Love in Montana

by Lexi Buchanan

  Pushing the door open into the waiting room, he walked over to Talya who stood against the wall near the vending machine, again with Yuri offering her comfort.

  Talya’s eyes landed on him and she straightened. “How is she?” Her hand reached out and was caught in Yuri’s larger one.

  “She’ll be okay. I’m going to find the doctor to break her out of here, and then I’m taking her with me, Talya.”

  “It’s okay, Eric.” She reached out and laid her hand on his arm. “I know if she was given the choice she’d choose to be with you.” She smiled. “It’s the big guys that fall the hardest.” She smirked, and walked off the way he’d just come from.

  Hearing a loud sigh, Eric turned and was surprised to see a haunted look cross Yuri’s face. The Russian always looked put together, but right then, he looked battered, as though he had demons fighting inside him to get out.

  It was more than obvious to anyone who looked that he cared for Talya and that his feelings were returned, so Eric didn’t see the problem. But there was one that much was obvious.

  “Sylvia won’t be back,” Eric said into the silence. “Even though I told her I didn’t want her back at Poles, she agreed without much fighting.” He ran his hands over his head in agitation. “There’s something else that you need to know.”

  Yuri met Eric’s gaze at his tone.

  “Some asshole has been sending her notes at the club.” Eric held his hand up to silence the words on Yuri’s tongue. “I don’t know a great deal about them. She only admitted that to me back there. I’ll take her to her apartment tomorrow, so if you could meet us there around eleven, that would be good. I’m presuming that’s where she has the notes.”

  “Does her accident tonight have anything to do with them?” Yuri asked, his tone pissed.

  “I don’t know and neither does Sylvia really.”

  “She has the feeling though, right?”

  “She said she saw someone in the crowd who she thinks may be sending the notes to her, but she doesn’t know for sure.”

  “Blyad!” Yuri got to his feet and paced. “I wish she’d talked to me about this.”

  Eric stood in his way. “She planned on talking to you after her shift tonight. I don’t want you getting pissed at her. She’s pretty shaken after tonight.”

  “I am not a total dick. I am pissed that Talya did not trust me enough to tell me.”

  If Eric had to guess it was Talya’s part in all this that hurt the big Russian, even though Sylvia’s silence no doubt pissed him off as well.

  “I don’t think it had anything to do with trust, at least, where you’re concerned. Sylvia obviously asked her to keep it to herself. You can’t be angry with Talya for doing what her best friend asked.”

  “Logically, I know you are correct.” Yuri left it at that, and taking his cell from the pocket of his leather jacket, started to punch out what Eric guessed to be a message.

  Eric shook his head at the guy and turned to finally find Sylvia’s doctor.

  Chapter Twelve

  After being woken through the night, all Sylvia wanted to do was sleep now that the sun seeped through the blinds into Eric’s bedroom. He’d been so good and caring for her that he brought tears to her eyes. She didn’t know that the tough guy had it in him, and now that she did know, she hoped he’d stay the gorgeous loving guy.

  She wanted to be able to call him hers, to stake her claim on him so that every other woman out there knew he was taken. She had no idea how he’d feel about that, but after the past night, she knew that he wouldn’t be going anywhere, at least, anytime soon.

  He’d called Sebastian and explained why she wouldn’t be at work for the next few days, and had managed to put him off from visiting. She knew that Ramon wouldn’t be as put off as Sebastian. He really was just a very good friend, and someone she’d always found easy to talk to.

  When she’d told Eric about not being disappointed when she found out that Ramon was gay, she’d meant every word. Perhaps there had been a slight twinge of regret, but nothing that had caused her to lose sleep over.

  Nothing had felt like it did when she was near Eric, and when his arm was curved around her waist, like it was right now, she actually felt as though she was home. The thought of going back to her apartment to spend her nights without him didn’t sit well with her.

  He’d spoiled her, and all she wanted was to stay put where she was. Although, she expected they’d have to dress at some point.

  Sighing into the pillow, she felt Eric’s arm tighten around her waist as he snuggled her closer to his hard body. He’d given her a T-shirt to wear last night, and he’d kept his shorts on when he’d climbed into the bed he put her in. Her body wasn’t up to doing anything then or that morning, but the feel of his warmth as it surrounded her made her feel cherished.

  “How are you feeling?” Eric whispered into her neck, placing a lingering kiss there before he moved to her injured shoulder blade. With such tenderness, he caressed over the bruising with his lips, sending shivers of delight through her body.

  It didn’t take much for him to arouse her, but when she badly ached after last night’s trauma, the last thing she needed was to be frustrated to all hell, like Eric would be. She could already feel his rigid dick as it pressed against her bottom. It throbbed against her, which caused her to wiggle back.

  “Fuck,” Eric growled, and gripped her hip to keep her still. “I want you, but not until you’re fully recovered.” His hand flexed on her hip as she felt him take a long inhale. “I’m just going to stay hard as fuck until you’re ready for me.”

  Sylvia laughed, and reached down to bring his hand up to her mouth. She caressed his palm, and kissed each of his fingers in turn. “I want you now, but my body is too sore after the fall.” She nuzzled into his palm. “You’re not the only one who’s going to be frustrated.”

  They laid in silence until Eric’s cell started to buzz on the nightstand behind him. The disappointment that their cocoon had been breached was hard to swallow.

  Eric rolled to his back and grabbed the annoying thing, but before he read the message, he was back with his front flush against Sylvia’s back, erection and all. What she wouldn’t give to touch him. To be able to have her way with him while he lay back and enjoyed himself. The opportunity would arise in a day or two, when she was back to normal. Or would it? Eric liked to be in charge so she guessed it would be debatable as to whether or not he’d allow her full access to his completion.

  “We need to start getting ready,” he broke into her thoughts. “Yuri will be at your apartment in just over an hour.”

  Her heart sank. Talking to Yuri about the notes was the last thing she wanted to do, but she figured it was best to get it out of the way. Yuri wouldn’t be impressed with her holding back on him, she knew that without a fact. He’d be pissed. In fact, Eric had been annoyed with her last night when she’d told him, and if she hadn’t been in the hospital, he’d have had a lot to say on the matter.

  “I don’t want to move, but I’ll run you a bath.”

  When she stayed silent, he asked, “Sylvia? A bath, okay?”

  “I’d love one.” She felt close to tears.

  “Hey.” Eric carefully rolled her onto her back, and made sure her injured shoulder didn’t hit the mattress. Hovering over her, he asked, “Are you alright? Do you need any pain medication?”

  “I do ache, but my headache has gone and just left me feeling fuzzy. I might take one after I’ve bathed. I’ll see how the warm water loosens me up.”

  “Fair enough. Give me a minute to run the bath.”

  “Okay.”

  When Eric jumped from the bed, Sylvia couldn’t take her eyes from his body. Every inch of him was hard and toned, including the large bulge in the front of his shorts. She licked her lips to moisten them as they’d gone dry, especially when he faced her and dropped his shorts.

  His rigid erection sprang free and bounced with arousal. He was thick and long. The mor
e she stared at him, the more he hardened, which she didn’t think was possible.

  His hissed, “Sylvia,” didn’t do anything to avert her gaze, and as her eyes finally took in the rest of his bronzed body and met his stare, she knew her bath would wait. She might be bruised and aching, but right then she needed to be naked with him.

  With only a small wince of pain, Sylvia yanked the T-shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. “Make love to me, Eric. It will have to be slow, but I’m wet and aching between my legs and only you can ease me.”

  He growled and closed his eyes before they snapped open as he stalked toward her. “I told myself to let you be. To get you in the bath before I used the shower in my room to get rid of the tension in my body.”

  “You were going to beat off,” Sylvia gasped. “I would have liked to watch you.” She widened her thighs as he stood at the foot of the bed so that he could see how wet he made her. “Touch yourself, right now, for me.”

  She had no idea what she was doing because being this sexually explicit was so not her. She’d rather do than talk about it. Despite being close with Talya, she always got embarrassed talking about sex with her.

  “I’m trying my fucking best not to dive on you right now, and that talk isn’t helping my control.” As he talked, his hand wrapped around his cock and slowly started a back and forth motion. The crown bulged and dripped with precum, a sure sign of his excitement.

  “I’m so fucking close.” He released his shaft and kneeled on the bed. His hands slid up her legs and came to rest at the juncture of her thighs. His fingers spread, and his thumbs rubbed along the seam of her pussy lips, before one settled against her clit.

  Her hips moved with want, and it wasn’t long before he couldn’t wait any longer; he slid all the way inside. Her vaginal walls squeezed and spread around his shaft to make room for him. They held him tight and smothered his cock with her warm wet heat that didn’t want to let him go.

  Sylvia knew that he held on by a thread. His arms at either side of her head, quivered with the need that he was holding back so that he didn’t hurt her. She wanted him to pound into her, but knew that he wouldn’t. She also knew that she wouldn’t be able to handle such passion at that moment while her shoulder and body ached.

  But she also ached in a different way. In a way that only Eric could ease.

  “Move.”

  “If I move, I’m afraid I won’t be able to go slow.” He rested his forehead against hers and kissed her on the end of her nose.

  He returned her smile, and slowly withdrew from her. The intense pleasure she felt as he slowly made love to her opened her heart fully to him. She loved him.

  She loved him!

  At the realization that he held her heart, fireworks started to burst inside her. The climax rippled through her and gripped onto his cock so tightly that his curse was the last coherent thing between them as he swelled even more and released his warm seed into her.

  While catching their breath minutes later, Eric leaned close and placed a tender kiss to her lips, which told her everything she needed to know.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Eric couldn’t sit still anymore as he listened to Sylvia and Talya as they told him and Yuri about the notes that they initially put down to fan mail. Apparently, it wasn’t unknown for the girls to receive fan mail from some of the regulars, or even guys who just stopped by to see what Poles was about. But the guy who had taken a liking to Sylvia had started going beyond that of a normal fan.

  Once or twice during the discussion, Eric had left the room to get his jealousy and anger under control. He wanted to shout at Sylvia for being an idiot and not telling Yuri, or him, about the notes. If the steam coming out of Yuri’s ears was anything to go by, he was just as pissed. Eric just couldn’t decide who Yuri was pissed the most at, Sylvia or Talya.

  The sight of Sylvia with tears overflowing her beautiful eyes was what settled him down. The tears were more likely because of his cold attitude toward her since they arrived and the notes appeared.

  He hadn’t meant to be a bastard and leave her out in the cold, but he’d been close to losing his shit when he saw there were more notes than a few. There must have been about twenty plus on the coffee table.

  He sat beside her, and pulled her onto his lap. She curled up without any hesitation, and wrapped her arms around his neck. In the shelter of his arms, he kept her there while he focused on Yuri, who looked like he was about to blow. There didn’t seem to be any calm in him.

  Talya must have sensed Yuri’s fury because she stayed away from him. His face was a thundercloud. Eric winced and felt sorry for Talya who looked alone, curled up in the oversized chair. She was nervous and he didn’t blame her.

  “Ia doverial tebe I ty solgal,” Yuri seethed at Talya. “I trusted you and you lied.”

  Talya looked as though he’d slapped her across the face. Her face drained with color, except her cheeks, which were flushed. Her eyes welled with tears and when she looked down at her hands clenched in her lap, one slipped down her cheeks. She looked heartbroken and the room crackled with tension as Sylvia shifted in his lap. She moved to get up for her friend, but Eric held her tightly as he watched Talya breathe in deeply as though she was picking up the pieces of her heart. When she looked up, her eyes were filled with steel, the sadness that was in them seconds before was gone, but Eric doubted that she wasn’t crushed. Like a leopard, she uncurled and stood, her eyes blazing at Yuri as she swiped at the errant tear on her cheek. “I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered. “I’m not coming back to Poles. I’m through. Have a nice life, Yuri.”

  With one final glance around the room, she turned on her heel and retreated to her room. The room filled with an uncomfortable silence. Her broken words had gotten to Eric, who considered himself hard as steel. He blamed Sylvia for his compassionate side coming out.

  Yuri looked like a man defeated, and the ‘note’ problem was still apparent with no end or solution in sight, or even discussed.

  As Yuri’s eyes stayed glued to Talya’s door, Eric said, “Can we please get back on track here?”

  “Da.” With a heavy sigh, Yuri rubbed his bald head as though it ached, which it probably did, and focused back on the problem at hand.

  “We need to find the bastard who is doing this, and find out whether or not he is a serious threat to Sylvia. Da?” Yuri looked at her, and waited for her to meet his gaze. “You think it is one of the new regulars?”

  She nodded.

  “The tall blond one?” Yuri asked, but Sylvia shook her head.

  “No. He’s tall, with a lanky frame and dark hair. He wears it close to his head, he has a tattoo on his neck. I think on the left side.”

  “Da.” Yuri snapped his fingers and got to his feet. “I recognize him. If he keeps to his usual schedule, then he will be there tonight. My men will question him and get to the bottom of this. I promise you, Moia milaia Sil'viia.”

  “It’s annoying when you slip into Russian,” Eric grouched because he was sure that Yuri had said an endearment to Sylvia.

  Yuri snickered. “I shall repeat myself in English, for you. I said, my sweet Sylvia.” The glitter of amusement in Yuri’s eye warned Eric that he deliberately teased, which is why he didn’t respond.

  “You have nothing to worry about.” Yuri stood, and glanced at Talya’s door. “Look after her for me,” he asked, his gaze unmoved from her bedroom door.

  “I will,” Sylvia agreed. “She’s special.”

  Yuri glanced to Sylvia before he made his way to the door. When he reached it, he paused, his gaze on the wood in front of him. “She is,” he whispered, and with those words, he left.

  “What’s going on with those two?” Eric asked.

  He knew Yuri was a lot more than what he seemed, regardless of the clubs and the fighting house; he had strong ideas that broke away from his family. Eric knew that they let him be, but he didn’t know for how long that would last.

  “It’s
Talya’s story to tell.” She offered Eric a small smile. “They should be together, and I hope one day they work it out enough so that can happen. It hurts seeing my friend so upset over him, especially knowing that he feels the same about her.”

  Sylvia moved from his lap and tried to get up, but he held her firm. “Where are you going?”

  “I need to check on Talya.”

  “Talya is fine,” her friend said as she leaned against the doorway to her room. “Or I will be.”

  Her red rimmed eyes made it clear that she’d been crying, but it seemed like she was trying to pull herself together for their benefit. Eric had no idea what was keeping them apart. He didn’t think it was because they were ‘boss and employee’; it had to be something more. He shrugged and let it go. It had nothing to do with him.

  Instead he’d concentrate on Sylvia, and perhaps a change of scenery while she recovered. At that thought, he asked, “Do you want to come to Denver with me? I want to visit my brother, and the fresh air will do you some good.”

  “We have fresh air in Lexington as well.” She chuckled, but then her laugh slipped as she contemplated his offer. He loved watching as the wheels turned in her head and she chewed her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “We’ll stay with my brother, but it will be good to get away. Just the two of us.” He hoped she’d agree because the more he thought about the trip, the more he realized just how much he wanted to head out there, and to have Sylvia along would be an added bonus. Plus, he had no intention of leaving her.

  The thought of not seeing her for a few days didn’t sit well with him, especially now that some asshole was after her.

  “Yes.” Sylvia smiled and focused on her friend in the kitchen. “Are you okay if I go away for a few days with Eric?”

  “Of course I’m okay with that. Regardless of what Yuri said about looking after me, I don’t need a sitter.”