Chapter 34 Liev #2
Only a lifetime of training on how to hide my emotions keeps my mouth closed, but Mikhail is still talking. “I need men I can trust.”
My pulse kicks. “I’m honored.”
Mikhail’s mouth curves. “Excellent. I look forward to meeting your bride.”
The glass door of the shower slides open, pulling me from my thoughts and Mikhail’s mental chess games.
Sera steps in, and I straighten, backing up a step and adjusting the temperature so the hot water streaming over her bare skin isn’t too hot for her sensitive scars. My hands immediately drop to cup her breasts, thumbs grazing her nipples, but she lifts a hand to my wrist to stop me.
Her face is unreadable. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” My thumb moves again, but she pulls my hand back and turns it palm down. Her eyebrows bunch when she sees my swollen, split knuckles.
She scans down my body looking for more injuries. “Anywhere else?”
“No.”
I wait. This is the moment I’ve been dreading. The moment she has no choice but to face what I do—the violence and brutality that exists in my world.
Her gaze darts to the bloody shirt on the floor. I wait for her to recoil, to realize this isn’t a life she wants. Not a man she wants to be tied to.
Instead, she moves closer. Water streams over both of us, soaking her hair and running in rivulets down her skin. Her lips press against my chest, soft but deliberate, right over my heart.
My breath catches as she sinks to her knees, her hand on my hip for balance.
I catch her arm to stop her. The adrenaline from the night is still running sharp through my veins. “Sera, it’s not a good idea right now. I’m still wired. I won’t be able to be gentle.”
“Good.” Her hands slide down my thighs and back up again before reaching around to cup my ass.
Her nails dig in when she takes me into her mouth, and a guttural sound escapes from somewhere deep in my chest. My fingers automatically thread into her wet hair as the heat of her mouth and slick press of her tongue overwhelm me.
When her tongue flicks, teasing the underside, my grip tightens, and she moans.
The sound makes my control slip further.
I wrap the wet strands around my fist, using it to guide her in an almost punishing rhythm.
“Sera…” I gasp, desperate for oxygen, as my pulse hammers in my head.
She looks up at me, droplets catching her lashes. The sight makes my heart seize. It’s not just the unbelievable physical sensations thundering through me—it’s her trust. The complete wordless acceptance of who I am. A fierce and sudden urge to show her the same surges through me.
Tension coils tight at the base of my spine when her cheeks hollow out, and I reach for my control. I’m not ready for this to end.
“Wait.” Scooping her under the arms, I pull her up and lift her. Pressing her back against the tile, my mouth crashes onto hers.
Her nails rake my shoulders, and I know I’ll bear the marks tomorrow.
“Please,” she mewls, writhing against me, as she locks her ankles at the small of my back.
One hand supporting her weight, I use the other to line myself up. I nip at her lips as I thrust hard inside, filling her completely.
“Liev!” The raw, needy sound snaps what’s left of my control. Cradling the back of her head with my palm, I set a deep, rough rhythm, no longer holding back.
“Harder,” she cries, voice breaking. “Don’t stop.”
Her teeth close on my flesh where my neck meets my shoulder. I growl and drive deeper, angling my hips so each thrust grinds against her clit. My lips capture hers when she screams, our tongues tangling in a messy, desperate kiss.
My breath comes in short gasps, and I rack my brain for something to focus on other than her body trembling against mine, and her inner walls fluttering around me.
Reaching between us, I find the sensitive bundle of nerves and circle it with firm pressure, pushing her over the edge.
She shudders, and clamps around me. The sound and feel of her coming, is my undoing.
Pleasure crashes through me, and I bury my face in her neck.
We stay like that for a minute, breathing hard, water cooling around us. I keep her pinned against the wall, my forehead resting against hers, our hearts pounding in sync. Slowly, I ease her down but keep my arms around her.
She presses a kiss to my chest. “You should go play gangster more often.” She slaps my chest lightly with the back of her hand and reaches for a towel. “Totally worth it.”
Sera’s voice is soft but insistent. When I crack an eye open, I find her perched on the edge of the mattress, already dressed.
“What time is it?” I groan.
“Seven thirty. You got a solid two hours.”
I roll on my stomach and pull a pillow over my head. “Five more minutes.”
“Nope,” she says, popping the “p.”
“Plane leaves at ten. We need to get moving.” She leans down, grips the back of my hair just hard enough to lift my head, and presses a quick kiss to my mouth. “Up.”
The moment she releases me and shifts her weight, I sweep an arm around her waist and topple her onto me. “Say good morning nicely, wife.”
She rolls her eyes, straddles my lap properly, and gives me a quick peck. “Good morning, husband,” she says in a mock-weary voice.
I smile. “Thank you.” My hands settle on her hips. “What’s the plan for today?”
“Keke is officially fired, but Atelier Florian is still letting us use their jet to get back to Atlanta.”
Sera rolls her hips, and my dick thickens instantly, making my brain slower to catch up than usual.
“Fired?”
“Yep. They’re done with her. Last night was the final straw.”
I nod, but something in her tone is too casual. Alarm bells go off in my head. I slide my hands up to her waist, and I squeeze. “Last night?”
She plants her hand against my chest and presses her lips together. “Okay, I need to tell you something, and I need you to count to ten before you freak out. Remember I’m sitting here on your lap, and everything worked out fine.”
My skin prickles, and my fingers curl into her. “What happened?”
“The hotel fire alarm went off, and two guys dressed as security guards tried to get Keke and me to leave with them through a side exit.” She shrugs one shoulder.
“It felt wrong, so I refused, and then my dad showed up, and the guys ran off.” She arches a brow.
“Nothing happened.” She over-enunciates the words.
Nothing happened.
For a second, I forget how to breathe. A knot of ice forms behind my ribs. I can only stare at her while she continues.
“I briefed Brady when we got back to the room. That was the last straw for the Atelier. They’re worried she is too much of a target right now.”
Her pointer finger starts rubbing at the thumb of the hand still resting on my chest, which only tightens the vise around my lungs. “Tell me.”
She makes a face, blows out a breath, and throws her hands up. “It’s going to sound paranoid, but I don’t think Keke was the target. I think I was.”
My pulse thunders in my ears to the same repeated refrain. You weren’t there. You left her.
“Hey!” Sera’s sharp voice snaps her frowning face back into focus. “Are you listening to me?”
“Of course,” I manage.
“When Keke ran off, the two guards didn’t care. The taller one just whipped out his stupid stun gun.”
Her thighs clamp around my waist, and her hands lock behind my neck as I surge to my feet, taking her with me.
“What fucking stun gun!” I feel like I might be having a stroke.
The words target and stun gun in any relation to my wife detonate like a nuclear bomb in my brain, obliterating everything but the image of her cornered, alone in a hallway, two armed strangers grabbing at her.
Sera clings to me like a monkey while I pace the small room furiously. She lets go with one hand—I support her with my forearm under her ass—and grabs my jaw, squeezing hard, to force me to meet her gaze. “I’m right here.”
“They had a weapon,” I snarl.
“Pfft.” She wrinkles her nose. “He had a fancy blue light. I had a gun.”
I struggle to regulate my breathing.
She lifts her eyebrows. “Need I remind you I’ve been trained for this?”
I close my eyes. Only when I feel her warm lips on mine do I open them again.
“I’m not helpless, Liev. You know that better than anyone.”
She’s right. Even though guilt and fury are choking me, I sit back down with my hands on her hips, holding her close. I’m not sure I want to let her go, much less ever let her out of my sight, again.
“Tell me what happened. All the details.”
Sera beams at me, and I know I said the right thing.
She quickly outlines what happened after I left the night before, finishing with, “And in the chaos of the fire alarm, no one else noticed, so her team decided not to call the police. A report would mean bloggers would get it, etc. They notified Atelier Florian instead, and they weren’t impressed. So…”
“We’re heading home?”
Her brows crease. “You don’t think it could be connected to Mikhail being here, do you? Maybe last night was his way of getting me alone so they could grab me.”
I shake my head. “No, Mikhail knows we’re married. He wouldn’t kidnap my wife.”
Sera’s face pales. “Was he mad?”
“Why would he be mad?”
“You said high-ranking members of the bratva marry for strategic purposes.”
“I’m not that important.” I pause. “Or I wasn’t. I guess that’s changed. Mikhail offered me my father’s old position last night.”
“What does that mean? What did your father do?”
“It means that, in addition to running the businesses and clubs that were under my father’s control, a vor is an advisor of sorts for the pakhan.”
“It’s a good thing?” She looks worried.
“Yes. A very good thing.”
“Is it more dangerous?”
“No.” Then I frown. “Speaking of danger, why didn’t you call me?”
She lifts her brows high. “And what exactly were you going to do? Walk out on whatever Mikhail had you doing to rush back? By the time I could have called, it was over.”
“I could have comforted you,” I mutter. “Given you a hug or something.”
The words sound lame even as they leave my mouth.
She stares at me for a beat, then snorts.
“A hug.” Her lips twitch. “I didn’t need to be comforted.
I was more pissed than upset. I ended up having to have a one-on-one with my dad as a result.
” Her lips curve into a wicked grin. “And besides, I like the way I comforted you when you got home a lot more than a hug.”
The image of her on her knees in the shower, eyes locked on mine, sends heat racing through my body.
She leans in, nose brushing mine. “I can handle myself, Liev Kovalyov. Worst case was I had to pull my gun. I didn’t want to with people around, but if it had been necessary, I would have done it.”
I lean my forehead against hers and groan. “I know. But I’m not going to apologize for wanting to protect you.”
“And I love you for that,” she says lightly, then freezes. Her eyes widen a fraction, and hectic color rushes into her cheeks. “I mean—I didn’t—I just—”
I cup the back of her neck, pull her in, and kiss her slow and deep. When I pull back just enough to speak, my voice is husky. “I love you, too, Seraphina.”
Relief flickers across her face, and she lets out a shaky exhale. “I love you, too.”
I kiss her again, slower this time. When we break apart, I bop her on her nose. “Not ‘I love you, too,’” I say with an exaggeratedly happy sigh. “For the rest of our lives, I get to tell everyone that you said it first.”
“No one is going to believe that.” She giggles.
She’s probably right.