The Arrangement (6 page)

Something caught in her throat—air, words, and
want
—the muscles constricting around thick desire that waged a war at his honest, but frightening declaration. “
Anton
…”

“What, you want me to move, quit touching you, or just leave you alone?” He bared his teeth, grinning playfully. “Tell me to stop, baby, and maybe I will.”

“You have a dog?” It was the only thing she could manage to think of to ask.

“A German shepherd,” he explained while his fingers danced along the hem of her shirt and slipped up underneath without hesitating. “His name is Rocco. We went through a rigorous training program together. He isn’t a house pet to be spoiled, but a guard of sorts who is on constant alert. He has a schedule he keeps—one I’d like for you to involve yourself with—and Rocco understands he has a job to do first. He responds to Russian and Italian commands only.”

His eyes traveled the length of her legs, appraising them as his palms lay flat on her stomach. Positive the panties she wore were damp just from his touch alone, she attempted to close her legs and hide the proof of how turned on he made her. Anton’s body between Viviana’s thighs stopped the half-hearted effort.

“Italian, too?”

He nodded slowly, hands rising under her shirt until the tips of his thumbs brushed against the curve of her breasts. The quick rise and fall of her chest betrayed the otherwise calm exterior. There wasn’t a thing she could think of to say to make him stop touching her like he was, not that she wanted him to. Instead, she wanted Anton’s hands grabbing tight again, with his lips on her skin.

Yeah, something was definitely wrong with her.

“I waited so long for you,” Anton whispered, his fingers digging into her ribcage. Viviana squirmed, needing his heat closer. “Three years ago when your father was killed, Nicoli made it clear we needed to step back for your safety, and I was lost, Vine. Enraged. Destroyed. Just …
gone
. Sonny was holding you like bait, waiting for us to make a move.

“He had to have known the only reason we weren’t declaring a war with the Cosa Nostra was because of you; he’d have killed you in a second, without regret or care. His niece? Nothing to him, a drop in the already full bucket. They would have found your body like they did the rest of your family’s, and then where would I have been?”

Her heart clenched painfully, lungs shuddering with an exhale that stung. “Stop it. That’s not true.”

“It
is
,” Anton insisted. He squeezed tighter and pleaded with blue eyes that held such a sober clarity for a man who handled drugs and a dozen other illegal things on a daily basis. “And when Nicoli died a few months later from that heart attack, I was put in the spotlight again. I wasn’t ready for their attention, or their expectations, but I didn’t have a choice. This is life for me, forever. Between the feds following me, trying to be who the Bratva needed me to be, and your uncle keeping you locked away…”

“I could have left!”

“Could you?” he shot back. “Do you even know why he allowed you to go to Toronto?”

Of course she knew. “Because I wanted to continue with school somewhere where no one would recognize me, or my last name. I wanted to start fresh.”

His laugh was sharp and bitter, a stab to her confused heart. “Illegal weapons’ charges on my rap sheet mean I can’t cross the borders unless my papers are fraudulent. I took a five month sentence and two years’ probation for it. He thought with you there, I wouldn’t be able to watch so closely. But, the Bratva are not so different from his family, and we have eyes everywhere.”

Tears welled behind Viviana’s clenched-shut lids. All she heard in what he said was that he’d watched her struggle for the last three years without ever stepping in. “Sonny will kill me. He’ll kill me for this, Anton!”

Anton was suddenly millimetres from her face, his sweet breath washing over her senses in waves. “You’re safe here with me. This is only one of my safe houses, with motion sensors on every floor and responding panels in every room that lights up to show where any movement is coming from. Guards are posted at the front and back entrance, and if you go out, you’ll have at least three bulls on your person at all times. Rocco is trained to stay at your side—”

“He doesn’t know me,” Viviana interrupted. “He can’t possibly be trained
for
me.”

“He will, and he most certainly is trained just for you. The moment I allow you to touch him, he’ll understand your importance to me,” Anton said quietly, almost reassuringly. “I can’t explain everything, Viviana, not yet. But please understand that I am trying to give you safety with some semblance of normalcy in between. My mother and father have the upper level suite in this house because I believe in keeping my family close while there’s danger, but I have the basement, ground, and second floors. The upstairs has been equipped to handle my father’s medical needs for long periods if it’s needed. Ivan or Erik will always be around if I am not.”

The fact that his parents were also situated in the same safe house left her with even more questions than answers. If there was a high risk of danger, usually close relatives would be sent out of state to hide out for however long it was needed. Instead, they weren’t really in hiding if his statement of giving her some sense of normalcy was true.

“Why all the safety precautions if you’re expecting me to live openly here?” she asked. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”

Anton cocked a brow. “I’m hoping your uncle will be a lot less brazen if I’m not keeping you hidden.” He still hadn’t let go of her sides, those teasing thumbs of his rolling gently against the undersides of her breasts in tender motions. “Deny that you want this, too, Vine. You’ve always wanted me. You want this life because you were meant for it, and I have waited more than long enough to get you here living it with me.”

“You’re not giving me a choice. I’ve spent the last three years thinking that this arrangement was over, and then you come in with guns blazing and a house on lockdown, Anton. That’s … It’s not fair. You signed my death warrant doing this.”

Immediately, his hands left her skin. She wanted them back, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit that fact. “It was already signed.”

“
What
?”

Placing his hands to his knees, Anton shook his head and muttered, “He was already getting ready to put out a hit on you. That guard of yours was probably going to be the one to do it to get his in with the family. I was hoping to see you back in the states before I approached you myself, but Sonny didn’t give me the chance.”

No one likes to off a woman, Vine
.

She couldn’t help but remember Sam saying that. Would he have done it?

“You can’t possibly know that for sure.”

The look he gave turned her stomach with fear. “I can and I do, Vine. There are men in that organization who are less trustworthy than a snake. Even
their
eyes and ears can be bought. I stepped in now because I needed to, not because I thought you were ready, or that you wanted me to.”

An ache settled in her chest. How was she supposed to trust him?

“Sonny wouldn’t kill me simply because I wanted to marry you, Anton. I’m not worth a damn thing to him alive, nothing more than a nuisance he has to look after.” Frustrated by his lack of expression, her bitterness rose. “Dead I’m worth even less though, right?”

“Dead you’re worth nothing,” Anton admitted, hurting Viviana a little more. “That is exactly what your uncle wants to achieve. For secrets to remain hidden from his family and for his power to remain intact.”

That only left her more disturbed, emotions rolling from one thing to the next without ever landing on just one feeling. “Our families won’t merge now, regardless if we’re married or not. So you lied to me earlier when you said that’s what this was about. A marriage is only going to cause more issues. I’m worthless to the Bratva; you practically said so yourself.”

“No, you’re worth a great deal, especially if you’re married to me.”

But, why?

“You’re hiding something from me,” she realized, hurt that he was lying again, even if it was by omission. Viviana couldn’t decide which stung worse—that he didn’t trust her, or that he thought she didn’t deserve to know whatever it was. “What aren’t you saying?”

Anton looked stricken, fingers drumming a quick beat on his thighs. “I gave them my word. It was supposed to be them explaining this to you if they desired to—all the reasons and things that happened years ago. It’s not my story to tell, and I promised. My word is all I’m worth if you consider the way I live; without it, I have nothing.” Reaching out, he cupped a hand over her knee and ran it along the inside of her jittery leg. With his fingers moving so softly against her inner thigh, he pressed his fingertips close enough to her center to make Viviana throb with need. Murmuring, he said, “Can’t you try to trust me? Viviana, you know me … you
do
.”

She ignored his plea. “Who, Anton?” His fingers pressed harder at her words, grip tightening when Viviana refused to react to his motions. What she really wanted was more. So much more of his hands on her body, but she didn’t dare speak that out loud. “Was it my father, or Nicoli?
Who
?”

“I can’t answer that right now.” With that, he stood and held out a hand for her to take. “Come, I’ll get you back in bed for the evening. Let you rest and get the last of that sedative out of your system. I promise you’ll feel better in the morning.”

Too exhausted to argue, her palm met his. Anton’s lips touched down to Viviana’s fingers in a flutter of movement. She wouldn’t have noticed the quick kiss had she not felt the heat of his mouth brushing along her sensitive skin. She might as well have been sixteen and falling for him all over again.

Viviana couldn’t figure out if she was willing enough to let him do it. It didn’t help that she wasn’t all too sure if she knew this man anymore. Was he the same one she wanted all those years ago? Had his feelings remained the same nearly a decade later … was that even possible? Could someone want another that much?

What was even more frightening was that with his blue eyes watching, and his hand connected with hers, waiting, Anton still felt like hers.

Just like he always had.

• • •

The light humming of a sweet melody woke Viviana. Wrapped in blankets and curled on her side, she felt no confusion or sickness as shades were opened and morning light filtered in across the floor of the bedroom. The figure singing low under her breath moved to the next window and drew the shades there as well. With her blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, and clothed in jeans and a T-shirt, it took Viviana a few seconds to register who the person was.

“Sasha.”

Anton’s mother turned, her surprise lighting up a pretty face with familiar blue eyes. “I didn’t mean to wake you, Vine,” she murmured quietly. Then, waving off to her side, she added, “He likes the light in the morning, is all. It’s safer given the time of day. I’ll close them if you—”

“No,” Viviana interrupted, sitting up in the bed.

In her new position, she could see the sleeping figure on the small couch against the far wall. Wearing only a pair of cotton pants, Anton slept soundly with his back facing the bed and his arm acting as a pillow. She relaxed at the sight, slightly satisfied at the thought of him being close while she slept. Sasha cleared her throat, embarrassing Viviana at having been caught staring.

“I’m sorry. It’s just … been a while, so it’s surreal.” Her rambling only made Anton’s mother hide a smile by looking back to the windows. “Never mind me. Leave the curtains open if he likes it like that.”

Sasha shrugged, moving quietly to sit on the edge of the bed. “He’ll probably sleep through most of the morning, anyway. The last week and a half has been difficult. You being here puts him more at ease.”

Viviana doubted that, considering Anton’s gun was still firmly seated in his sleeping hand. With the drug induced haze cleared from her mind, she could finally appreciate the ink work on his broad, muscled back that spiraled down to his elbows. The piece took nothing away from the stars on his shoulders, instead weaving around them. It took her a moment to discern between the marking’s loopy pathways and thorny edges just what the tribal pattern was.

Vines
.

Vines that covered and entwined with his skin; protecting and touching, dancing across dips and curves as they fell over the sides of his arms and traveled right back up again.

Her heart stopped, she was sure it did.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Sasha asked quietly, her voice barely breaking a murmur. Viviana noticed then that her gaze had followed, too. “He could have went for something a little less…showy…I suppose, but his clothing covers it well enough. I wasn’t pleased when he had it done at first, but like a million other things he’s done since I birthed him, I wasn’t given a choice or the chance to voice an opinion. Anton was always stubborn like that.”

Funny, he wasn’t giving Viviana much of one, either. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.

Sasha turned, fingering the silver threads on the comforter. “It’s not my place to step in or speak against the choices they make, Vine, you know that. If your mother were here, she would say the same. And I wish she were, as this conversation would not need to happen. I can explain things to the best of my understanding so long as it doesn’t endanger my family, the organization, or you. Ask me what you wish, and I will make an effort to ease your mind.”

Questioning Sasha on the things Viviana had been told the night before would be useless. Asking about Anton’s grandfather, her father Roman, or their dealings would likely get her nowhere, also. It didn’t matter that nearly ten years ago she was willing to make the choice without fully understanding the weight of her actions because now she did. Anton could preach about safety, family, and the past all he wanted, but it still wouldn’t make the situation better.

“Wanting something doesn’t make it good for you,” Viviana replied, trying desperately to sound indifferent. It came out anything but. “I have to wonder if he understands that.”