence at the table. Katie ate a few more bites of pizza, obviously savoring what had been her favorite food back in the day. Viktor watched her. She was such a striking woman. It was difficult to imagine any man not treating her like a queen.
“How long did you wait before you met someone else?” he asked, wanting to know even though he knew he had no right to ask.
“A few years.” She didn’t look up at him. “You’re not an easy man to get over, Viktor.”
He took a breath to speak, but the front door of Franco’s was flung wide open. Sasha and Yakov swaggered inside with mischievous expressions on their faces. Viktor gave an inward groan. Why did his friends have to be such interfering assholes?
“Viktor!” Franco yelled from the back.
Viktor stood up. “I’ve got this, Franco.”
Perhaps it was the guarded expression on Katie’s face, but he wanted his friends as far away from Franco’s and Katie as possible. Now. He pointed to the door. “You guys need to step off,” he told them in Russian.
“We want pizza,” Sasha whined, also speaking in Russian. “We’re normally not allowed in this place. Since you got in, we figured we could finally get some good pizza.”
“No.” Viktor used the bulkiness of his body to push them back toward the door. “Franco doesn’t allow you in here.”
“But you’re allowed,” Yakov snorted, jerking his head toward Katie. “Or are you only allowed here because you’re hanging around with the good girl?”
“Something like that,” Viktor admitted. “Now get out.”
“We’re screwing things up for him, I think,” Sasha told Yakov. “Maybe we should just get rid of the woman so Viktor will stop acting like a lovesick moron.”
Rage swept over Viktor like a dark tidal wave. “You don’t want to find out what will happen if you go that route.”
Yakov raised his brows in surprise. “I think Sasha is right, Viktor. You are a lovesick moron.” His friend slapped him on the shoulder. “And we actually came to tell you that Karkoff has requested a meeting. He has a job for you.”
“It can wait,” Viktor told them coldly.
“No,” Yakov argued. “It can’t.”
“The boss wants to see you now.” Sasha said.
Sasha kept glancing over at Katie. It was making Viktor twitchy. Perhaps the best option was to just leave. It was obvious that his boneheaded friends weren’t going to take a hint or even an order. Viktor didn’t want to risk them doing something outrageous, just to make a point to Katie.
“Fine,” Viktor conceded. “Wait for me outside. I’ll be there in a moment.”
Sasha and Yakov smirked at each other before turning around and walking back out of Franco’s. Viktor sighed. So much for his romantic evening. Now he had to cut things short after making an utter mess. He would be lucky if Katie ever had dinner with him again.
“Business issues?” she asked in an arch tone.
He nodded. “Something like that.”
“Then I suppose I’ll see you around sometime.” She went back to her pizza as though it didn’t bother her at all that he was leaving.
“Are you staying in your grandmother’s old place?” he asked casually. “I heard about her passing. I was sorry about that. She was a wonderful lady.”
“Yes. She left me her house.” Katie didn’t seem to worry about giving him that information. Surely that was a good sign.
“Then have a nice evening,” he told her, laying a fifty-dollar bill on the table. “I said I would buy you pizza.”
For a second he thought she would refuse the money. She smiled instead. “So you did. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Viktor smiled, and then he walked out of Franco’s to face the everyday reality of his life.
Chapter Four
“Ah, Viktor!” Karkoff cried out as Viktor walked into the billiard room at Karkoff’s home deep in the city. “I knew you would come! The boys said you were too involved with your date”—Karkoff made a point of elbowing the jowly man beside him—“but I told them you knew which side your bread was buttered on. You know?”
