"It's never over, girl. Darren Blake is gone. Adam Blake is wasting away in a prison infirmary, but it's not
over
. There are others. There will always be others." He looked down at me as if I might be the stupidest woman he had ever met. "Don't tell me you thought the two of you were going to ride off into the fucking sunset like a pair of lovers from some fairytale."
"No," I insisted angrily, but obviously I had thought that. "Of course, I didn't think that."
"Good," he shot back. "Because it doesn't work like that. Sergei bled for this family. He made others bleed for this family. That doesn't wash off, understand?"
No, not really.
But I lied nonetheless. "Yes."
Shaking his head, he reached for my door handle but didn't open it. Putting his massive hand on the roof of my car, Ten pinned me in place with a look that was equal parts pitying and frustrated. "The boss and his wife? They like you too much to upset you, but I don't have that problem. So I'm going to be straight with you. All that studying you're doing to impress your
svekrov'
? It won't work."
I recognized the word as the one used for a mother-in-law. Swallowing nervously, I asked, "Why?"
"Why?" He repeated with a harsh chortle. I jerked back when he reached for my hand, but he held tight and forced my hand into the shaft of light illuminating us from the streetlamps. "This is why."
At first I didn't understand, but then his callused thumb rubbed a circle on my skin. It was a painful and ugly thought that I refused to accept. "You don't even know Sergei or his family."
"I don't have to know them to know how this is going to play out once you meet them." His thumb moved side to side over the back of my hand. "You're beautiful. You're smart. You have a career and a successful business. You think your stock is pretty high, right? But you're wrong. You're not the sort of woman his mother wants for her
nevestka
."
"You're an asshole." I yanked free from him and shoved his hand off my car.
Ten put his hand against the door and kept me from opening it. That terrifying tiger stretched across his arm snarled at me. "Yes, I am, but I'm honest. I wouldn't lie to you, not about something like this."
I studied his face. Scary as he was, I could see he was earnest. "Why?"
His gaze unsettled me. "I know a good person when I see them. I don't come across them often, but I can tell you're one of them. You love your man, and he loves you enough to leave all of this," he twirled his finger in the air, "behind. There's only one woman in the world who can take that from you."
My stomach dropped. "His mother."
Ten nodded. "That's a bond that you will never break. So you had better make your war plan now, girl. You put on that armor, and you make sure she knows that you faced off with Nikolai Fucking Kalasnikov to save her son.
You
did that.
You
gave her back the son she had lost. Make her remember who she owes her happiness to—and then you win."
"It won't be that easy."
"No, it won't." He lifted his hand and reached for my door handle. "But something tells me you're not easily beaten." He held the door open for me. "Good luck, Bianca."
"Thank you." Reeling from our bizarre conversation, I slipped into the driver's seat and dropped my purse on the passenger side. Ten stood on the sidewalk until I disappeared around the corner. I tried to make sense of the mysterious, intimidating man. He had nothing to gain from helping me yet he had done it anyway. I took that as a good sign as far as Vivian's safety went. Ten was far from nice, but honesty, loyalty and honor more than made up for that.
When I reached the house, I pulled through the gate at the back of my property and into the space next to Sergei's SUV. With my purse in one hand, I bumped my car door closed and waited for the lights to blink and the horn to blip before I headed up the sidewalk to the back entrance through the screened porch and sunroom. The door leading into the house opened with a squeak, and Sergei appeared, his huge frame silhouetted by the light from the mudroom.
"Hey." I smiled at him as I drew near and let my needy gaze roam his bare chest and the khaki cargo shorts that sat dangerously low on his hips.
Sergei swooped down and kissed me when I was close enough. Just as I had expected, his lips traveled down my neck to the swell of cleavage displayed by the neckline of my dress. He nuzzled my breasts and placed noisy kisses on my throbbing flesh. "I missed you."
"You missed me or the girls?" I playfully asked.
"Both," he murmured before pressing his lips to my cheek. "I grabbed Chinese for dinner. I hope that's okay."
"It was my turn to cook," I reminded him as I pushed by him and into the house.
"Was it?"
I knew he hadn't forgotten. No doubt he had convinced himself I would be too tired to make us dinner. He seemed to think that being pregnant meant I should be sitting with my feet up as many hours in the day as possible.
"How is Vivi?" I hesitated answering him a moment too long. "Bianca? What's wrong with Vivian?"
I dropped my purse on the table and stepped out of my heels. "I think Vivian and Nikolai are having problems."
"Problems?"
"Marital problems," I clarified. "They argued while I was there."
"Lots of couples argue."
"True, but she said that she feels like they're drifting apart. I could tell she wanted to talk, but she didn't want to share too much with me because of…well…you know."
"Yes," he said sadly.
"And now she's got this freaking terrifying bodyguard named Ten," I continued. "He's not like you. He was really rude to her, and then he walked me out to my car—"
"Wait." Sergei held up one of his massive hands. "You were alone with Ten?"
"Yes."
Sergei's jaw clenched. He closed the distance between us and started to look me over as if he expected to find bruises on my body. "Did he hurt you?"
"Hurt me?" I reared back with surprise. "He was a jerk, but he wasn't mean. He treated me with respect." I decided to leave out the part about Ten ogling me. With a nervous gulp, I added, "He gave me some advice on dealing with your mother."
"He
what
?" Sergei's nostrils flared. He cursed in Russian and shook his head. "Whatever he told you? Forget it. That man knows nothing about my family or us. He's not the sort of man you should be spending time with alone."
"Why?" I couldn't wrap my head around Sergei's reaction to Ten. "Nikolai trusts him to guard Vivian."
"Because the boss knows Ten is an animal who will kill without a moment's hesitation," Sergei snapped. Blowing out a noisy breath, he placed his hands on my shoulders and slid them toward my neck. Cupping my face, he held my gaze and entreated me to listen carefully. "You know what I am, Bianca. You know what I've done for the family, but I never,
never
, took pleasure in it."
"I know that," I whispered. "I know you're not like that."
His thumbs glided along my cheeks. "Ten is a loyal man. He has honor, but he also has a taste for blood. He did things…" Sergei couldn't even bring himself to talk about them. "I don't want you spending time alone with him."
"All right." I bit my lower lip. "But when I'm with Vivi?"
"When you're with her, it's fine. He'll keep the two of you out of trouble, but I don't want you walking around alone with him. Six years is a long fucking time for a man to go without his favorite thing." Sergei looked me up and down. "And you are precisely what he likes."
My eyes widened at that. "What? Big girls? Black girls?"
"Both," he said. "You are exactly the kind of girl he used to chase."
"Oh." Suddenly the way Ten had held my hand and traced his thumb over my skin felt less than innocent. Perhaps he had been motivated to warn me about the possibility of Sergei's mother disliking me for other reasons. Was he interested in me? That was all I needed! An ex-con with the hots for me!
Glancing up at Sergei, I spotted the briefest glimmer of vulnerability on his face. "Are you seriously worried that I would choose someone like that over you?"
"No."
"But?"
"But he's got a reputation for taking things that don't belong to him."
Huffing, I thumped his chest. "I'm not a possession."
"You're mine," he reminded me in that alpha way he somehow made so endearing. "You belong to me just as I belong to you."
Ten's warning about Sergei's mother echoed in my head. "And what if other people think we shouldn't belong to each other?"
"Fuck those other people," he stated passionately. "No one is going to keep me from you."
"Not even your mother?" I asked in a small voice.
His eyes narrowed. "Is that what Ten told you? That my mother doesn't want us together?"
"He told me that she might not like me."
Sergei's cheek twitched and his lips settled into a grim line. "Even if that were true, I wouldn't stop loving you. I wouldn't walk away from you or the baby. I'm a grown man, and I've chosen you. I would like to have my family's support, but I don't need it." One of his hands cupped the back of my neck while the other settled on my belly. "I have everything I need right here."
His reassurances settled my nerves. Whatever happened in London, we wouldn't let it break us apart. We had made it through so much in such a short span of time. We could make it through his mother's disapproval if it came to that.
Smiling down at me, he asked, "How did your lesson go?"
I pouted. "I'm terrible, Sergei. You would think after all those years of French and Spanish, I would be able to pick up a new language easily, but it's not happening."
"It's a different type of language. You could probably learn Portuguese or Italian without too much trouble, but Russian? It's more complicated."
"It's the sounds. My tongue refuses to do the right thing."
"Does it?" His sexy mouth curved in playful way. "I happen to know some very good tongue exercises you could try."
Now I was the one grinning. "Oh, really?"
"Mmmhmm," he rumbled and ran his finger along the top of my breast. "In fact, I could show you right now."
"Or," I let my hands fall to the waistband of his cargo shorts, "I could show you."
"Bianca," he breathed my name as I lowered myself to the floor. Kneeling at his feet, I made quick work of unbuttoning and unzipping his cargo shorts. I tugged down his boxers and freed his cock. Half hard and already more impressive than most men, his shaft enthralled me. I licked my lips and fondled him gently. My fingertips stroked the length of him, my touch light but firm.
When I flicked my tongue against the underside of the blunt tip, he reached back to grip the counter. Smirking at the way I could so easily overwhelm this powerful giant, I swirled my tongue around the head of his cock and then slowly sucked him between my lips. He was so thick that he stretched my mouth wide, and I loved it. He was too long for me to take all of him. Maybe someday I would work up to that, but I didn't have the skills yet.
Not that he minded at all. Sergei held perfectly still as I bobbed on his shaft, taking him deeper and twirling my tongue around the crown of him. The groans that erupted from his chest made my clit pulse. I sucked him harder and faster, giving him exactly what he needed. I could taste the slight sweetness of his pre-cum spilling onto my tongue now. He was getting close.
"Bianca." He growled like a bear.
I put my hands on his thighs and felt his muscles tensing under my palms. I leaned forward and relaxed my jaw, taking as much of his rock-hard length as I could. He gripped my hair in his hands, settling them on either side of my face, and gently thrust against my tongue. "Look at me," he urged, his voice husky. "Look at me while you suck my cock."
Our gazes clashed. He panted now, his chest heaving and his stomach caving in with each breath. I moaned around the cock gliding in and out of my mouth, and he came with a roar. Frozen like a statue, he let me take over again, let me bob and flick and swallow burst after burst of his cum until he finally collapsed back against the counter on shaking legs.
Like a lion pouncing on prey, he stunned me with a flash of movement. Before I knew what was happening, he had me flat on my back on the floor. Not caring about the shorts hanging low on his thighs, he shoved my legs apart, jerked my skirt up around my hips and yanked on my panties. The fabric ripped as he tore them down my legs and tossed them over his shoulders.
Showing how gentle he could be even when frantic for me, Sergei caressed my face and whispered sweetly to me in Russian. He claimed my mouth in a possessive, passionate kiss. His tongue stabbed against mine, swiping my teeth and the roof of my mouth. Sergei's rough, hot hand rode the curve of my waist to glide down my leg and cup my bottom. He squeezed my aching flesh and nipped at my throat before palming my throbbing pussy in his big hand.
"Sergei…"
Chuckling against my skin, he whispered, "I want to hear you sing."
A quiver of anticipation rocked my belly at the teasing words he used to describe the way I cried out when I approached an orgasm. His thick, skilled fingers parted the most delicate part of me and slid in the slickness there. He groaned when he learned how wet I was for him. His thumb circled my clit a few times, and I gasped at the sharp sensation.
Easing off, he plunged two fingers into my slit, working them up into me and curving them at just the right angle. He pumped into me, touching that spot inside my pussy that made my entire body seize with pleasure. His thumb returned to my clit. He strummed that little pearl until I was clawing at his shoulders and begging him for release. "Please.
Please
."
"Come on," he urged gruffly. "Come, Bianca.
Come.
"
The vibrations of his wickedly deep voice set me off like a bottle rocket on the Fourth of July. Clutching his arm, I lifted my hips, pressing my pussy to that sinful hand of his, and let loose a wild cry of pleasure. Higher and higher in octave, my voice echoed off the ceiling.
"
Da
," he said with a smile in his voice. "
More
. Sing, Bianca."