Romance: First Time and Pregnant With The Navy Seal (Stepbrother, Military, Romance) (4 page)

She shrugged. “He might be a lot of things, Stone. But he’d never leave me.” She held up her wrist and showed him the tattoo there. из камня, it said, in a pretty little script. “That’s Russian for Ivan,” she said. “And he has one for Victoria…right above his crotch.”

Stone was so disgusted he could barely speak. “Well, I hope you two are happy,” he said, feeling defeated. She was lost to him, gone forever.

“Some days we are,” she said. “Come on. I want to go smoke a joint and float in the water and look at the stars just like we used to when we were kids.”

“We’re not kids anymore,” he said.

“No,” Victoria said. “But we might as well try and start again. We can’t be lovers, Stone, but we can still be friends.” She laughed. “We can even pretend to be brother and sister. Now that there’s some closure between us- some real closure- maybe we can let go of the past.”

He nodded, thinking that there was no way he could do that. Not after all she had meant to him. Not with all she meant to him now. But he had to try, because the last thing in the world that he wanted was to lose her again.

Victoria grabbed a cigarette pack off a table and checked inside it. “Oh, goodie,” she said. “Plenty of weed left.” Then they walked out the backdoor of her apartment, out into the quiet night.

Victoria closed the door behind them and they walked down a flight of stairs, down to a cement walkway. It was dark and he could not help but stare at her legs and butt and back as she walked ahead of him. She had grown into such a beautiful woman.

The pool wasn't far away from her apartment. It was surrounded by a waist-high black iron fence. The apartment people had planted palm trees and thick tropical foliage around the perimeter to distract from that fence. All those green leafy plants gave the unintended effect of hiding the pool from view. The patio and pool itself were bathed in shadows, the water dark and ominous.

The gate was padlocked, so they hopped over it. Stone stripped off his shirt, revealing a lean, muscular body.  He tossed his shirt on the patio while Victoria watched, admiring the way his muscles rippled in the moonlight.

“Somebody’s kept himself in shape,” she said.

“Got a gym in my office,” he said. “Personal trainer, chef, all that stuff.”

“Mr. Men’s Fitness,” she chided. “You don’t have to look good, you know. You’re rich. Girls will just toss themselves at you no matter what you look like.”

“They do,” he grunted. Not bragging, just telling it like it was. “I still like to work out.”

Victoria said nothing. She sat the pack of cigarettes on the patio and dove into the pool. He couldn’t see her for a few seconds, and then she appeared on the other side of the pool.

“Hop in,” she said. “It feels great.”

He tested the water with his toes. It was nice and cool. He jumped in and swam across the pool, meeting Victoria in the shadows of the deep end near the diving board. She was holding onto the board, keeping herself just out of the water, her breasts magnificent and wet, nipples poking out against the black material of her top.

“I’m sorry if I upset you before,” she said.

He held on to the side of the pool and shook his head. “No…you were right. We needed closure.”

“I lied, you know. He hasn’t really changed.”

“Who?”

“Ivan.”

“Of course not.”

“I mean, he does work for his uncle. But his uncle pretty much runs the Russian mob here. Ivan’s trying to pass himself off as legitimate, but he’s still up to shady shit.”

“You don’t need to be with someone like that,” he said. “There’s a billion great guys out there who would all kill to be with someone like you.”

She let go of the diving board and swam over to him. Close enough for him to reach out and touch her, but he didn’t, even though everything in him wanted to.

“I think I was so enchanted with how what you and I did was forbidden, how I wasn’t supposed to be with you…I think that played a big part in why I hooked up with Ivan.”

“Oh, wow, so it really is my fault,” he said. He reached out and touched her face. “Please, please. Do not marry that asshole. I’m begging you.”

She looked so sad that it just about broke his heart all over again. “You don’t get it, do you? Ivan isn’t the kind of guy you say no to. I’ve tried to break it off before…”

“Does he hit you?” Stone asked, his temper rising, a curious mixture of a big brother’s worry and a lover’s concern.

She looked away, into the shadows. “When I don’t act right,” she said.

“And you put up with that?”

She scoffed and looked at him with tears in her eyes. “You know all those rumors you’ve heard about him? How he’s had people killed? They’re true, Stone. And there’s a lot worse. He and his asshole flunkies, they sit around talking about all the horrible shit they do, and they think I don’t understand because they’re talking in Russian. What he doesn’t know is that I
speak
Russian. Took a whole college course in it. I’m terrified of him, Stone. Too afraid to stay with him, too afraid to leave. So what does that leave me with, huh?”

He banged his fist on the concrete patio. “You should have said something,” he said.

“I was afraid, Stone.”

He nodded. “Okay. Well, you don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’m gonna make sure that motherfucker knows to stay away from you.”

“How, Stone?”

He looked up at the full moon. He thought of all the times they had floated in their parent’s pool on nights like this, closer than two people had any right to be, how he had never wanted those nights to end.

He looked at her now, her moonlit face the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and he made the decision.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said, and pulled her to him. She was reluctant at first, until his hand found the back of her neck, her secret place, his fingers gently rubbing over it as he pulled her face to his and kissed her lips.

She hesitated, but only for a moment. Then her soft lips were returning his kiss, their mouths wet and hungry, ravenous for each other. It had been five years since they had shared a kiss, but there was no awkwardness at all. All of the old feelings erupted again, and he swore to himself that he would never, ever let her go, no matter what the cost.

He would have stayed right there and kissed her for the rest of his life, had it not been for a thickly Russian-accented voice interrupting them.

“So this is why you not answer my calls, whore.”

Stone opened his eyes and saw fear in Victoria’s. He turned around and saw two men, one of them resplendent in eurotrash garb. Ivan was the taller of the two, his dyed blond hair sticking up in spikes to make him look more menacing. He wore a bright purple shirt that looked like it was made from a material that hadn’t even been invented yet over loud purple and black pants that would have looked right at home on a pro wrestler. Platinum and diamonds glittered from his wrists, neck, and ears. He looked extremely unhappy.

His companion, dressed much more conservatively in white shirt and black slacks, looked like a pit bull ready to be unleashed.

“Ivan, it’s not what you think-” Victoria said.

“Really? Because it looks like my slut girlfriend is trying to fuck her stepbrother,” Ivan said.

Stone grabbed the side of the pool and lifted himself out of the water. “Actually, Ivan, it’s exactly what it looks like,” he said, wiping water from his face. “So why don’t you take your boyfriend here and go fuck yourselves. You and Victoria are finished. And I ever hear about you coming near her, I’ll use every bit of influence I have to fuck your world to pieces.”

Ivan and his pit bull strode forward.

“You hear this?” Ivan said to his companion. “This fucking computer geek talks to me like he’s a man. Get the fuck away from me, little boy, before I crack your fucking skull to pieces.”

Ivan looked at Victoria. “I knew from way you talked about him that you two had fucked. But I overlooked it because you’re hot piece of ass. Now, you have to learn who you belong to. Get out of the pool.”

Stone took a step forward. “I’m not going to say it again, you commie prick. Get lost.”

Ivan pointed to Stone and said to his companion, “Yuri, teach this bitch some manners.”

Yuri cracked his knuckles and came at Stone, moving fast, drawing back his arm to throw a wild punch. Victoria shrieked, expecting Stone to be destroyed, but he moved almost effortlessly, dodging the punch and grabbing Yuri and throwing him through the air. Yuri landed upside down against the iron fence and fell in a puddle on the patio.

Stone looked at Ivan and shrugged. “I might be a fuckin computer nerd,” he said. “But I’m a rich fucking computer nerd and I spend my spare time training with professional cage fighters. You want to take a beating too, you silly-dressing motherfucker?”

Ivan pulled a gleaming steel knife from his pocket. It had a quick-release action, and when he flicked his wrist, a wickedly sharp blade sprang out.

“No, I think I just cut your dick off and feed it to you,” he said, and came forward.

Sensing real danger now, Stone backed away.

Ivan crouched forward, his movements slow and measured, looking for the perfect time to strike as Stone dealt with the fact that he was probably going to get cut. All he needed to do was get his hands on Ivan and he could break the man to pieces…but doing so was probably going to cost him dearly. He kept backing up, looking for an opening, trying to buy Victoria time to get away. Ivan kept coming forward, and neither of them noticed Victoria climbing out of the pool.

But there was only so much room to retreat. Soon, Stone’s back was nearly to the fence, and he had to make a decision. Attack or wait for Ivan to make his move. The Russian was still creeping forward, a cocaine-addled grin on his face, his teeth gleaming brightly as he prepared to strike.

Stone made his decision. There was nothing, not the world’s opinion, not even a maniac with a knife, who would stand between him and the woman he loved. He leaped forward quickly, aiming a punch at Ivan’s head, but the wily Russian sidestepped it and fell back, slashing with the knife.

Stone landed on his feet and saw blood dripping from his chest. He’d been cut. He didn’t know how bad it was, and he didn’t have time to inspect it. Ivan, spurred on by the sight of blood, rushed at him with the blade held high, meaning to finish him off.

Stone caught Ivan’s arm at the last moment, the blade just inches from his left eye. The fence dug into his back. He was trapped, and Ivan was strong and insane, and it took every ounce of strength he possessed to keep the blade away from his face.

“Fucking going to kill you, piece of shit!” Ivan huffed. “Steal my woman! No one steals from me. When I’m done with you, I fucking kill her too. You two can fuck in Hell.”

The blade came closer. Stone knew he was losing the battle. He didn’t mind dying, but he hated that he had failed Victoria.

I love you, baby,
he thought, as the blade came closer.

Suddenly, Ivan’s strength seemed sapped. His face contorted in pain and as Stone pushed him away, he saw why.

Victoria had him by the balls. Literally. She had snuck up behind him, reached between his legs, and had a steel grip on the Russian’s crotch.

“Drop the knife,” she said. “Or I’ll crush these motherfuckers like grapes.”

“Fuck you,” Ivan muttered through gritted teeth. His face was red from pain, his eyes bulging out of his skull.

“No,” she said, her grip tightening even more. “Never again. And you’ll never fuck anybody else if I have to say it again. Drop it.”

Ivan spat and sputtered from the pain and let go of the knife. It fell to the ground. Stone let go of the Russian’s wrist and punched him in the face. Ivan fell backwards, nearly tripping over Victoria.

She let go of his balls, but she wasn’t finished with him.

“In case you didn’t figure it out, we’re done,” she said, and slapped him so hard that blood flew from his lips.

Ivan stood dazed beside the pool, his eyes full of hate and pain. “You two,” he said. “You’re finished. I will kill you both.”

Stone walked forward, deadly purpose in his face. “Motherfucker, take a bath,” he said. With that, he kicked Ivan in the chest, knocking him into the pool. He watched to make sure the Russian floated to the surface. Ivan finally popped up, treading water but not making an attempt to come after them.