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My Story Caroline Cossey Caroline Cossey [Cossey, Caroline] Rok: 2015 Język: english Plik: EPUB, 3.28 MB Twoje tagi: 0 / 0

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Eating Stone Soup: The Streets of Cardiff Series.... Book 2 (The Streets of Cardiff Series Book 1-Digging with a Spoon) Anne Main [Main, Anne] Rok: 2021 Język: english Plik: EPUB, 354 KB Twoje tagi: 5.0 / 0

DO NOT DISTURB



Dangerous Lovers Book 2




By M’Renee Allen





https://mreneedramaqueen.com/





Dedication





To all of you who love and appreciate my level of naughtiness and grittiness, thank you!





About the Book





He’s a dangerous criminal.

She’s dangerously curvy.

To others, he’s a cold-hearted killer. To her, he’s a gentle giant.



Yury Drozdov was born into a life of crime. Raised by ruthless crime lords, murder and mayhem is all he knows. Until he’s tasked with keeping a woman by the name of Delilah Norin safe, a woman he’s been in love with for the past five years but dared not go near her. He was given this task because he has the strength, the power, and the deadly skills needed to protect her from the assassins after her.

Question is, who's going to protect her from the assassin right next to her, him?

Be sure to read book 1: Private Property before reading book 2: Do Not Disturb.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083C5TXJ4/





He’s been in love with her for years. Yet, he dares not approach her. So, he hides in the shadows, watching over her, protecting her from afar. But even that’s dangerous. It’s like a lion protecting a gazelle. One day the lion is going to get too hungry to resist the beautiful gazelle.



- Yury Drozdov





Chapter One





Yury





He didn’t have time for this shit.

Yury Drozdov stared down at his blood-splattered watch. It was growing late. If he didn’t end this now, he wouldn’t make it home in time to complete his task. Yury glanced away from his wrist in time to see another biker aiming an iron pipe at his head. He ducked then slammed his fist into the man’s stomach.

The blow knocked the wind from his attacker, driving him to his knees and sending the pipe clanking to the payment. Two more bikers ran up, both carrying knives. It took less than ten seconds to make them regret their decision. Still, another one replaced them. A street fight had not been a part of his Friday night plans.

Why did business meetings Constantine held outside of t; he office always lead to Yury ending up in a fight? He picked up the discarded pipe and swung it twice, sending another biker to the ground. As if they were multiplying, another one ran up. This one was sporting a mullet. The man barreled into him and wrapped his arms around Yury’s waist.

Was this guy trying to lift him up? Sighing, Yury stared up at the sky as the idiot groaned, still trying to lift him. Why tonight of all nights did this dumb shit have to go down? Was this a sign? Was fate trying to tell him to cancel tonight’s plans? Yury brought his elbow down on the man’s back. A howl of pain filled the night air.

After repeating the act, his attacker finally released him. Yury shoved the man away, still wondering why what had started as a peaceful meeting with a local bar owner turned into this. The owner of Royal Riders hadn’t seemed to hold any animosity towards Constantine during the meeting.

And Con had been somewhat respectful during the encounter. Better than normal. Yury had remained silent while guarding the door. The meeting began, conversations happened, their offer was rejected respectfully, the meeting ended, and everyone went their separate ways. No harm, no foul.

Yet, there was another knife being aimed at his throat. Yury grabbed the bald biker’s wrist and twisted. Snap. Another howl of pain filled the air. He shoved the man to the ground then wrapped his hand around the throat of his last attacker. He paused at the sound of motorcycles in the distance.

Great! More were coming. His attention returned to the biker currently clawing at his hands, trying to get Yury to release his neck. Not happening. At least, not yet. He wanted to know why they’d attacked him. Why had they been waiting two blocks away from the meeting location to ambush him?

“Did your leader send you?” Yury asked. The man’s mouth opened. No words emerged. Right, Yury was choking him. He eased his grip then repeated his question. “Did your leader send you?”

Between coughs, his assailant managed to croak the words, “Eat a dick.”

Yury released a heavy sigh of frustration. The motorcycles sounded closer now. He couldn’t see them, but he knew they were probably a block over. It sounded like there were about seven of them. If the riders were smart, they would’ve approached silently. From what he was hearing, it sounded like they were having a bike show, doing tricks and all.

This late at night? Then again, this was their turf. The people in the surrounding area feared them. Therefore, they wouldn’t call the cops and report the noise disturbance. Even if they did, Yury expected the Royal Riders had a few law enforcers on their side. Calling the cops wouldn’t do anything but make the bikers mad.

And it would cause problems for the law-abiding citizens in the neighborhood. Yury dragged the last biker over to the row of motorcycles parked on the curb. He snatched up a whip one of them had tried to use on him. It was a nice whip. He needed a good whip. Perhaps he’d take it with him when he left.

“My boss is never going to sell his club to your boss or to the Soldiers,” the guy he was dragging yelled.

They hadn’t asked him to sell it to the Soldiers. Con wanted the club for himself. He didn’t want it to be affiliated with the Brotherhood. He had other plans for it after he finished paying off his blood debt to the leader. Still, Yury was interested in knowing why the president of a shitty bike club didn’t want to sell to the Soldiers.

Glaring down at the man, Yury asked, “Why doesn’t your leader want to sell to the Soldiers?”

“Fuck you. You know why.”

“Pretend I don’t.”

“Because you bastards wear suits like you’re important and shit. But, you’re worse than us. You even kill your own. That’s some shit we don’t do unless we’re betrayed.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I knew Boris. I used to cut deals with the man. He wasn’t a bad dude. Yet, you bastards cut him down like he was nothing.”

Boris? Was that what this was about? Motherfucking Boris? How had these pricks found out about what happened to Boris?

“Who told you that?”

The man coughed then started to laugh.

Yury pulled him closer. “Who the hell told you that?” No one outside of the Soldiers and Con’s men knew about what happened to Boris. Well, there was Scar, the person who’d located Boris for them. He wouldn’t say anything. So, how did this bastard know about Boris’s fate? “I won’t ask again,” Yury warned.

“Boris was a friend to the Royal Riders–”

“More like a bitch who’d gambled away his money there and was selling drugs for your club’s President to pay him back.”

“He was loyal to us,” the biker continued defending Boris. “We’d never turn our backs on him the way you all did.”

“He was your lackey. He was the reason your club was profiting. He was stealing from the Soldiers and giving it to your Prez. He was taking from his family’s mouth and providing for yours. I don’t call that loyal. I call that a cyka blyat.”

The biker turned his head to the side then spat on the ground before saying, “I don’t speak that Russian shit. I’m an ‘Merican. I bleed red, white, and blue. Go back to your country with that…”

“You mentioned bleeding. In three seconds, I’m going to make you bleed if you don’t answer my question.”

“Do whatever you want. I’ll never turn on a friend.”

“If you were his friend, you wouldn’t have brought his name up just now. You wouldn’t mention him at all. Talking about him could place his family in danger.”

“Fuck his family. Boris told me all about his wife and her past. I know who she really is. I know what she’s done. I know–”

Yury saw red. Releasing the whip, he tightened his grip on the man’s collar. “Who all knows about his wife’s past?”

The biker’s response was more laughter. Fucking Boris. The little bitch just hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut. Not only had he gambled and cheated, he’d also revealed his family’s secrets to outsiders, placing his wife and daughter in danger. Damn it! The roars of the incoming motorcycles were closer now.

“Hurting me won’t change anything. My Prez will never do business with the likes of you. And he’ll never let what happened to Boris slide. You’ll pay. Your boss will pay. And Boris’s bitch ass wife will pa–”

Enough! Yury slammed the biker’s head against the ground. Not once, not twice, three times. The man’s eyes widened then a dazed look appeared in them. Finally, his body went limp, and his eyes slid shut.

“She’s not a bitch,” Yury growled down at the unconscious prick who was lucky Yury wasn’t allowing himself to get angry enough to actually end him. “And she’s not his wife. She’s his widow.” There was a difference.

How dare Boris reveal Delilah’s true identity to those bastards? Yury couldn’t recall the last time he’d been that angry. Keep calm. Don’t go into a rage, he told himself. Hands trembling, he closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and released the breath slowly. He did it two more times in an attempt to calm himself.

It took everything in him for him not to break that motherfucker’s neck. Opening his eyes, he stood, just as six more bikes circled him. He was in a rush. He had shit to do. But now, he needed to get rid of some of his anger. Staying behind to fight them would give him a chance to flex his muscles and release the rage he was feeling toward Boris.

Even in death, Boris was still an irritating fucker. Yury wished he could release this anger on him. These bikers would have to do. Since coming to Chicago with Constantine and working as his bodyguard at Private Affairs gentlemen’s club, he’d gotten used to simply being a driver and a guard.

Tonight, these idiots were giving him a chance to put his other skills to use. He turned in a circle, sizing up the newcomers as they got off their bikes. Six. He could handle six. With a roar, they all raced in his direction. Stealth was not an ability they possessed. Had no one ever shown them how to fight quietly?

He remained silent as he fought. Not one sound escaped his lips, even when he was punched in the stomach or the jaw. He kept his mouth shut. Not even a grunt emerged. He ducked and dodged attacks aimed at him. The Royal Riders were sloppy fighters. Unlike him, they hadn’t spent their youth in a fight ring.

They hadn’t become a hitman for hire before they even learned how to drive. They hadn’t had to kill to eat, kill to have a place to sleep, kill to simply survive. They were just bikers. They were men who put on vests at night to announce to the world that they were part of a gang. During the day, they donned their work attire and went to their regular jobs.

At the end of the day, they returned home to their wives and children. They returned to their hot home-cooked meals and their comfortable beds. When it was time for a meeting, they put their vests on again and instantly became badass gangsters. In truth, they were just pretenders.

Pretenders who had no idea they were going up against a real monster. A monster who hadn’t been born in the land of the free. A monster whose father sold him to the former leader of the Soldiers, forcing him to work as a runner for them. Yury had only been nine at the time. He’d never forget that night.

He’d never forget the night his father woke him up and pulled him from bed. He could still picture the tears streaming down his mother’s cheeks as his dad ripped him from her arms and shoved him to the ground at the former leader’s feet. Though his dad had tears in his eyes that night, his words had spoken louder than his actions.

“Son, I’ve lost my arm in a fight. I can’t work for the leader anymore. With all that I know about the organization, death is the only way out for me. But I have to support your mother and younger siblings. So, I came up with another way to survive. My life in exchange for yours. Fifteen years of servitude. That’s all you have to do. You’re young. It’ll be over in no time for you. And then you can come home. And we can be a family again.”

Home. Such a small word that held such a significant meaning. After that night, he’d never experienced a real home again. What his dad had failed to tell him was that once you became a killer, there was no going back to being normal. That was impossible. The former leader of the Soldiers had been much more ruthless than his son, the new leader, Xander.

The former leader hadn’t given anything away for free. To eat, Yury had to complete missions. If he failed, he went to bed hungry. If he failed twice in a row, he went to bed hungry and bruised. He’d nearly starved to death before he completed his first mission. It had taken him fifteen attempts.

Each time, he’d given up because he hadn’t had the heart to hurt anyone. He definitely hadn’t had the heart to kill. He’d been big all his life. He’d always been taller, bulkier than kids his age, causing people to automatically assume he was a bully. When the former leader had first laid eyes on him, he’d boasted that Yury would become a great killer.

And he’d been right. But it hadn’t come naturally as the leader expected. Because of his size, he was judged differently than others. All they saw was how big he was. No one took into account his big heart. Because of that big heart, he felt things more deeply than most. That slowly changed after he was forced into servitude.

Regular people didn’t know what it felt like to starve. They didn’t know what true hunger was. Growing up poor, he’d thought he knew what hunger was. The leader proved him wrong. It’s not the feeling you get when you miss a couple of meals, and your stomach starts to growl. That’s nothing.

True starvation makes you feel like your body is eating itself. It was a pain that was indescribable. You ended up hallucinating. You ended up willing to eat anything to stop the pain. Even parts of yourself. He’d seen kids gnaw on their fingers in an attempt to stop the hunger pangs.

And the pain wasn’t only in your stomach. It consumed your entire body, inside and out. Then there was the fear that accompanied it. The fear of dying. The fear of not knowing what awaited you on the other side when you died. The fear of not dying and instead being forced to continue living the miserable life you’d been born into.

That fear was almost as painful as the hunger pangs. Because of that fear, because of that hunger, he’d learned early on to steel his heart against the pleas of his victims. He’d learned to ignore their sob stories and worry about his own. It was either his life or theirs.

After his first kill, he’d started to understand the last words his father had spoken to him. He started to understand why a man would kill to live. Yet, one thing he’d never been able to understand was how a father could do that to his child. He’d never been able to understand how that kind of bond could be broken.

Yury would’ve gladly given his life so that his mother and brothers could live. He would’ve gladly suffered the pains of starvation so that his family could thrive. Even if he had to go back and do it all over again, he’d do it if it meant protecting his family. Yet, his father hadn’t had that same mindset.

He’d said he was giving Yury up so that he could protect the family. If that had truly been his reason, Yury would’ve been able to understand why he’d done what he did. However, a few years later, when Yury went back to check on his family, he learned that his father had left his mother.

She’d gotten sick soon after Yury was sold to the Soldiers. Cancer, to be exact. His father hadn’t wanted to work harder to pay for the medicine she needed to try to beat cancer. So, he’d left the entire family behind, wife and kids. From their neighbors, Yury learned his younger brother and sister had been taken in by another family after his mother passed.

They were with a good family and were well taken care of. His father had started panhandling for money and was living on the streets. He’d become the neighborhood drunk. Yury couldn’t help but wonder why his dad hadn’t sold one of his siblings to pay for his wife’s cancer treatment.

That wasn’t something Yury wanted to have happened. Yet, if his dad loved his family unit so much, why hadn’t he done the same thing to them as he’d done to Yury? The truth was, his father hadn’t sold him off so he could live and take care of his family. He hadn’t sold him off because he loved his family.

He’d transferred his blood debt to his son to protect himself, not the ones he was supposed to love. He’d done it for selfish reasons, which made him a coward. Yes, Yury was a monster. But his father was a different kind of monster. He was born a monster. Yury was made a monster. There was a difference.

These bikers were nothing like him or his father. They weren’t monsters. They weren’t beasts. They were pretenders. And that was why he wouldn’t kill them. That was why he was only staring down at their bruised bodies, and not their corpses.

The bikers groaned as they rolled around on the ground. He’d dropped them all. Blood covered his bruised knuckles and was spattered all over his suit. He was going to get blood in the car. Shit. He’d have to listen to Con’s complaints until he had the car cleaned.

Yury stared at the bikers one last time before turning around and walking away, stepping over bodies on his way to the car. When he reached the vehicle, he stared at his hands then at the door handle. Fuck. The back passenger window rolled down.

“Just get in,” Con called from the back seat. “We can clean the car later.”

“We? You mean me.”

“It’s not my fault you got blood everywhere. Get in. The kids want ice cream. I guess I’ll have to go in and get it since you’re covered in blood.” Con shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m paying you for.”

“This is what you pay me for, boss. You don’t pay me to get ice cream.” Yury used the clean part of his shirt to open the door. Once he was behind the wheel, he started the vehicle and put the car in reverse.

“Are you okay?” Con asked once they were on the highway.

“If you were worried about me, you should’ve gotten out and helped.”

“If both of us ended up bloody, who would go into the ice cream shop?”

Eyes on the road, Yury shook his head and remained silent.

“I saw you talking to them. What did they say?”

“Not much of anything. One guy did mention Delilah.”

That got Con’s full attention. “What did he say about her?”

“He said he was close to Boris, and Boris told him all about Delilah’s past.”

“Even I don’t know the secrets of Delilah’s past. No one other than the Leader and Boris was supposed to know. That was one of the stipulations set forth when the Leader allowed Boris to bring Delilah into our world.”

“I know. I remember hearing Boris say that if her secret got out, her life would be in danger.”

“And yet, his bitch ass was the one who exposed it. Shit. I need to tell the Leader about this.”

“You don’t know anything at all about her past?” Yury asked.

“I only know that Boris saved her life and asked for permission to marry her so he could continue protecting her. From who, I don’t know. With him gone, I guess I need to let the Leader know that I’ll be the one protecting her from now on.”

Yury stared into the rearview mirror. His gaze connected with Con’s. He didn’t like the sly grin on his friend’s face.

“Unless,” Con started. “There’s someone else out there who wants to protect her.”

I want to. Yury returned his gaze to the road.

But I can’t.





Chapter Two





Yury





Tuning Con out was impossible.

“I have my hands full with Cristal,” his boss continued. “Then there’s her niece, Shy. And her Granny. I also have to keep an eye on my sister, Angelina. Then I have the club to manage for the Leader. Like I said, my hands are full. If only there was someone else who could watch over Delilah and her daughter for me.”

He knew what his friend was trying to do. Con was trying to get him to step up and admit he had feelings for Delilah. Not happening. Not in this lifetime. Maybe if he was reborn as a better person, a better man, then he’d be worthy of her. At this time, that wasn’t the case. Keeping his distance was the best thing for both him and her.

“Who do you think we should have watch over them?” Con asked.

Yury remained silent. They would be at the ice cream shop in about ten minutes. After they got treats for the girls, he could drop Con’s ass off at home.

“It should be someone who likes kids,” Con mused. “It has to be someone we can trust. I can’t place Delilah and Zariah in the care of just anyone.”

True. The list of people Con trusted was short. Yury’s list was even shorter. In his mind, no one was good enough to watch over them. Hell, Boris hadn’t been good enough and they were his family. Sometimes family was the fucking worst.

“It should be someone they feel comfortable around,” Con continued.

That scratched Yury’s name off the list. Zariah was comfortable around him. That was only because she wasn’t old enough to understand that he was the boogie man. Or maybe she was too sheltered to understand she should fear the boogie man. Though Zariah was comfortable around him, that didn’t mean her mother was.

Delilah wasn’t at ease around him at all. He hadn’t spent enough time around her for her to be at ease in his presence. Whenever he was near, she stared everywhere except at him. Yet, he’d watched her from afar for the past five years, yearning for something he had no right to desire.

“I could get Ramirez to do it,” Con said.

Ramirez was trustworthy. Yet, the words that left Yury’s mouth were, “Ramirez is childish.”

“Which will come in handy since Zariah is a child.”

Touché. The problem was, women considered Ramirez handsome. No way in hell could he be the one who watched over them. “He’s needed at the club,” Yury countered.

“I can find a replacement for him.”

“That isn’t a long-term solution to the problem.”

“You’re right, it’s not. But it’ll help me out in the short term. Especially after what happened last week.”

Why did he have to bring that up? Yury gripped the steering wheel tighter. Last week, he’d been ready to kill someone after he learned that their team had found a bomb attached to the inner side of Delilah’s rear passenger-side tire. They wouldn’t have thought to check for it if the cameras outside of her house hadn’t shown someone stopping to tie their shoe near her car. Delilah rarely parked in her front yard.

That day, she’d only done so to run into her home and get something then return to her car. Lewis, the man monitoring the cameras that day, alerted Con after noticing that the mysterious person had taken longer than necessary to tie his shoe. For the mystery person to attach the bomb during the time when Delilah was briefly going into her home meant whoever was responsible was watching her every move.

Luckily, Con had called her before she could get back into her car. They’d had the car transported to a body shop Con now owned. The team there checked the entire vehicle and located the bomb. That incident had been proof that someone was trying to kill Delilah. Con was right, they did need someone to watch over both mother and child.

“Do you think that incident was done by someone from her past or do you think it was the Royal Riders?” Yury asked.

“I don’t know. Until tonight, I had no reason to suspect The Riders. I’d actually thought it was the Soldiers.”

“You thought the Soldiers were trying to get rid of her because she knew too much about the organization?”

“It was a thought. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d done something like that. Not under Xander’s rule. But his father was known for doing shit like that. And the Elders are pushing Xander to be more like his father. This would be a way for him to show them he can be as ruthless as they want him to be.”

“The bastard is already ruthless. Why add killing women and children to the list of shit he’s guilty of?”

“Because the Elders have no regard for women and children.”

“The Leader may be a lot of things, but he has a code. If he deviates from that, that’ll make him…”

“Something worse than a monster,” Con finished for him.

Yury nodded.

“I’ll call him tomorrow.”

“It’s not like he’s going to tell you the truth. He knows you were close with Boris. He knows you’re Zariah’s Godfather. If he’s the one behind the hit, he won’t tell you.”

“He will.”

“Con, he’s not the same person we grew up with. He changed when he became the Leader.”

“True,” Con agreed. “You’re right. Asking him would be pointless. I just have to find someone to watch over them for me. If only there was someone I could trust….”

Indeed. If only there was someone they could trust. Despite what Con may think, Yury wasn’t the man for the job. He could trust himself with Zariah. He already thought of her as his own flesh and blood. She wasn’t the problem. Her mother was. Yury didn’t trust himself around Delilah.

His feelings for her were a danger to them both. Though Con’s woman, Cristal, liked referring to Yury as the gentle giant, there was nothing gentle about him. She only called him that because she hadn’t seen his true self. He knew when to let his darkness show and when to pretend it didn’t exist.

No matter how good he was at pretending, that darkness was always there. It was always lurking in the shadows, ready to seep out at the drop of a dime. There was no cure for it. No vaccine to help him fight against it. It was a part of him, like a rib, a finger, an ear. No, it went deeper than that.

A finger and an ear could be chopped off. Even a rib could be removed. His darkness couldn’t. It was attached to his soul, to his spirit, and would walk beside him until the day he died. It was his constant companion. His shadow.

No one could outrun their own shadow. While Delilah was accustomed to Con, Boris, and the Soldiers’ ways of doing things, she’d never seen Yury in action. He hoped she never would. His way of handling things was much different.

“Do you think Cristal and I make a good couple?” Con asked him.

Where the hell had that question come from? “Why are you asking me that?”

“Answer the question.”

“Uh, sure.”

“Is that your final answer?”

“You watch too much American television.”

“Is it your final answer?”

“Yes, that’s my final answer.”

“Why do you think she and I make a good couple?”

“Because you do.”

“That’s not an answer. I want details.”

“Are you getting cold feet? You better not break up with Cristal. You’ll never find another woman like her.”

“I have no intention of breaking up with her. Ever! She’ll have to kill me to get rid of me.”

“Why this line of questioning then?”

“You’ll find out soon. First, tell me why you think Cristal and I make a good couple.”

Yury sighed. He’d rather be fighting bikers right now than having this conversation.

“Hurry up.”

“Give me a second,” Yury replied.

“Can you honestly not come up with one reason why Criss and I make a great couple?”

“You both like pressuring me into doing what you want me to do.”

“She is a demanding wench, isn’t she?”

“I’m telling her you called her that.”

“Do it. I’m not scared of… don’t do it. She tried to smother me last night when I told her that her butt looked big.”

“Why would you tell her that?”

“She asked. And it does. That’s a good thing. I thought I was complimenting her. I thought she’d be happy. Instead, she put a pillow over my face. I’m telling you, that woman is insane.”

Yury chuckled. “That’s why you two are a great couple.”

“Explain.”

“She put a pillow over your face and lived to talk about it.” Yury stared into the rear-view mirror. “You’re even smiling as you talk about it.”

Con stared up and caught him looking. His boss schooled his face into a serious expression. “Who’s smiling?”

Yury returned his eyes to the road. “You don’t have to admit it. We all see a difference in you. You’re a family man now.”

“Family man?”

Yury nodded as he pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream shop. “Yesterday, Ramirez told me you smelled like apricots.”

Con laughed and unbuckled his seat belt. “Shy sprayed some apricot body spray before she got out of the car because she wanted me to tell her if I liked it better than the cucumber melon.”

“Which one did you like?”

“Neither. I like apple cinnamon.”

“My point exactly. The Con of old had no idea what any of those scents smelled like. You were more of a whiskey and cigar type of guy.”

“Are you insinuating that I’ve turned soft?”

“Not at all. I’m saying you’ve changed. It’s not for the worst. It’s for the better. You’ll be retiring from this life soon anyway. At first, I thought you would find it hard to leave this life behind. Because of Criss and her family, I don’t think you’ll find it hard at all. I don’t think you’ll be tempted to return to this life of crime once you’re free.”

“Don’t speak too soon. Vladimir left this life behind. Look at him.”

“He was forced back into it.”

“If he can be forced back into it, so could I.”

“We won’t let that happen.” Yury chanced a glance into the mirror to find Con staring out the window.

“Retiring doesn’t always equal freedom,” Con stated. “Xander has a way of keeping his people by his side. Even when they no longer want to be there. Enough about that. Back to you saying I’m soft…”

“Your words, not mine. I just said you’ve changed and for the best. Criss is a good influence on you.”

“Yes, she is. I used to think Delilah was a good influence on Boris. He was my friend. Yet, I had no idea he was doing half the shit he was doing.”

“Boris was a bitch. Of course, Delilah couldn’t fix him. No amount of love can fix bitch.”

“Now who’s the one who watches too much American T.V? You use American slang like you were born here.”

“I’m serious. It’s not Delilah’s fault that Boris changed and became the type of person he was. His addictions along with his greed did that to him. Gambling, drinking, it’s all fun and games until you become addicted to it.”

“You left off women. He became addicted to women also.”

How could he forget that one? Yury still couldn’t figure out why the hell Boris had decided to step outside of his marriage when he was married to a woman like Delilah. Other men would kill to have a woman like her by their side. Boris had taken her for granted. He hadn’t deserved the blessings bestowed upon him.

“Boris lost his focus in life,” Con continued. “I won’t let that happen to Criss and I. Like my Cristal, Delilah is a good woman. My hope is that she won’t give up on love because of Boris.”

“Why are we having a heart to heart?” Yury asked, growing uncomfortable with the conversation. The mere thought of Delilah falling in love again pissed him off.

“We haven’t had a good heart to heart in such a long time. We’re overdue.”

“Neither you nor I like having heart-to-hearts. Plus, this conversation is unnecessary. Delilah’s future has nothing to do with me.”

“Which brings us back to my initial point. You can clearly see that Criss and I are good for one another. Yet, you can’t see the type of man Delilah needs. Are you blind or are you doing this on purpose?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Okay. I tried to have a heart-to-heart with you. You won’t budge. When she remarries and moves away to be with her new husband, don’t say I didn’t try to get you to open your eyes.”

Those words caused a sharp pain to pierce through his chest. It felt like he was being stabbed. Ignoring the pain, Yury took a deep breath and released it slowly. His minor pain was nothing compared to what Delilah had been through. Being with him would only bring her more pain. Yury pushed his pain and Con’s words to the back of his mind, where he kept his feelings for Delilah tucked away.

Hidden away from the monster inside of him. Despite what Con believed, Yury and Delilah weren’t a good fit. Delilah embodied everything that was good in this world. Yury was a reflection of everything that was wrong with it. Boris hadn’t been worthy of her. Neither was Yury.

“I’ve been hoping Ramirez would settle down with a good woman,” Con stated as he gripped the door handle and opened the car door. “Perhaps, he and Delilah…”

“I’ll do it,” Yury growled as jealousy surged through him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

“I’ll watch over her.”

“Are you sure? Because Ramirez…”

“I said I’d fucking do it. Go get the damn ice cream.”

Laughing, Con exited the vehicle and slammed the door shut. He was still smiling as he entered the small pink, purple, and white building. Yury rested his head against his seat, barely believing he’d just promised to watch over Delilah. He couldn’t backtrack. He was a man of his word. He said he’d watch over her, so he would. Problem was, he didn’t know who was in danger more. Him or her?

He’d soon find out.





Chapter Three





Delilah





All she felt was anger.

So much anger.

It had been two months since the death of her husband and Delilah Norin was still waiting for the pain to come. Two months. Two long, tiresome months, and still there was no pain, no heartache, no late-night crying that left her with a headache. No tossing and turning at night while dreaming about the good times she’d shared with the man she’d loved.

No waking up and reaching for him in the middle of the night, only to remember that he was no longer there. No listening to old voicemails to hear his voice. She wasn’t experiencing any of that. Though she was a widow, she wasn’t experiencing any grief. She should be feeling sad right now. Instead, all she felt was anger.

So much anger. It was slowly consuming her, making her a shell of the woman she used to be. Everyone thought she was okay. Everyone was glad that she was now eating again and had gained back almost all the weight she’d lost. Everyone was happy she was now taking calls and even allowing some of her friends to visit her.

She continued telling everyone she was fine to keep them from staring at her with eyes filled with pity. Thankfully, Con, Criss, and Angelina were no longer telling her none of this was her fault. They were no longer telling her she wasn’t the reason her husband had gambled away all of his money, no, their money. Including the college fund he’d set aside for Azariah.

They were no longer telling her she wasn’t the reason he’d gambled his way into such a great debt that he’d had to fake his own kidnapping and then run off, leaving her and their daughter behind to deal with the aftermath. They were no longer telling her she needed to move forward with her life and leave the past in the past.

Which was good. Because she hadn’t been listening to anything they’d said anyway. She knew she wasn’t to fucking blame. She didn’t need them to tell her that. It wasn’t like she was the one who’d gambled the money away. She wasn’t the one who’d gotten involved with some shady individuals who couldn’t be trusted.

She wasn’t the one who’d turned her back on the Brotherhood. Even the Russian Mafia had believed her husband had really been kidnapped. They’d used up an immense amount of resources searching for him. Now the leader of the Soldiers was pissed off. She wasn’t the one who ran off, leaving her family behind to deal with the fallout.

No, she wasn’t to blame. Boris Norin, her late husband, was to blame. Boris, the rat bastard who’d promised to love and cherish her until the day he died, this was all his fault. She wasn’t blaming herself. Hell, she wasn’t even sad about the fact that he was dead. She was more upset with Con for trying to keep the truth from her.

If Criss hadn’t forced him, he never would’ve told her about all the shit Boris had been involved in. Now that she knew how truly corrupt her husband had been, there wasn’t one ounce of sadness in her. The only thing she’d felt since learning about his death was anger. Cold, debilitating anger.

It was her constant companion. It accompanied her everywhere she went. When she woke up in the morning, it was there to greet her. When she went to bed at night, it laid down next to her, ever-present. The only time it faded a little was when her daughter, Azariah, was near. Her daughter was the only one who could chase away the anger.

Yet, it didn’t fade completely even when her daughter was present. It reared its ugly head every time Delilah watched her baby cry over the death of her dad. Her daughter didn’t know the truth and she didn’t need to. Boris’s sins were Delilah’s cross to bear, not her daughter’s. Azariah thought her father had been killed in an accident.

She didn’t know about her father’s involvement with the mafia. Neither did she know about her mother’s past. They’d shielded her from that part of their lives ever since she was born. But seeing her daughter cry over a father who didn’t deserve her precious tears made Delilah angrier.

She wanted to wipe Zariah’s eyes and tell her to never shed another tear for that bastard. She wanted to tell her child to never be sad over someone who hadn’t loved her enough to stick around. However, as angry as she was, she couldn’t bring herself to say that to her baby.

She couldn’t take away the precious memories her daughter had of her father and turn them into something dark. She wouldn’t turn her daughter into a reflection of the bitter person she’d allowed herself to become. She’d allow her daughter to continue believing her dad was the greatest man on Earth.

And she’d be there to wipe her baby’s tears when she cried. And she’d be there to hold her when she had a bad dream. She’d be there for all of the good and the bad. Because she was a mother. And that was what mothers did. Real mothers didn’t pack up and run when times got hard. They adjusted their crowns and dealt with the shit head-on.

That’s exactly what she was doing – dealing with shit head-on. She was dealing with her anger and regret. She was dealing with her daughter’s grief. She was dealing with the pity of others. She was dealing with it all, and she was doing it all by herself. There was no one to help her shoulder the burden.

Delilah raised the knife in her hand. She really wanted to cut someone right now. She really wanted to sink her knife into someone and watch their blood spill. She brought the knife down fast and hard as she sliced through the ham and cheese sandwich she’d just prepared, cutting it in half.

“Oh, how I wish it was you I was cutting in half,” she muttered before stabbing the knife into the sandwich again, and again, and again. Over and over until she’d completely ruined her dinner. “Shit!” Tossing the knife onto the counter, she stared down at her food which was now a butchered mess. Closing her eyes, she sighed then whispered, “What am I doing?”

The anger was winning again. She was letting it win again. If she kept this up, it would indeed consume her. Then where would that leave Zariah? Yeah, she would still have her father’s former best friend, a man she thought of as an uncle, there for her. Constantine would never turn his back on them. He was family. He was loyal. Plus, he and his fiancé adored Zariah. If anything happened to Delilah, they would step in and take care of Azariah.

“Fuck! What am I thinking? Nothing is going to happen to me.” She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. If she didn’t pull it together soon, she would become someone she didn’t recognize, someone she didn’t like, someone her child wouldn’t like.

“Why can’t I get rid of this hate, this anger? I’d rather feel sad than this.” Delilah picked up her paper plate and walked over to the trashcan. After dropping it inside, she stared down at the trash.

That was what her life had become, trash. Though she got up every day and got her daughter ready for school on time, she still felt like trash. Even though she made sure there was a hot meal on the table every evening, she still felt like trash. Her energy was low. Her head often ached and she was irritated all the time.

She’d become a pro at hiding it, but the truth was, she was depressed. It wasn’t the kind of depression she often read about. The kind where people felt mopey, tired, and sad. No, hers was a rage-filled depression. Though she lacked energy, she couldn’t sleep. Though she felt weak, she couldn’t rest, not for a moment.

Her thoughts were plagued with darkness. And she wasn’t just angry with Boris. Delilah was angry with herself also. She wasn’t the type of woman to let anyone get over on her. She was ashamed of herself for all the tears she’d cried when she’d thought Boris was missing.

All of those sleepless nights, all of those skipped meals, all of those prayers she’d sent to heaven, even asking to exchange her life for his. She couldn’t get any of those back. She was ashamed of herself for being weak. Her mother always said that loving your child gave you strength, but loving a man made you weak.

Delilah now knew those words to be true. Loving Boris had made her weak. And to add insult to injury, it had made her appear weak in front of others. Even before she’d married him, she’d known he worked for a crime syndicate, The Soldiers. He hadn’t hidden that from her. He’d told her all about his dark past.

Over the years, he’d confided in her, even when he couldn’t confide in the Brotherhood. They hadn’t just been husband and wife; they’d also been best friends. Or, at least, that was what she’d thought. Yet, as soon as things got bad, he’d left her behind. He’d left her to deal with his bullshit.

Not only had he been gambling away all of their money, but he’d also been stealing from the Soldiers. Just last week, she learned he’d been trafficking young girls too. Sex trafficking! When she learned that, she realized the Boris who’d saved her life all those years ago, had changed.

Sex trafficking! She still couldn’t believe he’d been involved in something that horrific. It was something the Soldiers frowned upon. They may be killers, but they lived by a code. And Boris had broken that code. He’d broken her trust. He’d broken both her and their daughter’s heart.

For his crimes, the leader of the Soldiers had taken his life. The leader of the Soldiers had made him pay for his wrongdoings. But what about her? What about justice for her? What about those sleepless nights and those tears she’d cried? Who was going to pay for that? She was filled with rage because she had nowhere to release it.

She wanted to release it on him. She wished she could’ve been the one to end him. She wished she could’ve been the one to make him pay. That right had been taken from her and she’d never get it back. So, she was stuck with these feelings that she had no way to release. They were now a part of her and she didn’t know how to make them go away. Delilah rubbed her hand through her long black hair.

“Why the hell am I standing here staring down at the trashcan?” Shaking her head, she muttered, “Get it together, Lilah.” Her phone started to ring – Zariah’s ringtone. She raced into her living room to search for her phone and found it on the end table. She answered on the fourth ring. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Mama, what you doing?”

Delilah sat down on the couch and stared at the television that wasn’t on. “Watching T.V.” It was just a white lie.

“What you watching?”

“The weather channel.” Another white lie.

“The weather channel?”

“Yes. What are you doing?”

“Me and Shy just finished watching a movie. Now, we’re lying on the couch, eating popcorn, about to watch another movie.”

“Where’s uncle Con and aunt Criss?”

“Aunt Criss is on the other couch, asleep. Con had to go take care of business.”

Business, huh? That was none of her concern. Whatever the Soldiers were up to had nothing to do with her.

“Yury is with Con,” Zariah went on to say.

Yury. Why did hearing his name always make her feel weird?

“Yury is going to take us to the movies next weekend,” Zariah continued. “He also said if we get good grades, he’d take us swimming this summer. Not regular swimming. He’ll take us to swim with the dolphins.”

Whenever her daughter went to Con’s for a weekend, she came back telling Delilah about all the things Yury had done or said he was going to do for them. Was Delilah jealous because her child was out here living her best life while she wallowed around in the dark? Maybe. A little.

“Oh, and Con said he’d bring us back ice cream when he comes home tonight.”

“Ice cream? This late at night?”

Delilah could hear Shy, Criss’s niece, in the background saying, “Why did you tell her about the ice cream?”

“Uh,” Zariah said. “Uh, forget the ice cream part, okay, mom?”

Delilah chuckled. Her baby loved ice cream. Plus, she was having fun at the sleepover. Still, Delilah was going to have a talk with Con and Criss about the snacks they fed her child when she was staying at their house. According to Con, they fed her veggies as snacks. Liar.

“You can have ice cream. But you have to eat vegetables tomorrow.”

“I will,” Zariah promised.

“Is your aunt Criss still asleep?”

“Yes. But her granny is up with us.”

“Tell Criss to call me in the morning. And don’t get on Granny’s nerves. And don’t you two stay up too late.”

“But ma, it’s the weekend.”

“But Zariah, you’re still a little girl. Go to bed after you finish your movie.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She could hear the pout in her daughter’s voice. “Have you already bathed and brushed your teeth?”

“Yes, ma’am. I did that wayyy earlier.”

“Call me in the morning.”

“Okay, ma. Don’t you stay up late either.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her daughter giggled before saying, “I love you.”

“Love you more.”

In the background, she heard Shy say, “You forgot to ask her about spring break.”

“Oh right,” Zariah whispered before saying, “Ma, Con and Criss are taking Shy to Disney World for spring break next month. They told me to ask you if I could come too. Con says he’s paying for everything because he’s a boss.”

Disney World? Florida? That would mean she’d have to be separated from her baby for a week. They’d never been apart for that long.

“Can I please go. Dad promised to take me…” Her daughter went silent.

Delilah knew exactly what her baby had been about to say. Her dad had promised to take her but he’d always been too busy. And then his bitch ass went and died. Not wanting her baby to be sad at her sleepover, Delilah rushed to say, “Of course you can go, sweetie.”

“Really, ma? Thank you. I love you. I love you. I love you to the moon and back.”

In the background, she could hear Shy cheering. Delilah chuckled. She was glad her daughter had a friend to hang with. It helped take her mind off the sadder things in life.

“Tell Criss to call me tomorrow, Zariah. Now get off this phone and finish your movie so you can go to sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you. Love you. Bye.”

She waited until Zariah hung up before pressing end-call and lying her phone down on the couch. Her daughter’s laughter was the most beautiful sound in the world. How could anyone want to let go of that? Delilah laid down on the couch and rested the side of her face on one of her decorative pillows.

All of the lights were off in the living room. Darkness surrounded her. She closed her eyes just as her stomach growled. Oh, right. Food. She needed to do that thing where you cooked food and put it in your mouth. She didn’t feel like it. Neither did she feel like sleeping. Opening her eyes, she turned over onto her back.

She was restless and antsy. She wanted to get up and do something while at the same time she wanted to do nothing at all. She was hungry and wanted to prepare something. Then again, the kitchen was way over there. She was so tired of feeling this way. She wanted to go back to being the regular Delilah Norin.

Yet, that version of her had been Boris’s wife. That version of her had been a happily married stay-at-home mom. There was no way for her to go back to being the old her because the old her no longer existed. Who was she now? She didn’t know. Never had she felt this lost before. She felt guilty for feeling like she no longer had a purpose.

She was a mother for crying out loud. She would always have a purpose. It was there in her name, her title… Mother. That name meant something to the little person who looked up to her. Despite knowing that, at the back of her mind that useless feeling lingered. Delilah sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

She laid there for a long time, thinking over the past few years of her life. She didn’t pay attention to the time. Perhaps an hour ticked by. Maybe two. Her thoughts became consumed with what she’d done with her life. Her daughter was all she had to show for herself. There were no other accomplishments.

What were her dreams before she met Boris? She couldn’t even remember. Who was she before she met Boris? That too, escaped her. She’d wasted her youth. She’d never gotten a chance to experience real passion. Hell, she’d been married and still hadn’t had a chance to experience true love.

Her stomach growled. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she needed to get up and find something to eat. She’d made a sweet potato pie yesterday. Why? She didn’t know. It had taken her mind off her problems for a while. Last week she’d made a blueberry cream cheese pie. She hated blueberry cream cheese pie.

Yet, baking had become a much-needed distraction. She’d ended up tossing the entire pie in the trashcan the next day. However, sweet potato pie was one of her favorite desserts. Tonight, it would be her dinner. Delilah sat up, just as lights flashed through her living room window.

Someone was pulling into her yard. Climbing off the couch, she strode over to the window and peeped through the blinds. It was Con’s car. Why was he there? He should be taking ice cream to the girls. Unless… Had something happened to the girls?

Dread washed over her.





Chapter Four





Yury





Yury pulled into Delilah’s driveway.

For a moment, he just sat there, debating over whether or not he should go inside. This time, he didn’t have Constantine with him to do all the talking. He’d already dropped Con off at home with so much ice cream that he could make an igloo. After dropping Con off, he’d gone home to prepare something.

Because of those bikers, he hadn’t had time to prepare what he’d originally wanted to. He’d whipped this together quickly. Too quickly. He was now wondering if he should’ve just waited until he had more time to prepare it the way he’d wanted to. There was no going back now. He was already there.

It wouldn’t take long for him to do what he came to do. Except this time, he would be alone with her. Perhaps that was why he was hesitating. He’d be alone with the woman he often dreamed about. The woman he often daydreamed about. The star of his wildest fantasies.

The woman he hadn’t been able to get off his mind for the past five years. Delilah Norin, recently widowed mother of a brilliant little girl. Delilah, recently widowed friend to Constantine and Criss. Delilah, a recently widowed broken butterfly who was still trying to piece her wings back together.

Delilah, a good woman who did not need a man like him anywhere near her. She didn’t need him showing up at her house late at night, again. Especially not with everything she’d been through with her late husband. That fucking bastard. Yury wished he could’ve been the one to murder him.

He wished he could’ve broken the bastard’s neck with his bare hands then skinned him alive and fed him to his two pit bulls. Unfortunately, the killing part had been left up to the leader of The Soldiers. Yury was left feeling helpless. He wanted to do something for her. He just didn’t know what to do.

What could a man like him do for a woman like her? For the past two months, he’d been her daughter’s chauffeur, taking her back and forth from there to Criss’s house so she could have sleepovers with Criss’s niece, Shy. On numerous occasions, he’d been forced by the two children to have tea parties. A big ass man like him having tea parties.

He’d looked ridiculous. Yet, their smiles had made it worth it. Their laughter temporarily muted the cries of his victims that were on repeat in his thoughts day and night. As a man who couldn’t have kids, he adored them. Which was why he’d been shocked as hell when Boris turned his back on his wife and daughter, leaving them to fend for themselves.

How could any man do that to his woman, to his child? It was true, Yury was no Saint. However, what Boris had done to his family placed the now-deceased man in a different stratosphere than Yury. He was scum. The lowest of the low. He’d never deserved to have someone like Delilah as his wife.

He’d never deserved to have a daughter like Azariah in his life. Now, Boris was where he belonged, hell. And now, it was time for Yury to watch over those he’d left behind. The porch light came on and the garage door in front of him started rising. Fuck. She’d seen him. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he watched the door rise higher until it revealed the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about.

There she was, standing in the empty garage. Her car was still in the shop. Constantine was debating over whether or not he should return it to her or buy her a new one. Yury voted for buying her a new one. Yet, he wanted to be the one who purchased it for her. Coming from him, would she be willing to accept it?

Just thinking about her car incident had him wanting to hurt someone. She waved at him and smiled. That smile calmed him down a little. As she retreated, she motioned for him to pull into the garage. Yury waited until she was safely out of the way before driving forward. Behind his car, the garage door began to shut, shutting him inside with Delilah.

He stared at the items on his passenger seat. Would she like them? Would she think they were too much? Would she think it weird that he’d done this for her? Before he could talk himself out of it, he grabbed the items then exited the vehicle. That was as far as he got. He remained standing near the driver’s side of the car.

She remained standing in her doorway. He glanced over his shoulder at her when she called his name. Her gaze darted to the back seat of the car. He knew she was expecting him to have Con with him. She was probably thinking that at any moment, Con was going to step out of the car as he always did.

When the back door didn’t open, she asked, “What’s wrong? Is Con okay? Is Zariah okay? Please tell me Azariah is okay.”

“Everyone’s fine,” Yury assured her. “Zariah and Shy are at Con’s house learning to do makeup with Lina and eating buckets of ice cream.”

“Oh, okay. Um, Yury, what’s up? Why are you here alone?”

He could hear the apprehension in her voice. Normally, it was him driving Con to see her. Normally, it was him sending his gifts to her by Con and pretending they were from Con. But Con’s petty ass had refused to continue the charade. Con wanted him to step up and be her protector.

For that reason, Yury had been forced to come on his own or not at all. Not at all was not an option. He couldn’t stay away from her. He didn’t have the strength to do so. He didn’t know what to say to make the nervous expression on her face disappear. He should just give her the stuff and leave.

He could always drive down the street and find somewhere to park so he could keep watch over her house. She clutched her robe together. His gaze dropped to her body. She was fully clothed and though he was trying not to stare, he couldn’t help but notice that she was finally gaining her weight back. Her curves had returned.

“Yury, you’re scaring me.” She took a step back.

Fuck. He should go. He should get back in the car and leave. First, he would do what he’d come to do. Yury strode forward. He didn’t miss the small step she took backward as he neared her. What the hell had he expected? Yury quickly handed her the plate of food he’d prepared then turned and headed back to his car. He’d just opened the door when she called his name.

“Yury?”

He stopped. Back to her, he said, “Yes?”

“Did Criss or Con cook this?”

He should continue the charade. He should continue letting him think the food he brought over every weekend was from Con and Cristal. But Con was right. It was time for him to stop pretending. Since he was going to be the one protecting her from now on, she needed to get used to having him around. She didn’t have to like him, but she needed to get accustomed to him doing small things like this for her.

Yury shook his head. “Neither Con nor Criss prepared that.”

There was a pause and then she asked, “Did you cook this?”

He hesitated before nodding, but he didn’t turn around. He didn’t want to see the look of disappointment on her face.

“All of those homecooked meals Con has been bringing me, they’ve been from you, haven’t they? You were the one who cooked them for me?”

Yury nodded. For a long time, she didn’t say anything. Unable to stand the silence a second longer, Yury opened his car door. It was time for him to leave.

“Do you want to come inside?”

He paused. Not just his movements. Everything inside him paused. His breathing, his heart, his thoughts. Surely, he hadn’t heard her correctly.

“I made a pie yesterday. You can have a slice.”

Was she inviting him in? Was she willing to be alone with him? Should he go inside or should he leave her be? He wanted more than pie. He wanted her. All of her. Monsters can’t always get what they want. He would accept the pie and then he’d leave. Yury closed the door then faced her.

“Pie sounds good.”

Smiling, she motioned for him to join her inside. Yury entered the home of the woman he’d been in love with for the past five years. In his lifetime, he’d gone on countless secret missions, been shot numerous times, and even dumped in the middle of the ocean once. Yet, he’d never felt more nervous in his life than he felt in that moment.





***


Delilah





She was used to being around killers.

She’d even married one. Since doing so, she’d learned that not all of them were bad. Well, it kind of depended on what your definition of bad was. Truth was, the Soldiers had done more good for her than her own family had. Being around killers was nothing new to Delilah Norin.

However, being around Yury was different. There had always been something about him that scared her. It wasn’t the fact that he was a man of few words. That had never bothered her. It was the way he looked at her whenever he thought she wasn’t looking that made her nervous.

Still, she knew he wasn’t a monster. The way he treated her daughter was proof of that. Her daughter adored the big man. Every time Zariah came home from one of Criss’s sleepovers, she couldn’t wait to tell Delilah about all the places Yury had taken her and Shy to visit. It seemed the big fearless man in front of her was still the same teddy bear of a man he’d been five years ago.

Delilah could vividly recall the first day she’d met Yury Drozdov. Though she’d heard Constantine talk about his right-hand man for years, she’d never met him. He’d always been off handling a mission or something. Then one day, Con invited her family on a vacation. It was the first one they’d had in years, so Delilah had been excited.

He’d invited them to Hawaii. It was a long-ass flight and it had been a struggle to keep Zariah entertained for the entire time. Her little behind had refused to fall asleep for the majority of the trip. Unlike her father, who’d been in and out of sleep the entire trip, leaving Delilah to deal with their young child alone.

During the flight, Con was the one who helped her keep Zariah entertained. That flight was the first time she’d laid eyes on Yury. He didn’t say one word to her during the flight. He’d grunted as a greeting and said ‘hmmm’ when she’d asked him how his day had been going. It was Con who told her that Yury didn’t like being around strangers.

After hearing that, she stopped talking to him to keep from making him feel uncomfortable. Apparently, children didn’t fit into the category of strangers. After landing and getting some rest, Boris had taken Zariah to the pool while Delilah continued to rest. The long ass flight had done a number on her.

However, resting while Boris watched over Zariah had been impossible for her. Feeling apprehensive about having her daughter near water without her there, Delilah had sneaked down to the pool to discreetly keep an eye on her child. As she’d feared, Boris had fallen asleep on a lounge chair with Zariah in his lap.

Of course, kids would be kids. As soon as Boris fell asleep, Zariah had gone over to the pool. Before Delilah could come out of hiding to snatch up her child, Yury had swooped in. Delilah hadn’t known what she should fear more, the deep ass pool or the nearly seven-foot-tall stranger who was holding her child.

But then Con stepped outside and joined Yury, and that put Delilah at ease, somewhat. With an oversized beach hat shielding her face from view, she’d sat in a lounge chair and watched Con and Yury interact with her daughter, ready to step in if she felt her baby was in danger.

When Con had gone back into the hotel to take a phone call, leaving her child with his right-hand man, she’d nearly revealed her presence. However, just as she was about to get out of her chair, Yury smiled at Azariah. That smile stopped Delilah dead in her tracks. It was a smile a man like him hadn’t seemed capable of.

It was a smile she wouldn’t have been able to picture him sporting if she hadn’t seen it for herself. It was a smile that made her sweet daughter burst into giggles. A child’s laughter was contagious. Zariah’s laughter made Yury laugh and Delilah found herself relaxing in her seat and watching Con’s right-hand man chase her daughter around the pool.

Every time Zariah got too close to the edge of the pool, he steered her away from it. During the entire time, Boris’s ass had been passed out asleep, and had no idea what was going on with his child. Yury played with Zariah for nearly an hour until he tired her out then he returned her to her father.

He’d had to shake Boris repeatedly to wake him up. When Boris started heading to the room with their child, Delilah snuck back up to the room to make it there before he did. Not once during the trip did Boris mention he’d fallen asleep and left their child alone. Anything could’ve happened to her.

Delilah had been the one to bring it up on their last night in Hawaii. That night, Boris had returned to the room late, smelling like alcohol and perfume. Cheap perfume. Delilah didn’t wear cheap perfume. He claimed he’d been at the hotel bar and that the perfume from the lady next to him must’ve gotten on him.

Lies. That lie was what started their argument and led to her bringing up what happened to Zariah. The bastard had even denied falling asleep near the pool despite her telling him she’d witnessed it with her own eyes. It was on that trip that she realized her husband was full of shit.

And not just regular shit either. Cow shit. No, horse shit. His drunk ass passed out in the middle of the argument, leaving her angry and frustrated, with no one to yell at. She’d been so pissed off, that she’d picked up a sleeping Zariah and headed to Con’s room to ask him to switch rooms with her.

Tears had streamed down her cheeks as she walked down the lonely hotel hallway. On her way to Con’s room, she’d run into Yury. He frowned when he saw her and she remembered that he didn’t like being around strangers. She tried to step past him, but he blocked her from doing so.

His large frame nearly took up the entire hallway. When she tried to sidestep him again, he sidestepped also, preventing her from passing. It was then that he said his first words to her. Words that had stuck with her until this very day. Words she’d repeated to herself a few times over the last few years.

“You should never cry over someone you’ve never seen cry over you,” he’d said in that deep, rough voice of his. A voice that lingered in her thoughts long after her trip to Hawaii.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Move out of my way, please.”

“I know you’re crying over Boris.”

The only way he could’ve known that she was crying over Boris was if he’d seen her husband doing something he shouldn’t have been doing right before he returned to their room. Had he lectured Boris the way he was lecturing her? Probably not. Men stuck together.

“What goes on between my husband and I is not your busin…”

“Have you ever seen him cry over you?” He asked, interrupting her speech.

“What does that have to do with you?”

“Answer the question.”

“That’s none of your business. Move.”

“I’ll move when you answer the question.”

“Look, Con’s Right-hand Man, I don’t…”

“My name is Yury.”

“Huh?”

“You called me Con’s Right-hand Man. That’s not my name. My name is Yury.”

“I don’t care if your name is Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Why don’t you go back to being ‘silent, but deadly’ and get the hell out of my way?”

“You shouldn’t curse that way in front of your child.”

“She’s sleeping you fucking….” Delilah sighed then took a deep breath and released it slowly. Normally, she didn’t curse in front of her child. But she’d been pissed off and hurt plus that big mountain of a man wouldn’t get out of her fucking way. It was just… it was just… all too much. All of it had been too much.

Unable to stop herself, she’d burst into tears. If she hadn’t been so upset and hurt, she would’ve burst out laughing at the look of pure horror that appeared on Yury’s face when she’d started bawling. He clearly hadn’t spent much time around crying women. Not knowing what to do, he’d grabbed her arm and led her down the hall.

Thinking back on it, she probably should’ve resisted him. At the time, she’d been too distraught to think about resisting. He’d led her to his hotel room. Again, she probably should’ve protested or something. She hadn’t. He’d gently tucked both her and Zariah into his bed like that was where they belonged.

“Stay here,” he ordered. “You can cry here if you want. But you should never let others see you cry.”

“Why?” She’d asked between sobs.

“That’s how they find out what your weaknesses are.” That said, he turned to leave.

“Where will you stay?” she’d whispered.

“I’ll stand outside and make sure no one bothers you and the little one.”

“Wait, what?” She’d moved to sit up.

“Stay,” he ordered then left the room.

She’d obeyed. Why had she obeyed?

To this day, she still didn’t know.





Chapter Five





Yury





She’d stayed in his bed and cried until her head ached.

Then she cried some more as she watched her daughter sleep. She hadn’t cried because her heart had been broken. A broken heart had been the least of her worries. It wasn’t like her marriage to Boris had been a love connection. It had been a marriage of convenience, a marriage of necessity. A means for survival.

She’d married him because he’d promised to protect her from the people hunting her. Her tears hadn’t been tears of heartache. Delilah had shed those tears because of her wounded pride. She and Boris had made a vow. And she’d respected that vow. She’d been faithful to him. She’d kept up her end of their deal.

Not him though. On their first family vacation together, he’d returned to their room smelling like cheap perfume. What was the point of him returning at all? It would’ve been better if he’d stayed out all night. Then he could’ve lied and said he’d gotten drunk and passed out in Con’s room.

That was a lie she would’ve believed. She’d felt even more disrespected because he hadn’t tried to hide it and he hadn’t put any effort into his lie. She may not be the love of his life, but that didn’t mean she was just going to sit around and be disrespected. That night, she’d made up her mind to divorce him.

She hadn’t needed him for protection anymore. Con was Zariah’s godfather. Delilah knew if she asked him for a job, he’d find something for her to do. And she knew that he’d watch over her and help her protect Zariah. And he’d do it without asking for anything in return.

With her mind made up, she’d wiped her eyes and promised herself she would never cry over someone who’d never cried over her again. It had taken her a while to calm herself down. Once she had, she’d climbed out of bed, pulled the covers up over Zariah, then she’d strode to the front door to peek out.

Part of her hadn’t believed Yury when he’d told her he was going to stand watch over the room all night. She’d been surprised to find him standing right in front of the door with his arms folded over his chest. He turned his head to the left slightly when she opened the bedroom door.

“Is the little one still asleep?”

It was cute how he called Zariah “the little one” instead of the kid or the child.

“She is.”

“Are you done crying?”

“I am.”

He remained silent. So, did she. She’d felt awkward just standing there in the doorway watching him. With nothing to say, she’d turned to go back inside.

“If you’re not sleepy, you can come out here for a while. As long as you don’t cry. I have the keycard in my pocket. The little one is safe in there.”

Did she want to go out there with him? Why should she? He was still a stranger. She didn’t know where he was from or what he was capable of. Then she remembered how he’d cared for Zariah when Boris had been passed out. She remembered the smile that had crossed over his rugged face as he played with her child.

Because of that smile, she stepped out of the room. He moved across the hall to the other wall and leaned against it while she leaned against the closed door. Though they were standing facing each other, he stared at the wall next to her head, not making eye contact with her. She took advantage of that by staring intently at him.

He was nothing like the father of her child. Boris was only a few inches taller than her. For that reason, he hated for her to wear high heels. Yury towered over her, making her feel small. At the time, she’d been much thicker than she was now. The fact that he’d made her feel small was saying something.

His gaze had slid to hers. She’d looked away and stared down at the floor, embarrassed to be caught staring. Embarrassed by the fact that she was feeling nervous around him. It wasn’t the normal kind of nervous either. It wasn’t the ‘I’m nervous because I’m with a stranger’ feeling. It was that other kind of nervous.

That, ‘damn he tall and sexy,’ nervous. That type of feeling was something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. It was something she’d never experienced with Boris. Even though she hadn’t been in love with Boris, and even though she’d been pissed off at Boris, she’d still felt guilty for looking at another man that way.

What she’d felt for Yury at that moment made her just as bad as Boris. Cheating started in the mind. And her mind had been picturing the big man naked. Those errant thoughts had brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. They’d slipped down her cheeks before she had a chance to wipe them away.

“Don’t do that,” Yury ordered. Through blurred vision, she’d watched him reach for her then lower his hand and say, “I don’t like to talk. But I’ll talk to you until you get sleepy. But only if you stop crying.”

“I’m not a crier, usually. I just…” She sighed. It would be rude of her to dump her baggage onto him. It would be rude of her to tell him that she’d regretted settling for Boris. It would be rude of her to tell him that if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, she would’ve left Boris a long time ago. Instead of saying all of that, she’d said, “I’ll take you up on that deal. I’ll stop crying.” She wiped her eyes.

“I’ll start talking,” he told her. “What do you want me to talk about?”

“Anything.”

“I… don’t, I don’t know how to make small talk.”

“Then don’t. Talk to me about you and Con. How did you meet him? Where did you grow up?”

“I think I’d rather make small talk.”

Delilah chuckled. “Then let’s talk about, um….”

“I have two dogs.”

“Oh, you do?”

He nodded. “Pit bulls.”

“Okay. What are their names?”

“Today and Tomorrow.”

Delilah had burst out laughing. He hadn’t. “Wait, you’re serious?”

He nodded. “Sometimes I call them Day and Morrow.”

Delilah chuckled. “Day and Morrow are cute names. How old are they?”

He shrugged. “They’re puppies. I was on a mission, uh, I had a job…”

“It’s okay. I’m married to a Soldier. You don’t have to be ashamed of what you do.” The look he’d given her had increased that nervous feeling she’d been trying to suppress. “So,” she cleared her throat. “You had a job and what happened?”

“That’s where I found them. The guy I was after was breeding pit bulls for dog fights.”

Delilah shook her head. “That’s horrible.”

“After my job was done, I put in an anonymous call to a local animal shelter. When I was leaving, I saw Day and Morrow. They looked at me. I looked at them. And, now they live with me.”

“Where are they right now?”

“With a sitter.”

This big killing machine had hired a babysitter for his dogs. Never judge a book by its cover. Sometimes it was the people who’d seen the darkest days that had the most light in them.

“I bet they like to run all over your house, huh?” Delilah asked, wanting Yury to talk more.

That smile from earlier returned to his face and he started telling her about all the trouble his puppies got into. When they’d started their conversation, they’d both been standing against opposites walls. As the conversation progressed, they’d slid down the walls and were now seated on the floor across from each other.

As the conversation changed from pets to favorite cars, Yury ended up seated right next to her as he told her about the first car he’d purchased. They talked for so long that Delilah didn’t even remember falling asleep. All she knew was that one second, she was chatting about any and everything, and the next, she was waking up in bed, next to Zariah.

Light shined through the hotel window like a beacon saying, hoe, you’ve got a whole husband, why are you in another man’s room? She’d scooped her daughter up and left the room only to find Yury sitting in the hallway, watching the door. Last night, they’d chatted like old friends.

Then morning came and so did her sense of propriety. He too must’ve regained his senses. He hadn’t said a word to her as she left his bedroom and headed down the hallway. Though she’d wanted to, Delilah had resisted the urge to look back. In her room, Boris had still been passed out in bed.

She’d laid her child down on the other bed, sat down next to her, then stared at her snoring husband. One thought was on repeat in her mind: this is my life. This is my fucking life. Delilah had sat on the edge of the bed for over an hour, staring at the man she’d married for security, for safety.

She hadn’t married for love. So why was she seated there upset because she wasn’t receiving any love? Why was she upset because Boris had never stared at her the way his friend, Yury, had last night? Why was she upset because she and her husband had never stayed up late at night talking about unimportant things?

And why the fuck was she upset because they didn’t have puppies named Day and Morrow? What the hell was wrong with her? As her thoughts ran rampant, Boris had turned over and yawned. His eyes drifted open and his gaze met hers.

“Hey, baby,” he’d whispered.

Hey baby? Hey baby! Hey, fucking baby! Delilah snapped. “I want a divorce.”

He sat up. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the perfume on your clothes. I’m talking about this being a vacation, but you spent no time with me at all. I’m talking about you always working late hours and barely spending time with Zariah and me. I’m talking about this sham of a marriage…”

“This sham of a marriage saved your life.”

“Yeah, thank you. But now it’s killing me.”

“How is it killing you? You have everything you need. You have a roof over your head. Food on your table.”

Yeah, but she didn’t have what she really wanted. She didn’t have love. She didn’t have passion.

“And most importantly,” Boris continued. “Those damn traffickers you testified against are no longer after you. So, if you ask me, you’re doing better now than you were before.”

“Is this what you wanted for us? When you asked me to marry you, is this what you pictured?”

Boris shrugged. “I guess.”

“Why did you even ask me to marry you?”

“Because you needed protection. And because….”

“Because what?”

“When I rescued you, while I was undercover doing that job,” he swallowed. “I started to like you. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you ever again. I wanted to protect you.”

“What happened to those feelings?”

“They’re still here. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“It’s just, marriage isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I know it and you know it.”

“It hasn’t been hard.”

“Really? Is that why you spent the night in Yury’s room?”

“What?”

“Is that why you sat up all night talking with Yury?”

“I…”

“I saw you with him. I watched you laugh as he talked in that irritating monotone voice of his. I saw how you looked at him. I saw how he looked at you. That’s when I realized that I needed to step my game up. So, I will.” Boris rose and came over to sit beside her. “I’ll step my game up, Lilah. I’m not just a husband, I’m a father and I’m your friend. I should’ve been the one you stayed up talking to all night last night. I should’ve been the one making you laugh. If a monster like him can make you laugh, I know I can. Give me another chance to do that, please.”

When had she become such a weak bitch? More tears dripped from her eyes. Boris wiped them away.

“I messed up,” he told her.

“Boris, if we’re not happy, we shouldn’t be together. We should just get a div…”

“Let’s start over. Let’s start over today, okay? Right now. We can renew our vows. I’ll get you a new ring. Hell, I’ll even get you a new house if you want me to. I’ll… I’ll…”

“Boris…”

“I want us to work, Lilah. I don’t want to lose my family. I fucked up. But I swear, sweetie, I won’t ever do this shit again. It’s not worth it. It’s not worth losing my family. Please. Please, baby. I need you. I need our daughter. Please don’t take my daughter away from me.”

And that was what had gotten her. That one word. Daughter. She had a daughter. And her daughter needed her father. She didn’t want her baby girl to grow up the way she had, fatherless. Because of her daughter, Delilah decided to forgive the man who’d rescued her from a sex trafficking ring and helped her bring down the local perverted freaks who ran it.

She decided to forgive the man who’d helped her get a new identity so that the ‘big’ guys who were over the ring wouldn’t find her. At the last minute, she and Boris renewed their vows in Hawaii. In Hawaii, they decided to put an end to their marriage of convenience and begin anew.

Those feelings she’d felt for Yury, she’d pushed those to the back of her mind. She’d pushed that entire encounter to the back of her mind, closed the door on them, and locked it. Those feelings hadn’t mattered. Those feelings weren’t even real. So, what, they’d had a moment. It was just a moment. A momentary lapse in judgment.

She’d forgotten about their encounter soon after and had gone on to live a happy life with her husband. Boris changed after Hawaii and they’d lived their fairy tale life up until the day he left her and their daughter behind and faked his own kidnapping. Up until Con hired someone to track him down.

Up until the leader of the Soldiers killed him for betraying the Brotherhood. And just like that, the fairy tale was over. The end. The princess had found out that the prince who claimed he’d changed hadn’t changed at all. Actually, that frog that the princess kissed hadn’t turned into a prince at all.

He’d turned into a pretender. A fake prince. The princess found out that there was absolutely nothing charming about the fake prince at all. During their marriage, her fake prince had said all the right words. In front of her, he’d done all the right things. He never came home late again.

He never came home smelling like perfume again. After they renewed their vows, he started treating her like a princess. And she’d gotten used to being pampered. She’d gotten used to being treasured. And he’d spoiled their child also, buying her whatever she wanted. But, it hadn’t been real.

He’d never done anything real for her or Zariah. He’d placed them in a beautiful cage and provided them with the most expensive bird feed. However, that hadn’t been love. He’d never cooked for her or Zariah. Not once. Not even a microwavable meal. Yeah, he’d played with their daughter. And Zariah had good memories of her father.

But he’d never helped her with her homework or took her to or from school. He’d never stayed up late to watch over her while she was sick. He’d never gone to PTA meetings nor had he ever stayed up late baking cupcakes for birthday parties. From the outside looking in, he’d seemed like the perfect husband.

When people had seen the two of them together, they’d thought, there goes a match made in heaven. And because it was a better relationship than any of the ones she’d grown up seeing, she’d accepted it. What a fool she’d been. She’d really thought she was in love. She’d thought he’d been in love with her.

She hadn’t been unhappy. He hadn’t abused her. Not once. He hadn’t called her out of her name. Not once. He hadn’t hurt Zariah. Not once. To a person who’d never felt love, that had sure felt like the real thing. Boris’s actions proved to her that he’d never been in love with her. And the fact that she hadn’t cried once after finding out what he’d done helped her to realize she hadn’t loved him at all either.

They’d both been going through the motions. They’d both been pretenders. Now, she was seated across her kitchen table, staring at a plate of food that had been prepared for her by the man she’d gone out of her way to avoid for the past five years. A man her ex-husband liked to refer to as, The Monster.

Delilah raised her head to stare into Yury’s dark eyes. That look that had made her nervous five years ago was still there in his gaze. This time, she didn’t look away. This time, she had no reason to feel ashamed. Staring at him, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d chosen the right prince. Or should she have ended it all in Hawaii?

If she’d done so, she wouldn’t be in her current situation. Maybe she wasn’t like all the other girls. Perhaps it wasn’t a Prince Charming she’d needed all this time. Perhaps this princess hadn’t needed saving from the dragon guarding the castle. Maybe it was the dragon that this princess craved.

And right now, there was enough heat in Yury’s gaze to set them both on fire.





Chapter Six





Delilah





What the hell was she thinking?

She was a mother. Mothers couldn’t date dragons. She couldn’t date a man who was even more dangerous than her ex. She was pretty sure that was written in those mommy-to-be books that she’d read when she first learned she was pregnant with Zariah. Too bad those books hadn’t told her what to do after the father of her child was killed by a crime lord.

A book about that would be helpful right now. Maybe she’d write one and sell it to the wives of the Soldiers. That could be a profitable business. She could use the money too. She refused to spend the rest of her life living off Con. She was a grown-ass woman. She could take care of her small family by herself.

“Are you about to cry?” That deep voice of Yury’s filled her kitchen and brought her thoughts back to her present situation.

“Um, no. I’m not. Are you about to cry?” She joked.

“I forgot how to cry a long time ago.”

Joke ruined. But, she felt his words deep in her soul. “I think I’ve forgotten how to cry also.”

“Crying is overrated,” he told her.

“True. Crying is for the weak. And you’re not weak. Neither am I.”

“No, you’re not. But are you at least hungry?”

“I’m starving actually. You brought enough food for two. Since Zariah isn’t here, you and I can share it.”

With a nod, he rose from his seat, walked over to her cabinets, and took out two plates. He searched through her drawers until he found some utensils. She watched the way he moved. He walked around her kitchen liked this was his home. He appeared more relaxed than he had when he’d first gotten out of his car. There was an air to Yury that she’d never noticed on anyone else.

Even when he was handling the smallest task, like searching for utensils, he still exuded confidence. No, it wasn’t just confidence. It was more than that. He had swag. Not the normal swag either. Big dick swag. Speaking of big dicks, it had been months since she’d had a big dick in her kitchen. Actually, she’d never had a big dick in this kitchen.

Boris had an average dick. It got the job done, but it was nothing to brag about. Three times out of ten he’d made her cum, which wasn’t bad. However, Yury seemed like the type who could make a woman cum six times out of ten. Scratch that, seven. He returned to the table and sat down. He even sat down like he was carrying around a big dick.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“Are you ready to eat?”

“Oh, oh, um, yeah. I’m… I’m ready. Are you ready for some of my pie?”

He swallowed. Damn, even his Adam’s apple was sexy.

“I would love to have some of your pie.”

Why did he have to say it like that, all sexy and shit?

“Okay. I’ll go get it.” She stood and left the table. She rushed to the refrigerator, opened it, then leaned down and used the door to shield her face from him. “Pull yourself together,” she whispered to herself.

It was like there was a little demon standing on the butter in her refrigerator telling her to do naughty things. Right next to it, leaning against her milk, was an angel who was telling her to be good. They both wanted to offer up their opinions.

“Remember that you’re a new widow,” the angel next to the milk said. “You’re in debt and you should be out there looking for a job. You don’t have time to be thinking about dick. Especially not Yury’s dick. He’s a complicated man. You don’t need any more complications in your life.”

“True,” Delilah nodded. “I’ve lived a very complicated life. I’m done with complications.”

The devil had a different opinion. “Now is the perfect time to think about dick, Delilah. You’re angry. You’re frustrated. You have all these pent-up emotions that you can’t think of a way to release. Let Yury be your outlet. Use him to fuck away your troubles. He’s a big boy. He can handle it.”

“True,” Delilah nodded. “He is a big boy. I’m sure he can handle all of this energy I have stored up.”

The angel frowned. “You used Boris as a safety net and look what happened. If you use Yury, you’ll end up in a worse situation than you’re in now. No more using people.”

Guilt crept over her. “True dat, little angel. I need to learn to depend on myself. No more using others for protection or even as a sex toy. That’s wrong.”

The devil poked her with its tiny red pitchfork and said, “Bitch, does he look like the type of man you can use? No. Look at how he stares at you. He wants to slide inside. You and Boris stopped sexing regularly a couple of years ago. You’ve got cobwebs down there now. Let big boy sweep them out for you. And, if you feel like you need to give him something in return, throw in a little head. Fair is fair.”

Delilah rolled her eyes. She hadn’t given head in years. She wasn’t about to embarrass herself in front of Yury with her amateur oral sex skills.

“I vote on making him leave after he finishes eating the pie,” the angel spoke up.

“I vote on making him leave after he finishes eating the pie also,” the devil agreed. “And by the pie, I mean, the pussy. Make him leave after he finishes eating the pussy.”

“You okay?” That deep voice sounded from behind her, close behind her.

Delilah stood up and spun around. She ran straight into Yury’s chest. His massive chest. She took a step back and nearly fell. How? She had no idea. His hands immediately went to her waist to help her stand upright.

“Did I scare you?” he asked, towering over her.

“A little. I didn’t expect you to be so close.” She instantly regretted saying those words when his hand fell away from her waist and he stepped back.

“You’re never going to get the dick like this,” the little devil said, who was now seated on her shoulder.

“He needs to keep his distance anyway,” the angel spoke up from her other shoulder.

Yury shoved his hands into his pockets and asked, “I thought you were going to get the pie?”

“I am.”

He nodded toward the counter. “Isn’t that the pie on the counter?”

She came up on her tiptoes to stare over his shoulder. Yep, the pie was on the counter. So, why was she looking for it in the refrigerator?

“I’m looking in the refrigerator for some whipped cream to put on the pie. Whipped cream tastes good on sweet potato pie.”

“It does?”

She nodded. “I’ll grab the whipped cream.” She turned around and searched the refrigerator for the whipped cream.

“Bitch, you ain’t got no whipped cream,” the devil reminded her.

“It’s true,” the angel agreed. “You never buy whipped cream. I don’t even know why you said that.”

Because I was panicking, Delilah thought. She took a deep breath then faced Yury again. “It seems I’ve eaten all of the whipped cream.”

“I’ll bring you some tomorrow.”

“Tell him to bring the dick too,” the devil whispered in her ear.

Ignoring her naughty demon, Delilah simply smiled and said, “Okay.”

“I’ll heat the food I brought while you cut the pie.”

“Okay.” That seemed to be the only word she knew how to say.

“You can say dick. Try and say it with me. Da-ick. See how it rolls off the tongue,” her inner devil said.

She watched Yury walk over to the table and get the containers of food he’d brought. He even walked like he was toting a big dick. Ugh, why was she thinking about that? Just fifteen minutes ago, she’d been ready to dig up Boris’s body and mutilate it. Now, she was picturing herself riding Yury.

Maybe this was another stage of depression. Yeah, that had to be it. That had to be what this was. As he reheated the food, she closed the refrigerator then walked over to the pie. She cut two slices and placed them on saucers then carried them over to the table. Forks! They needed forks. She spun around to go get forks and caught Yury staring at her. He didn’t even turn away after being caught. He just kept staring. Delilah swallowed.

“I forgot the forks,” she told him. He nodded. “I’m going to get them now.”

He nodded again, just as the microwave beeped, signaling the food was ready. He didn’t move. Neither did she. She just stood there, being weird. Why was she behaving like a high school girl who was experiencing her first crush? This wasn’t her first time being alone with a man. This wasn’t even her first time being alone with Yury. She needed to pull herself together and at least act like she had some sense.

“Do I make you nervous?”

His question surprised her. “Uh, no. Not really. Why?”

“It seems like I make you nervous.”

“Oh. No. I just, I’m not used to having people over anymore. I’ve become a bit of a recluse ever since…. Since… You know.”

“Yeah, I know.”

And just like that, she’d added more tension to the room. Trying to lighten it up, she asked, “So, do I make you nervous?” It was meant to be a joke. But his serious response floored her.

“Yes, Delilah, you make me very nervous.”

For a moment, she forgot how to talk. Once she found her voice, she asked, “How do I make you nervous?”

Eyes never straying from her, he replied with, “If I told you, it would only make you more nervous around me.”

Damn. She swallowed.

“I don’t want you to be more nervous around me, Delilah.”

He said her name like he was caressing it with his tongue. How was she supposed to keep herself from jumping him when he said her name like that? Ugh, why was her mind filled with horny thoughts? She was a grieving widow. She should be sad, not horny as fuck.

“I blame Boris,” the devil on her shoulder whispered in her ear. “You stopped enjoying the mediocre sex he provided and your pussy sort of just shriveled up. Then in stepped Mr. Big Dick and your pussy started blooming like a flower in the spring. I think you need to let him pluck you. I think your flower needs a good plucking.”

“Delilah, Con has asked me to watch over you. Someone put explosives on your car and Con is worried about you.”

Oh, so that was why he was there. Con had sent him. Disappointment crashed over her like a wave. She’d thought he was there because… never mind what she thought. It was just wishful thinking on her part.

“You’re here because Con sent you?”

“No.”

“You just said…”

“I said he asked me to watch over you because someone put explosives on your car. Which means someone is after you. That’s not why I’m here right now, though. I can watch over you from down the street. I don’t have to come inside to watch over you.”

“Then why did you come inside?”

Please don’t say Con told you to. Please don’t say Cristal asked you to cook for me. Please. For once, she wanted someone to want to be near her because of her, not because she needed protecting. He took so long to reply that she almost regretted asking her question.

“Because being away from you has become too hard.”

Once again, his words floored her and left her speechless.

“If I make you nervous,” he continued. “Tell me now and I’ll go back to the original plan to watch over you from outside.”

Wait, she wanted to backtrack to that first statement he’d made.

“What do you mean being away from me has become too hard?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Oh, no. Don’t go back to being silent. You said it, so explain it. What do you mean being away from me has become too hard?”

He turned and took the food out of the microwave. When he went to pass her, she stepped in his way, blocking him from walking by.

He chuckled. “Now it’s you who won’t let me pass.”

Delilah gasped. “You remember?”

Staring down at her, he whispered, “How could I forget?”

“I… over the years, you never said anything.”

“Neither did you.”

“I couldn’t. I was married.”

“And I couldn’t. You were married.”

Duh, Delilah.

“You’re not married to that bastard anymore,” he told her.

Delilah smiled. A real smile. Not one of those forced ones she’d been displaying for Cristal and Con to keep them from worrying about her. “No, I’m not married anymore.”

“And that’s what scares me.”

“Wait. What?”

He sat the container down on the counter. “I think it’s better if I watch over you from the outside. I’ll see myself out.” He moved to step past her again.

She blocked him, again. “I don’t understand. What just happened?”

“Move, Delilah.”

“Yury, what’s wrong?”

He stepped right. She followed. He stepped left. She quickly moved left. He grabbed her by her waist and lifted her thick ass up like she weighed nothing. He sat her on top of her counter then turned to leave. She grabbed the back of his shirt. He paused.

“If you want to leave,” she told him. “I’m not going to stop you. I just want to know what I said or did to make you suddenly want to leave.”

“You smiled at me. That’s why I have to leave. Come lower the garage door behind me.”

Turning to the side, he wrenched his shirt free of her grasp then left. A few seconds later, she heard her garage door open. Feeling like a zombie, she hopped off the counter and strode through her house, heading toward the garage. His car was still sitting in her parking lot on the other side of the garage.

She pressed the garage door button. The door started to lower. His car eased out of the driveway. She stood there until the garage door shut completely with a slight bang. And then there was nothing but darkness. For a brief moment, she’d felt excited again. For a brief moment, the darkness hadn’t felt so cold and a little light had shone through.

It wasn’t as bright as the light that Zariah exuded. She hadn’t expected it to be. She was just surprised that he’d been able to provide any light at all. So far, none of her closest friends had. When they came over, she counted down the minutes until she was free of them.

With Yury, it had been different. She hadn’t wanted him to leave. But he had. And now she was alone again. For the first time in months, she didn’t want to be alone. His words from earlier drifted through her thoughts.

“Being away from you has become too hard.”

He was out of his mind if he thought he could just say that to her then disappear. He couldn’t just come into her house and make her feel human again then disappear like a thief in the night. No. Uh-Uh. Not happening.

She was going to make Mr. Silent talk. He was going to explain to her what he’d meant when he said being away from her was too hard. Coming right out and asking wouldn’t work on Yury. He would just shut down and not say a word. She’d have to get creative if she wanted to get Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome to open up to her.

She strode back into the kitchen and stared at the containers of food on the counter. Yury had cooked for her. She couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her face. For the first time in a long time, she was excited about something other than Zariah’s cute little face.

“Yury Drozdov, you’ve brought a certain excitement back into my life. And I’m not letting you take it back.”





Chapter Seven





Yury





A cold shower hadn’t helped.

Neither had one hour on the treadmill. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get Delilah Norin off his mind. Yury climbed into bed, slid his shorts off, then kicked them away. He couldn’t sleep in clothes. He pulled the covers up over his face. His dogs were across the room, sound asleep, while their master was awake, unable to get any shut-eye.

Every time he closed his eyes, she appeared. He couldn’t seem to shake her, no matter how hard he tried. He could still see her in his mind, staring up at him with those big brown eyes and that beautiful brown skin. How could she even think that he’d forgotten their conversation in Hawaii?

That had been the first time in his life where he’d stayed up all night talking to a woman. He’d never done it before then and hadn’t done it since then. To this day, she was the only woman he’d ever wanted to talk to like that. Talking to her was easy. She didn’t gawk at him like he was a freak of nature.

Yeah, he was tall, that didn’t mean people had to stare. She also didn’t treat him like he was a monster. She knew what he did for a living and she’d still invited him into her house. She still allowed him to be around her child. Either she was crazy or she trusted that he would never do anything to hurt her or her little one.

He hoped it was the latter. He hoped she trusted him. He’d cut off his hand before he allowed himself to use it to hurt her. Five years ago, she’d smiled at him and made him want to open up to a woman for the first time in his life. Tonight, she’d smiled at him and made him want to hold on to her for the rest of his life.

He’d had no choice but to leave. If he’d stayed behind…. Shit, he was afraid of what he’d done if he’d stayed behind. If you gave food to a well taken care of dog, it would eat it at its leisure. No rush. It knew it had more food coming. If you gave a starving dog food, it would snatch it up so fast you’d almost lose your hand. It didn’t know when it would eat again. It didn’t know if you’d truly let it have the food or if you’d take it away.

Delilah’s smiles were like food to him. And he was a starving dog. Her smiles made him want to snatch her up and hold on to her so tightly that she’d never be able to escape him, ever. The rational part of him that was still human knew what he was feeling wasn’t right. These weren’t the feelings of a normal man.

A normal man wouldn’t snatch up a woman he liked and take her away in order to keep her from escaping him. That was called kidnapping and that shit was illegal. Then again, it wasn’t like he’d never kidnapped anyone before. Never a woman though. If he kidnapped Delilah, he’d have to kidnap Zariah too.

Yury shook his head. What the fuck was he thinking? He’d never do anything to make mother or child fear him. Kidnapping was off the table. The only thing he could do was keep his distance. He’d watch over her at night from the outside. During the day, they’d send one of their guys to watch her house and to follow Zariah to school.

This way they’d be able to protect them both day and night until they found out who was after them. It shouldn’t be this hard to find out who was trying to kill her. Yet, so far, they had no leads. The next best thing was to come right out and ask her about her past. He’d leave that to Con. He didn’t think she’d want to share that with him.

After the way he’d stormed out of her house tonight, she’d probably never want to share anything with him again, including a meal. Yury sighed and tossed the covers off of him. He hated that he’d ran away like a little bitch. He should’ve just stayed and eaten, then left. Or, he could’ve just sat there quietly and not said a word.

But every time she looked at him it did something to him. It made him want to do something to her. And a woman like her had no business fucking with a man like him. She damn sure shouldn’t have invited him in to eat pie. Especially not when what he truly wanted to eat was sweetness between her legs.

Yury closed his eyes and tried not to think about her legs. Damn, she had some sexy legs. Even in oversized pajamas, she still hadn’t been able to hide her curves. And when she’d bent over to look into the refrigerator, all he’d seen was her ass sticking out from behind the refrigerator door.

All that ass. His cock had responded instantly. Hell, he was still rock hard, thanks to her. That was the reason he’d taken a cold shower. The shower hadn’t helped at all. And if he didn’t do something soon, he’d never be able to go to sleep. Yury closed his eyes and eased his hand underneath the cover.

He’d tried to avoid doing this. He’d fought against it. In the end, his needs won. He gripped his cock tightly and groaned her name. Delilah. Fuck! He wished it was her holding him instead of his own hand. He slid his hand up then brought it down fast, wishing it was her sliding up and down on him.

Moving his hand faster, he pumped his cock, wishing it was her he was pumping into. He wished he could