by D. A. Young
Then I heard you tell the guys it was for the best. That I was a distraction. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I respected what you were ultimately trying to accomplish. That’s when I decided to accept Madam Lalita’s offer. I’m glad I did. She was a great mentor, and the collection is some of my best work. Yet, I never stopped loving you. Being apart felt like I’d patented the formula for heartache. However, I needed to focus on me instead of being stuck in limbo. From this point on though, no secrets, babe. I swear. We’re in this together forever.”
“Not seein’ you or hearin’ your voice every day felt a lot like dyin’. You’re always on my mind and my life isn’t the same without you in it. C’mere, wife. We have a lot of time to make up for.”
Holt tugged her closer by the back of her knee. His long, commanding fingers inching higher up her thigh, toward her apex, suspending Kat’s breath and leaving her weak with anticipation. They had the power to pleasure and punish her. Kat wasn’t picky with whatever Holt chose for her. It was a win-win for them. He rolled over her, his heated muscles dominating her curvy softness. Nudging her thighs apart, he drove into her raw and powerfully. Holt stared down at her with a love so fierce, Kat fell silent, continuously in awe of its presence.
“This is me communicatin’ with you, min drottning,” he replied against Kat’s lips. “Once I’ve been sated, we’ll pack our bags. We’re goin’ to Sweden.”
Capturing her hands above her head and her mouth with his, Holt fucked her. His tongue worked in rhythmic tandem with his cock, mimicking his bold thrusts as he disrespected her body just the way Kat loved using that big, thick dick that she’d earned back. Not once did he stop to inquire about her well-being. Holt simply devoured her husky vocalized approvals, knowing Kat could take everything he dished out and drove them to the point of no return.
***
She rolled over, seeking her husband’s warmth and found Holt’s side of the bed cold. Before Kat opened her eyes, she knew Holt was gone. She sat up and listened, searching for any signs of his whereabouts, but it remained silent. Kat left the bed and grabbed her robe before going in search of her husband. She didn’t have to look far. Holt’s study door was open when he normally kept it closed. Kat entered the dark room and found him sitting in his chair, facing the window.
“Be careful. I’ve been renovatin’ this room so that we can share this office. Since I’ve been gone, it’s still a mess.”
“Awww! Just for that, I’m going downstairs to reheat you a meal made with love,” she kidded, making her way through the maze of boxes to him.
Holt opened his arms, and Kat settled into them. Immediately, she felt the wetness against her cheek. She kissed her husband’s tears away. Holt crushed her to him, burying his face in Kat’s neck as his body shuddered. Through it all, she held him, whispering words of compassion, hoping she was giving him the strength needed to see Holt through his time of need.
“Matty died tryin’ to do the right thing. He paid for his convictions with his life. He was a good man, Kat. You would have loved him. Everybody did. I’m makin’ it my mission to make sure Jules knows how great his daddy was. Everyone will, but Matty was special to me. He had a way of…”
Holt launched into a childhood story that had Kat laughing along with him. He followed it with another adventure of the cousins who grew to become more like brothers. They shared more laughs and by the time he was done, Kat knew he was feeling better.
He kissed her. Not in an “I wanna jump your bones” way, but a sweet “thank you for me” way that made Kat grateful they’d overcome their obstacles to be here now.
“I’m goin’ to kill Samuelsson.” It was said with such detachment that Kat knew it was as good as done.
“No, you’re not,” she sighed.
“Yes, I am. I can’t think of a more deservin’ asshole.”
“I get it and understand where you’re coming from. Matty and Arianna were his victims, but I’m sure there are more victims out there whose loved ones are worried about them, too. This is bigger than personal justice for you and Zoraida, Holt. This time, it needs to be done the right way.”
Holt grunted, which was nowhere near an agreement, Kat noticed. He set her aside and rose, grabbing her hand and leading them back to bed. Holt tucked her into his side and just when Kat was slipping away, she faintly heard him say, “I wish things had been different with Otto. We didn’t need to be homies. Just better than we were.”
She kissed his neck. “I know you do, baby.”
***
Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm was every bit of stunning as Kat remembered on her brief new-girlfriend-stalker visit. Pictures didn’t do the unique city justice. It was the perfect blend of cosmopolitan, nature, and old-world charm. Although Holt proclaimed Whiskey Row as his home, Kat loved the pride he took in sharing his native home with her, pointing out landmarks and architecture to her and sharing interesting factoids about them with her. She had plans to ride the Tunnelbanna, explore Gamla Stan, and sign up for a tour of Kungliga Operan, the Royal Opera House. Nothing Holt said or what Kat read in architectural magazines, however, could have prepared her for the ostentatious magnificence of Falk Estate.
Kat clambered out of the limo and stared at the lush opulence surrounding her. “This place is friggin’ bananas! I know I’d briefly seen it before, but I mean…come on! It’s like a miniature Palace of Versailles.”
Holt gave her an indulgent smile as the front doors opened, and Blaise and Thea rushed out to greet them. They greeted their older cousin affectionately and zeroed in on Kat.
“She’s even more gorgeous in person! Hej, Katerina! I’m Thea.” She opened her arms, then dropped them. Stuck out her hand then snatched it back. Finally, she decided on placing them behind her back and settling on a demure nod.
Blaise and Holt grinned at seeing Thea so flustered. She’d once boldly flirted with the king without batting an eye and insisted a guy pal she was friends with turn the Kardashian sisters away at the door of his party because she didn’t feel like looking at them all night. Thea Falk didn’t “do” nervous.
“It’s great to finally meet you, Thea. Please call me Kat.” Katerina enveloped her in a generous hug. “I’ve heard so much about you. Next time you come to Whiskey Row, it will be under better circumstances. I would love to show you our home.”
“That sounds wonderful. It will give me something to look forward to. Work has been very busy. Rewarding, I’m finding, but very time-consuming.”
“No more jet-setting for her,” Blaise announced, coming forward to give Kat a respectably distanced hug. Simply looking at the vibrant woman made his earlobe sting, recalling Holt nicking it with his axe. “I’m Blaise and it’s lovely to meet you, Katerina Romankov.”
“Actually, you can call her Mrs. Romankov-Brammer. I apologize for the short notice, but we decided to tie the knot when I returned home.”
Seeing his cousins’ incredulous faces, Kat spoke up. “It was my fault. We reconnected and I proposed, practically begging him to take me back, and he simply couldn’t resist.”
“I do like how you took the blame and patted yourself on the back, all in the same breath, darlin’,” Holt drawled and everyone shared a laugh.
They were joined by a matronly couple.
“Holton got married!” Thea told her parents.
Vera and Julian were surprised but recovered quickly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Katerina; welcome to the family!”
“Yes, my dear! We’re going to have to plan a party, and I’ll arrange an announcement for the newspaper, and…”
Vera’s to-do list was making Kat’s head spin. Everyone found it funny, and Julian decided to take pity on his new niece. “Dear, how about we get Holt and his lovely bride settled before you plan the reception of the century. Let’s go inside.”
“Kat, what a lovely locket.” Thea peered closer at it. “Did you make it?”
She was referring to the locket Vivienne h
ad given her when they came to say goodbye before leaving for Sweden. “No, it’s a family piece that my father gifted my mother for Christmas their first year of marriage.”
Cleo emerged with Jules and ran over to them as fast as her Jimmy Choos would carry her. She seemed enraptured with Kat, hugging her and shoving the little boy into her arms. “It’s about time we met! Matty used to say that Holt would eventually bring you home! Welcome to the family, Katerina! Jules, meet your new aunt!”
“Thank you. Just Kat, please.” The baby was trying to play with the locket, not a great idea, considering what it contained. Kat took his little hand and kissed it, grinning up at Holt who was eating up the image of her with the baby. She knew what he was thinking.
He confirmed it. “This is a really good look on you, wife.”
“I’m not mad at it.”
Holt grinned, knowing they were on the same wavelength. To his family, he asked, “How have things been around here?”
“Business as usual,” Blaise answered crisply. “I’ve just reviewed my presentation notes for the board and planned to share with Dad and Thea and call you tonight. This is our first major acquisition for the company under my leadership. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.”
Otto and Matty’s death had impacted Blaise and Thea deeply. They’d stopped partying and socializing and buckled down, making Falk Incorporated their main priority.
They moved toward the house, and Daniel Samuelsson appeared with a welcoming smile. He waved at the family, and they returned the gesture, including Kat. Holt observed his eyes lingering on his wife and saw red. The motherfucker had everyone fooled. Every nerve in Holt’s body screamed for him to end him right now. To spray his blood until it covered the entire driveway. The other alternative was to stick Samuelsson in a basement like he’d kept Arianna Quinn. Keep him. Torture him to the edge of insanity. Nurse him back to health. Repeat. Kat’s free hand on his back centered Holt, and he blinked away his consuming need for vengeance. They’d discussed the plan. Stay the course. Find the evidence and turn Samuelsson over to Bojku. Holt could do that. The agent never said what condition the bastard had to be in.
“Stay the course,” Kat whispered, purposefully falling back.
“Stop wavin’ at him.”
“I’m playing a part!”
“Fuck that part of your part,” Holt growled, forgetting about Jules momentarily.
“Holt! Ears!” Kat hissed, reminding him of the baby in her arms.
“Magnus better find me some s-h-i-t soon.”
“Let’s concentrate on other things. Where’s your Uncle Tage?”
“Good question. Let’s go find him.”
***
Tage was painting in the garden. He was very shy yet excited for the couple. Kat tried to put him at ease, as she was in his world, but he seemed anxious to cut the visit short. If Holt hadn’t warned her beforehand, she would have thought she’d offended him.
“Give him time,” Holt urged quietly. “He’s known me since birth, and we’re only now bondin’. You’ve met the good guys; are you ready to meet the worst?”
Kat smiled bravely. “No time like the present.”
They walked down the hall and took another set of stairs. The entire time, Kat could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Holt lifted her hand and kissed it. “It alright, darlin’.”
They reached a set of double doors, and Holt entered without knocking, dragging a reluctant Kat with him. A man could be heard screaming in Swedish, and a lady screamed back her reply. She was tall, dark-haired, and reed-thin.
“I quit!” she shouted at Holt. “I can’t take another second with that asshole!”
The man had switched to English. “You’re proving that I was correct. You are indeed an idiot! I fired you ten minutes ago!”
He was rude and hostile with cruel eyes that tracked his nurse’s every move as she gathered her things and ran from the room.
“What happened, Ivar? I haven’t even been gone a week.”
He looked like shit again.
“She’s trying to control everything. I woke up to find her searching through my personal belongings.” Ivar stared at Kat. “What’s she doing here?”
“She is my wife. You will treat her with respect or I will kill you.” Holt warned.
Ivar bristled. “You’d choose her over your own family?!”
“I choose Katerina over everyone. Hands down. Understood?”
“Let’s get a look at you, girl! Come over here!”
“No, I don’t think I will.” Kat didn’t like him. She’d only been in his attendance for ten minutes and found him to be an insufferable asshole, just as the nurse called it. “We can chat when you acquire some manners. I’ll meet you downstairs, Holton.”
Ivar’s genuine laugh filled the silence. “I can see why you fell for her. She has spunk.”
“And more than enough common sense to put up with your foolery.”
Holt debated whether to tell him about Samuelsson. “I need to tell you somethin’’. It needs to stay between you and me.”
“What is it?” Ivar was instantly alert.
“Liridon Bojku is a red herrin’. I met with him personally near my home and we talked. He has been in Sweden but not for Matty. He wasn’t responsible for the warehouse fire. Someone wanted us to think it was him.”
“Do you know who it is?”
“He’s given me an idea that I’m investigatin’. I’ll keep you posted. For now, say nothin’ to no one, Ivar.”
His grandfather stared at Holt as if he wanted to argue. Holt could see it in his body language and stamped all over his face. Instead, he cried.
“You’ve kept your word. You didn’t have to. Thank you, Holton.”
“I don’t need thanks for doin’ the right thing, Ivar. Get some rest.”
When Holt exited the room, he was surprised to find his grandfather’s nurse waiting for him. He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you would have been halfway across the world by now.”
She exhaled sharply. “I should be. Your grandfather is a beastly man. He accused me of snooping, and in a way, he’s right.”
“Excuse me?”
“I think he’s been drinking. I could have sworn I smelled it on his breath yesterday. Rather than asking him, since I know how much he lives for confrontation, I waited until he fell asleep. I found nothing, but I know what I smelled, Mr. Brammer.”
“Thank you for letting me know. I’ll handle him from here.”
That evening, Holt instructed Jeffrey, one of several butlers, to remove Ivar’s crate of Remy Martin cognac from the house.
“Sir, if I may—” the man hesitated, caught in a quandary of how to ask if he could keep some of the expensive liquor. “There’s a bottle already opened…”
Thankfully, Holt understood. “Keep it.”
***
Kat watched Holt prepare for dinner as she applied her makeup at the vanity. It was a formal affair, and he was trying to decide between a purple velvet blazer or a black and white houndstooth one.
“I like the purple, babe,” she volunteered.
“Then purple it is. You almost ready?”
“I’m not the one that takes ten years to get ready. I’m straight. I could do this with my eyes closed,” Kat bragged.
“Is that right, darlin’?” Holt dropped his towel and strolled her way, revealing his shaft standing at attention, captivating his wife with its hypnotizing sway.
Kat gave it the respect it was due but made no move to touch. “Put that thing away! I’m trying to make a good impression tonight.”
“Nah, I accept your challenge.”
Holt pulled her up and sat down, making Kat straddle him with his back to the mirror, so she faced him. He shoved layers of midnight-blue chiffon up and around her waist, exposing her sweet cunt. “No underwear again?”
Kat pressed kisses down his neck. “What’s the point around you, hubs? You ruin them all one way or another.”
/>
“That seems fair.”
He slid her sex along his dick, and their breathing, heavy with anticipation, became the soundtrack for this moment as Kat lubed him up. Slick with her arousal, he slowly filled her to the brim. Kat stared, transfixed, at their reflection while her husband tugged her strapless bodice and demi-bra down. Holt placed soft kisses all over her flesh, groaning his pleasure at her silken heat surrounding him, a slave to Kat’s pussy.
“If you’re as good as you say, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to do your makeup while I do you, cocky-ass. Now gimme some sugar,” he drawled, cupping her nape and bringing Kat’s lips to his while his freed hand slowly stroked her breasts.
“You don’t play fair,” Kat moaned, smearing her red lipstick into his beard, her hips moving frantically of their own accord.
“You’d be bored if I did,” Holt hissed, thrusting upward, straining to get into heaven. Kat’s head tipped back from the impact and he leisurely sucked the pulse at the base of her throat. “There’s a catch, though. Whatever your face looks like when we’re done is how you’re goin’ to dinner…”
“Wait! What? Motherfriggin…oh!”
Thirty minutes later, Kat was scowling at her husband as he aimed his phone at her. “Looks like we’re goin’ as Bruce Wayne and the Joker tonight. Say cheese, babe.”
She scowled at him, her lipstick smeared all over her chin. “You’re the worst! This was a setup!”
Holt took her pic and kissed the tip of Kat’s mascara-streaked nose. “Receipts are always important, cocky-ass. Now, go get ready and I’ll wait.”
Dinner was a great success. If Kat hadn’t charmed the Falks when they’d met earlier, she completely won them over that evening, including Tage. Holt was proud of her in a million different ways for a million different reasons, but he’d never been as proud as he was that night to be her husband.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kat was enjoying her time with Holt’s family. She loved visiting with Tage and Jules while Holt, Blaise, Julian, and Thea were occupied with running Falk Incorporated. Cleo and Vera had returned to working at the foundation. Kat felt good knowing that she could be there to protect Jules if anything happened. He was a very calm baby, minimal fuss but with a ready smile. She liked him and thankfully, the favor was returned. On Kat’s first day there, she strapped him in his stroller and explored the estate grounds. The housekeeper was gracious enough to pack her a small picnic basket. In addition, Kat took a blanket and some of his toys.
