SEVEN

 

 

Lukas was disappointed, but not the least bit surprised when Dale withdrew her affectionate brand of comfort by pulling away and moving to the middle of his bed again. He’d expected it but had been honest with her anyway.

The connection he felt developing between them had allowed for it. The connection he needed to develop faster, he thought as he remembered the flare of hope and excitement he’d seen in his father’s eyes after Samuel had taken it upon himself to verbally introduce Dale into their world.

Thank God for his brother.

Watching Dale now, Lukas saw something interesting. He’d just reminded her she was supposed to fear him, yet he could still see her need to ease him in the way she was holding herself. She was fisting her hands as though she wanted to touch, and she was emanating such sympathy he could almost see it. Her focus darted around his face, lingering on his eyes, and then, mmm, his mouth. Snatches of her emotions continued to flit across her face. Pain, compassion, confusion…desire. The fear was there, too, but barely.

“Your mother must be going crazy,” she muttered, glancing at the door she wouldn’t be using anytime soon.

I’m sorry, Mama, he silently apologized, because he was about to use her absence from his life to his advantage. “If she were here, she would be inconsolable.” The trace of sadness he’d allowed her to hear in his tone did wonders.

“Fuuuck,” his soft-hearted female whispered, looking away. After a moment, she balled her fists up and pressed them into the mattress. “She wouldn’t happen to be out of town, would she?”

“No.” He didn’t have to work at sounding anything but heartbroken when he admitted, “She was taken from us seven years ago by an illness we couldn’t buy a cure for.”

“Double fuck.” Dale’s head fell forward and hung off her neck like a heavy weight. Her nape was mouthwatering. “Do you miss her? Or was she the type you wouldn’t miss?”

Her questions were muffled and quiet, but he heard and answered honestly. “I miss her physical presence in my life every day. But she’s still with me. Or so I like to think.”

She nodded and threw her head back. His chest constricted in a sharp snap when he saw tears shimmering in her eyes. “Super. I’m stuck lusting after a mobster with a fucking conscience. Perfect. Anything else you wanna throw at me? Do you have dogs? Because a dog lover would have me out of this dress lickety-split.” She spun away and slid over to sit on the far corner of the bed. The mattress shook along with her bobbing leg, and little snaps sounded as she cracked each of her knuckles by pressing down on them with her thumbs.

Lukas felt the strangest urge to grin as he fell deeper under her spell. But he also felt a sickness in his gut because he was upsetting her. Those tears. Since when did a woman’s tears affect him? He’d seen too many of them during his time as a serial monogamist. Typically, they were inconvenient and annoying, and he found it too easy to walk away from them.

Not tonight.

Dale’s sniffle had him looking up from her fragile shoulder blades to meet her eyes in the reflection of the mirror above the dresser. He held them as he slipped his holster off and hung his gun over the shoulder of his suit jacket. If her surreptitious glances were any indication, the sight of it on his person was upsetting her.

“I think it would be best if you just took me home.”

He slowly shook his head.

“If I have sex with you first, will you take me home after?”

He couldn’t stop his grin at that hopeful tone. “Once we have sex, you’ll be home.”

Her mouth compressed as fire snapped and crackled in her eyes. She wanted it as badly as he did, but there was something else going on in her head. He could see the battle in the back of her eyes.

“How can you say that? This isn’t the dark ages. You don’t even know me, Lukas.”

He shrugged as he undid the buttons at his wrists and rolled up his sleeves. “I know enough to have made my final decision. Once I do that, there’s no going back.”

She came around to face him. “Seriously?” She laughed. “So, I have no choice here? You like me, and I just have to live with that?”

His gaze skimmed her body. He couldn’t look into her eyes anymore without giving away how far beyond “like” this was. He owned her. Or, rather, she owned him. “This is about something bigger than liking you, Magdalena. I need you. I want you. So, yes, that means your choices are…limited.” Nonexistent.

“How can you need me?”

He tipped his head to the side. “Not going to ask how I can want you?”

“No. That I understand.”

“Because you want me.”

“Yes.”

Win. “And you wouldn’t refuse me if I initiated sex right now.” He bounced his cufflinks in his palm and waited to have his ego stroked.

Those brilliant emeralds took a leisurely trip down his form to top off his hard-on. “No. I wouldn’t. But all this talk about fate and powers that be isn’t happening. If you’re looking for some sort of long-lasting, meaningful relationship, you picked the wrong girl.”

Her honesty was doing nothing more than adding a lubricant that greased his descent so that he fell deeper and faster than ever. “Why is that?”

“Because I don’t do people. They’re just not worth the trouble.”

The lonely words pierced his heart. “I will be,” he promised her, vowing to make it so.

“Doubt it.”

“Don’t.”

“Can’t help it.”

Her expression had darkened, and he could see she was starting to close up, so he pointed his thumb at the door in the corner. “Why don’t you freshen up and I’ll take you out back to see the dogs.”

Her mouth opened to deliver another quick retort, but nothing came out. She stared up at him for a few beats before ducking her head. He had to take a step forward so he wouldn’t miss the reluctant smile that curved her lips. When she tipped her chin up just enough to look at him, her dimple made an appearance. “You really want me out of this dress, huh?” she said quietly. There was a new softness surrounding her that almost sent him to his knees. A natural seductress. Who he would likely have to kill for again because her allure was undeniable, and men were going to respond to it in the coming years. No matter. He would do whatever had to be done to protect his greatest asset.

The realization didn’t faze him as he made his way around the bed. She swiveled, her smile fading as she kept him in her sights. When he reached her, he cupped her chin and guided her up until she was on her feet. Then he kissed her, going slowly, coaxing. But she didn’t need coaxing because her silky lips parted and her tongue slid into his mouth to roll around his, playing, learning, so that what had started out as a gentle reminder that he wasn’t a threat soon turned into something else altogether.

As her taste filled him, he went in harder, tipping her head back to get that perfect angle to deepen the kiss. Flames burst to life under his skin when she grasped at his shoulders, her nails sinking in, and the moan that bubbled up from her throat branded him soul deep. He gripped her tiny waist and pulled her in tight, drawing forth encouraging little mewls when he rubbed her against him.

He grabbed her wrists when she went to rush things by pulling his shirt from his pants, and despite the desire twisting painfully in his gut, Lukas geared down and eventually forced himself to stop sucking her sweet tongue. He ended the kiss and came up in time to see her lids lift. He could get her on her back and fuck her all night long. Full, heated permission blazed from her eyes.

“What’s wrong? Why are you stopping?” Her gaze traced his lips.

“You and I aren’t about getting to the fucking, Magdalena.” If she looked surprised by that, it was nothing compared to how he felt; relief and comfort were the chasers. Normally, a few hours between the sheets was all there was between him and his women, but now, he meant it when he said, “I’d like to talk to you for a while before I draw you out completely by getting you naked. I wouldn’t want to win you over so quickly that you sulk because you were unable to put up much of a fight.” He winked to take the sting out of how egotistical he sounded. “So, we’re going to go downstairs.” She helped separate their bodies that were still pressed together. “I’ll introduce you to the dogs, get you something to eat, then we’ll come back up here.” He let her wrists go when she pulled at them, then turned her toward the ensuite. “The bathroom is through that door.”

She stomped away but paused before closing the door between them. He watched her set aside her annoyance with admirable ease. “Did you happen to think of asking Farah for my purse before we left Scorch?”

“No, yagodka. And the house doesn’t have a landline either. We did away with it last year.”

The annoyance rushed back but disappeared when she snapped the door shut in his face.

 

***

 

Arrogant jerk, Dale thought as she closed herself into the dove grey and white bathroom. Conceited. Egotistical. So sure of himself, was he? Could read her so well, huh?

Her shoulders slumped.

How the hell had he known she wanted her phone? She’d have gotten over her aversion and called Farah for help. Or, at least, for some advice.

Pushing off the door as her body continued to spark, she looked around. There was an inviting square bathtub in the center of the room, a wall-length vanity with a matching framed mirror, and a walk-in shower with three showerheads strategically placed. The plants scattered around, and the aloe-scented air was soothing and did its job as she moved to the nearest sink to quickly wash the heavy makeup off her face. She held her thoughts off as she took her hair down, whimpering through it because Erika had put the pins in so tightly…

She stared at the hairbrush she’d just picked up. One that didn’t have a strand in it. Then she took up the cleanser she’d used that had made her face feel like Elaine’s son’s soft little bum. Dale had changed her co-worker’s baby once when Elaine had brought him into the club to show him off after she’d had him. Longing had followed Dale around for days afterward.

She placed the brand-new bottle down. “Lukas?” she called out.

“Yes, Magdalena?”

She spun and gripped the counter behind her because his voice was right outside the door. “Uh, why is this stuff new?”

He didn’t answer right away. “I called home earlier and sent our shopper out to get you some things.”

She stared at the closed door and tried to block what he and his gestures and looks and voice were doing to her. “Seriously,” she called, not appreciating this shit at all. “Is this Farah’s stuff?”

“No. It’s yours.” The door opened a few inches, and his arm came through. He held something out. “As are these. They should fit.”

She walked over but didn’t take the jeans, shirt, and shoes. She stared at the tattoos on his muscular forearm and fought the need to pull him inside. “Your shopper got these.”

“Yes.”

“And where did your shopper go in the middle of the night for these items that are now mine?”

“I don’t know, Magdalena. I’ll have to ask her.”

“You can call me Dale, you know.” She looked down at her nipples and wondered if they’d ever go soft again.

“I will when I’ve gotten over how I feel about your full name.”

That made her smile. “What if I decide to be petty and don’t want to wear this stuff.”

“Then I’ll join you, and we will tour the house in the nude.”

A surprised laugh escaped. “Now I’m really torn,” she teased before she could stop herself.

“I thought you would be.”

She took the offered clothes by deliberately sliding her hand beneath his, scraping him lightly with her nails. “Thank you, Mr. Murdery. I’ll be out in a second.”

His chuckle faded as he closed the door.

As she placed the clothes on the vanity, she decided her best bet would be to not think too hard about what was happening. Why bother? While she was here, she would do what she had to do, because what choice did she have? This wouldn’t last forever because nothing ever did. So, she would be nice, end up in his bed, and after she’d convinced him he was nuts, and she wasn’t a threat who was about to run to the authorities to tattle on him for killing someone, she’d carry on.

People came and went. No one stayed in her life for very long. She knew that and would keep in mind that Lukas Zavrazin wouldn’t be any different. No matter what kind of absurd romantic shit he spewed about her belonging to him, he would eventually move on and so would she.

Feeling depressed as hell all of a sudden, she got out of Farah’s dress but paused when she remembered the look that had been in Lukas’s eyes when he’d approached the bar where Nero had cornered her. The shiver that rattled her bones made her skin shrink.

Lust. That’s all it was. This couldn’t be real, because real didn’t exist. It was only there until it wasn’t.

She stepped into the fashionably torn jeans that were the type of soft denim she’d never worn before, slithered into a silky white tank with the thinnest of spaghetti straps, and slid her feet into a pair of creamy leather sandals that had gems and rhinestones that glittered beautifully with her cheap toe ring. She needed a bra, she saw when she looked in the mirror.

Or not.

Giving her straight hair a final brush so that it swished across her lower back, she put the new tool down and left the bathroom with her back arched just enough to draw a pair of male eyes…

He wasn’t around.

“Hello?”

“I haven’t left you.”

Her blood heated at his response and she trudged over to where it had come from. The walk-in closet was large enough to have an island in the center or it, but she paused just outside so as not to invade his privacy.

“At the risk of sounding crass,” she said before deliberately sounding crass as she pinched her nipples to keep them hard—she nearly fell to the floor as pleasure speared her, “and I wouldn’t say this to anyone but you—”Because I’d never say it at all. “—but, money is comfy. I’d ask where your shopper got these jeans, but there’d be no point.” The sooner they had sex, the sooner the novelty would wear off, and she could be on her way.

“What makes me so special?”

“I’m still not sure.” She almost gasped, then wanted to punch herself in the mouth for allowing that to slip out untethered. He wasn’t special. He was just really, really tempting and dangerous. And beautiful and kind, though, murdery and…special? “You seem to appreciate that I speak my mind,” she grumped, annoyed with herself for being honest in her own head. People lied to themselves all the time. Why couldn’t she?

“How do you know that?”

“I can just tell.” By the approval in his expression whenever she did it.

“And others haven’t?”

She shrugged even though he couldn’t see her, and turned to ogle the room now that he was otherwise occupied. “My dad used to get embarrassed by how much I talked.” The walls weren’t white, like the crown molding. They were more a pretty silver a few shades lighter than the plush carpet. There were two sets of French doors. Two. “He’d say people weren’t interested in a young girl’s opinion. I’ve learned along the way that he was right.” The four paintings on the walls were obviously from one artist as they showcased the same woman in different poses wearing a brilliant red dress. “People don’t care what you have to say. Most times, they’re just waiting for you to finish talking so they can start up again.” The furnishings were all the same dark walnut as the tallboy. She had to be standing in a thousand square feet of bedroom. There was a loveseat and coffee table in front of the gas fireplace, and not even that crowded things.

She jumped when she felt a hand skim down her hair. She didn’t turn as her heart stuttered then raced.

“I wondered how long it was.”

Goosebumps blew up on the right side of her body, and she had to shift to hide the shiver that followed. “Pretty long.”

“Yes.”

With meticulous care, Lukas gathered her hair in one hand and combed his fingers through it. She felt him and wished she could see him as he lifted the make-shift ponytail to his nose. He said something in Russian that had heat pooling in her lower belly. Not because she understood but because when he spoke in his mother tongue, it was the sexiest thing she’d ever heard.

“Wanna translate?” God, how badly did she want to turn around and kiss him again. Not to distract him or to start something with the intent to finish it. But because she just needed to kiss him.

“You wouldn’t appreciate the translation.”

How would he know? “Try me.”

He pulled the ponytail to the side and pressed his lips to a ticklish spot on her neck. She stayed very still but for her eyelids fluttering and her muscles seizing. “I was thanking God for the treasure he gifted me with tonight. I told him I would worship you as a man was meant to worship his mate.”

He’d been right. She felt no appreciation for that at all. “How did you know I’d find something like that sort of vulgar?”

He laughed and slid an arm around her. Good thing, too, because that laugh…shiiit, her knees went numb and disappeared.

“Just a guess.” His hand splayed over her front, just below her breasts where those stupid butterflies were going wild. “Such a hard shell. You do know men enjoy a challenge, don’t you, yagodka?”

“Sure.” She fiddled with his watch because she didn’t know what else to do with her hands. “They also hate to lose, so I suggest you drop this romantic shit that’s wasted on me and just play with me for a couple of days before you cut me loose.”

“I have no intention of cutting you loose.”

She rolled her eyes. Sure, she thought with just a touch of scorn as she turned to face him. “What is that you keep calling me?” On her toes she went—had to—and the pleasure she took from pressing kisses to the corners of his mouth was immense. She dropped back down and barely held herself back from snuggling into his front and pressing her ear to his chest so she could listen to his voice from the inside.

“It is an endearment that sounds unusual when translated. I use it because you smell of rich cream and strawberries.”

“And that makes me your creamy berry?”

“Are you creamy?”

Lightning strikes popped over the surface of her skin. “When you’re not talking stupid? Yes. Very. Wanna feel?” She did step into him then, but all she did was rub her breasts across the front of his shirt.

“Later. As I said, I want to talk a bit more stupid before I have you.”

His straight face was getting harder for her to read. “Will I shock anyone in the house if I don’t put on a bra?”

He stepped back, and his eyes went down. Dale could have sworn she felt a plume of lust billow out from him. “You won’t shock them,” he said quietly and without humor. “But if my people stare at this body I’ve yet to sample, I’m likely to take another life, and I’d rather not upset you again on your first night in our home.” He disappeared into the closet and came out a second later with a white lace bra that he draped over her shoulder before walking to the door. “I’ll be right outside.”

Dale jerked on the bra and joined him in under thirty seconds. “Is this another of your shopper’s purchases or am I wearing someone else’s bra?”

He smiled a little as he put his phone away. “It was purchased for you.”

Of course, it was, she thought as she slipped her hand into his and kept pace beside him.

How could a guy be both adorable and psychotic at the same time, she wondered as they began a tour through a mansion more luxurious than anything she’d ever been inside before. With every room, she realized more and more just how far out of her element she was.

At one point, they passed by a handful of men and women who turned out to be staff, and Lukas stuck it to her by introducing her and being friendly while asking after their night. It would have been easier if he’d been a prick and ignored them. Or better yet, if he’d ordered them to their knees and made them bow as he walked by. Then she’d have been able to slot him into the gross-me-out category. She would have been Teflon where he was concerned; her stay in his home unmemorable. But…no.

He showed her rooms that actually looked lived in, a pool so inviting she’d itched to dive into the calm blue waters, and, finally, a large kennel that housed four Cane Corsos in a variety of sizes and colors. The dogs were quiet until Lukas whistled. Then they went bananas, barking, butts wagging, jumping against the fence. He left them to it as he spoke to a man with a bushy salt-and-pepper mustache and a big smile. She didn’t know what they talked about because they did it in Russian.

Once they were alone again, Lukas spoke one sharp word, still in Russian, and the dogs settled immediately. Then their owner proceeded to feel her up in front of them. He ran his hands over her shoulders and down her arms. Brought each of her hands to his mouth to kiss her palms. He gripped her hips and slid his long fingers down until he almost reached her knees. While he was bent, he gave her shoulder a nip that made her smile through her enflamed skin and excitedly thumping heart.

“What are you doing?”

Ugh. Her voice had come out soft and lover-like. Not sexy and fucky-like as it should have done. Come on, Dale, you can do better!

He pulled her against his front and rubbed his chest on her back, and a growing erection across her ass. “Making sure they know you’re mine. We’re only visiting with four of the ten we have, but they can still be a handful.”

When he was done, he ran his hand in a possessive swipe over one of her butt cheeks before opening the gate, and for the next twenty minutes, Dale had to suffer through watching Mr. Murdery act like a big kid as he played with a small pack of ferocious guard dogs. Once he was sure she wouldn’t be their meal, he allowed her to sink to the floor so she could also get mauled and slobbered on.

As they left the kennel, she wasn’t feeling so confident in her ability to remain distanced. They stopped in something of a mudroom to wash up before returning to the house via a brick path that was sheltered on either side by twelve-foot walls.

Their next stop was a kitchen with quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, and fresh herb plants sitting in front of the windows.

“Sit.”

Lukas stood next to an island that boasted three sinks and a mountain of fresh produce on one end. He pulled out a carved stool and waited for her to slide on before turning away.

“Excuse me for a minute.”

She wordlessly watched him walk out an arched exit that didn’t have a door attached. Once he was gone, she tried to reassure herself that she could do this. Just because he was all sorts of attractive, it didn’t mean he was going to get inside her. She wouldn’t allow it. She knew how to protect herself when it really mattered.

The windows across the way had no curtains or blinds, which afforded Dale a perfect view of two men strolling by a fountain in the beautifully lit gardens. They wore all black and had gun belts like the ones cops wore. But, unlike a typical officer on a street corner who carried only a revolver, these two had semi-automatics hanging over their shoulders.

It is quieter than usual because many of our men are at the hospital watching over my father. He was shot in the head last night. Samuel and I were there.

A shudder rocked her, and she sat up straighter, tucking her hands under her thighs. “Doesn’t matter,” she murmured as something started to shake deep in her chest. “None of this matters to you. It’s not your business. If he gets hurt or killed, it’s his life, and it won’t affect you at all. You’re gonna be the perfect house guest, prove you’re not a rat, then go. End of.” She wouldn’t feel afraid or sorry or sad or happy. She would be horny but dead inside. That was it.

Funny how the simple plan sounded like the most difficult one she’d ever made.