House of Payne: Rude (29 page)

“But everyone heard about it. When they thought Scorpio was a threat, everyone who was in-house at the time volunteered to protect you. And Mary Jane wants to adopt you.”

Her jaw dropped. She hadn’t known that.

“There. You see? Just the same.” Looking happy but unsurprised, her father flipped the file open and handed her an eight-by-ten, black-and-white photo of a woman. Her dark hair was done up in a style that her rockabilly foster sister, Scout would have adored. But it was her face that stopped her breath.

They could have been twins.

“Damn.” Looking over her shoulder, Rude raised his brows. “Okay, I guess there’s no need to see the results of the genetic tests when you have proof like this. You’re obviously an apple that didn’t fall far from the Vitaliev family tree, Sass.”

“She is
devochka moya
—my little girl.” Though still weak, there was nothing weak about the pride burning in Borysko Vitaliev’s dark eyes. “In this file, I also have many of my mother’s recipes, written in her own hand that I wish to give to you today, Sass. I had them translated for you, so you could try them out. I know she would have loved that, just as she would have loved you, the precious granddaughter who unknowingly followed right in her footsteps.”

“Thank you.” She took the offered file and hugged it to her heart as the priceless treasure it was, wishing fervently that she’d gotten a chance to meet the woman she was so like. Something deep inside ached with the force of that yearning, and she tried to console herself that in going through her grandmother’s recipes, she’d at least have a chance to know that small piece of her. “You don’t know what this means to have this. Truly, thank you.” Her voice broke on the last word, and she turned away so he wouldn’t see the tear that had escaped.

“My girl. My daughter. Look at me, please.”

She tried to be discreet about wiping her face and she couldn’t help but do an unfortunately loud sniff before she turned back, only to find him smiling at her. And no matter what he was, when he smiled the smile of a loving father, it was one of the most heart-stopping sights she’d ever seen. “Thank
you
for agreeing to see me today. Thank you for being strong enough to survive alone in the wilderness, until I could get to you to help you thrive. Thank you for being brave enough to open your heart so you could love the people in your life, as well as the man who protects you now. Thank you,
thank you
, for being everything a father could ever dream of in a child. To me, you are
perfect
.”

Emotion ballooned too fast to be contained, a happiness that was so intense it was a beautiful anguish to bear. It spilled out in the form of motion as she set aside the file and surged out of her chair to throw her arms around his shoulders, careful not to disturb the oxygen feed while embracing the man who gave her life. A horrendously imperfect man. A scary, dangerous man. Some would even say an evil man. And she had no illusions; those who would say such things were probably justified in their view.

But he was her father.

And her father thought she was perfect.

It moved her so much it hurt.

“Thank you for caring enough to look for me. Thank you for watching over me and giving me a place to live. Thank you for the job I love so much, for getting me syndicated in all those newspapers across the country, and for the cookbook deals,” she whispered, trying very hard not to let her tears fall on his beautiful suit and mess it up. Just the thing she didn’t want him to remember her for—getting him all snotty with her blubbering. “I’ll work even harder at my job and try not to let you down.”

“The apartment and your first syndicated column, yes, I did this. But everything else—all the other papers picking up your column, the popularity of your blog and all the ad space it demands, the cookbook deals—all of that you did on your own, silly girl.”

“What?” Just when she thought nothing else could shock her, his words proved her wrong, and she backed up to search his face. When Rude had told her that her father had looked out for her for years, she had been both touched and bitterly disappointed that all the triumphs she’d won for herself hadn’t really been triumphs at all. But this changed everything. “Really?”

“I opened one door.
One
. You chose to not only walk through it, you blasted through every subsequent door before I could even think about getting ahead of you to open them up. The day you announced on your blog that you had closed a deal on your first cookbook, I was as shocked as anyone.”

“He ordered champagne that night for dinner,” Scorpio offered from his place near the wall. “It was a good dinner.”

“But there were no Russian or Ukrainian recipes in that book, Sass,” Her father pointed out, suddenly serious. It was as though he’d found a flaw in the Mona Lisa. “This I know. I went through every page. Many Italian dishes, though.”

“My mother takes credit for that,” Rude admitted. “She’s always bragging to her bingo buddies how she, Mama Coco, is mentioned eight times in Sass’s book. I swear if she does it one more time they’re going to roll her into a ditch.”

Scorpio’s cough sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“I have a feeling there will be more than a few recipes from your mother—my grandmother—in the next book.” Only as the words came out did she realize her father, in all probability, wouldn’t be alive for its release, and it was like a knife going through the center of her heart. “What was her name, so I can give her credit? I want people to know her story, as well as how talented she was in the kitchen.”

“Dasha. Her name was Dasha.” His voice broke over the name, and it seemed to be his turn to be overcome with emotion. “You would do this? You would let the world know of her?”

She was shocked he had to ask. “Of course.”

“Devochka moya
, this makes me so happy.” His breath shook as he hugged her to him, and he kissed her hair. “I have to live to see this. Write fast, sweet girl, yes?”

“Yes… Papa. Yes.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

They were quiet on the drive back into the city, both lost in their own thoughts. After she had given her father the promise to finish up her latest cookbook as quickly as possible, he’d asked Scorpio to see her out while he had a few words alone with Rude. She seemed to be the only one surprised by this request, as Rude nodded as if he’d been expecting it. He hadn’t been long, no more than five minutes, but he refused to discuss what was said between him and her father. He only shared that it had been “man talk” as he’d helped her into the car.

In her humble opinion, his answer sucked.

The moment they got home, she started on that turkey she’d wanted to brine for the holiday edition of her food blog, then sat down to go over contents of the file she had been given. While a few recipes her grandmother Dasha had come up with wouldn’t tempt the American palate—meat jelly and a warm salad made with boiled beets and prunes were a definite
no
—there were others that could be used and modified and made healthier.

She just had to do it fast.

She was so immersed in the file that she wasn’t aware of the passage of time. The only thing from the outside world that reached her was her awareness of Rude, who had gone out for a bit after they’d arrived home, but was now puttering around in the bedroom. Only when the buzzer sounded for the downstairs entrance did she lift her head, and found Rude heading for the door.

“Awesome. Food’s here.”

She started guiltily when she realized it was dark beyond the windows. “Crap, I’m sorry. I forgot all about dinner.” The combo of an apple cake, honey-roasted carrots, a green bean casserole, sausage stuffing and brine water definitely wasn’t dinner material.

“No worries, babe. Pizza’s always the dinner of champions.”

In minutes a flat white box was in Rude’s hands, but after snagging a couple longnecks from the fridge, he surprised her by heading back to the bedroom. “Come on, Sassy Pants. Time to relax.”

More curious than anything, she rose from her chair. “Don’t we need plates and napkins?”

“Nope. Just get in here and get naked.”

Well. That got her attention.

With the exception of the bedside lamp, the lights were off in the bedroom, but a golden glow was coming from the master bath. She followed it and came to a stop in the open doorway, too stunned to move.

“I cleaned the drugstore out of candles,” Rude announced, tugging his long sleeved shirt over his head, then toed out of his shoes while reaching for his belt. “I didn’t think twenty-seven candles would give off that much light, but I’m impressed. Just be careful where you toss your clothes, yeah? This shit stops being romantic if we set the building on fire.”

“Rude.” Lit candles of all shapes and sizes were everywhere—on the vanity and all along the back rim of the never-used tub now half-filled with steaming water. A few of them were obviously scented, but with their perfumes mingling she couldn’t tell what they were. It didn’t matter. Even if the scent eventually overwhelmed them, it was the most beautiful and thoughtful thing she had ever seen. “This is amazing, sweetheart.”

“It’s not going to be amazing if both the bath and the food get cold while you’re standing there fully dressed.” Naked and bathed in candlelight, he dodged around the vanity stool that had been pulled near the tub and had the pizza box balanced on its surface. He stopped just in front of her and pulled the scarf off, then bent to catch the hem of her sweater dress. “Arms up, baby.”

Excitement roared to life as she did as he asked, and with a rustle of fabric the dress was off and thrown through the open door and into the bedroom. Since she’d already removed her shoes and chunky jewelry, she made quick work of her tights and underwear while he got rid of her bra and sent that sailing into the bedroom. Then she was against him, his arms wrapped around her waist with such strength it lifted her up on her tiptoes.

“Crazy day, huh?” His mouth was against her neck in a soothing yet arousing caress, and she curled her arms around his shoulders to hold him in place.

“Very crazy, and very enlightening. I needed this,” she whispered, loving the sensation of her breasts flattening against his strong, muscled-padded chest. God, she loved the feel of her man. “I didn’t even know I needed to understand where I came from, but I did. All this time I’ve been missing entire parts of me, but they fell into place today. It was overwhelming.”

His arms tightened. “I can imagine.”

“I’m so glad you were there with me today.”

“I wasn’t about to be anywhere else, Sassy. I’ll always be there, closer than your own shadow.”

She knew that. Now more than ever, she knew she could rely on him to be the bedrock on which she could build a world. “Just thinking about who my father is to the rest of the world causes all kinds of moral dilemmas and confusion, you know? But to me… I know this sounds crazy and maybe even wrong, but I see him as my
father
, and I think he might actually love me.”

“Of course he does, and don’t you let anyone put you in a position where you feel you have to apologize for loving your parent, you hear me? And I know you love him,” he added, lowering his head so that his brow rested against hers and his lips were no more than a breath away. “That beautiful heart of yours is strong enough to love me, so I know it’s strong enough to love him. That’s why both your dad and I think you’re a miracle.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” With a gentle kiss, he stepped back to pull her toward the bath. He got in first, then settled her between his legs, her back reclining against his chest. The heated water made their skin slippery, and she closed her eyes and relaxed against him to better savor the feel. “I’m not ready to share everything your dad and I talked about, but that was one thing we both agreed on. Your ability to love, when you were never shown any during your formative years, is a miracle that needs to be protected. I promised him I would, just I’m promising you that now. I’ll never take anything you give me for granted, including your heart, because I know I’m one lucky sonofabitch to have it.”

As her insides fluttered at that, she wondered if he knew she considered herself the lucky one. “That’s what you two super-tough badasses talked about? Love?”

“We talked about what a father should talk about with the man who’s in his daughter’s life. He needed to make a few things clear, so he did.
I
needed to make things clear after that, so I did. Come to find out, we both pretty much had the same things to say, and that put his mind at ease. Made me feel pretty good, too.” Shifting to the side, he flipped open the pizza box and dug out a slice. “Take a bite. You haven’t eaten all day.”

Obligingly she opened her eyes, then backed away a fraction when she saw something in the candlelight. “Wait, what’s on here?”

“Sausage, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms and spinach.”

She jerked her head around to stare at him. “I thought you swore that as a faithful Italian, you’d die if you ever had pizza with spinach on it.”

“It’s on only half of the pizza, so I’ll live.  You needed some spoiling after the crazy-ass week you’ve had, so naturally I thought of candles and spinach.”

Oh, this sweet, sweet man…

“A great combination if there ever was one,” she whispered, because there was suddenly very little air in her lungs. “And from the sound of it, what you thought of was
me
, and that means more to me than anything. I love you, Rude.”

“If you love me, you’ll eat.” With his mouth pressed to her ear, he fed her pizza, then sips of cold beer, then ate a slice himself while she heated up their water by draining some and adding more. When she returned to him, she nudged his legs together and straddled them so that she could comfortably face him while he polished off the last of his beer.

“The next time we need to relax in the tub, I’m going to figure out how the hell to turn on the jets. This is the first time I’ve ever been in this tub,” she admitted when he raised his brows at her wording. “I always thought it seemed way too big for one person, but now that we’re both in here, I get what it’s truly built for.”

Setting his empty bottle on the floor, his hands slid over her hips to cup her ass. And all the while, his heavy-lidded gaze made a feast of her wet breasts. “I’m glad you’re breaking it in with me, then. Now that we know this baby’s built for two, bath time’s going to be a helluva a lot of fun around here.”

“Getting dirty while getting clean all at the same time?” Rising up on her knees, she arched invitingly upward, a smile on her face as she poured a handful of water over her breasts. “Mm. Sounds like a win to me.”

“Jesus, you’re beautiful.” His breath heaved out of him as if suddenly there wasn’t enough air in the room, before he shook his head and again reached toward the vanity chair. “Before we go any further, I have one more surprise for you. Look at it quick, because I’m really wanting to be inside you in the worst fucking way.”

That statement, packed with need from her hungry, sexy man, was enough to tempt her to get busy right then. But then he handed her the First Christmas ornament they had bought, and in the candlelight she saw he had added their picture. It was a surprisingly good one for a selfie, with her face nestled into his neck and his head bent toward her, their body language screaming a togetherness that even a blind person would have seen. This would be their first Christmas together, but she had the bright hope that it wouldn’t be their last.

“It fits,” she whispered, smiling down at the photo.

“
We
fit,” he corrected, then took the ornament from her hands and set it aside so he could grip her by the hips and shift her against the hard shaft of his cock beneath the water. “In more ways than one.”

“You’ve got a clever way with words, Panuzzi.” Her breath hitched audibly as his stiffened flesh slid along her channel, and he leaned forward to take a wet nipple into his mouth. As she pushed into that delightful suction, he reached a hand down to rub the head of his cock against her until they both groaned. Her hips began to move fluidly while her hands came to anchor themselves on his broad, hard shoulders, and her head fell back as the sweet pleasure coursed through her. “
Yes
. Now you’re talking.”

“Baby,” he breathed against her skin, “this conversation’s just getting started.”

Her response got obliterated by his sudden, smooth thrust that filled her, and every thought melted away. She arched her lower back and rolled her pelvis to take him in as far as he could go, her eyes closing to better savor the feel of him inside her. He filled her so fully, so completely, that all she could think was that he was right. They did fit each other in every way, despite their unspectacular beginnings. Where they’d started didn’t matter. They had ended up in a place where he was the reason she smiled, and his arms had become the safe harbor she turned to for security, for love.

For everything.

He was her home.

He kept at her until he had her falling into a spine-bending orgasm, and her cries were still echoing in the tiled room as he gave into his own, the cords in his neck straining and her name on his lips as he came hard and long. And as he did she held onto him with all her might, and knew she would always be home as long as she was with Rude.