Chapter 19 – Kolya
I scrubbed a hand over my face and glanced at the couch where Harley snoozed. Hours of peaceful rest had found the little water sprite while I spent the night in vigil, watching over her. She’d barely been able to keep her eyes open during the cooking lesson. If she wasn’t famished, her body making cute noises of protest at the delay, she would have passed out the moment we’d been done upstairs. Knowing how tired she was, how full her schedule was, and how precious sleep was to those who could indulge in it, I didn’t throw her on the formal dining room table and take the taste that I desperately wanted.
My dessert would have to wait for another time.
The thought of feasting between her legs again sent a rush of blood to my dick. He swelled and twitched.
This needs to end. The sigh that left my lips was a rough exhale. That unfortunate truth was the right thing to do.
Clicking back into a new webpage, I stared at the screen. The hunt was my life. I had no other purpose than to find and destroy. From the moment I started this venture, my future became a tightly defined path. There were demons out there preying on innocents, those unable to defend themselves. And I was the only one who could help.
No…while Harley was a nice detour, choosing her over the greater good was wrong. Involving her in the fierce fight waging in the dark was equally as wrong. She was here and now, but this would end. It had to.
I slid a look to the couch. Then what is this tug in my chest?
Shaking my head, I clicked out of the screens on my laptop. It wasn’t like Harley was looking for something more with me. I was the rich boy from the city who intrigued her. And that was all I could be to her. She couldn’t know anything more than the front I presented. It was too dangerous.
In the kitchen, I stirred a pre-workout beverage in preparation for my morning routine. Dawn was already lightening the eastern horizon. There was no news in the back-end channels. It was looking less likely that my enemy was searching for me. Dimitri was waiting for a report on the situation. If the danger had well and truly passed, I would have no reason stay here. It would be time to regroup and take out the leader of the Southwest trafficking ring and shut down their operations.
To get close enough to take the shot on Karl Adler would put me in extreme danger. I couldn’t have any ties tracing me back to the underworld, let alone a civilian like Harley.
I sighed. Our time was likely coming to an end. It might be a few more weeks, but the deadline was there.
There’d been another encrypted email from the Cyber Ops. They were eager to meet the infamous Wraith. It had been a name I earned in the military, but now it was only used by my closest acquaintances. It was yet more proof that they knew someone close to me to know that name.
They knew me, and I didn’t know a damn thing about them.
Information on their operation was nonexistent. There wasn’t a single trace, not one reference to them. Either they were a newer group of vigilantes, or they were that damn good. It was probably the former that was true. If they were successful hunters, then more traffickers would be stopped. And there would at least be rumors as to the existence of their organization.
No, it was just me out there, fighting all on my own. While the government had official teams to battle the scourge, they didn’t strike where it truly counted, and their policies seemed to aid the rings rather than help the victims.
Fighting back the pull of exhaustion, I shook my plastic bottle, the metal ball clanking against the edges as it dissolved the powder. Pulling an all-nighter wasn’t wise, but I would nap as soon as Harley left. A rough laugh barked from my throat. Cuffing myself to the bed seemed appropriate. I couldn’t risk doing a zombie walk during daylight.
Sipping the fake fruity flavor, I stared over the greying backyard. Harley thought I was worried about her being in danger from me. That was only part of the truth. She could never know the rest. My family was surrounded by secrets. I dealt with things she couldn’t even imagine. If she knew, she’d run screaming.
If she stayed with me, she’d be in constant danger.
We couldn’t spend many more days together. It was time to let her go while things were still light and fun between us. I might have this strange flicker in my chest, but it couldn’t be acted upon. I sure as hell couldn’t let her pick up the same strange ailment. Her fascination with me needed to remain purely physical.
The soft pad of feet sent my heart beating double. Harley ghosted to my side, hopping onto the counter. Her knee drew up, and she rested her cheek against the bare skin.
“Morning,” she whispered.
Saints, she was beautiful, wrapped in a blanket and still draped in sleepiness. “Morning,” I replied. “Sleep well?”
“Mhmm.” She smiled. “You? I think you actually slept.”
“Yeah,” I lied.
“Are we going swimming this morning?” She tipped her head to the energizing fruit punch in my hands. “Or are you doing a different workout?”
The insinuation in her voice sent a surge of blood south, and my dick stiffened. I couldn’t help it. The way her tongue slid over the words had my mind going to memories of her smooth, flushed skin moving against mine.
“Swimming,” I chose, knowing it was the safer of the options.
“Okay. But I don’t have a bathing suit,” Harley yawned, covering her mouth. “If I can borrow one of your shirts, I’ll make that work. Or I could wear my bra and panties—since they cover more than a bikini.”
Saints preserve me. I was going to burn from the inside out before we were done.
***
Down at the dock, Harley shivered. The clouds were thick, which made the temperature cooler.
“You’ve really never had swimming lessons?” Harley’s voice floated down to me.
I continued to tread the water, enjoying the sight of her in the bra and panties. She’d been a little shy at the beginning of the lesson, but as we swam, she’d lost any nervousness over her attire. While I would like to take credit for it, it was her love of the sport. The woman was a princess straight from the mythical city of Atlantis. Harley mesmerized me. It was beautiful, a saint’s damn honor, to watch her glide through the water.
Now, as she danced on her toes to ward off the chill, I battled the temptation to peel the wet, improvised swimwear off her and warm her up.
“I’ve swum before,” I said.
Her gaze thinned at the vague answer.
If she knew the kind of swimming they had me do during my military training, would she be mad at the deception? It was Luka who lied to her about me needing lessons. I just hadn’t seen fit to correct him.
I’ll have to thank the little shit. For better or worse, these morning swims were the highlight of my days in exile.
The sound of a boat motor puttered across the water. I knew that sound. It was her fishing boat.
Harley jumped to grab one of the towels on the back of the sparkly watercraft that still didn’t work. But that was Kazimir’s problem. He was the one who purchased the fucking thing for the lake house.
Harley wrapped the towel under her arms, glancing repeatedly at the approaching fishing boat. There were three males speeding toward us. They didn’t carve through the lake with the same skill that Harley did when she sailed over. I glided through the dark water and pulled myself onto the ladder to be on equal footing when they arrived.
“Morning, Har,” one of the three men called.
“Hi, Drake, what’s up?” Harley stood her ground, pinning the man with an annoyed look.
That was her family’s boat, but what was this man doing driving it?
“You weren’t answering your phone. Gran’s worried,” the one in a loose tank top that showed sharp tan lines on his freckled arms said. He ogled the house, only tearing his eyes away from the grand structure to gaze at my cousin’s sparkly speedboat.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” The one with salt in his red hair stared straight at me.
Harley pursed her lips. “I don’t appreciate you interrupting my private lesson. He’s paying good money for the time.”
“Our grandma wants to invite you to Sunday Dinner, Mr.…?” The salty one arched a brow.
“Cut the crap. You know his name. Everyone around here does,” Harley snapped.
“But he doesn’t know us,” tank top grinned. “Since our cousin is ssooo rude, I’m Dallas. These are my brothers Drake and Duke.”
They might be her family, but I didn’t like the change they brought over Harley. This tense, defensive side of my water sprite brought out the strong instinct to start shooting. I doubted she would thank me for decorating the foreheads of her cousins with red dots. But if they made her feel this way, there was a damn good reason.
“Pleasure to meet you.” I pulled myself fully onto the dock, water sloughing from my board shorts. “Kole Williams.”
In a way that could have been simple appreciation of the physical physique—although just as likely a homoerotic awakening—the three pairs of eyes glued to my body. Not only was I a good head taller than these cousins, I was also jacked. They had working muscles, but their middles were pudgy and soft from the beer they consumed while kicking back.
“I’ll be headed home to help with dinner after I’m done here,” Harley said sharply, her words barely breaking the spell.
Only Duke, the one greying, turned to her. There was something simmering in his gaze that I didn’t like. I made a step to put myself between him and his cousin. That silent glare bordered on threatening. I fucking relished the idea of smacking it off his square face.
“Haven’t seen that big cruiser out on the water. You taken her out yet?” Drake jerked his chin to the speedboat behind Harley.
“I haven’t,” I responded, not taking my eyes off the older cousin.
Come on, pussy cat, want to dance? My fingers itched at my sides to take Duke on.
“You coming to dinner?” Dallas quipped. The side of his tank flapped in the wind where it’d been cut open and lily-white skin shone even though the cloud cover was thick. “Because you could drive her over.”
Not putting my back to the boys, I angled my body to Harley. “Your grandmother invited me for dinner.”
It wasn’t a question, but I was asking her permission all the same.
Something churned in Harley’s sharp gaze. Was it panic? And why was it there in those brown depths?
Because she doesn’t want someone rough like you to meet her family.
I clenched my jaw tight.
“Come on, Harley, be a good sport,” Duke drawled. “We just want to get to know the feller you’re spending so much time with.”
“Would you like to have dinner—and by that he means the noon meal—with us?” Harley asked, voice gone suddenly soft.
“I would.” I resisted taking a step toward her.
Her shoulders seemed to visibly relax. Odd. Wouldn’t my agreement make her more uptight?
The men seemed in no hurry to move. Harley turned her gaze to them. “You came, you saw, you delivered your message—now, scoot! There are chores to be done.”
They grumbled loudly.
“Go on, now. Git,” Harley snapped. “I have a lesson to finish.”
“We’ve got the morning off,” Dallas protested.
“Yeah, Gran’s at church,” Drake laughed. “That means fishing!”
“Fine!” Harley waved her hands. “Go fish.”
The younger two brothers cajoled the salted redhead to back up. Reluctantly, and with several looks that promised trouble, Duke pulled away from the dock. The speedboat tore away, whipping fast and clipping the no-wake buoy. A surge of water rocked the dock.
“You don’t have to come,” Harley said quickly, when the boisterous group was out of hearing.
A bite gnawed at my chest. I knew I should let her go, but every fiber of my being wanted to inch closer to this woman.
“You don’t want me to?” I asked past the lump beating in my throat.
Harley shook her head. “It’s not that. I was actually going to invite you for a horseback ride this afternoon. I don’t work at the clinic on Sundays.”
Confusion flickered through me. Hot and cold. It was hard to push away from her when I didn’t understand her in the first place. “I don’t understand.”
Harley let out a long breath. “You saw them. They’re…. They’re….” She tightened the towel around her chest. “My cousins are difficult to explain.”
“Try.” I took a step forward. “I have unexplainable cousins. Maybe it’s not as hard as you think.”
Harley’s gaze snapped to meet mine. I hadn’t realized giving her that piece of myself would make her eyes shimmer with such a strange, beautiful light. “Your cousins?”
Not wanting the look she was giving me to fade, I nodded. “I have two first cousins, a second cousin—who’s away right now. And some close friends who grew up with us that might as well be cousins. And you met my brother.”
“Yeah, I remember Lucas,” Harley repeated, laughter fluttering behind her words. “Are they all like him?”
“Oh, saints no!” I shook my head. “No one is like my younger brother.”
Harley grinned.
Warmth spread through me, making me feel light. It was as if I could jump in the air and fly about. Saints, what would it be like to have this woman look at me like this every day?
Of course, if she knew the truth, she’d run screaming in horror.
Nice, normal girls like her didn’t know the darker side of life like growing up in the criminal underworld. And I was one of the scarier beings there, prowling about and finding joy in hunting the truly vile beings.
“So you think you can survive a meal with my family?” Hope filled her question.
I should tell her no. That this was our last swimming lesson, because I was leaving this afternoon. Instead, I stepped into her, traced the tip of my finger down her shoulder, and watched the gooseflesh shiver over her skin at the contact.
“I’ll survive anything your country boys throw at me,” I promised.
Her answering smile lit the area under the domed sky.