I had a nagging headache, like I usually did when I was around Anya lately.

Granted, it wasn’t exactly her fault.

I seemed to have a problem with control around her, and I wanted to get it back. I was famous for my control, my unending patience. I needed to control this one tiny woman, and instead I was letting her run me ragged. Case in point, I was currently driving her to our Billionaire Book Club meeting, of all places. Something that was very intimate and personal to me. It was my one reprieve from the business—a place I didn’t worry they would find me, and where I didn’t have to be the underboss that everyone knew and feared. I could just be myself, if a little guarded about my place of work.

Anya was practically squirming with the excitement at being in the city. Her responses to my questions were so distracted as she stared out the window, that I stopped speaking after a while. Maybe I should get her out more, I thought to myself, but I truly feared for her safety.

We pulled up in front of Settlement—the restaurant at which we always met—and handed the car over to a valet. From the texts that flew back and forth the day before, I knew that everyone but Marcus was planning to be in attendance. A motivational speaker of sorts, Marcus was on tour and I knew he would miss the next meeting or two. Truth was, the room was getting a bit crowded now that some of the significant others were present at the meeting. I didn’t mind – it was actually nice to have some of the attention focused away from me.

When we walked in, I made sure that Anya stayed behind me, just in case an unfriendly was sequestered in the restaurant by coincidence. I stretched my arm behind me, warmth filling my belly as she took my hand. Thankfully, she kept up and I didn’t have to tug her as I lead her through the dining room and toward the corridor at the back.

As we neared the kitchen, though, Anya stopped in her tracks.

“What is it?” I asked, only seeing Lexi and Silas talking. A little farther into the private chef’s table room, I saw Maggie and the back of what was probably Luke, Lexi’s husband. Newlyweds, it was uncommon to see Luke and Lexi split up, but I supposed that a few minutes probably wasn’t the end of the world when they now lived together.

“Who are these people?” Anya whispered, turning her head towards me so that only I could hear the words.

“Well, Maggie and Silas were married but are divorced now. They share the restaurant. Mags isn’t technically in the book club, but as she provides us with food, she’s allowed.” I grinned. I had a soft spot for Mags. She was a strong woman and I respected that she hadn’t allowed Silas to push her around during the settlement.

“Why does he look familiar?” She pointed at Silas.

“He’s a celebrity chef. He’s been on pretty much all of the cooking channels. Maggie is even getting there after a few TV programs, so you might recognize her too.”

That better be the only reason she knew Silas. My jealousy flared up as I wondered if this might have been a bad idea. All these guys were good-looking, wealthy, confident men and I didn’t need to be chasing them away from Anya, or her away from them.

Her platinum-blonde head nodded in affirmation. “Yes, I think that’s how I know him. He’s really talented. And mean.”

I let out a laugh-snort. “You’re not wrong about that, sweetheart.” Silas Warner definitely had a temper on him. He was also a generous friend. But I’d never met a man so volatile outside of the business I worked in—which was saying something.

With my hands on her hips, I placed in her front of me so I could introduce her to all four of them at once. “Everyone, this is Anya… my wife.”

You could’ve heard a pin drop, the room was so quiet. It was Luke who was the first to talk. “You want to explain to me how in a week’s time, you fucking got married?”

I cleared my throat, surprised at myself for not thinking this through. I hadn’t intended to tell them we were married. I was just going to tell them she was a friend. Maybe even a date or a girlfriend. Something vague so they wouldn’t be surprised when I didn’t bring her back or we didn’t seem in love. Shit, now what am I going to say?

Anya saved me, surprisingly. She spoke up, her soft accent and husky voice enthralling the room. “Our families are connected. I’ve always loved him from afar, but it took an unexpected road trip this weekend to see that we were meant for each other.”

My hands tightened on her hips, and she flattened her palms over my knuckles. She didn’t look back at me, and she was lucky because she would’ve gotten a glare. What was she doing? Now my ‘friends’, or whatever you want to call the book club members, would expect us to be in love. So much in love, apparently, that we got married after a week of being together. Great.

Lexi bought it – hook, line, and sinker – and Maggie wasn’t too far behind her. Lexi came up and gave us both squeals and hugs, followed by Maggie, who grabbed me tight and whispered in my ear, “I’m so proud of you, letting your guard down, Viktor.”

I had no response for her, as my brain was still foggy with shock. Out of lack of anything better to do, I pulled Anya’s body back so it was flush with mine. I felt her quick intake of breath, but she didn’t let out a sound.

All’s fair in love and war, right sweetheart?

“We came here to discuss books, right?” Surely we had something more interesting on the agenda. Well, likely not, but I wanted to move the attention away from our elopement.

Luke shook it off and took a seat, grabbing a small plate from the stack in the center and reaching for the appetizer. Lexi followed, sitting on her husband’s knee and being fed from his fingers. Maggie busied herself with taking the food from the kitchen pass, while Silas took a seat across from us.

I sat down, pulling Anya down squarely onto my lap. Her back was rigid as she attempted to distance herself, but I wasn’t having that. I wiggled my knee to unbalance her so that she had to lean back against my chest. Brushing her blonde locks away, I pressed my lips down onto the soft skin at the base of her neck.

I murmured into her ear in Russian. “That was very reckless of you, printsessa.”

If she wanted to pretend we were in love… I would play along. It made everything easier that I didn’t have to try to avoid staring at her, or looking at her like I wanted to devour her.

After we were settled in with our food, I took pity on her and gave her quick footnotes on the members of the book club. “Silas and Maggie, you already know. That is Lucas Knox, the illegitimate son of Charles Knox – he is the newest member of the club.”

“The book club?”

I smirked, my lips brushing the curve of her neck. “The ‘Billionaire Book Club,’” I said.

“Oy, vey.” I didn’t have to see her face to know that she’d rolled her eyes.

Just then, Nathan Brownlow and his new wife, Zoe, walked in so I introduced them as well. “Nathan works in real estate. Remind me to tell you sometime about the two of them. It’s actually a pretty funny story.”

To her credit, Zoe took everything in stride when introduced to my new wife. And the members of the book club surprisingly didn’t pry, which was unusual. Maybe they could sense my lack of forthrightness about our situation. Or they knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t be offering further explanations. The next time I bought Anya there, I knew they wouldn’t let it go so easily.

Wait, next time? Why was I already thinking about next time? This should’ve been a one-time thing. I didn’t really want Anya at these. This was private. Right? Suddenly I was second-guessing my own feelings.

Distracted, I didn’t notice my name being called until Luke snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Viktor. We get that you’re newlyweds, but geez, keep it in your pants!”

My first inclination was to look down to make sure it was in my pants, but I assumed he was speaking metaphorically and ignored him. “Sorry, what was the question?”

They all looked at me like I was speaking Russian. “What?”

Silas spoke for the group. “Dude, you’re distracted. Marriage has scrambled your brains and we’re all trying to take that in. You’re the one who usually keeps us on task. It’s… interesting.”

“We were talking about Eugene Onegin. You said you were listening to the audio book. What were your thoughts?” Luke asked, tilting forward to give Lexi a kiss on her neck. She responded with a giggle.

Anya wriggled on my lap, making me frown. Was that what we looked like, as well?

“Ah. Well, it’s classic Russian literature, with a twist. It’s essentially a love story, but it’s also a…” I searched for the right word, rubbing my beard. “It’s an exposition of early nineteenth-century Russian life. I think it’s witty, and that’s incredibly difficult to do in verse. It’s a contradiction of literature – spirited and grave, caustic and ardent. Alexander Pushkin set the bar for what would be the foundation for all Russian authors after him. There’s a reason why he’s the father of modern Russian literature, and why this was his most demonstrative work.”

The room fell silent. This time, even Anya craned her neck around to look at me. The rest of the room fell away as I stared into her baby blues. She really was breathtaking. This close, I could see the purplish tint of her eyes that gave her that doll-like appearance. Her cheeks were rosy, like always. I could see her pupils dilate as I licked my lips. How I wanted to taste her again. I could feel my arousal growing, knew she likely could feel it too. The fact that she could feel it didn’t embarrass me – if anything, it just turned me on more.

She and I were caught in a spell, but this time, I could hear Luke talking through the fog. “What are you – a freaking professor? Or Spark Notes?”

I shrugged. “I like Russian literature. Sue me.”

In this group of people, that was sort of humorous. It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to say that each man in this room, with the exception of myself, was involved in at least one lawsuit for his business. The mafia didn’t really do lawsuits; we were larcenous, not litigious.

I could feel Anya’s gaze on me. My gaze flicked to hers, as I warned her silently that if she kept staring at me that way, I wasn’t going to be able to control myself any more. Something told me she might be a little embarrassed in front of her new friends if I took her on top of this table during a book club meeting.

We finished off the rest of the meeting without incident. When everyone was getting ready to go, Luke approached me.

“Hey man, I’m really happy for you. I don’t want to get all mushy and shit, but from what I’ve seen of you, you take things a little too seriously sometimes. It’s good to see you loosen up a bit,” he said, clapping me on the back and sauntering away.

Luke and I had never really been close, but the last few meetings he’d shown me that he was more than the bastard son of a billionaire. He was smarter than most people gave him credit for, and he wasn’t the wastrel that the tabloids had painted him to be.

I felt a tug on my arm and looked down. Anya was looking up at me, curious. “Are you ready?”

I nodded, and we said our goodbyes. Once we were in the car again, Anya was surprisingly silent. I looked over at her, and she was looking out the window. “I know you’re not happy with how I introduced you,” I said gruffly, “but I promise it’s for the best.”

She looked over at me, surprise flashing over her features. “I’m not mad about that. I understood what you did. It just surprised me, that’s all.”

“Good,” I said definitely as I pulled into traffic.

Silence followed us all the way home. With every passing mile, she collapsed a little more into herself—a little sadder, a little duller, and I realized that she really had needed this outing. It made me feel bad for keeping her here, but I knew what I was doing was right and it was keeping her safe. She could complain and mope, but my ultimate goal was her protection and I wasn’t going to sacrifice that for something like a little entertainment.

I suppose I could have attempted to spend more time with her, but already the time spent with her was starting to drive me crazy. She was all I could think about and I needed to keep it in my pants. As Luke had said.

Giving in to the guilt I was suddenly feeling, I offered, “We could watch a movie if you wanted. It’s still pretty early.”

The joy on her face made what I knew would be two hours of uncomfortable sexual denial on my side all worth it. She burst into a huge smile, looking up at me. “That’d be great! I’ll go get into my PJs.”

I nearly groaned out loud. Come on. I could barely keep my hands off her as it was, and now she was going to get less dressed? Great.