Silent Heart (The Vlasov Bratva #5)

Chapter 3 – Kolya

“ W hat the hell was that?” I lashed out at my brother the moment the pontoon was out of earshot. The volatile blast of anger hid something else, something I didn’t want to address.

Luka didn’t even flinch. “You should always keep your skills sharp. She seems to know what she’s doing in the water.”

My brother knew damn well that my former service in the special forces included a robust swimming requirement and rigorous water training. It was his dumbass that couldn’t swim well—something his curly-haired bride teased him mercilessly about every chance she had.

No, this was simply Luka’s way of having a good laugh at my expense. Well, the joke was on him. I would cancel, explaining tomorrow that I knew how to swim and didn’t need lessons. I hadn’t done it just now, something about the dare in her eye as she watched me made me want to play along.

The little water sprite was mesmerizing, standing there damp and fierce.

“Sorry we won’t get any fishing in before I have to drive back to town,” Luka drawled with a slap on the side of the boat. “And you’ve sworn off hunting .”

In a desperate attempt to lay low, I hadn’t even scouted the area for local cases of missing persons. It would be too hard to live here for the foreseeable future and not work, let alone know there were traffickers in the vicinity.

That was the whole point of hiding: I couldn’t afford to draw attention to myself.

“I’m not doing the swimming lessons.”

My baby brother cut me a look. “Really, bro? You’re going to do that to her?”

I clenched my jaw.

“She seemed like she could use the money,” Luka mused. “And you’re going to tell her no?”

Typical Luka, he was trying to provoke a reaction from me. I kept a tight grip on my emotions and remained quiet.

“What I discovered—and only in a single night of snooping, I might add—is that our neighbor, one Miss Hariet Kellnhofer but goes by Harley, is a veterinary technician who is enrolled in the University of Chicago’s Veterinary Program this fall. She has grants and scholarships to cover part of the tuition but has been saving for quite a number of years to pay for the majority of her schooling without needing loans. That’s why she works Monday through Saturday at the vet clinic down the road, waitresses at night, and now, my dear brother—” Luka rounded on me in a dramatic display of indignation “—you would deny this poor girl a measly hundred bucks a lesson to help you keep your swimming skills sharp?”

Sliding a look to the too happy brat, I pondered his game. I hadn’t shown any unusual interest in the woman, other than the brief exchange while he was taking a piss last night. What in the ever-loving hell was Luka’s game?

“The battery was charged last night,” I pointed out. “Kazimir left it ready to go.”

Luka lifted his hands. “My mistake! I must have connected the wrong wires when I put it in this morning. Didn’t know that could drain the whole thing.”

“Hmm,” I murmured. “Is that so?”

“That’s so!” Luka smiled innocently at me.

Three…. Two…. One…. That’s it. I lunged. One good push, and the little imp was launched into the lake.

Scooping up the battery, I strolled back to the house, not bothering to see if Luka sank or managed to climb back onto the dock.

Dappled sunlight fell on the stone path to the lake cabin—not that the rustic word was the proper term for this place. A mansion, glamorous and massive, was more on point. It had been purchased as an investment property with some extra funds from our family’s illegal organization. The pakhan’s business-minded wife wanted non-liquid assets. My stepmom had a small, cozy cabin closer to Lake Milwaukee, but this was one of the many grand properties we would be purchasing across southern Wisconsin to diversify our portfolio.

And I was going to spend the foreseeable future here.

Alone.

It wasn’t exile when I volunteered to hide here, but it didn’t change how the banishment felt.

Turning to look back across the glistening body of water, a strange, wholly new feeling bubbled across my chest. Maybe I wouldn’t be so lonely.

A rush of blood made my dick pulse in my board shorts. Thankfully there’d been time to discreetly flip the stiff erection up into the waistband, hiding it the best I could so I didn’t greet the neighbors with a boner.

But just the memory of her skin, sparkling with waterdrops, as I helped her from the water had me salivating. My fingers itched to peel the wet tank off her body, and my mouth still watered for a taste. I would run my lips over the smooth planes of flesh, decorated tastefully with various inked designs. How long would it take to have her clawing at my back? How long would I tease her before I let her naked, wet body press against mine?

Fuck.

As soon as Luka left, I would have to disappear upstairs and fuck my fist in the shower. Because if I was going to do this swimming thing—and my brother and I both knew damn well I wouldn’t refuse her the pitiful hundred bucks a lesson—there would be no touching, no tasting, and certainly no claiming the pretty little sprite.

I can’t have her.

***

There wasn’t sunlight, but I knew it was close to morning. The next detail I became aware of was that I wasn’t lying on my bed.

“Shit,” I breathed.

It happened again.

Peeling myself off the floor, I blinked. This was the kitchen of the lakeside mansion, where I hadn’t been….

Nine hours ago.

Shaking my head, I went to the sink. Cold tap water streamed from the faucet, a welcome relief to the fog still lingering around the edges of my consciousness. I splashed my face, letting the sharp bite make my senses come alive. I poured myself a pre-workout energy shot, shaking it with a metal ball as I went to the home gym. Instantly my eyes tracked the equipment. It seemed that in my nocturnal ramblings, I’d also visited this space.

At least I woke up with enough time to put in a grueling workout before the swimming lessons. Pushing aside the horrifying reality that I’d lost myself yet again, I focused on driving my body hard. Time flew, and before I knew it, I was showered, teeth brushed, and waiting for the pretty little farm girl down by the dock.

Her boat sped across the water, moving at a decent clip. Unlike the leisure floater from yesterday, this was a small fishing boat. There she stood, light blonde hair tied back to hide the darker roots and narrowed gaze sweeping the lake.

Heat returned to my blood, and I let out a short growl of frustration. Yesterday’s cool shower should have taken care of that problem. But one look at the toned body in the blue Speedo one piece with just a pair of cotton shorts over her legs, and the effort to rid her from my system evaporated in the rush of blistering need.

No. No!

I clenched my jaw tight, breath coming hard and fast. Women didn’t affect me this way. I wasn’t some playboy, chasing every skirt. I was controlled, a well-regulated machine that was driven by objectives.

And yet one look and it was clear to anyone with eyes that this wholesome beauty was far from normal.

The motor slowed to a gurgling putter as Harley pulled the fishing boat alongside the dock.

“Good morning, neighbor, how did you sleep?” She grinned up at me and threw a tether rope expertly over the metal hook on the side of the dock.

I rose to the balls of my bare feet, suddenly wanting to say something light and breezy to put her at ease. To show her that I could be neighborly. Friendly. Normal .

“Not too bad.” I still sounded gruff to my own ears. “Yourself?”

Harley chuckled softly. “Like the dead. Didn’t close down the Landing until nearly one this morning.”

She’d been out late and now was bright-eyed and ready to teach me to swim.

Before going to work at a veterinarian clinic, my subconscious added helpfully.

Damn. I wanted to cancel. Send her inside for a snooze. But what good would that do? She was already here, and like my brother reminded me twice more before leaving yesterday afternoon, it seemed she could use the money.

Springing onto the dock, Harley planted her hands on her hips.

I tracked the movement, fingers itching to touch the same place. She was barefoot like yesterday, pretty pink toes and tan feet drawing my attention to the smallest details about her.

“So! How much experience do you have swimming?” Harley swiveled her gaze to me, cocking her head.

It dawned on me then, the subtle shift in her warm brown eyes giving it away. She was nervous but bravely trying to hide it.

I took a step forward, a pleasant flicker inside when she didn’t back away. “Nothing recently.”

“But you have swum?” She pushed the words out.

“Not much.” Because…define much. I wasn’t a former Navy Seal, so I didn’t spend quite as much time in the water as those guys did.

Her lips pursed in a tight line. “Okay, well, you seem fit.” When I didn’t respond, she continued with a flustered wave of her hands. “We’ll do some exercises in the water to warm up, and then I have a kickboard so we can start some basic stroke work, assess your form and technique, and, if you’re comfortable, we’ll swim laps to the no-wake-buoy and back.”

“I’m comfortable.”

It could have been the wind, but I would have sworn a breathy little sigh feathered from her lips. She hid it by clearing her throat. “Well, alright then, good. Glad you’re comfortable with the water, but I can’t have you drowning. You’re so big and—” she gestured to me “—I wouldn’t be able to haul you from the bottom if you sink.”

“I won’t sink,” I promised.

“Sure, Mr. Monosyllable,” she muttered while pushing down her tiny cotton shorts.

I swallowed the groan that threatened to claw up my throat. The cut of the athletic swimsuit left nothing to the imagination. It fit like a second skin, showing how her toned legs sloped into a perfect ass. And that thigh piece…damn. A horseshoe was the centerpiece, but there were vines and flowers and other objects worked into the image. That tattoo was sexy as fuck.

She’s not for you. She’s from the normal world.

Bitter laughter recoiled through my mind. I was a monster, a boogeyman in the dark. I had no business breathing the same air as an innocent woman from the regular world, whose only experience of my kind of darkness was when the local news found body parts and blamed it on wild animals, freak accidents, or other forms of natural demise.

Yet here I stood, fighting back the urge to touch her.

Heaven help me.