Epilogue - Anatoli
Three months later
I stretched out in the lounge chair on the deck of our brand new mansion.
The view of the ocean was always relaxing after a long day chasing after one thing or another.
However, on that particular day, I was already as calm as the cloudless sky, dark purple and indigo now that the sun had dropped below the horizon.
My new crew was shaping up nicely. A few of the guys were green and needed more training, but they wanted to be here in the US and were ruthlessly faithful to the Ovinko name.
And the Fokins. Lev and I had been working together to take down a group that was encroaching on his San Francisco territory.
We thought it might be what was left of the Collective, or the international group moving stateside to try again, but so far, we’d kept them down and manageable.
Masha’s hand stroked my wrist, her fingers chilly from the cold drink she just put down on the table between us.
I turned to look at her, long hair loose and hanging down her shoulders, eyes as dark as the sea lay out before us beyond the sand.
She gave me a contented smile, and our fingers twined together as we went back to admiring the view.
After a lot of discussion, she decided to put her own territory on hold until she got a little more experience as a leader.
I knew she was ready, but I appreciated that she was being cautious for once.
Her help with getting everything off the ground again had been priceless, and there was plenty of time.
“How’s the software coming along?” she asked.
After a mini war with Mat that lasted close to a month, he finally agreed to let CJ and me work together to further develop my information-gathering program.
“Just about ready for launch,” I said, turning to see her smile.
A smile I’d never get enough of. As of now, we’d dialed back the program so it could be released for sale to the general public, as well as enhancing it for our not-so-legal uses.
“It’s going to be huge, Masha,” I said, unable to restrain my excitement.
Even Mat was a whole lot friendlier to me now that my creation was going to be raking in the big bucks once it hit the market.
“I think I might overuse this word,” she said, still smiling. “But everything’s perfect.”
I nodded, waiting for the doorbell to ring, and the surprise I had arranged to arrive.
Masha had been working tirelessly for both me and Mat, as if she had something to prove.
No amount of praise or encouragement was enough for her, and I just decided it was her nature to always strive to be better than the best. An impossible task and one I hoped to distract her from with something else to focus on.
“Why do you keep looking in the house?” she asked, just as the doorbell finally rang.
I jumped up, pulling her with me, having already instructed the staff that only we were to answer the door that evening. Masha trotted behind me, confused, maybe even a little nervous, until I swung open the door.
A young woman stood there holding a leash attached to the world’s scraggliest rescue dog. At the first sight of Masha, the anxious dog instantly changed to a hyper love rocket, catapulting himself at her.
“Frederick?” she shrieked, dropping to her knees to wrap the small mop of fur in her arms. “What are you doing here?”
We had both fallen in love with CJ’s dog Artem, and Masha often went to the shelter that CJ and Mat supported to walk the dogs or help clean up the kennels.
For the last few days, she couldn’t stop talking about this one dog, Frederick, the mangiest little mutt that ever existed.
Skin problems, some kind of asthma issues, crooked teeth, and a chunk of ear missing. She was certain he’d never be adopted.
She was wrong.
“This is his home,” I said. “He lives here now.”
To my utter shock, my hard-as-nails wife burst into tears, hugging the dog so tightly that it started wheezing. The shelter worker handed over his blanket, toys, and a box full of medications and left before I changed my mind.
Gathering him up and still crying, Masha brought him into the house. “Thank you,” she sobbed.
I stared at her, stunned. “I knew you were a softie,” I said.
“Of course you did,” she agreed.
The dog already acted like he’d lived there his whole life, jumping on the nearest chair. We looked at each other, my eyes narrowed, Masha’s wide.
“We can’t start with rules on his first day,” she said, nudging him back to the floor.
I picked up a ball from his box, and he yipped, half his back end wagging. When I tossed it lightly across the room, he tore after it and brought it back to me, looking at me like I was some kind of god.
“Well, this is all right,” I said, trying a rope toy from the box.
“He’s super playful,” she said. “He’s really the best dog, and he’s cute once you get to love him.”’
She was right, he wasn’t so ugly as he jumped around and caught the ball and grabbed for the rope. Pretty soon, I realized Masha had stopped playing with us and stood there staring at me, just as I had stared at her when she was crying her eyes out with happiness.
“Is this Anatoli Ovinko?” she asked. “My cold as ice husband? Rolling on the floor with a drool-covered ball?”
I laughed, realizing I hadn’t felt as cold as ice in a long time. I reached out to her. “You’re welcome to join us.”
She did, and pretty soon we wore Frederick out. He curled up under the desk and was wheezing away, fast asleep, but we stayed on the rug, lying on our sides and looking at one another.
“He’s great with kids, too,” she said. “Or so they told me.”
“One day we’ll find out,” I told her, sliding my hand behind her neck to draw her closer.
Our lips met, warm and soft, until her mouth opened to my tongue and her hand pressed against my chest. Then she turned fierce. She rolled me onto my back and straddled me, holding the dog’s rope toy like our little whip.
“You’ve actually been too good for me to have to use this,” she said slyly.
“What if I want you to?” I rolled her over onto her back, gasping and laughing until I kissed her fiercely.
She arched her back, her arms gliding around my neck. “Anything you want, Anatoli.”
“Only you, little girl, only you.”
I rose up to slip her shirt over her head, trailing my fingers down her smooth skin, taking in every beautiful inch. Hungrily, she unbuttoned my shirt and shoved it down over my shoulders, her hips writhing beneath me. She was setting me on fire.
“How do you make me so wild?” I asked, wrenching my pants down and reaching for hers.
“You know I like it that way,” she said, dragging me back to her as soon as we were free of our clothes.
I gripped her thigh, turning her onto her side to smack her cute little ass. “Then that’s how you’ll get it.”
I slid into her from behind, kissing her neck, making her shiver and squeal at the same time.
She pushed back against me, reaching to pull me closer.
I tweaked her taut nipples and ran my hand down her smooth belly, her tight pussy gripping my cock.
Sometimes we could lazily explore one another, but this was not one of those times.
There was just something about watching her interact with her new pet that had me unhinged with desire.
A mention of children, a vision of our future. A future we’d both go to the ends of the earth to protect.
“I love you so damn much,” I said, barely able to get the words out as she pushed hard against my thrusts, giving everything, greedily taking all I wanted her to have.
“I love you,” she gasped.
She reached behind her, almost blindly, to grab for my face, pulling me close to kiss her some more.
I could never get enough of her, and I’d never stop trying.
I pulled away, chuckling at her feral, throaty growl.
Only a split second separated, to flip her on her back.
Another second to look at her body, with her arms reaching to drag me back down to her, her legs spread and wrapping around my hips. Mine, all mine.
I gripped her wrists in one hand and held them fast to the floor, leaning down to kiss her neck, further down to lick and nip at each nipple. She thrashed against my grasp and bit my shoulder when I didn’t budge. We both laughed, and I plunged deep inside her again.
“You are so amazing,” I said, because it was true. I moved just the way she liked, and she moaned.
“This is amazing. Hurry, Anatoli.”
And just like that, I was wild again, on fire to make her scream. I let go of her wrists to slide my hand down her side, cupping her ass, then gripping her hip. She twisted and writhed, mumbling nonsense in my ear as I slammed deeper and harder.
“Now,” she demanded, panting, biting, digging her nails into my flesh.
I slipped my hand between our thrusting bodies.
She tensed, hanging on, breathless now, as I found her swollen clit.
I waited for the scream, a sound I reveled in, but she only squeaked into my shoulder.
I felt her spasm around me and let out a roar as I let loose, but she whipped her hand over my mouth.
“The dog,” she hissed, still panting with pleasure. Then she giggled, and I started laughing, falling onto her in a heap. “I didn’t want to scare him,” she said, kissing me before letting her head fall back onto the carpet. “Wow, that was nice.”
I was still inside her, and dipped my chin to kiss her behind the ear. We both glanced at Frederick, who hadn’t stirred despite our commotion. He still wheezed contentedly under the desk.
“Thank you again,” she said as I rolled to the side and gathered her close. Goosebumps rose on her arms, and I pulled my discarded shirt over her.
“You would have brought him home yourself before the week was over,” I said.
She nodded, laughing softly. “It was still sweet.”
“So you’re soft and I’m sweet now,” I said. “What will people think?”
“No one else ever has to know,” she said. “It’s just you and me.”
“The way I like it,” I said, then nodded toward Frederick. “I hope he does all right on the plane.”
“Where are we going on the plane?” she asked, feigning ignorance.
“You know I don’t want to get into an argument when we’re naked,” I said.
“And you know we’re not going to Volgograd for our first Christmas together,” she answered.
We’d been going back and forth about where we were spending the holidays for weeks now, and were still at a standstill.
Her cousins expected us here in California, her parents were hankering for her to bring me to Moscow to finally meet them, and my family thought it was a given that we’d return to Volgograd for another giant party, hopefully without any shooting this time.
“Maybe we should just go to Mexico,” I said.
“Now that sounds perfect.”
I picked her up and carried her upstairs, the little dog waking up to trot along behind us. Whatever we did would be perfect, because we’d be together. She didn’t overuse the word; it was the only way to describe what he had, what we’d fight to protect, always side by side.
*****
THE END