Nikolai 2 (Her Russian Protector #6) (45 page)

"Eight fucking years! Eight motherfucking years!"

My jaw dropped. I had never seen Eric this angry. I had never heard him talk like that either. He was enraged to a point where he wasn’t thinking straight.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Nikolai ran into the dining room and stepped in front of me. He reached back with one hand, searching for me, and touched my hip. I rested my hand on his lower back. "Santos, why are you tearing up my dining room?"

"Tatiana's alive!" He said it as if daring Nikolai to deny it.

My husband glanced back at me. His taut expression told me he wasn’t thrilled I had told Eric the truth. Looking back at Eric, he nodded. "Yes, she is. She was in Houston a few weeks ago. She's back in Hong Kong now."

"Houston? She was here?"

"Yes. We met at the Four Seasons."

"She saw
you
. Eight fucking years—and she goes to
you
?" A sound that reminded me of a wolf's lonesome howl escaped Eric's throat. He picked up the vase of flowers from the center of the table and tossed it against the wall.

Nikolai jumped back and used his body to cover mine. I clung to his back and squeaked as the crystal shattered and rained down on the floor with the flowers and water.

"Eight years I grieved for that woman!" Eric jerked the antique lace tablecloth like a magician, but his trick wasn't well practiced. Votives in crystal cups flew through the air. "Eight years I let the guilt eat me."

"Eric!" Nikolai walked toward my cousin. "Stop."

"Stop? Stop what?" Eric let loose a strangled laugh. "Stop hating myself for being the reason the woman I loved was killed? Stop hating you for taking her from me? Stop spending night after night dreaming of all the ways I could kill you without getting caught?"

Nikolai didn't miss a beat. "One thing at a time, Eric. You don't want to cross all your favorite hobbies off your list at once."

"You bastard! You think this is funny?" Eric charged Nikolai for making that joke, but Nikolai was ready for him. He stepped just to the left before Eric made contact, wrapped his arms around Eric's shoulders and neck and swept my cousin's legs. Eric went down to his knees, and Nikolai slipped behind him, squeezing his arms around Eric's neck and shoulders with enough force to make him stop fighting.

"Enough, Eric." Nikolai held tight, but he wasn't trying to hurt him. "That's enough."

Eric raged for almost a minute and then surrendered with a sag of defeat. A ragged sob tore from his throat. "I fucking loved her so much. She was the only one. The only one."

"I know." Nikolai's grip loosened and changed to one of comfort. "I am sorry, Eric."

I watched the sworn enemies with a mix of shock and bewilderment. The tepid peace between them didn't last long. Eric threw his elbows back, slamming them into Nikolai's ribs in a cheap shot that sent him staggering backward. He clambered to his feet and leveled a dead-eyed but still wet stare toward Nikolai. "If you expect a thank you—"

"I don't expect shit from you, Santos." Nikolai winced as he touched his bruised side. "What I did wasn't for you. It was for her. She deserved a chance to live. She got it."

"This doesn't change things between us."

"Of course it doesn't."

Eric stormed out of the dining room, but I raced after him. Glass shards crunched beneath the white soles of my slip-on walking shoes. "Eric! Wait!" I caught up with him in the entryway, but I had to hop over a bound and unconscious Boy to reach him. "Please!"

He whirled around on me. "What?"

"Eric, I'm sorry." I blinked rapidly and hot tears spilled onto my cheeks. "I'm so sorry it came out like that. I never wanted you to find out like this."

"Why the hell are you apologizing to me for something you didn't do?"

"You just destroyed my dining room. You tried to kidnap me. I'm a little on edge, Eric! Apologizing for breaking your heart all over again seemed like the right thing to do."

Eric exhaled roughly and wiped at his own wet face with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry. I'll replace all of that stuff I broke. Just send me the bill."

"Are you kidding me? It's just stuff. It doesn’t matter." I clasped his hand. "You're my family." I touched the baby with both of our hands. "You're this baby's family."

"God," he said on an anguished sigh. "Are we the most fucked up family or what?"

"I don't know. We are what we are. This is it." I gestured between us. "I want you in my life, Eric. You're important to me. But…"

"But?"

"I know how hard it is for you to see Nikolai. Especially now," I added, thinking of the lies that had just been blown open in our dining room. "If you need to cut me out of your life for your own sanity—"

"Stop," he said gruffly. "I'm not cutting you or the baby out of my life." His fingertips grazed my stomach. "We'll figure it out. Somehow."

"Okay."

He drew back his hand. "I need to go, Vivian."

"I understand."

He reached for the door and left the house. He was almost to the steps when he turned back around and crossed the porch, not stopping until he was standing so close to me I could count each and every one of his eyelashes. "Seven years ago, a woman contacted me after Tatiana went missing."

"What woman?"

"I don't know. I only met her once. I got into my Explorer at the end of my shift, and she was in the backseat. I damned near had a heart attack!" He shook his head. "She knew a lot about me. She knew even more about Tatiana. I wanted her to tell me more, but she got out of my SUV and disappeared like a fucking ghost. She left behind a dossier."

"Come on, Eric! This sounds like something from a spy movie!"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Vivi!" His harsh whisper made that point. "I think she was a spy. Not for us, though. For
them
."

"Them? Wait. You mean Russia?"

"Yes."

"You think she was…what? KGB? FSB?"

"I don't know. She was older. So probably KGB."

"Eric," I said with a disbelieving laugh. "That's crazy."

"Is it?" He stepped even closer. "Who else but a fucking spy would know that Maksim Prokhorov is Nikolai's biological father?"

My heart fluttered in my chest. "Eric, please tell me that you haven't repeated that to anyone."

"I'm still alive. Obviously not."

Trying to wrap my head around the idea that a Russian spy had been feeding Eric information, I asked, "Has she contacted you since then?"

"No. I think she was disappointed that I took so long to act on the information."

My belly flip-flopped with nervousness. I tried not to freak out. "What do you mean? How did you act on it?"

Eric's gaze dropped to his shoes. It took him a long time to admit, "I'm the one who got Nikolai put on the No Fly List."

"What! Why would you do that?" Before he could answer, I snarled, "Do you have any idea what that was like for me? Do you have any idea how dangerous it was for Nikolai to get to me in London?"

"Give me a break, Vivian! He wouldn't be on that list if he didn't have a past that had earned him a spot."

"He's not a terrorist!"

"No, he's a fucking gangster who belongs to an organization that sells arms to some of the worst people on this planet! He deserves to be on that list, and I'm sorry if it inconveniences your vacation plans."

"Are you finished?" I crossed my arms and refused to take the bait. I wasn't going to get into an argument with Eric over this. I had made my choice to be with Nikolai with eyes wide open. There was nothing Eric could say right now that would change that.

"Yes." His shoulders deflated from their high, tense positioning once he realized I wasn't going to fight with him.

"Do you still have the dossier?"

"Yes."

"I want it."

"Excuse me?"

"I want the dossier, Eric."

"No."

"That wasn’t a request. I'm telling you that you're going to give me the entire dossier."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll call Kostya," I threatened. "When he's finished, I'll call my dad. If that doesn't work, I'll send Ten to visit you."

Shock filtered across Eric's face. "You're serious."

"I’m protecting my family." I touched his arm. "You included."

"Me? How is threatening me to get that dossier protecting me?"

"Did you ever stop to wonder why this ex-spy chose you? Did you even consider for one second how much trouble you are in now? Those documents that you used to get Nikolai on that list? They were all destroyed under Maksim's orders. He wanted them gone for a reason. Now you've dragged copies that shouldn't exist back out into the light of day, Eric."

My heart raced as I considered the lengths Nikolai's father would go to in order to preserve his standing and Nikolai's. "You have to let me protect you, Eric. Let me see what's in that dossier."

Eric looked at me as if he didn't recognize me. "You've changed. You're…hard."

The reason for that change came to me swiftly. I cover my small baby bump with my hands. "I’m going to be a mother soon. I don't have the luxury of being soft anymore."

Eric glanced away from me. He stared at the hanging pots of brightly colored calibrachoa decorating the porch. "You can call off your dogs. I'll get the dossier and bring it to you tonight."

"Thank you."

He nodded and stepped back. His gaze landed on Boychenko who was beginning to wake up behind me. "Tell the kid I'm sorry about that. If he ever needs to get out of a ticket or something, tell him to call me. I'll take care of it."

Knowing Boy, he would consider a throbbing head a fair trade for the chance to get out of a future scrape with Houston PD. Eric left without another word, and I closed the door. When I turned around, Nikolai knelt next to a moaning Boy and whipped out the knife he kept in his boot. He quickly cut the zip ties binding Boy's wrists and ankles. Without warning, he ripped the strip of duct tape off his street soldier's mouth. Boy cried out in pain and slapped a hand to his red lips.

"Sorry." Nikolai patted Boy's chest. "It's better to just get it over with, Roman. Can you sit up?"

"Yes." He grasped Nikolai's hand and groaned when he was upright again.

"Vee, get Ten."

"Okay." I scurried out of the entryway and across the house. I opened the French doors in my studio and called out for him. "Ten?"

"Yeah?" He emerged from the small potting shed where Nikolai kept most of his garden tools.

"Come inside."

He must have heard something in my voice because he jogged across the yard. "What's wrong?"

"I think Boy may need to be taken to the emergency room."

"What?" He stayed a step behind me on the trek back to the front of the house.

We found Boychenko sitting on a chair in the living room. Nikolai crouched down in front of him. He didn't look happy. He barked a set of orders at Ten in rapid-fire Russian. Ten helped Boy off the chair, and Nikolai followed them out of the house.

I made my way to the dining room where I surveyed the damage. With a heavy sigh, I started picking up unbroken dishes and tableware.

"Leave it," Nikolai ordered gently. He stood in the doorway between the kitchen and dining rooms looking a disheveled, exhausted mess.

"But—"

"Leave it," he said more firmly.

I put the serving platter in my hands back on the sideboard. Holding his gaze, I asked, "Did you hear everything Eric said?"

Nikolai nodded stiffly.

Wringing my hands, I asked, "What are we going to do, Kolya?"

"We do nothing." His answer surprised me. "Right now, I'm tired. I need a shower—and I need you." He closed the distance between us, cupped the back of my neck and tilted my head back before crashing our mouths together. The intensity of his kiss made my knees weak. I clutched at the lapels of his wrinkled suit jacket and held on for dear life as he kissed me as if it might be the last time he ever tasted my mouth. "I need you."

"I'm yours." I lifted up on my toes to return his kiss with the same ferocity. "I'm yours right now."

Nikolai locked lips with me again and walked me back toward the dining room table. He grasped my bottom in both hands, kneading and squeezing my plump flesh. I pushed his jacket off his shoulders and jerked on his belt buckle. This wasn't about sensual lovemaking. This was about the two of us reconnecting in a burst of heat and passion.

I moaned as his wicked mouth dotted kisses along my throat. Shivering, I gasped when he jerked down the front of my tank top to gain better access to my breasts. He kissed the swell of each one but couldn’t get what he really wanted. Grasping my shirt in both hands, he jerked it up and over my head. I hadn't worn a bra this morning because my breasts were so sensitive, and none of them fit well anymore.

He cupped them gently. I marveled at the way they filled his hands now. He brushed his thumbs across my nipples and swirled them in a circle to tease my flesh to stiff peaks. His head dipped, and I cried out when he suckled me. A rush of wet heat went straight to my core.