“What’s going on here?” Alexei dropped his gym bag on the floor and glanced back and forth between them. Shay lifted her head, and her swollen, red eyes helped him fill in the blanks. Thinking of the cruelty she had known as a child, he cast a sharp glance at Stas. “What did you do to upset her like this?”
“Nothing,” she answered quickly. As if terrified to make either of the men in the room angry, she smiled brightly but it didn’t reach those beautiful eyes of hers. “We’re fine. How…how are you?”
“No, Shay. We aren’t doing this.” Alexei slashed his hand through the air. “You and I have always been honest with each other. You don’t ever have to pretend with me.”
Shay swallowed and bit her lower lip. She gripped the edge of the counter so tightly he feared her thin, delicate fingers would snap. “I’m sorry, Alexei. I’m so sorry.”
The words were whispered so softly he barely heard them. Certain they were on the verge of some new development in their relationship, he glanced at Stas and hooked his thumb back toward the door. “Go home.”
Stas gathered up his things and the garbage bag of ruined clothing. “She left her phone in the friend’s truck. I can pick it up tomorrow.”
“That’s fine.” He followed Stas to the door and locked it behind him. When he returned to the kitchen, he took a deep breath and finally met her anxious gaze. Hating to see her looking so wounded and afraid, he insisted, “I’m not the men who abused you when you were little. I’m not going to hurt you. There is nothing for you to fear from me. Ever.”
“I’m not afraid of that,” she assured him, her voice steady but soft. “I know you won’t hurt me…even though I nearly got you shot and dragged you into that nightmare at the hotel.”
“I dragged myself into this mess, Shay.” He combed his fingers through his hair and expelled a loud breath. “Look, I am angry with you for risking your own life. You had no business in that motel! You had no business going after your sister! You know what these people are like. You’re a very smart woman. Why the hell would you go after Shannon like that?”
Blinking rapidly, she said in a tremulous voice, “I thought I could get there quickly and get Shannon out of Texas. We were going to take her to Baton Rouge or New Orleans.”
“You were going to drive to Louisiana? With your sister? The girl who has a price on her head?” His blood pressure shot through the fucking roof. “And then what, Shay? What was the plan?”
She shrugged nervously. “I don’t know. Leave her there with some money and burner phones, I guess. She would have to figure out the rest herself.”
“And what did you think I was going to do when I came home and you were gone?” Had she considered the rampage that would have followed that discovery? The damage he would have done to this city to find her?
“I was going to call you and explain everything.”
“That call would have come too late. Stas had already called to tell me you were missing. I was gunning for Lalo. Because that’s what I assumed, Shay. I assumed he’d gotten his dirty fucking hands on you—and I was ready to kill him.”
Her eyes widened at the strident tone of his voice. Had she truly doubted his reaction? Didn’t she understand how far he would go for her?
“You can’t do that, Alexei.” She was deadly serious now. “Promise me you will never cross that line for me.”
“I can’t. I won’t. You’re mine, and there is nothing I won’t do to keep you safe.”
She exhaled a shocked breath. Then, shaking her head, she said, “If I’m yours, why did you send me away with Stas? Why didn’t you come with me?”
Remembering Nikolai’s advice, he said, “I shouldn’t have dismissed you like that, Shay. I shouldn’t have sent you away from the motel without making sure you were okay. It won’t happen again.” He cleared his throat. “I know that you’re sensitive about these things. I should have been more careful with you.”
“No, Alexei.” She shook her head. “I should have been more careful. After everything you’ve done for me, this was the way I repaid your kindness. I—”
“You don’t owe me anything.” He needed her to understand that. “This isn’t a relationship built on debts and payments.”
Her grip on the counter eased as she seemed to accept what he was telling her. “I should have called you, Alexei.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“I should have trusted you to help me again.”
“That’s what hurts the most.” His admission seemed to surprise her. “After everything we went through last night, you went off on your own instead of coming to me. You said you trusted me—”
“I do trust you!”
“Do you?” He wasn’t so sure. “If you had trusted me, you would have called me the moment you heard from your sister.”
“I trust you to be good to me, but I didn’t know what you would do if I told you about Shannon,” she tearfully confessed. “I’m sorry. I know how awful that sounds. I really do! But it’s the truth. You promised you would protect me but Nikolai sat here last night and he made it clear that Shannon is dead to him. I couldn’t take the chance, Alexei. I didn’t want to force you to choose between helping me and being loyal to one of your oldest friends.”
As she sobbed out her explanation, he finally grasped her position and her reasoning. He couldn’t blame her or punish her or scold her for any of that. She was right. What would he have done if she had called him? He would have run to her side in an instant but Shannon? He would have tried to help her, but he wouldn’t have crossed Nikolai to do it. It was an ugly, painful truth to acknowledge but there it was.
“But you still came for me,” Shay murmured, almost in awe. “You came for me again, and you saved me.”
“You don’t need to keep testing me, Shay. I gave you my word. I will never break it.”
Certain her reluctance to trust him completely would be the biggest stumbling block for their continuing relationship, Alexei decided to leave it for tonight. He might have discovered that he loved her, but she was clearly in a different place. There was no point in rushing or pressuring her. He had waited nearly a year just to kiss her. He could wait as long as she needed for all the rest.
“I need to shower.” He wanted to hold her, to feel her skin beneath his hands, but he was filthy from the mud and rain. “We’ll talk more when I’m finished.”
“May I come with you?”
It seemed to take a great deal of bravery for her to ask that. Sometimes she struck him as so incredibly naïve. He was beginning to question how much experience she actually had with men.
“I don’t want to be alone. I know how silly that sounds but…”
“You’re not silly.” He held out his hand. “Come here, ptichka.”
Shay glided toward him, her footsteps silent and light, and grasped his hand. Her fingers were cold, and her hand trembled in his. He was taken aback by the realization that she had been so afraid that she was shaking.
Had she been sitting here waiting and worrying that he would put her out on the streets? That he would leave her to fend for herself? That he would turn his back on her because she had made a bad choice and a stupid mistake?
Stas.
The answer came to him instantly. Of course.
The street soldier had probably been filling her head with all kinds of bullshit. Alexei decided he would set Stas straight in the morning.
Her fingers tightened around his hand, and she stepped into his personal space. She pressed her cheek to his chest and slid her other arm around his waist. His breath caught in his throat as she burrowed into him, seeking his warmth and protection. He encircled her and drew her in even closer.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Alexei.”
A choked laugh escaped his throat, the sound muffled by her thick hair. “After the last two days, I don’t even want to think about what you would do.”
She released him slowly and tipped her head back. Gazing up at him
, she had the most vulnerable look on her face. The surge of affection he felt toward her left him reeling. But this wasn’t simple affection anymore. Nor was it infatuation. No, it was something else. It was exactly what Nikolai had guessed.
He kissed her forehead and then backed away from her. “I need to get clean.”
“Stas took my clothes from earlier. What are you going to do with yours?”
He glanced down at his messy pants and ruined shoes. “I’ll have to get rid of them tomorrow.”
“I’ll go grab a bag for you.”
He entered the bathroom and stepped into the private toilet area, locking the door behind him. When he was finished, he stepped out of the room and found Shay sitting on the counter. His appreciative gaze lingered on her crossed legs. The hoodie she was wearing had ridden up to mid-thigh and revealed an incredible swath of silky brown skin that he wanted to touch. Holding out the trash bag she had fetched from the kitchen, she seemed wholly unaware of the effect she had on him.
Standing in front of her, he toed off his shoes and peeled off his socks. He tossed them into the bag and then slipped out of his jacket. He hated to lose another of his favorite suits, but it had to go. They couldn’t risk any evidence tying them to that motel. His belt and shirt followed. When he started lowering the zipper on his pants, he noticed the way her gaze flicked from his waist right back up to his chest. She seemed determined not to look.
Wanting to tease her a bit, he asked, “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
“About?” Her eyes were fixed on his face now.
“Whether it’s boxers or briefs?”
She shot him a saucy look. “Knowing you? You’re probably commando under those pants.”
He laughed as he stepped out of his pants and dropped them in the bag. He gestured to his boxers as if to say, “See?”
She rolled her eyes and gave the trash bag a little shake. This time she let her gaze wander down his chest until it settled on his waist. There was no mistaking the way she was breathing a bit faster now. If he put a hand to her neck, he expected to feel her pulse pounding under his fingers.
He stripped slowly, drawing his boxers off in an effortless sweeping motion. He wasn’t hard—yet—but he’d always been proud of what he considered his rather impressive offering to the women in his life. It struck him suddenly how very strange this was. Usually, he was the one sitting fully clothed while his mistress disrobed for the first time. He was always the one enjoying the strip show.
But, then, Shay wasn’t a typical mistress, was she? It was no surprise she’d gotten the best seat in the house and her own private show tonight.
Naked as the day he’d been born, Alexei strode to the shower and adjusted the knobs until he had the right temperature. He stepped inside the shower and felt the chill of the tile under his feet. The hot water spewing from three showerheads quickly steamed up the oversized space. He grabbed the bar of soap he kept here and lathered it between his hands.
“Alexei?”
“Yes?” He spread soapy foam along his chest.
“Do you think Shannon is still alive?”
His hand stopped halfway down his stomach. He couldn’t lie to her. Not after everything they had survived in the last two days. “I don’t know, Shay. There was blood in the bathroom. She left her phone behind.”
“A lot of blood?” She seemed afraid of the answer.
“No. If I had to guess? She probably cut herself trying to get out that small window. I think she’s still alive, and I hope she’s smart enough to lay low for a while. She has everyone looking for her now.”
“Even that Besian guy?”
“Everyone,” he repeated.
“You two go way back?”
“Me? And Besian?” He took special care to clean his hands and feet, not wanting any lingering blood or mud under his nails. “We’ve known each other for years. Even before we came to Houston,” he added. “We ran in the same circles back home.”
“Oh.” She didn’t sound particularly impressed by that but didn’t press for more information. “Alexei, where is Tirana?”
“Albania.” He glanced out the foggy shower door. Still seated on the counter, she had her head down and seemed to be drawing shapes on the marble. “Why?”
She lifted her head and met his gaze through the steamed up glass. “Stas said something yesterday about Tirana and Shannon. I wasn’t sure what he meant.”
Tirana? Shannon? Alexei had a bad feeling Stas meant that Shannon’s secret buyer for the information she had stolen was none other than Zec. Which explained why Besian had been so helpful about finding Shay’s sister!
“Tell me about Kylee and her history with Besian.” He stepped under the nearest showerhead. “What the hell was all that back at the motel?”
She didn’t answer him immediately. He suspected she was trying to sort out her loyalty to Kylee and her desire to be honest with him. Eventually, she said, “Kylee’s dad was an investment guy. I’m not really sure what his job title was exactly, but he managed a lot of money for really wealthy people. She used to live in Carlton Woods in one of those stupid crazy huge mansions on the golf course there.”
He grinned at her description of the area. That particular development was the ritziest in The Woodlands—and that was saying something. He had briefly considered settling there when he’d been in the market for a home, but his ties to Nikolai and the rest of his “family” had proven too strong to break. Now he lived a few blocks from the boss in one of the newer homes in Houston’s most expensive zip code.
“Anyway,” she continued, “her dad got into some trouble gambling and betting on horses and sports, I guess. He started stealing from clients, and the whole thing blew up in his face. Besian was the guy who came and took her horse, their vehicles, the boat and all of her mother’s jewelry and paintings. Her dad was indicted a few days later and hanged himself that night.” She got quiet. “Kylee found him swinging a rafter.”
Alexei went still under the water. It was a horrible tale. “That must have been very difficult for her.” Now he understood why Shay’s friend had reacted so badly at the motel. “But she can’t go around threatening him like that, Shay. He isn’t like Nikolai. He doesn’t make exceptions for women. He’s hard—and dangerous.”
“I think, deep down inside, she’s still that scared but really angry little girl,” Shay said. “She didn’t just lose her dad and their home and the life she’d always known. Her mom was really sick when all that money trouble started. She had Huntington’s disease.”
He reached for the bottle of shampoo. “That’s genetic, right?”
“Yeah, but Kylee doesn’t have to worry about it. Her mom and dad used a donor egg to have her. They wanted a baby, but not the risk of the child inheriting her mother’s disease.”
Alexei wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was getting to an age where thoughts of children were occurring to him more and more often. Watching Ivan become a husband and Nikolai become a family man had awakened something in Alexei that he didn’t quite understand. He had gone to visit Dimitri and Benny after the birth of their daughter, and holding that baby had sparked something unexpected in him. Not a desire to start a family, exactly, but a curiosity.
“Her mom was so sick when they got kicked out of their house. I met Kylee when she transferred into my school. They couldn’t afford the tuition to the private school she went to, and they were living in a women’s shelter here in Houston that was zoned for my school. We met in home economics. I had smuggled in a copy of Vogue, and she wanted to look at the dresses while I looked at the handbags and shoes. Within a couple of days, we were sketching outfits together and dreaming about owning a business someday.” Her voice drifted off for a moment. “Her mom died a few weeks later, and my own mom split a few months after that. I think those experiences pretty much sealed our bond as friends forever.”
Hearing that made him worry. If she considered Kylee a sister, what would she do to keep her fri
end safe? Would she get in between Kylee and Besian if those two went after it again? The thought of all the trouble their friendship could cause down the line had him vowing to schedule a sit down with Besian in the next few days. The Albanian boss needed to understand how far Alexei would take things.
Finished with his shower, he switched off the water and stepped out onto the mat. He grabbed a towel from the nearby shelf and wiped his face and hair before dragging it along the back of his neck and then securing it around his waist. He caught her staring at him. Recognizing that gleam in her dark eyes was easy enough.
She wants me.
Even though he ached to be with her, to connect in the most intimate way possible after everything they had survived tonight, he refused to be the one to make the first move. He didn’t want any regrets, not after they had both waited so long to be together.
As if reading his mind, she held out her hand. “Alexei?”
It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. In three long strides, he was in front of her. She took his hand in hers and dragged him closer. Her other hand touched his chest, gliding over his skin until it stopped along the side of his neck. She pulled down gently, and her lips finally touched his in a gentle, seeking kiss.
But when her tongue shyly flicked at his, all thoughts of going slow, of taking this one step at a time, of doing this differently were incinerated. Not wanting to overwhelm her, he tore his mouth away, but she wouldn’t have it. She peppered ticklish kisses along his neck and jaw and slid her hands to his shoulders. Every kiss, every touch, caused a wild flare of need.
“If you keep that up, I’m taking you to bed,” he warned. He wasn’t sure if she understood what that meant. He doubted she had ever been with a man who shared his tastes. Tonight, it might be too much for her.
She answered him by winding one slim leg around his waist and hooking her heel against his thigh. Leaning back and meeting his heated gaze, she said, “I’m ready.”