Dimitri (28 page)

"Benny." He murmured my name with such
affection. He brushed his knuckles down my cheek before tangling
his hands in my hair. I relished the tug of his fingers and the
tingling heat on my scalp. He was barely in control now. To know I
had that kind of power? What an aphrodisiac!

He thrust into my welcoming mouth, rubbing the
length of his cock along my tongue. I tightened my lips around him,
sucking him hard as he retreated. Over and over, I teased him until
he'd had enough.

With a desperate growl, he popped free from my
mouth. I gasped as he grasped me by the waist, flipped me over and
dragged me back against him. He issued a frustrated sound before
stepping away just long enough to grab a condom from the top drawer
of his bedside table. In record time, he'd sheathed
himself.

I glanced over my shoulder and watched him
guide his cock into me. The muscles of his chest and arms were
tight as breached my entrance. Overwhelmed by the delicious ache of
his huge dick gliding into me, I dropped my forehead to the bed and
wiggled my bottom. A split-second later, Dimitri's palm cracked my
backside. "Oh!"

He chuckled and rubbed the spot he'd just
smacked. "Sorry, sweetheart. I couldn't resist. You have the
prettiest little ass."

After being tied up and put in his kinky sex
swing, I started to wonder what other dirty penchants Dimitri might
have. Pushing back to meet his thrusts, I silently showed him that
having my bottom whacked in the heat of passion was a-okay with
me.

He gripped my hips and pounded into me.
Embracing the wanton girl inside me, I let go of my inhibitions and
decided to enjoy every single second of Dimitri's wild, intense
fucking. It stunned me how he could be so incredibly tender and
sweet one moment and nearly feral the next.

I cried out with every forceful thrust. My
lower belly wobbled with excitement. My nipples formed taut peaks
that ached and throbbed. I wanted to reach down and touch myself to
ease the pulsing ache between my thighs but I didn't think I could
withstand the force of his rough coupling on just one
hand.

As if reading my mind, Dimitri pulled free from
my body and tossed me onto my back. He pounced on me, crawling
between my open thighs and sliding home with one easy thrust. Head
thrown back, I moaned with pure delight. He nibbled my neck and
rocked into me, his big cock hitting all the right
places.

"Dimitri!" I nearly lost it when his fingertips
found my swollen clit. He drew tight circles around the bud while
taking me with slow, deep strokes. "God!"

Holding my gaze, he brushed his mouth to mine.
"Come," he urged. "Come with me."

Hearing the need in his voice sent me over the
edge. My thighs gripped his waist as I rocked and shuddered beneath
him. The wonderful waves of pleasure were intensified by the way he
groaned my name and jerked inside me. Our tongues danced as we
trembled and clutched at one another. We interlaced our fingers
above my head and gazed at one another in wonder and
awe.

Eyes closed, I reveled in the way Dimitri
nuzzled my neck and kissed me with such love. He didn't pull away
from me immediately but seemed content to stay buried inside me and
joined so intimately.

"I never thought I'd have regrets when it came
to you, Benny." He claimed my mouth with a kiss so thorough I was
nearly dizzy when he broke away from me. "But, my God, I regret
waiting so long to make my move."

I ran my fingers through his hair and cupped
the back of his neck. "Maybe it wasn't the right time for us until
now. Maybe we weren't ready for one another."

"Maybe." He kissed me again. "I'm glad we're
together now."

"Me, too," I whispered. "I love
you."

"I love you." He smiled and kissed the tip of
my nose. "I'll be right back."

After he pulled away from me, I rolled onto my
side to watch the sexy view of his naked ass as he made his way to
the bathroom. The door closed and I let loose a long
sigh.

Relaxed and happy, I rubbed my hand over the
soft bedding and let my mind wander. With the bakery building sold,
I would have to find a new place quickly, install all the necessary
equipment, get permits and handle all the other tiny details to get
us open quickly. Yuri's offer to let me stay until the new location
was ready eased my worries.

Still, there were other things to consider. I
had to figure out a way to keep—

A strange sound interrupted my thoughts. I held
my breath and listened. I felt certain the noise had come from down
below in the bakery. My heart raced when I heard another, clearer
noise. There was no mistaking that sound. Shattering
glass!

"Dimitri!"

The door opened a moment later. Wiping his
hands on towel, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Did you hear that?"

He shook his head. "Hear what,
sweetheart?"

"I heard glass break downstairs."

He went still. "You're sure."

I nodded. "I heard a noise and I listened hard.
Then I heard another noise. It was breaking glass."

Frowning, he tossed the hand towel on the
counter and strode into the bedroom. He snatched up his jeans and
grabbed his shirt. As he jammed his feet into his shoes, he pointed
to the second drawer of his table. "Grab my gun."

I did as he asked, gripping the cold, metal
piece with extreme caution. It was the first time I'd ever touched
a weapon. I handed it over quickly. Dimitri shot me an amused
glance before kissing my cheek. "We'll work on that. You need to be
comfortable with a handgun."

"No, thank you."

"I wasn't asking." He headed toward the bedroom
door. "It's probably nothing, Benny, but just in case, lock up
behind me. If I'm not back in two or three minutes, call the
police. Tell them we have a prowler."

Nodding, I slipped off the bed and trailed him
to the front door. He slipped out into the night and I quickly
locked the door behind him. I hurried back into the bedroom and
tugged on my jeans and shirt.

But when I went into the bathroom to search for
an elastic band for my hair, I caught a scent that stopped me cold
in my tracks.

Smoke.

Chapter
Sixteen

He heard the shrill screech of the smoke alarms
before he caught the scent of burning drywall. A moment later, he
discovered the side entrance propped open with heavy crates. Dread
squeezed his chest. Was it a kitchen accident or arson?

A brief hesitation ensued. If the fire was
small enough, he could put it out with one of the many fire
extinguishers bolted to the bakery's walls. Knowing it was probably
a bad idea, he ducked inside the building anyway.

The smoke wasn't bad in the back rooms where
they kept stock but one step into the kitchen and Dimitri coughed.
Thick and heavy, the smoke rolled out of the front café space of
the bakery. He caught the scent of accelerant. The acrid tinge of
fuel hung ripe in the smoky air. With an arm over his face, he
backed out of the kitchen and turned toward the side entrance. This
place was going up and it would be fast. He had to get to
Benny.

As he stepped through the open
doorway, a baseball bat slammed into his gut. "
Oof
!"

Dimitri collapsed forward as pain unlike
anything he'd experienced in a hell of a long time gripped him.
Movement out of the corner of his eye spurred him to action even
though the pain was intense. He blocked another blow with his arm
and grunted at the burst of agony as the bat made
contact.

Swearing loudly, he drove his fist into the
stomach of the man still hidden in the shadows. He hit something
paunchy and soft and knew he'd be able to take the man, even with a
burning belly and probably broken arm. His attacker doubled over
and Dimitri struck. Grabbing the man's shirt, he drove his knee
into the attacker's face, crunching his nose and bloodying his
mouth. One good punch to the temple put the gasping man down for
good.

The bat hit the pavement and rolled into the
shadows. With his injured arm held tightly to his aching gut,
Dimitri pushed the man over onto his back with the tip of his boot.
One of the lights mounted along the building's roof illuminated the
familiar face of Carl, the goon Jonah Krause had sent to scare
Benny that morning.

"Dimitri! I smell smoke!"

He glanced up to see Benny coming out of the
apartment with her purse in her hand. "Hurry!"

She paused halfway down the steps.
"What happened to you? Are you hurt?" Her gaze dropped to the
ground and Carl's unconscious form. "Who the hell
is—
Dimitri
! Look
out!"

Frantic, she pointed over his shoulder. He spun
just in time to see three men coming at him. These punks wore the
uniform of a gangbanger. With their sagging jeans, baggy shirts and
gold chains around their neck, they looked ready for a fight. One
of them held a bottle of lighter fluid in his hand. Another had a
knife. The other one, the bigger one, was only armed with his
fists—unless he had a gun hidden on him.

"Benny! Run!"

"I can't." Her weak reply stunned
him.

He glanced over his shoulder and spotted
another man coming from the opposite end of the alley. Benny had
slowly backed up the steps toward the apartment as the other
would-be attacker advanced on her. Soon the fire would break
through to his apartment and the flames would be licking at her
feet.

In that moment, he knew fear. Four against two
wouldn’t have been bad odds if he'd had Ivan or Yuri or Nikolai at
his side but Benny? She was barely five feet tall and had no idea
how to handle herself in a street fight. Add to that his injured
arm and they were fucked.

But he'd die before he let anyone harm his
Benny.

Wincing, he reached back for the gun he'd
tucked into the waistband of his jeans. In the fight with Carl, it
had been dislodged. He glanced around but couldn't see it. The
shadows were heavy in this area and the smoke now rolling from the
door made it difficult to see.

"Where the hell is Johnny?"

Dimitri lifted his gaze to the guy holding the
knife. He tried to gauge the situation. "He's gone. I sent him out
of the country."

"Liar."

"It's true. He's out of here. You'll never see
him again."

"That's not what he said." The guy gestured to
Carl. "He promised us Johnny was here, in the apartment." He turned
his attention to the man stalking Benny and spoke to him in
rapid-fire Spanish.

Dimitri didn't catch everything he said but his
Spanish was good enough for him to understand most of it. "NO!
You're not taking her back into that apartment to look for Johnny.
He isn't here. He's gone."

"
Pinche
guero
, you don't tell me what to do." The
knife-wielding gangbanger stepped forward to stab him and Dimitri
took advantage of the opening.

Using his wounded arm, he blocked the knife
blade. He hissed as the steel sliced his skin, but years of
training and conditioning and the experiences of war suppressed the
pain and panic a normal person would have felt at being
cut.

No, Dimitri embraced the
battle-hardened instincts he'd honed in
Spetsnaz
. If these bastards thought
they were going to hurt Benny, they had another thing
coming.

*

I fought the panic surging through me and tried
to breathe as the menacing thug inched up the stairs. Down on the
ground, Dimitri faced three men, all of them probably armed and
ready to kill him. I wanted to scream for help but no one would
hear us. Every building in the vicinity was totally empty. We were
on our own.

There was screaming from down below as Dimitri
swiped the bottle of lighter fluid from one of the men and sprayed
him in the face with it. Clawing at his eyes and shrieking in pain,
the man fell to his knees. The other two rushed Dimitri. Already
bleeding and injured, he moved sluggishly but valiantly.

Certain Dimitri was going to die if I didn't
help him, I dug deep and pushed away the terror trying to grip my
belly. The man coming toward me looked so damn smug. His
overconfidence was my only advantage. Adrenaline surged through my
veins as I quickly gripped the railings on either side of me. With
as much force as I could muster, I slammed both feet into the man's
chest. He grunted and tipped backward. His eyes widened with fright
as he lost his balance.

When he tried to grab the railings, I kicked
him again, throwing everything I had at him. He stumbled backward
and fell. I cringed at the sound of his heavy body smacking and
rolling and tumbling down the metal steps. He hit the pavement hard
and didn't move.

Was he dead? God, I hoped not. The idea of
killing a man made me sick.

The grunts and the slap of skin on
skin as Dimitri defended himself spurred me into action. I ran down
the steps, hopped over the unconscious man on the ground and
searched for something,
anything
, to use a weapon.