The Arrangement (12 page)

Before she could continue with her rant, Anton had spread her knees farther apart, opening her body so damned wide for him. It was a quiet, gentle beat of his hips meeting her slowly rising ones. Watching his hands hold tight to the silky soft skin of her legs, she could see the slight tremors that rocked his arms and he plunged deeper into her clenching walls with every thrust.

Viviana couldn’t stop the wanton moans from tumbling out of her fast rising chest. Both of her hands found purchase on the pillow behind her, fisting in and grasping tight as her back rose off the bed. The hottest flames seemed to lick at her nerve endings, a sweet burning hum of pleasure and love rocking through her veins like the best drug.

“No mistresses. No children. Not a fucking one.”

The words were growled above her and she found his gaze had sought out hers with that piercingly intense look again. A lump formed in her throat, keeping her ability to speak at bay as he released her legs from his grasp. The weight of his form pressed her into the bed, fingers finding hers in the pillow to uncurl and wrap with his.

“I don’t know who you thought I would be, but that is not it. I’ve got drug dealers on speed dial, guns in the basement, and two strip clubs with women who’d blow any man for the right price. I do bad shit on a daily basis. I dabble in anything that’ll buy me another car or house to make you smile.”

“Anton,” she whispered, feeling him hit just the right spot with the slightest reposition of his hips. Her breath shuddered. “It’s—”

“It’s not okay,” he interjected lowly. “There’s no sense in me going to the temple because even I can’t buy my way into heaven, so what’s the point in pretending. You want to know my secrets, baby? All the dark, bad things I did to get me where I am now? I’ve got a list in my safe a mile long of women and children I’m paying for because their husbands no longer can. My hand, a gun, and their grave. Do you understand that?

“Answer me …”

Her mouth was dry, words hoarse when she answered, “Yes, I understand.”

“Don’t act like some quiet mouse, Viviana. Don’t stand at my side with your head tucked down in those pretty dresses I buy you. Don’t be the weak little mafia princess your momma said you’d have to be. That’s not what I want—not what I need. Stand straight, meet their stare, and be my fucking queen. You’re the only one at my side because you can be—because you’re worthy and beautiful and mine. Do you understand me?”

His fingers clenched with hers, pushing her arms up under the pillow as his lips met her jaw so tenderly. Already she could feel her body beginning to sing and fly under his fucking. No one had ever taken her quite so high so fast before.

“But—”

“No buts. Question me if I’m late. Be angry if I piss you off. Run our home or hire maids. Go back to school or don’t. Birth me children or enjoy your life the way it is. Those things don’t matter to me; they never have.”

She was staring at him again, searching for some sign of a lie behind the open, truthful gaze with which he regarded her. He wasn’t hiding a thing. For years, Viviana found herself wondering if the quiet, whispered words he’d promised and swore under those blankets nine years ago had been as true as they felt. Now, she knew they were.

Anton loved her. Maybe he always had. It sure wasn’t like she completely understood why, but it was obvious she couldn’t deny the feelings were there, either. Once more, she was reminded of how much their situation just didn’t feel like the contract it had been made out to be. Whatever they were together, it was much more than men who shook hands and decided their fates. Destiny had its own plan.

“I stepped in to take you out of Toronto because I was terrified I wouldn’t get the chance if I waited one more day. I had men watching you for years. Not once did you lay your head down and I didn’t know where you were. I
always
knew, Vine. Fuck, don’t you know I love you?”

The orgasm that rushed down and swept over her senses hit like a tsunami. From head to toe, it ravaged and wrecked what was left of her worries, taking with it the fears and expectations she thought she had. Viviana twisted in the bed under the weight of her lover, crying out so broken and high because everything felt alive and awakened all at once. Too much, it was far too much. She didn’t have a choice but to let it consume and take her under.

Anton’s throaty, muffled groan against her throat followed the release she felt spurt from his cock, coating her core in thick, hot streams.
Tight
… Oh, God, he held her so tight to his body, letting her feel and take every bit of him he gave. Her name was on the tip of his tongue and the blissful feelings of sex danced across her sensitive skin.

With emotional waves washing over Viviana in choppy bursts, she felt him finally let go of his rough hold and move. His fingers roamed down her sides as their mingling fluids leaked between her legs to the sheets, his cheek turning to press into her stomach before he laid the softest kiss there.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed. “I didn’t realize or think … You kept pushing and I thought you didn’t understand. I suppose it was me who didn’t.”

Anton’s heavy sigh tickled her sweaty flesh. “I know.”

“All this time?”

“Hmm?”

His confusion had her lips curving with a sentimental smile. “I can’t believe you held onto that feeling for nine years, is all. People grow up, and we were separated for all of it. I mean, I always held onto you because that’s all I ever knew and when it wasn’t going to be anymore, I was fucking lost. Just … why?”

“I told you,” he said gruffly, “you’re mine. I found who I wanted when I was eighteen. I still got to live, do what I wanted, whatever, but I knew where I was ending up. That’s what I was working towards. I fell in love the one time, it was more than good enough for me; I wasn’t about to let it go.”

Viviana felt overwhelmed again. Like her heart had grown double its size and her lungs wouldn’t accommodate the growth. Their attraction had been one thing, and it came naturally, but hearing those statements had all but whipped away any doubts she might have had about the rest. Still, there were people she knew who loved and loved and loved, but time moved all things and feelings changed.

“Can you say you’ll never stray, though? Six years, ten years … it could change.”

“Not for me. Don’t think you’re just here to hang pretty on my arm and birth a few kids. I want a wife—
my
wife. And she can be whoever the hell she wants to be so long as she’s with me.”

She went to speak, but his rising head stopped her words up short. When their gazes met, the faintest smile played on his full lips. “Don’t apologize again. You have every right to wonder if you want this, baby. There’s very little I expect from you, except for you to follow the rules for your own safety, to get dressed up in something pretty when I want to take you out, and to turn the other cheek when the time is not right for you to step in. That’s all.

“Here …” he added, waving his hand to the space they were in, “… is your zone. When it’s just me and you alone, Vine, the only thing I want and need is for you to just be you. Normal. Happy. Mine. That’s it.”

Resting back into the bed, she let his fingers trace pathways over her stomach and sides. There wasn’t much else for her to say when he laid it all out bare for her like that. The comfortable silence that enveloped them didn’t feel awkward. She wasn’t even sure how long they stayed like that before the light hum of Anton’s phone vibrating out in the hallway had him sighing an unhappy sound.

“Insufferable
idiots
,” he grumbled.

“You’ve ignored them for hours.”

“They pissed me off. You had a terrible bruise on your back and cheek; I’ve got a massive bill to pay in Toronto, and a shipment is coming in at the end of next week that is probably going to get intercepted by the authorities if they can’t get the cargo in after midnight. Given the way the trip has been going, it’s probably not going to happen. I need a goddamn break.”

Viviana coughed, knowing Anton probably shouldn’t be telling her some of those things.

“Well, I’m here and the bruises have already started to fade.”

“True,” he agreed, sounding sullen. “But I’ll still remember.”

“Everything is taken care of in Toronto with all the important aspects, right?”

“For now.”

“And this …
cargo
…”

Anton’s brow furrowed in the sexiest way as he glanced away from her. “What about it?”

“Guns or other?”

“Does it make a difference?”

“I don’t know,” Viviana replied just as quiet. “You told me, Anton. Does it?”

“Not really.”

“So, delay it.”

The laugh that barked from him sounded a bit contrite. “It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. A few loose bolts on the ship’s mainframe can cause a complete security failure. Engines stop. Ships just float. Maybe it’ll float for a few extra hours just out of US waters with a viable excuse to be doing just that while someone else keeps an eye on the docks and coastguard to give a signal. See,
simple
.”

The surprise that registered in his eyes had her grinning.

“That’s brilliant.”

“I’ve overheard a few things here and there. Some of it could be useful, but a lot of it really isn’t.”

Anton was covering her body with his again, lips finding hers as his tongue swept the seam of her lips teasingly. The languid speed he took to taste and love her mouth was a soothing beat to the aftershocks her body was still experiencing from their previous coupling. Before Viviana could try to get his cock rising again, he leaned over and hit the call button on the conference phone sitting on the bedside table. The panel on the wall lit up with an immediate response.

Clarissa’s voice suddenly chimed through the panel. “Mr. Avdonin?”

“It’s nearly six, yeah?”

“Yes, sir. Supper is almost finished, but if you’d like to take it in your office, I can bring the plates up.”

Anton hummed indecisively.

“I’ll unlock the door to your stairwell. Allow Rocco up. How many calls have Ivan and Erik pestered you with, Clarissa?”

“Not many.”

“Are you sure?”

“A few …”

“Next time, tell them to stop calling. You’re not my assistant and you don’t deliver messages. I’ll call them back when I can. Otherwise, turn the phones off for the evening. Viviana and me, we still have some catching up to do.”

Viviana smiled against the strong arm lying beside her face. She caught his eyes traveling over the length of her naked form with an open brazenness that was filled with want. That lump returned in her throat with a vengeance. Despite her muscles being sore and her body feeling sticky and in serious need of a bath, she wasn’t about to complain.

“Oh, and you have all that spa nonsense in the bathroom downstairs, yes?” At Clarissa’s quiet agreement, he said, “Bring it up for Vine, and in the next few days you can take her out to show her where she can get some more if she likes it. You can pick up whatever you need also, okay?”

Viviana swore she could hear the knowing smile in the woman’s voice when she answered, “Absolutely, sir.”

“Hmm.” Viviana hummed indecisively. “This one is a maybe.”

Anton leaned over and sniffed the body lotion as she held it out to him. The slight crinkle of his nose told her he didn’t like the scent of the product. Despite him having asked Clarissa to take Viviana out to get some of her own things for the bathroom, Anton ended up going with her himself. She didn’t mind, seeing as how it would be good if he enjoyed the stuff she bought, too.

Well, that and Viviana was starting to get stir crazy inside the safe house. A walk everyday with Rocco wasn’t enough to make her unrest disappear, and Anton hadn’t allowed her to go anywhere else unless she had at least three bulls with her at all times. It wasn’t fun, but she understood.

Today, it was just Anton and her.

Viviana loved that.

Anton eyed the lotion. “No. Too spicy. Women shouldn’t smell spicy.”

Coyly, she raised a single brow. “And just how should a woman smell?”

“Beautiful,” he replied, smirking. “Delicate. Soft, like their skin. Silky, like their hair. Sexy.”

That hadn’t been the answer she was expecting. Something akin to anticipation coiled in her stomach as he stared down at her with mischief in his gaze.

“Those things aren’t smells, Anton.”

“Nope,” he agreed, “but that’s how I’d describe you. I think you smell like that naturally. Without all of this other stuff, baby.”

“Oh.”

When his hand came up to graze along her jaw, Anton added, “But you also smell like flowers because of that perfume you use. Soaks right into my lungs. You should find something like that.” Viviana nodded as he grabbed a candle from the top shelf and added it to her basket. “Also, these candles are nice.”

“Should I start questioning your sexuality because of this sudden scent love you’ve got going on?”

Without warning, Anton’s arm reached out and wrapped her shoulders, pulling her back into his chest. A dark growl formed in the back of his throat before he nipped her neck playfully while his other hand slipped down to cup her ass over her jeans. At the same time that she melted into his embrace, the door to the spa shop chimed to say another customer had entered. While they were closer to the back of the store and there weren’t a lot of people inside, she certainly didn’t want to be caught in a suggestive position, either.

When Viviana squirmed in his hold, Anton only chuckled.

“You question my sexuality, Viviana?” She felt his lips form a grin against her skin as she shivered. “That’s not what you should be worried about. What you should be worried about is whether or not I can fuck you in the stockroom without someone overhearing you scream my name.”

“You wouldn’t da—”

The cell phone in his pocket stopped her from saying more. Anton released his hold around her waist before pulling out the phone and turning his back to her as he answered the call.

“Talk,” Anton demanded. “They lifted
what
? Oh, those greedy fucking idiots. Are they stupid? Those are loaded with GPS. Get them out of my warehouse before …”