From what he'd seen of the farm, they could protect it fairly easily with enough money to buy the necessary equipment to turn it into a small fortress. He had money, and he suspected both Stefan and Lev did as well. It was never that difficult to acquire money when one stayed in the shadows and was smart about it.
If they ran together, he could protect her. She would learn how to fade into the background, how not to be seen or call attention to herself, but what kind of life was that for her? She didn't belong in his world.
"Maxim."
Airiana touched his hip and just the small brush of her hand sent his emotions spilling through him. He framed her face with his hands and looked into her eyes--those eyes could sweep him away with all that blue.
"You're a damned miracle, Airiana. You don't even know it."
She brought her hands up to curl her fingers around his wrists. "I know you're a special man, Maxim, and I want to be with you. Tell me what's wrong. I can take it. I've not let you down once. Talk to me."
He kissed her. He was best talking to her with his body. He could show her he loved her with his body much better than he could find the words a woman needed to hear. He was going to risk everything for her. He had to. There it was, the choices he always had thought were so important. He had no choice when it came to Airiana, yet she would be his choice every time.
When he lifted his head, her eyes had gone a brilliant sky blue, just the way he loved them. He swept her up again and put her in the large tub. The honeymoon tub had enough room for both of them and he slid in with her, sinking down into the hot water.
"I love the way you kiss me, Maxim," Airiana said. She leaned her head back against the porcelain, regarding him steadily. "But you still have to use your words. What are you worried about?"
He laughed. Out loud. She was priceless. She sounded like a little schoolmarm giving him a gentle lecture. "Use my words? Did you really just say that?"
"You're not getting out of this. We're a team, and we're talking about spending our lives together. We have to be able to communicate with each other."
He reached out and snagged her hand, knowing his eyes had gone flat and cold. Cold rage erupted for just one small moment, flaring through him with lethal intent. "Baby, we're well past the talking stage. We are going to spend our lives together. What the hell do you think we've been doing here, other than communicating? You made a promise to me. You're not going to back out because I'm not the prize you thought I was."
She didn't move, her gaze fixed on his face. He'd spoken in a low tone, each word distinct and biting. A slow smile curved her mouth. She gave him a look filled with so much love, her gaze soft and her smile generous, moving him like nothing else could. The anger was gone as if it had never been. Everything in him that felt wild and dangerous, settled. She was his. He saw it on her face, in her eyes, in the sweet curve of her mouth.
"Maxim, I'm not ever going to run off and leave you."
His heart turned over. He was hers forever. Always. He turned her hand over, his thumb sliding over her palm, the exact center so that the two rings came briefly to the center. So small, and yet she held him right there. In her palm. She was wrapped tightly around his heart.
"I've given myself to you. All of me. Wholly. I know how to do that, and I'm not afraid. I know you'll always be here for me," she said softly. "You have to believe the same thing of me."
17
MAXIM sighed and brought her hand to his mouth, pressing kisses into the center of her palm. "I'll get the hang of relationships, Airiana. I'm learning, it just seems I'm on the slow side."
He scraped his teeth back and forth over the two connecting rings. Hers. His. Those rings, a strange phenomenon of the Prakenskii men, had sealed their fate together. He had run like a rabbit from her in his mind for far too long. He wanted choices and felt as if that had been taken from him so he'd been a child throwing a tantrum. Now he not only accepted that Airiana was his first and only choice, but that he was a very lucky man.
"When a man who has never had anyone finds a woman like you, Airiana, he can't help but hold too tight. How could he not? Losing you would rip out what's left of my soul--and God help me--there isn't much left." He made the confession looking at her palm, at the rings, not at her face. He already knew what her expression would be.
Airiana had more compassion in her little finger than most people did in their hearts. She would understand. She probably understood him better than he did himself.
"You aren't going to lose me. I'm not the running type. If you get too far out of hand, believe me, Maxim, I'll be sitting you down and we'll be having the talk."
He kissed her open hand much more intimately, pressing his tongue into the very heart of her palm. He looked up quickly, wanting to see her eyes go wide with shock. She felt the intimate kiss deep in her very core--another wonderful phenomenon given to the Prakenskii men and their women.
Her lips parted in a little round O and she pulled her palm away from him. "That could get us in trouble."
He laughed softly. "Or keep you in line."
She examined her palm. "Does it work both ways? Can I do that to you?"
A groan escaped before he could stop it. The thought of her mouth so intimate on his body was enough to make him as hard as a rock all over again. "Yes. But please don't. Not yet. I'm really trying to be a decent man here. You need to rest and have some food. We've got all day before they come for us."
A shadow moved across her face. "Come for us? Do you think they're going to find us? Which ones? It's seems like everyone's after us."
"Evan's men? Sorbacov's men? It's all the same." He shrugged. "If they come here looking, Jorge won't point them in our direction. We're honeymooners, and he's known me for several years. No, I meant Stefan . . . Thomas and Levi," he corrected himself.
She sent him a quick, amused glance from under the sweep of her lashes, most likely remembering his first reaction to her knowing he was a Prakenskii. He had to remember to use his brothers' new identities when talking to them or referring to them.
"Thomas and Levi are going to come here?"
"If I ask, they'll come. With the two of them here, no one is going to stop us from getting home. Jorge keeps a small private airstrip for his guests and they'll be able to bring in a plane. We can take it back to the Little River Airport." He made up his mind. With his brothers, he could protect her better.
She brought up her knees and hugged them, an action he realized she did when she was nervous. "I want to go home more than anything, Maxim. You know I do, and it's all I think about . . ." She sent him a shy look. "When I'm not thinking about you. But I don't want to put the people I love in danger."
"I think they're already in danger whether you're there or not. If Evan gets his hands on any one of them, you'd attempt to give yourself up for them."
"Attempt?" She raised her eyebrow.
"I wouldn't allow you to be so foolish." He caught her chin when she would have protested and looked into her eyes, wanting her to know he meant every word he said. "I can't be anything but who I am, Airiana. I'll always protect you, even from yourself. You can't expect less of me. Sometimes you aren't going to agree with my decisions, but when it comes to your protection, you aren't going to win any arguments."
Airiana chewed on her lower lip while she turned over and over in her mind his declaration. He was obviously stating a fact to her, one she had to think about. She knew he would be dominant and a little overbearing at times, but she saw into him and knew he was a good man who would always put her first. She hadn't quite thought that part all the way through. Putting her first meant sometimes he would decide what was best for her, rather than talking it over.
She let her gaze drift over him. He would never be considered handsome, he was far too rough-looking for that, but she loved his face. He was all hard planes and angles, scars and a perpetual five-o'clock shadow. His eyes were hooded and reminded her often of a predatory bird watching prey from a lof
ty height. His shoulders were wide, his chest thick, and there wasn't a place on him that didn't ripple with muscle when he moved. He exuded absolute confidence in everything he did--except when it came to her.
Even now, on the outside he appeared calm and implacable, his expression set in stone, but she could feel him holding himself very still. He would never be as sure of her as he would want to be and that would cause him to react in ways that she might not like.
"I can see patterns in the air, in the movement of air," she said. "Just as I can see mathematical equations, I can see patterns. You're there in those patterns, Maxim. The love you feel for me runs deep and true. I can count on it, like the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. It's always going to be there. Do you see in patterns? Can you see me in them?"
He would hold too tight until he could believe she would always be his. That was inevitable.
"I see them, Airiana, but this isn't about whether or not you're going to run off because you don't like a decision I make. This is about you knowing I'm going to make them. You aren't always going to be comfortable with who I am and what I need."
She shivered, suddenly aware the water was cooling down. "I understand." She did. She didn't have to like it, but she understood.
Maxim wasn't going to change because he had found love. He had been trained from childhood to prepare for danger and to expect it. He would guard what he had with ruthless implacability, and all within his household, those he loved, would listen to him when it came to matters of safety. She would be able to temper him only so much.
"I'm getting cold and I'm suddenly starving." She stood up.
He slid his hand up her leg, unable to help himself, caressing her inner thigh. "Stay right there for just a minute, honey. I can't get over your skin and how soft it is. Wet like this, you're so damned sexy I'm not certain I'll be able to wait."
She placed one hand on his shoulder, bracing herself as he stroked her thighs, each caress taking him closer to her inner heat.
"You're so amazingly responsive to me," he said. "Even when I didn't do the best job for you." His fingers stroked her satin thighs. The air was warm and he wrapped her up in a cocoon of it, drying her body while he held her there. "I think all my training just went out the window with you. You make me feel . . . alive."
Airiana pushed her hands into his hair, massaging his scalp and letting thick strands of hair run through her fingers. "Almost from the moment I saw you, I wanted to do this. Well, not when you were carrying me over your shoulder into the helicopter. Then I wanted to stab you through the heart," she said, precisely honest.
He laughed. A roaring laugh. A belly laugh. A laugh he'd never thought could come out of him, and he didn't recognize it at all. Startled, he dropped his hand and stared at her with a small accusing frown. "I don't even recognize myself anymore. Are you capable of putting a spell on me? I have gifts, maybe you have some I didn't know about."
Airiana leaned down and pressed a kiss on top of his head before stepping out of the bathtub. "Of course I put a spell on you. How else do you think I could get you to fall madly in love with me?"
Her soft laughter teased his body--or maybe it was her words. He laid his head back against the porcelain tub and closed his eyes, savoring the sound of her moving around. There was something soothing and comforting about having a woman do small, intimate things such as brush her hair or teeth with her man in the room. No one had ever teased him. No one had ever made him laugh.
"You know, baby," he murmured without opening his eyes, "you've given me far more firsts than I ever thought possible. I think I really did die when we made love and rose from the ashes a better man."
She circled his neck from behind, something he would never have allowed anyone to ever do. "You've always been a good man, Maxim. I'm crazy about you."
He laid his hands over hers, staying very still, working to keep the lump in his throat from getting larger. "Or just crazy, but that's all right, if it means I get to keep you."
He turned his head to look up at her. At once his heart stuttered in his chest. She had a look of absolute love on her face. Airiana didn't hold back her feelings or conceal them behind a stony expression. She just gave. Generously. He reached back and circled her head with his arm, bringing her down to him.
His mouth found hers. Demanding. Filled with his kind of love. Not at all like her gentle unconditional but passionate caring. He was hard edges and so was the love he had for her. He was always wholly focused and very possessive. He was dominant and overbearing and his kiss was the same, pouring his need and hunger into her, taking her response and holding her captive.
Airiana simply gave herself generously. He felt as if he was a beast she had to continually tame. In her quiet, humorous way, she somehow always managed. She'd reassured him many times she wasn't going anywhere. She'd given her body to him, she'd followed him time and again, trusting him to lead her, and yet at times, like now, when his love was too much, too overwhelming, he needed to crush her to him, hold her so tight she was imprinted on his skin.
Damn you, Airiana, for making me feel like this.
He waited for her condemnation. Her mouth was gentle beneath his, her tongue sliding oh so sensually alongside his. That rush--that fire--spread through his veins and electricity crackled between them.
Her mouth was perfect under his, her taste wrapping him up in addiction. He craved her the way others might drugs. The depth of his feelings shook him. The passion and love mixed together inside him, welling up like a volcano, consumed him.
Still kissing her, he turned, standing, taking her with him, lifting her and walking her backward until she was pressed tightly against the wall. He couldn't stop, even when he told himself to. There was no controlling his need for her.
Put your legs around my hips. I have to be inside you right now.
His kisses were burning hot now, feeding the terrible fire that refused to be sated. He needed the flames she provided, that hot, wet core of her surrounding him and taking him into her.
Airiana circled Maxim's neck with her arms, linking her fingers behind his head. He had her trapped between his powerful body and the wall, her feet off the ground. He was enormously strong, and she could feel the tension in him, the urgent hunger riding him hard. She should have been afraid. He could do anything he wanted to her and she couldn't stop him. Instead of fear, there was need and hunger rising just as strong to meet his. She craved his touch, the way his hands felt on her body, the way he was so desperate to have her. She reveled in the fact that his body trembled for hers. That she could make him feel this way about her--that he actually lost his perfect control around her.
Maxim made her feel as if she were the most beautiful, sexy woman in the world and no one else could ever satisfy him. It was a heady feeling as well as a powerful aphrodisiac. His hands and mouth were everywhere, rough and insistent, a dangerous combination, but one that only added to her pleasure.
She loved the feel of him out of control. How could she not when he was all about control and discipline? His mouth moved over hers, down to her breasts and back up to her lips. His teeth and tongue were everywhere, inflaming her senses, bringing her to a fever pitch of need.
I'm not sorry in the least that you feel this way for me, Maxim, I love that you do. I feel the same for you. She wasn't going to apologize.
Airiana had grown to care for him, respecting and admiring him and then actually falling in love. It wasn't the intensity of their situation or because he'd saved her--she knew that with certainty. She loved who he was. Even the man who was still a little angry that he fell so hard and fast for her. Maybe he'd always have flares of anger when his love for her overwhelmed him, but she could live with that. What woman wouldn't?
He bit her breast, gently sending darts of fire to her sheath. She nearly convulsed with pleasure. He'd taken the temperature up so much further this time and she loved it. His hand went between her legs, fingers pressing deep to feel he
r readiness.
I can't say, at this moment, that I'm sorry either, he answered.
He lowered her slowly until she could feel the large head, burning hot and velvet soft pressed tightly at her entrance. So hot. So big. She wiggled her body just a little, trying to get him to speed up. Her body felt overheated and achy. Tension built rapidly, gathering in her very core, a need and hunger only he could assuage.
Don't move. Let me do this. This time, you're going to go up in flames with me.
She thought she had gone up in flames with him. His voice, so commanding and tyrannical, should have annoyed her, but instead, his tone sent a thrilling shiver down her spine. She tried to comply, trusting he knew better than she did what would feel the best--and she wanted to feel that amazing pleasure again.
He pressed her body down over him, so that he entered her with exquisite slowness, his shaft pushing through her soft petals, forcing her open to him. Once again there was resistance and burning, a stretched, full feeling, but this time, it was accompanied with a streak of lightning that burst through her mind like a firestorm of sheer pleasure.
She panted, trying to hold still until he'd filled her completely. His thickness seemed to stretch her impossibly, but beautifully. His length took him so deep she was afraid he might lodge on her stomach before she was fully seated on him.
When she was completely on him, he held her there, allowing her body to adjust to his size. He nuzzled her neck.
See, Airiana? We fit. We're perfect together.
She wanted him moving. Fast. Hard. She could feel the urgent need in him rising to devour him, and she wanted to go there with him. She threw her head back and lifted her body at the urging of his hands. The ride up was breathtaking.
She moved down again on his long, thick shaft, tightening her muscles and squeezing to create as much friction as possible. She was learning slowly, little by little, just how to please him. She could feel his body shudder in reaction, the swell of his cock even more inside of her. She tried slow circles as she moved up and down, a slow ride designed to make him insane.