“It is awesome.”
She lifted her head. “Can we do it again?”
He grinned at her. “We can, and we will. I’m not done with you, Anzehlina.”
She stopped smiling.
“Does it bother you when I use your real name?”
She touched his lips with her fingertips. “No, Christopher. I was given that name all those years ago for one reason.”
“Why?” he asked.
“For you to say it. I love it now. Thank you for that gift. I love you.”
His heart skipped.
Yeah, he knew what that meant.
He already loved her too.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Tony Mays’s
Home
When he returned home, death was waiting for him. In the darkness of the house, he met his end.
It was cold.
It was brutal.
It was deserving.
The smugness he’d walked in with on his face was not the look he left the world with—in fact, it was far from it.
Before he could climb into the shower to wash away the stench of cheap whore, there was that strike to the back of his head.
His skull shattered, and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.
It was done.
He was gone.
Slipping out of the bathroom, the scene was set.
It was time to ensure that in the morning, the man would be found.
They would be so confused.
That was perfect.
Because this was the perfect crime.
Chapter Eighteen
Sunday Morning
N atasha decided that there was nothing like a night of sex to make you feel extra happy in the morning. It was better than any gym workout she could ever do. The cardio, while making love to the Captain, was off the charts.
While she was tired, she still felt refreshed.
It was amazing.
There was something about the way Chris worked his way around her body all night long.
He’d lavished her with kisses, licks, bites, and so much more. It was a night she’d never forget.
Ever.
This made her world so much better. It was like waking up and seeing color for the first time. He gave her a gift, and she’d never forget it.
Sitting up, she realized she was alone in his bed. Chris was nowhere to be found.
That puzzled her.
He’d escaped his bed, but where had he gone?
She listened.
Natasha could hear him whistling in the kitchen. It made her smile. It sounded like he was making her something to eat.
That was so damn sweet of him.
Looking around, Natasha examined his room. It was orderly, it was clean, and everything was in a methodical place. It amused her. He was structured to his core. Natasha kind of liked it. In her life, she didn’t have to think about order. Dimitri did it for them.
Now, she had someone else she could trust wouldn’t let her fall. That was amazing.
Getting out of bed, she looked around for something to wear. On the chair was Chris’s dress shirt. Slipping into her panties, she grabbed his shirt. The scent of his cologne gave her goosebumps. It made her think about what they’d done the night before.
Yeah, she was happy.
This was officially the best day of her life.
Natasha stared into the mirror. She wasn’t too much of a mess. Since she didn’t really wear a lot of makeup, she didn’t look like a scary raccoon who was pulled through a puddle of mud.
She was presentable.
Heading out of the room, she had one thing on her mind.
The captain.
She wanted her captain.
Again.
Chris woke before her, and that wasn’t really unusual. He was a creature of habit and was up at the crack of dawn. When he realized the condo didn’t have any food, since he almost never stayed there, he knew he needed to run to the corner store and grab some provisions.
He picked up enough things just in case they stayed there again tonight.
Honestly, he wouldn’t mind her staying with him all the time. There was something magical about rolling over, finding a warm body beside you, and knowing they wanted you.
With his ex, if he even dared wake her for sex, there’d be hell to pay. With Natasha, he woke her two times, and she simply went into his arms.
She was a sexy bedmate, and he found himself wanting even more.
Now he was trying to impress her the best way he knew how.
Eggs.
It was the ONLY thing he could cook.
Honestly, he hoped she was okay with them, but if not, he’d climb a mountain and slaughter a goat if she asked him to. Last night had been that damn spectacular. As in—old man getting a sexy young woman—spectacular.
He couldn’t believe she wanted him. Let alone enough to let him crawl all over her multiple times.
He was in a whole new world that morning.
It was one where he didn’t have to wake up alone, go to bed alone, and pretend he was okay with it.
He saw now that it was all lies. Chris wasn’t okay with the life he’d chosen for himself.
Being alone sucked, and he needed to figure out a way to keep Natasha at his side. She told him she loved him, but he needed to make sure it was genuine.
He didn’t want the infatuation to wear off and them to hate each other. He already had an ex.
He didn’t need to accumulate them.
That was never a good thing.
As he stood there, scrambling creamy eggs, he could feel her behind him. She was silently watching him. He wanted to turn and do the same, but instead he simply got her attention.
“Are you hungry, Anzehlina?” he asked.
“Yes, I am, Captain.”
“I ran out to get some eggs. I’m not a chef, but we won’t starve.”
She didn’t reply.
When he turned, she was standing in the doorway, his dress shirt on, and unbuttoned. He saw panties, swell of sexy breasts, and he’d never seen anything more amazing in his life.
She was so damn hot.
He’d won the lottery.
“Are you okay?” she asked, when he stared at her.
“No, I’m not. I think I’m having a stroke.”
She moved toward him. “Seriously?”
He laughed. “No. I just saw you standing there and I couldn’t think. You look really good in my shirt. You should keep it.”
She ran her fingers down the material. “Like you were getting it back. That’s cute.”
He laughed even more. Natasha might be the quiet sister, but she was pretty damn funny. At least he thought so.
“Care to join me?” he asked, pouring Natasha a cup of coffee.
When she walked around the island and into his body, Chris’s heart thumped in his chest. She was holding onto him and he was thinking about sex.
Again.
“I missed being held by you. That’s the best I’ve ever slept,” she admitted.
He knew about her past, and he imagined that sleeping brought on nightmares. He got it.
Chris wanted her to be at peace.
“I could hold you all day, but then Emma would be mad.”
She tensed. “Will she not like me sleeping with you?” she asked softly.
Chris lifted her chin. “Why do you ask that?”
“You’re hers.”
He didn’t understand. “I’m not Emma’s. Greyson is hers. I’m just her brother.”
She tried to explain it. “You both have a very strong bond. If I didn’t know better, I would think there was something between you.”
“Love. That’s all that’s between us, Natasha. Emma won’t be upset that we’re together. She’ll be pissed if we’re late for the wedding.”
“Oh crap! The wedding.”
He kissed her on the lips. “You’re the matron of honor, remember?”
; Yeah, she did.
“We better eat fast. I have to pull this together and not look like a train wreck,” she stated.
He didn’t let her go.
“Christopher?”
“I just wanted to say something before we start our day.”
She waited.
“Okay, it’s two things.”
“Go ahead. You have my attention,” Natasha offered. It was the truth. She could feel his body coming to life against hers. She was really focused on that.
“You look sexy and stay with me tonight.”
Why he thought that out loud, he didn’t know. All Chris was thinking about was holding on to what he’d found. Yes, he told her he wasn’t there yet, but it was a lie.
He was there a long time ago.
He simply didn’t know it.
He wanted Natasha as his own.
“I can’t.”
Her words surprised him.
“Why not?”
Chris began worrying that maybe he’d let her down in bed, or that she wasn’t feeling what he was.
“I can’t stay with you in Emma and Greyson’s home. We’re not married. In my world, that’s disrespectful.”
He relaxed.
He recalled Curtis having the same issue with Kat. At least it wasn’t something bigger, like she didn’t want to be near him. This he could work with.
“We can stay here.”
She smiled at him as he dished out eggs and placed toast on her plate.
“Okay.”
He stared at her. “That’s it?”
“Yes. I’d love to stay with you, but you have to tell Dimitri,” she said smiling.
“You just threw me under the brother bus.”
“Yes, I did. I’m not crazy. I know how he’s going to react,” she offered.
He laughed as they took their seats at the island. When she drew a smiley face in her eggs with ketchup, he knew she was the one. Natasha was always sweet, happy, and a ray of sunshine.
“I’ll tell him.”
It would be his pleasure.
She sipped her coffee and studied the man. If he asked to run away with him and get married, she’d be all over that. Natasha’s mind was made up.
She was madly in love.
“Then I’ll pack my bags. I don’t want to skip my birth control, or Dimitri will shit a brick.”
“You know he doesn’t own you, right?” Chris asked, trying to make a point.
She stared at him and chewed her toast. “I know, Christopher. It’s not like that.”
“Then what’s it like? From where I sit, he seems to be a domineering, bossy….”
He stopped.
This was the man who saved and raised her. He wouldn’t do that to her, and he liked Dimitri—when it had nothing to do with Natasha.
“Thank you. I love him.”
“I can see that, but help me understand.”
“It’s more like I owe him respect. I know he doesn’t own me, but he’s the only person who cared enough to save me from my situation. He sacrificed a lot.”
Chris listened.
“He gave up his life to raise us. He was only a child too. He didn’t look for love, he didn’t complain, and he always was there to tuck us in at night.”
“Killer by day, dad by night?” Chris stated.
“Pretty much. He made sure we went to school, had tutors, and were fed. Without Dimitri, I’d likely be dead.”
His heart broke.
Chris couldn’t picture a world without her.
That was his biggest clue that she needed to stay in his life. Chris was willing to work for it.
“Then I owe him a world of gratitude because my life would be empty without you.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Please don’t cry. I was trying to be sweet.”
She took his face in her palms. “They are happy tears. I never thought anyone would want me. When I was saved, I was less than human. I was days away from being starved to death. My hair was falling out, and I could barely move. I laid on a floor in a corner.”
That hurt him.
It made him furious.
“I never thought anyone would want me.”
“I want you.”
She went into his body and rested her head on his shoulder. “And there is my miracle in life,” Natasha whispered. “You’re my happiness.”
Chris held her.
He was so overwhelmed with emotion. It was hard to believe that there was such sweetness left in the world. Natasha should be anything but. Her life had sucked, and yet…
She was gentle.
Compassionate.
Trusting.
He loved that about her.
“Eat your breakfast, baby. We have a wedding to attend today.”
She took her seat and said something in Russian.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Anything for you, my love.”
For the first time in a long time, Chris believed a woman. Natasha meant it.
He could tell.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Terrace Glen
Sunday Morning
It was pandemonium at the estate.
People were everywhere.
The wedding day for Katerina Gideon and Curtis Croft had arrived, and the set up was going on outside in the rose garden. When they said that they wanted intimate, they got that with the number of guests, but the rest?
It was over the top.
The food was shipped in from the finest chefs in Vegas, the appetizers were handpicked by Emma for the wedding, and the music, it was going to be spectacular.
And to keep it private, there were tents being set up to keep the overhead helicopters from getting pictures.
This wedding was important.
The media was on the prowl, trying to get any of the dirt possible on the upcoming nuptials of a Croft.
They were big news.
So, as the tents were being installed, Emma made sure everything was handled to Kat’s specifications.
It was easy.
She only had one.
Lots and lots of roses.
So, she was getting her wish.
While Emma dealt with the caterers, the florist, and the rest of the crazy, Greyson and Dimitri were sitting in the living room working on the case.
Even though they had an important family function, they were still focused on the dead man.
Dalton Harding’s murder was still center stage.
“I want Paris and Tessa to do some research tomorrow,” Greyson stated. “If Dalton was following Tony Mays, he may have crossed paths with someone who ratted him out. His snooping could have gotten him killed.”
“That’s very true. It’s probably our best shot at finding out where he’s been, who he’s met, and why he ended up dead.”
“Yeah, buried and then unburied. That screams set up to me. Someone wanted his body found in that warehouse.”
Dimitri agreed.
“With every case that I’ve seen a body dug up and placed, it was to deliver a message,” Greyson admitted.
“I never dug them up.”
“I don’t want to know on today, a sacred and holy day.”
“Sunday? You don’t go to church.”
“Football playoffs after my son gets hitched.”
Dimitri laughed. “We should start getting ready. Where’s Natasha? She was supposed to be helping Emma and I haven’t seen her yet.”
Oh, this was going to be fun.
The best part of Dimitri and Greyson’s relationship was that he could bust his ass and never get enough.
It was a brother thing.
“She didn’t come home last night, and neither did Chris. That’s odd.”
It was hard not to laugh.
Dimitri’s coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth. “I know I heard you wrong. A date does not equal a sleepover, and my sister is well aware of that.”
“Maybe it slipped
her mind while she was having sex with her DATE.”
Dimitri made some strangled sound that was between a sigh and a growl.
“Ah, they grow up so fast.”
“Stop enjoying this. You’ll have kids one day, and you’re going to go even more gray when you do.”
“Probably, but that’s the rite of passage into that phase of my life. If I can hold a baby I’ve helped make, I’ll chase away suitors if it’s a girl, and gold diggers if it’s a boy.”
Dimitri clinked his coffee cup off his friends. He honestly hoped Greyson got that chance.
He and Emma would be good parents.
Before Dimitri could say anything, he got a signal from Croft.
Greyson saw movement from the corner of his eye.
“Hello, Sam.”
Well, it looked like the boy was feeling up to wandering the house. He was glad.
When he glanced over, Sam was standing there and he was holding his tie.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, you can, son, what do you need?”
“Why do I have to wear this monkey suit?” he asked, looking down at the tux he was wearing. “And a tie? What kind of stiff does that?”
Greyson wanted to smile.
He felt the same pretty much every time he put one on too, but sometimes in life, you had to do what you didn’t like to do.
Formal functions were part of it.
“When you’re a man, you have to do a lot of things you don’t really like. It’s part of life,” Greyson stated.
“I could wear jeans. I have a pair.”
“Never happening, kiddo. Trust me on this.”
“Emma won’t make me wear this if I ask her.”
He pulled a twenty out. “I will bet you this twenty that if you ask her, she’s going to make you wear them.”
“She won’t.”
“Test it.”
“You have a deal.”
He headed out, and Greyson smiled.
“You know she’s not going to make him wear it, right?” Dimitri stated.
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“So why the bet?”
“It gets him more comfortable with me and Emma. We’re going to adopt Sam. I want to give him a home.”
Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2) Page 32
