by Cher Etan
“Sure, I’ll put on some coffee,” she said.
Sophie stepped out of the kitchen door and started, her heart in her throat as a huge black figure loomed up holding some sort of weapon.
“Oh God,” she whimpered hand to her heart.
“Ma’am?”
It was just Robbie; one of the guards on night shift on the property.
“Can I help you with anything?” He asked her.
“No thanks Robbie…well you can escort me to Kat’s house if…you know; you’re not too busy or anything,” she said still tremulous with nerves.
“Yeah sure,” he agreed readily enough and stepped out of the way to let her precede him.
Chapter 4
The month following Natasha’s threats was relatively quiet. Curtis worked out his notice period with Rodham, Clarence and Haggerty; Certified Public Accountants. He had started as Sophie’s PA just that Monday and already they’d fallen into a comfortable routine where they divided the day’s tasks according to each person’s individual strengths. Security had been beefed up to such an extent that one of the bus boys in the restaurant is an ex-Marine whose primary job is to ensure the safety of the food served and the integrity of the kitchen staff. There are three separate security firms engaged in ensuring that the Romanov Group as well as the Romanovs are safe. Sophie had managed to go for at least a week without thinking about Benjy being kidnapped or hurt.
Her phone dinged and she saw that Tony had sent her a message. His uncle Mikhail and aunt Cara were coming for dinner. Uncle Mikhail would be traveling to Russia with Tony’s father. They were going to dig up some history on Konstantine and his daughter which they thought they could use as leverage to get Natasha to back off. Tony wanted to know if they should invite Roman as well. Even though he was Tony’s dad, he always waited to be invited to visit regardless of how much he enjoyed spending time with Benjy.
Sophie thought about it then shrugged.
“Why not?” she said aloud.
“Why not what?” Curtis asked from his desk.
“Invite my father in law for dinner together with his twin brother and his wife,” Sophie said.
“What about me, do I get to be invited to dinner too?” Curtis asked pouting.
Sophie laughed, “I thought you’d have had enough of me by the end of the day. If you want to come home with me for dinner you’re most welcome.”
“Well it beats eating alone,” Curtis said with a grimace.
“What? What happened to whatshisname?”
“Turned out to be a crack head,” Curtis said sadly.
“Aww, that sucks”, Sophie commiserated.
“It really does. He stole my TV,” Curtis said mouth turned down.
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh well…” Sophie tried to think of something to say. “I got nothin’,” she said. Curtis laughed.
“He was damn good in bed though,” he offered.
“At least you had that,” Sophie agreed.
“So not only are you on your owny own, but you don’t even have a television to distract you?”
“Yep,” Curtis said reading spreadsheets and making notes.
“Then you definitely need to come for dinner,” Sophie said.
“Why thank you kind ma’am. I will take you up on that offer,” Curtis said smiling.
*****
Sophie left early deciding that she was going to make gumbo for dinner. It had been a long time since she’d made a good old fashioned New Orleans gumbo. The last time she’d done that it had been just her and her grandfather living in a small apartment in Boston. Solomon was still in the wind and Tony had yet to be imagined. Her grandfather and she liked to have a sit down meal after Sunday service and when it was Sophie’s turn to cook; she would make either some gumbo or jambalaya. It had been one of the only pieces of home they had left. Sophie decided it was high time she introduced her expanded family to her gumbo.
She stopped at the market to pick up ingredients and then went home, startling Katarina who was handing Robbie some pie for his lunch. He’d become a family favorite due to his affinity for Benjy. They got along like a house on fire and Robbie was chiefly assigned to home detail unless it was his day off. Monday was supposed to be his day off but more often than not, he’d turn up to relieve the substitute security detail in the early afternoon, claiming that the morning off was all he needed. Somehow he always seemed to turn up in time for tea and pie and Sophie always felt a little sad for him – he seemed lonely to her.
“We’re having a small family dinner tonight Robbie so we’ll be expecting Mikhail and Cara Petrov as well as Roman Petrov. Could you notify the gates?”
“Mr. Romanov already informed the morning staff of that intel and they passed it on.”
“Oh how efficient,” Sophie murmured unpacking her ingredients. Robbie was watching her with interest.
“What are you making for dinner? Looks like gumbo,” he commented.
“Oh you know about gumbo?” Sophie turned to him in surprise.
“My grandmother used to make it. Every Sunday,” Robbie told her.
“Great. Well if you’re around for dinner you’re welcome to some,” Sophie said.
“You’re very generous Mrs. Sophie,” he said. “Well I gotta get back to my rounds.” He disappeared just as suddenly as he’d appeared. It had ceased to surprise Sophie by now and she continued to lay out her ingredients while Kat watched on the sidelines.
“Can I help?” she asked tentatively.
“Yes, toss some salad. Maybe make some of that delicious apple crumble of yours for dessert,” she said.
“Yes ma’am,” she said and got to work.
They worked silently side by side, making a special dinner for the family.
*****
Roman was the first to arrive and he made a beeline for Benjy at once. He usually did every time he had the opportunity to spend time with his grandson. Considering the rocky beginnings they’d had as a family, Sophie was just glad that Roman had an uncomplicated relationship with at least one of his blood. Benjy delighted in his grandfather as much as his grandfather doted on him. Surprisingly, at least to Sophie, her own grandfather and Tony’s father got on famously. Somehow they understood each other regardless of their different social backgrounds; there was a common thread of ‘family first at all costs’ that they both believed in, which united rather than divided them…at least once they understood that they were concerned about the same family.
They were joined for dinner by Katarina, as Solomon’s guest rather than housekeeper and Curtis. Robbie stopped by to check that all was good before he did his rounds. Curtis’ eyes got very wide when he saw him.
“Who is that tall drink of water?” he whispered out of the side of his mouth to Sophie.
Sophie grinned, “Oh, that’s Robbie. He’s security.”
“Is he single?” Curtis whispered back.
“He must be. Here’s here 24/7. What I don’t know is if he’s gay,” she said warningly.
Curtis huffed dismissively. “Details,” he said.
Sophie got up to check on her gumbo and Kat wandered in to get glasses for the table she was setting. Sophie placed the gumbo in a bowl and carried it to the table, Katarina following with accouterments. Once everything was set, Sophie went to the living room to invite everyone to the table.
Conversation at dinner was general. Roman sat next to Benjy in his high chair. He had just about reached the stage where he liked to beat his food into submission with a spoon before spreading it all over his mouth and face and neck. Sophie sat on his other side, ensuring that at least a little of that food made it down his throat. Across from her sat Katarina and Cara with their men flanking them and Sam sat next to Tony at the head of the table while Elijah sat at the foot with Curtis to one side. Several different conversations were taking place at the same time. Katarina and Cara were deep in discussion about something while Roman and Sophie discussed Benj
y’s precociousness. Solomon, Sam and Tony were talking about basketball. Solomon had taken to bringing Sam to watch him play at the YMCA and the boy had developed an interest in the sport. He had looked up statistics and game strategy and could recite all of it from memory. Tony and Solomon were forever asking him about this game or that statistic just to see if they could catch him napping but so far they had not managed to do so. Mikhail concentrated on his food, not really saying much. But then he rarely did. He gave his compliments to the cooks though since he’d never eaten gumbo before and found it delicious.
“Thanks Uncle Mikhail. I’m glad you like it,” Sophie said smiling at him.
“Sophie used to make gumbo on Sundays with her grandmother back before she got too ill to do so,” Elijah told the table wistfully. “After that she tried to make it by herself; continue the tradition. I’m glad to see it might be making a return.”
Sophie smiled at her grandfather and reached out to clasp his hand.
“I remember that gumbo…this one’s much better,” Solomon said with an impudent grin. Sophie stuck her tongue out at him making Mikhail laugh.
“It is good for families to have tradition. In my own family, the tradition was that once a boy turned twelve he was given his first glass of vodka,” he said.
“Oh…” Sophie said with a grimace. “Awkward. Somehow I don’t think that tradition will be carried on. Do you have any others that wouldn’t get child services called on us?” she asked half-joking.
Mikhail gave it some real thought. “Well, our father had this thing he used to say that a Ruski is not afraid of a little cold. So in the dead of winter he would have us go outside without our clothes; first for ten minutes, then twenty then half an hour then a full hour. It was supposed to build our tolerance to cold.”
Sophie shivered and Mikhail saw it. “I don’t think you’ll be continuing that one either no?” he said with a grin.
“Er, no,” Sophie replied shaking her head at the thought. Roman regarded her with his ice gray eyes, cold as any winter and when Benjy saw where he was looking he looked at her with identical eyes…except his were innocent and warm. Sophie wondered how two pairs of eyes could be so similar yet so different. Then she thought about a boy standing naked in the snow for one hour and maybe understood how winter had gotten into her father-in-law’s eyes.
Cara looked at her, her green eyes amused. “Don’t take Mikhail too seriously. He likes to shock people with stories of his horrific past. It’s just how your parents probably said they walked ten miles to school every day rain or shine,” she said laughing.
The shine died temporarily from Sophie’s eyes. Her parents hadn’t really had a chance to tell her and her brother those stories having been murdered by thieves trying to rob them at their shop. Their mother had been shot dead on the spot while their father lingered in a comma for two years before he too succumbed. It might have been over a decade ago that it happened but the pain still got her at the oddest moments. Like now.
Her lips spread in a parody of a smile and then she looked down at her food, picking at it. Cara stopped laughing.
“Oh no did I say something?” she asked in concern. Sophie looked up at her and her smile became more genuine. She shrugged one shoulder ruefully.
“Not your fault. I was just thinking maudlin thoughts,” she said.
“Well don’t,” Cara said stretching out a hand to squeeze Sophie’s across the table.
“I won’t,” Sophie promised squeezing back.
After dinner, there was coffee and dessert in the living room as Mikhail and Roman filled them in on their plans to get answers.
“Konstantin is known by many different aliases wherever he goes and this is the first I’m hearing that there is a daughter,” Romanov said face grave. “When Crowley…took care…of her father, I’m not sure who took over, but if Natasha was a player at the time, she must have been very behind the scenes because I never saw her or heard of her. It’s very strange; there is no nepotism when it comes to Bratva business. In order to lead one must prove themselves worthy. This young woman though…” he broke off to look around at them. He looked tired and frustrated that he didn’t have answers. Mikhail took over the explanation.
“I have back channels into Russia because of my er…side business. They deal in information. Of course this is not the sort of information you want to send a message about. Better to go ourselves and see what can be found out about this so called Natasha and where she came from.”
“And then what?” Solomon asked.
“And then we know who we’re dealing with and what can be done about it,” Roman said.
Tony nodded slowly, his eyes far away. Whatever he was thinking about, Sophie did not think it was good.
*****
He was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth when Sophie wandered in to lean on the doorway and cross her legs. Her white lace nightgown barely covered her nether regions and the little satin and lace jacket over it simply served to emphasize her curves rather than cover them. She could see him watching her in the mirror but ignored it in favor of getting her questions answered.
“What are you thinking?” she asked him as she braced herself on her hands which were flat on the door frame. Tony raised his eyebrows at her and indicated his foam and toothbrush filled mouth with his other hand.
“Quit stalling,” Sophie said only half joking. Tony spat out the foam and rinsed his mouth.
“What am I thinking about what?” he asked as he wiped his mouth and his hands.
“What are you planning on doing once you have that info on Natasha? I could see the cogs spinning from across the room when your father and uncle were telling us about what they knew.” She said eyes narrowed at him.
Tony shrugged, “It depends on what they find. How connected she is. To whom…”
“You’re just dancing around my question. Come on Tony give me something.” Sophie said suddenly very serious.
Tony sauntered to her and placed his hands on her substantial hips. His eyes traveled from there upwards, taking in her waist and then up to rest on her plump breasts. He leaned forward to place a kiss between them before raising his blue eyes to look into her brown ones.
“Baby I promise you, if I have a plan, you’ll be the first to know what it is.”
Sophie regarded him long and seriously. He looked back at her, letting her see what she would.
“Okay then,” she said at last pulling herself away from the door frame. “Coming to bed?” she asked as she strolled over and knelt on the cover ass in the air as she pulled the covers away from the pillow and climbed in. Without conscious decision on his part Tony was suddenly right beside her, getting into bed on the same side. His cock was already paying careful attention to the proceedings and Sophie looked down at his tented pants and then up at his eyes with a naughty smile.
“Looks like someone wants to play,” she said reaching out to cup his balls inside his pants. He gasped and closed his eyes, freezing in mid motion as he was in the process of getting under the covers. Sophie massaged his balls slowly as if they were medicine balls in her hands, first between her first two fingers and then her last two. Tony made an inarticulate pleading sound and she laughed softly, squeezing him gently and then running a soft finger up and down his erect member.
“Uuuhhh,” Tony said and his hand seemingly could not hold him up any longer because he fell forward on the pillow and turned around fumbling with his waistband as he tried to move the pants out of the way so they could be skin to skin.
“Shh…relax,” Sophie said moving his hand out of the way, ”Let me.”
Tony’s hands fell on either side of him, leaving him lying sprawled on the bed, completely at her mercy. Sophie smiled and caressed his dick through his pants again while the nails of her other hand scratched their way up his stomach to his chest, taking his t-shirt with her. Tony’s breathing became very erratic and his eyes remained closed. Sophie drew circles with her nails on his chest whil
e simultaneously rubbing at his penis through the cloth of his track suit bottom. She drew concentric circles around his nipples and then leaned down to suck at them gently. Tony whimpered and Sophie huffed a laugh against his skin, making him shiver. She picked up his hands and placed them on her breasts encouraging him to squeeze. He swallowed audibly even as he hastened to obey. It’s like he’s hypnotized as his hips jut upwards pressing urgently into her. She straddled him and let him rub himself frantically into her.
“T-take it off,” he mumbles breathlessly and she knows he’s talking about his pants because there’s nothing under her negligee but skin. She takes pity on him and pulls his pants down and he exhales in relief.
“Fuck me Sophie,” he says very clearly, his glazed eyes staring into hers. She smiles at him and leans forward pressing her lips to his in invitation. His hand comes up to hold her head in place as his tongue plunders her mouth and his hips snap upwards seeking her warmth. She straddles him but offers no further help as he seeks her strictly by touch. He can’t seem to master the coordination to use his hand to guide himself. Sophie can feel his breathing getting louder and more erratic and his arousal fuels hers so that she doesn’t think she can wait any longer. Reaching between them without disengaging from his lips she finds his penis and guides it home. They both exhale together as he sheaths himself as deep as he can go and then she’s pressing downwards and he’s snapping upwards and it’s as if they’re trying to kill each other by splitting each other open through their privates. Sophie breaks the kiss to arch backwards encouraging Tony to go deeper and deeper; as deep as he can go. Tony snaps upward so far that his back is almost all in the air and there is a significant gap between him and the bed.
“Gaa Sophie, Jesus I need you,” he murmurs thrusting harder into her, so hard and fast that all she can do is hold on and ride the tempest. She can feel herself break apart and a sliver of fear runs through her. She’s afraid she’ll never be able to be put together again. But then she looks in Tony’s eyes and realizes that even if she does shatter, Tony will keep every single piece of her safe. She relinquishes all control and let’s herself go shattering into a million pieces of pleasure so intense it’s almost painful. Tony makes a sound as if his spine has been pulled out of his body as he stiffens and she feels him empty into her. Time stops and Sophie collapses on the bed separating reluctantly from Tony. The stare up at the ceiling…just breathing.
