Demyan & Ana (2 page)

“Nothing,” Viviana said a little too quickly. “It was nothing. I should go find your father.”

Viviana was gone before Demyan could press his mother for more. Gia caught his eye. She balanced two plates in the palms of her hands. He stood to take a plate from her.

“The quicker we eat, the faster we can get home to dessert.”

Demyan smirked. Christ, he loved his girl. “You could take your plate with you.”

Gia stood on her tip toes to kiss him. “Nope. Half the fun is waiting for your prize, Demyan. Happy birthday.”

• • •

“You,” Demyan barked.

Ana looked away from the guy flirting with her, surprise flitting across her face at Demyan’s intrusion. Really, he wouldn’t be bothered by a guy chatting his sister up, but not knowing who that guy was unsettled him. So, Demyan found Freddie and asked who the fuck his guest was.

Cavan Dolan. Trouble with a capital T and that was something the Avdonin family didn’t need in any shape or form. The guy was well-connected to the Irish mob, considering his uncle was the boss and Cavan was the man’s only heir.

He hailed from Detroit, apparently. All Freddie knew was Cavan had been sent to New York for some chill time. The Irish mob had a small syndicate in the state, so that was likely where he was doing his business.

“Go into the house, Ana.”

Ana lifted a single brow, indignant. “Excuse me?”

“Go into the house.”

Cavan Dolan “Hey, we’re not—”

“You can shut up,” Demyan ordered. “Go, Ana.”

Something in the lilt of his tone must have worked because Ana pushed off the side of the house and disappeared around the corner. Demyan waited until he was sure she was far enough away not to hear the conversation before he rounded on the guy.

“You must have a mighty set of balls to crash my birthday,” Demyan said, getting more pissed off by the second.

“Came with Freddie. We’ve got some business to chat and he invited me along.”

“Good to know. I’ll be sure to find another middleman for that sector if he’s working more than mine. I’m only going to give you one chance to get off my father’s property before I find him and let him know who you are. Understood?”

Cavan’s gaze narrowed. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong, Demyan.”

“Doesn’t fucking matter. We don’t mix with other families. Not in business, and definitely not in play. Stay the fuck away from my family and especially my little sister. Ana isn’t the kind of girl who messes around with guys like you. We don’t need your brand of trouble around here. Leave.”

Cavan smirked. “What if she doesn’t want me to leave her alone?”

Demyan’s blood boiled. “Stay away from my family, asshole.”

Chapter Two

Ana

Water was a sacred place for Ana Avdonin. Crystal clear and pure, it washed away her stress and took away her thoughts. It allowed her to focus on only the water and the time clock she needed to beat.

“Ready, Ana?” her coach asked.

Ana nodded from her perch on the starting board. Saturdays were devoted to training and this one was no exception.

“Set.”

Ana adjusted her stance. She bent her knees, leaned forward, and put her hands high together.

“Go!”

The shock of the cold pool barely registered when Ana cut through the water. She felt more at home in the comfort of a pool than anywhere else. She was undefeated in the long distance using the front crawl stroke technique. Ana’s weakness came in her first half-lap where she lost at least five-tenths of a second.

Sure, that didn’t seem like much, but it was a hell of a lot in a short race when she couldn’t make it up later. Time the team couldn’t afford for her to be losing this season.

Ana knew she was close to the wall and put her hand out to hit the sensors that stopped the clock. She popped up to the surface of the water, inhaling hard as she turned to look at the time.

“Still off by at least three-tenths,” she heard her coach shout from the other end. “You were closer the last time.”

Ana yanked her cap, goggles, and nose plug off before tossing them to the side of the pool. “Fuck!”

“Don’t start that cussing nonsense. Just get your butt out of the water and do it again. We’ll figure it out.”

Ana pointed at the large time clock above the other end of the pool. “Are you sure that goddamn thing is even calibrated correctly for the sensors? I swear to God I’m beating that mark at home every time!”

“Yes, Ana. It’s checked weekly. There’s nothing wrong with the clock.”

Something was wrong with her, then. Something she didn’t know how to fucking fix.

“I need a break, coach.”

“We’ve only been at this for—”

“I need a break,” she repeated more forcefully.

“Fine. Thirty minutes and then you’re back on the start board. Got it?”

“Whatever.”

• • •

“Tall, not so dark, but very handsome coming our way. Ana, he’s looking at you.”

Ana perked up at Missy’s teasing. “What?”

Missy tilted her head to the side. “There.”

Sure enough, Cavan was making his way to Ana and her teammates where they sat on the benches outside of the pool complex.

She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of Cavan’s appearance. She met him at her brother’s birthday party a few weeks ago. While he was good to look at, there was a lot about him that felt like a warning for her to back off, too. Nevertheless, he kept showing up at the oddest times when Ana wasn’t expecting him to. Last week he waited after her third class of the day. The week before that he texted her cell phone, but she had no idea how he got the number.

Cavan’s interest in her was as clear as day. Ana had to admit she liked he was seeking her out, but the enigmatic vibe he carried around was off-putting. Some girls might love the mystery of a guy. As if it made him an unattainable being they wanted to tame or whatever, but not Ana. She wanted to know the whole deal upfront—who he was, what he was, and what the fuck he wanted. Especially when it came to her.

“Check out the bad boy,” Cam, another one of Ana’s teammates, said. “I bet he’s a whole package of some kind of crazy fun.”

A catcall followed from Missy.

Ana felt heat rise in her cheeks. “Shut up, you idiots.”

“Didn’t know you had it inside to catch a guy like him,” Missy said, winking.

“You do know who her father is, right?”

“So, what’s Anton Avdonin got to do with his daughter getting a piece of ass?” Missy asked.

Ana grinded her teeth. Her last name drew attention. She couldn’t hide her father’s Russian mob boss status. True, it gave her respect, but it could also put her in awkward positions. People assumed things about her. She didn’t like that.

Missy reached over and slapped Cam. “Oh, have you met Demyan? He’s … yeah, like
whoa
. So intense.”

“And taken,” Ana added pointedly.

Cam shrugged. “For some guys, that doesn’t matter.”

Ana could play those games, too. “He’s also got a baby on the way. Did I forget to mention it?”

“Oh,” Missy said.

“Yeah. Don’t go fucking around my brother. Gia wouldn’t hesitate to cut you for it. I’m not even kidding.”

Demyan might not be Ana’s favorite person in the world, but Gia was like her older sister. It would be a cold day in hell before one of Ana’s girlfriends had a chance with her brother. Better to cull that nonsense before it even began.

Ana didn’t give her teammates a chance to respond before she left the bench with her water bottle in hand. She met Cavan halfway down the entrance walk. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Cavan said, grinning. “You didn’t answer my texts this morning.”

“Training,” Ana explained, waving a hand at the building. “On Saturdays, this is where I am from seven until four. My phone gets left at home. No distractions.”

“Pretty serious business, huh?”

“For me it is.”

Cavan leaned forward, his fingers slipping under the towel wrapped around Ana. Moving the fluffy white cotton just an inch, he raised a brow at her standard one-piece, black racing swimsuit. “No bikini to show off those assets of yours? Damn, I was hoping for a show.”

Ana scoffed. “You’re a pig and I have five minutes to get back on the starting board.”

Cavan let the towel go. “Go out with me tonight.”

“What?” Ana wasn’t sure she heard him correctly.

“Me and you. Somewhere. Tonight. Sound good?”

Ana thought about it for a minute. When she first met him, Cavan was hanging around with Freddie, a guy Demyan had by his side a lot. Ana didn’t know why her brother and Freddie were friends, but she knew they went to the same college. There was definitely more to it though because her father always invited Freddie into his office to
talk
.

Talking meant business.

Ana had no desire to get involved with someone doing business on the Bratva side of things. For one, because she didn’t trust herself to have faith in a guy like that. And secondly, she didn’t want to go messing around in her brother’s business.

“How do you know my brother?” Ana asked.

Cavan waved his arms wide. “I don’t.”

“You were at his party.”

“Freddie wanted me to come along. We were supposed to hang out together after. It’s the first time I met Demyan.”

“Oh,” Ana said quietly.

“Yeah. So, tonight?”

“Maybe. You keep sending me messages and showing up at the oddest times, but I don’t even know your last name.”

“Dolan. Cavan Dolan.”

Something about his last name seemed familiar, but Ana brushed it off. “Why me?”

“I don’t know. Something about you, I guess.”

“Okay. Tonight. Pick me up at my apartment at eight. I have to make face and go to a dinner first.”

“You’re all mine after, right?”

Ana laughed lightly. “Something like that.”

• • •

“You’re late.” Viviana uncrossed her arms and shooed at her daughter impatiently. “Hurry, hurry.”

“Sorry, Ma,” Ana said, kicking off her shoes. “Daddy isn’t mad, right?”

“At you? Psht. Don’t even try to joke. You look fine enough to have dinner like this.”

“I smell like chlorine. It’ll only take me ten minutes to shower.”

“Like I said,” Viviana drawled, pushing on her daughter’s lower back as she directed her toward the dining room. “You’re late and our guests are already here. Be good and I’ll love you for another day. Indulge your father like I know you can. No cheap shots at your brother. Gia is just starting to show but please don’t point it out or say anything unless she does first. Ready, set …” Her mother pushed her into the room full of faces she didn’t recognize. “Smile, Ana.”

Scratch that. She recognized some. Ivan, her father’s best friend, and his wife Eva sat on one side of the table with Demyan and Gia, who didn’t look particularly pleased to be sitting where she was. Anton sat at the head of the table like he always did while her mother took a seat at the other end. The faces staring at her from the other side of the table were unknown but for one.

Sofia Vasin. She came from a mafia family similar to Ana’s. It gave her a good indication of just who the unfamiliar people sitting at the table were.

Oh. Shit.
Well, then
.

Ana suddenly understood why Gia seemed pissed.

Sofia was an old flame of her brother’s … or something of that nature. Ana wasn’t entirely sure what they had been together.
Something
, anyway.

A man sat beside Sofia who looked to be Ana’s father’s age. A woman sat to his side, and another young man beside her.

That man … he was gorgeous with a chiseled jaw sporting faint stubble, lips pulling into the hint of something sly and tousled blond hair framing his face. It stuck Ana in the chest as the guy regarded her with dark blue eyes. He couldn’t be much older than she was.

She briefly considered Cavan’s good looks with his reddish-blond curls and green eyes, but he didn’t have quite the same effect on her insides like this guy did.

“Sorry, I know I’m late,” Ana said, breaking eye contact with the young man.

“It’s fine, sweetheart,” her father said. “Koldan saved your chair.”

Koldan
. Definitely a Russian.

Anton nodded at the guests. “Who have you met already, Ana?”

“Sofia,” Ana said as she sat down, trying to ignore the sharp blue gaze settling on her from the next seat. She offered Sofia a smile down the table. Sofia wasn’t a terrible person or anything. Ana didn’t hold any ill-will on her for whatever went down with Sofia and Demyan a few years ago. “Hey.”

Sofia winked. “You look good. You’re all grown up.”

“She’s getting there,” Anton agreed, chuckling. “Scaring the fuck out of me every step of the way.”

Ana clicked her tongue. “I don’t do anything to scare you, Papa.”

“Being a girl is enough,” Ivan put in from his side of the table. “Trust me.”

“Truth,” the unknown older gentleman stated with a smile.

Anton cleared his throat, quieting the laughter around the table. “Ana, this is the Vasin family from Jersey. I’m sure you know a little about them, considering Sofia …” Her father trailed off with a wince in Viviana’s direction. “Anyway, this is Adrik, an old friend of mine. Cora is his wife. Beside you is Koldan, their son.”

Ana said hello, refusing to meet the eyes of the man at her side again. She didn’t need to feel like she was off kilter at the dinner. Her father talked about it for the last month which led her to believe it was important, for whatever reason. Likely for one she didn’t want to know.

“Introductions are done. I’m starving. Can we eat, baby?” Anton asked his wife.

Viviana nodded. “Let’s eat.”

The food was served and quiet conversations flowed between the people at the table.

“How far along?” Cora asked Gia.

“Twenty weeks.”

Adrik made a face. “I don’t understand this week nonsense. Wasn’t it always counted in months?”

“Divide it by four, Papa. She’s five months,” Koldan said.

“Thank you, but I’m aware of how many months, smartass.”

“Did we finally find out the gender?” Viviana asked from the far end.

Ana couldn’t help but notice how every man at the table perked at that question.

Anton rested his fork on the table. “Yes, have we? Boy or girl?”

“No,” Demyan said, brushing his thumb along Gia’s cheek. “The baby wouldn’t cooperate yesterday. We have another one scheduled in a month.”

“Any names?” Sofia asked softly.

Ana was surprised Sofia had asked the question at all.

Gia tensed across the table, but still answered. “We have a family name for a boy.”

“Oh?” Anton shot a look down to his wife. “What’s that?”

“Roman Ivan,” Demyan said quietly.

Ana’s mother made a sound she couldn’t decipher. “But that’s … it’s not Russian.”

“Actually, it can be,” Koldan said. “The name Roman is derived from the Latin
Romanus
. It literally means roman. Lots of cultures use it, including Russians.”

“See,” Adrik said pointedly, looking at Anton. “Like I said earlier, too smart for his own good and doing fuck all with it.”

“Not nothing. I’m working for you,” Koldan replied, a cocky smirk twisting his lips.