My Russian Nightmare (14 page)

 
Chapter 15

“It’s a good thing Sammy’s room is on the other side of the house,” Dimitri says, stroking my arm.

“Why’s that?” I prop myself up on my elbow.

“Because he’d already be in here kicking my ass if he heard you screaming like that, and I’m hoping for a repeat performance. For many repeat performances.”

I dart my eyes away from him.

“Don’t be embarrassed.” He kisses my cheek. “I love that you’re so loud. It’s a huge turn on.”

I don’t say anything. I pull away and rest my head on my pillow. A few minutes go by where neither of us speaks.

“What just happened, Kiera?”

I shrug. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I felt so close to you, and it wasn’t just because we were having sex. I felt like we were a part of each other, and now, you’re pulling away again.”

I shake my head. “No. I should’ve said something earlier. I just don’t know how to ask you.”

“Whatever it is, say it.”

“Fine. I’ve never been with anyone but you, and not only did you not use a condom, again, but it’s also the second time you came inside me.” I look away.

“I’m clean. I would never jeopardize you like that. Do you not understand what your life is worth to me?”

“But what if I get pregnant?”

He snickers like it’s a joke. “Then you get pregnant and we have a little mini me or mini you running around here.”

“But I haven’t finished school, and we’re not married. We haven’t even discussed anything beyond right now. Like what either of us are going to do for a living. And I really can’t even think about that until I know something for sure. Are you planning to go back to that life?” I rattle on.

“I’d love our child to pieces no matter what. You’re not going back to school. Not that one anyway. You didn’t want to go to med school, so now you get to do what it is
you
want. But I’m telling you right now you’re not going into acting. I risked too much for us to be exposed—”

I press my lips against his in an attempt to quiet him. It works for the moment, and he doesn’t complain about my underhanded tactics. When I break away, he brings my hand to his lips and then picks right up where he left off.

“I never wanted to be part of that world.”

“Then what are you going to do with your time?”

“Work.” He chuckles. “Like everyone else.”

“Doing what?”

“We own a car dealership. A lot full of sleek, sexy cars with hefty price tags.”

At least it’s something. That’s a relief.

“We?”

“You and me. We own half. The other half is a silent partner based out of the country.”

“Your father?”

He nods. “It’s all legit, and that’s how it’s going to stay. I have no intention of going back. Not unless I have to. For us.”

“No more. Promise me. I can justify what happened with Yuri and those other bastards at the warehouse, but Dimitri, I don’t want to think of you and see you as a killer. It scares me to know you can be like that.”

“I’ve only ever killed for you. To keep you safe. And as payback for what they did to your parents. With the exception of Ivan, I took down every one of the people involved.” His voice is soft and somber. Once again, his words caress me. They touch me with as much strength and warmth as his hands and lips. “I’ll do what I have to if anyone comes after us. Otherwise, it’s all behind us. You have to know I’d never, ever hurt you.” His knuckles brush against my cheek as I nod.

“I do.”

There’s still something weighing heavily on me. I’m still consumed by this unsettling feeling, and I want to get past it, get rid of the uncertainty when I think about us. I lift Dimitri’s left hand and entwine our fingers. It feels right. Like we were made for each other.

I look down at our joined hands and notice the plain band he’s wearing. I’m surprised, first that he’s wearing it, and second that it’s a perfect match to mine. Another prop. I run my pointer finger over the simple ring.

“I wish I was there when you picked this out. I would’ve wanted to engrave it.”

He leans on his left elbow and stares at me intently. “Oh yeah?”

“Well, to make it more realistic,” I dart my eyes away from his, hoping he doesn’t pick up on my lie.

“What would you have put on it?”

I shrug. “I don’t know, I love you more than unicorns.”

He smiles. “Wow. More than unicorns. I didn’t think you could love anyone more than unicorns.”

“Are you making fun of me?” I feign insult.

He shakes his head. “Never. Just saying that’s quite a feat. But it’s a lot to inscribe on a ring, don’t you think?”

“Then maybe just I love you. Or I’ve always loved you.”

He reaches for my hand, pulls the wedding band off my finger, and holds it up to his eye. “I know you can’t read it in this lighting,” he says, referring to the moonlight spilling in through my window, “but yours is inscribed.” He clears his throat. “It says Dante and Kiera forever.”

My eyes well up with tears. He’s so perfect. Perfect for me. How could I have been so angry? So unsure? Sammy was right. I’ve always loved Dante. With every bit of my heart, and I always will.

“I’m sorry I was such a bitch. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course.”

“Then prove it,” he wiggles his eyebrows playfully.

This conversation feels eerily familiar. He turned the tables on me, and he did it on purpose. I see it in the cocky smirk he’s wearing.

“How?”

He hesitates a moment, but when he speaks, I can’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“Marry me, Kiera.”

My heart races. My insides buzz with excitement.

“I thought according to our new identities, we
are
married.”

He shakes his head. “I mean for real.” Dimitri lets the cover fall off of his glorious body as he kneels completely naked on the bed in front of me and pulls the engagement ring off my finger.

“I did it all wrong before because I thought you hated me. I didn’t think I had a shot in hell anytime soon. Please, let me do this the right way. The way you deserve.”

My heart hammers against my chest. Holding my trembling hand in his, Dimitri takes a deep breath.

“Kiera, you are the only woman I have ever imagined sharing a life with and watching grow old. I would move heaven and earth to make you happy and keep you safe. Make me the happiest man alive. Say you’ll be my wife. For real. Marry
me,
Dimitri Nombrasnya. In a church, before God, with your brother walking you down the aisle. I love you. Please, Kiera. Marry me.”

“OH. MY. GOD!” Tears of joy stream from my eyes as I launch myself into his arms. “I love you so much, Dimitri. I can’t believe you would do that for me.”

“I waited a long time to hear those words. They are the most beautiful words in the English language. And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

“But that would give us away, and you worked so hard to make this happen, to get us here.”

Once again I see sincerity in his eyes. “I want this to be real for you. It’s been real for me since Sammy and I started putting this plan in motion.”

“How long ago?”

“It’s not important. The past doesn’t matter anymore. All we can do is mold our future. Just in case you haven’t figured it out by now, you are my future. We can be honest with a priest. They’re bound to some confidentiality clause or something, aren’t they? We’ll find a church and ask for help.”

“I don’t know if that’ll work.”

“I do. If you’re worried about going to a Catholic priest, I’ll search out a Russian priest. I’ll do whatever you want. Just say yes and let me worry about the rest.”

“Okay. Yes! I’ll marry you! I love you, Dimitri, with my whole heart.”  

*

A knock on my door wakes me. I’m still naked in bed, Dimitri tangled up with me. I’m lying on my side with his arm around my waist, and his leg is slung over mine.

“Kiera.” Adrenaline spikes through me at the sound of my brother’s voice. “Open the door. I want to know that you’re okay.”

Dimitri stirs beside me. I hold my finger up to my lips, signaling for him to be quiet. I do not want to start my day and my new life off with Sammy and Dimitri at each other’s throats.

“Give me two minutes to get dressed and we’ll talk over breakfast.”

Dimitri sits up, brushes my hair off to the side of my neck, and starts trailing soft, sweet kisses down my shoulder.

“You know what, Sammy? Make that fifteen.”

“Think of all that we can do in fifteen minutes,” Dimitri whispers in my ear seductively, his warm breath causing shivers to ripple through me.

“No. I’m taking a shower. I am not going to have this conversation with my brother with the scent of sex still lingering on me.”

“Fine, but I get to soap you up.”

Chapter 16

“What’s with all the handholding?” Sammy asks at breakfast, suspicion ripe in his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answer, pulling my hand out of Dimitri’s and placing it on the table in my brother’s view.

“I’m not an idiot. I know you were holding hands under the table. Holy shit, is that ring real?”

“Why is hers so much bigger than mine?” Ana asks, her eyes throwing daggers at Dimitri.

My stomach pitches. This doesn’t feel like it’s going so well.

Dimitri covers my hand with his own and strokes my skin with his thumb. His tingling touch does nothing to settle my nerves. Instead, I feel more jittery because while I’m trying to keep my emotions under control and work up the courage to tell my brother that Dimitri and I are indeed a “thing,” all I can think about is the way his hands skimmed over my naked body. How he felt pressed against me. Inside me.

“I picked Kiera’s ring out,” Dimitri explains, bringing me back to the moment.

“You picked my ring out, too,” Ana snaps.

“But I’m not in love with
you.
I’m not planning to marry
you
.”

Ana shakes her head in annoyance while Sammy shrugs. “Tell the world you have a cheap, piece-of-shit husband. What do I care? It’s all good.”

“It’s all
good
? Wonderful. I’m glad that life is “all good” for you,” she snaps and rushes out of her chair and out of the kitchen.

“Lucky me, I’m blessed with such a prize for a wife,” Sammy says after Ana’s rash exit.

Dimitri slings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close to him.

I eye him suspiciously. “Anything you want to tell me about Ana?”

He shakes his head. “No. Why?”

“That was a jealous tirade if I ever heard one.”

“You think me and Ana?” He looks offended. Too bad. This is one of those details I need ironed out. “And that I’d bring you both here and have you living under the same roof? Hell no.”

I look away, because this is something I need him to understand. “I’m not willing to have the type of relationship your parents had. I’m also not willing to look the other way and forgive you like Oxanna did, so if there’s anyone else, this is the time to come clean.”

“Ana was a huge part of making this work, Kiera. I don’t know if we could’ve pulled it off without her.”

“He’s right,” Sammy chimes in. “Timing was everything. And we both had to disappear at the same time.”

If my brother’s sticking up for her, for them, then I know I should give it a chance. Still, she hasn’t been particularly nice to me. She’s only spoken to me out of necessity.

“She doesn’t like me.”

“She doesn’t know you. She’s had a lot to deal with.” Dimitri defends her, and I’m not sure I’m okay with it. I’ve only ever seen him protect and defend me. Jealousy bubbles up inside my chest and overflows into rational thought.

“She lost a lot of people in her life in a very short time,” Dimitri continues. “On top of all that, she’s used to being waited on hand and foot and having the best of everything. She lost her unlimited funds and the deep pockets of daddy’s bank account, and now she has to live off an allowance like the rest of us. Cut her a little slack.”

“So what the fuck
does
this mean?” Sammy asks, his eyes laser-focused on the ring. “Are you planning on marrying my sister? As in really marrying her?”

I bite my lip and nod. “I’d love it if you would walk me down the aisle.”

Sammy’s eyes drop to the table as he shakes his head. “This was part of your plan all along, wasn’t it? To finally get her all to yourself.”

Oh no. My heart sinks to the floor.

“What is your problem, man? You’re here. You’re her family,” Dimitri says, stating the obvious. “You wanted me to be honest with her. I told her everything.”

“In bits and pieces.”

“What does it matter how I told her? It only matters that she knows. And you seem to forget, I did everything in my power to save you both.”

I don’t understand Sammy’s sudden shift in attitude. A breath ago he was sticking up for Dimitri. No, he stood up for
Ana
.

“You brainwashed her.”

Anger flares in Dimitri’s eyes. But it’s what I see in my brother’s eyes that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. Blistering hate.

“Stop. Both of you, just stop!” I jump out of my seat with heart-pounding sadness and rush up to my room, with both Sammy and Dimitri chasing at my heels, calling for me to come back.

I close and lock the door behind me.

Bam. Bam. Bam
.

A fist pounds on my door. I don’t know which one it is, Dimitri or Sammy. I don’t much care either. I don’t want to talk to either of them. Stupid, chauvinistic bullies. Both mean the world to me, and both are acting like I’m too dumb to make my own decisions.

“Open the door, Kiera.”

“Go away.”

“Not until we talk.”

“Then you should’ve been listening to me when you had the chance.”

Bam. Bam. Bam.

“Fuck.” I hear a heavy thud against the door. “I’m scared, Kiera. I’m scared shitless of losing you. My whole life has been about looking after you and protecting you. And now, you just want to leave me.”

Desperation colors my brother’s voice. I get off my bed and walk over to the door. Fingertips slip underneath it, barely peeking in. I’m thrown back to the past.

*

I got caught putting hot pepper into the saltshakers. Those mean kids deserve it. They always make fun of me and Sammy because Mom cleans up after them. On good days they say she’s nothing more than a glorified maid. On bad ones, they compare her to a cheap prostitute. I don’t see any connection, except that they want their words to cut deep and dirty.

I hope the pepper burns their throats and disintegrates their hearts.

Now I’m being punished in my room. I hate to be alone. Especially since Dante left. I see shadows everywhere, like I’m always being watched. Scared to be by myself, I’m relieved when I spot fingertips reaching under the door to comfort me.

“I’m here, princess. Come sit by your door so you can touch me. This way you know I’m really here and not a figment of your imagination.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, my heart pounding in fear that we’ll get caught talking and my parents will send Sammy downstairs.

“Don’t sweat it. I’ll never leave you alone, princess. Ever.”

*

“You’re never going to lose me, Sammy. Ever.”

I hear deep, heavy breaths slinking in from the other side of the door.

“I lost you the day he walked into that diner. We were best friends, the three of us. We did everything together, but I always felt like the outsider. Like I didn’t belong. You always took his side and wanted to be on his team. Not mine. And now, you’re going to be his. Forever.”

“I’m always on your team, Sammy. I couldn’t have made it through the last five years without you.”

I get to my feet and pull open my door. Sammy falls into my room back first. He must’ve not expected me to open it. Good. He deserves it. I get down on my knees as my brother picks his chin off the floor and sits on his ass.

“If you were so against me being with Dimitri, why did you go into this with him?”

“I had no choice. I was out of money and couldn’t make the payment.”

“Because you paid my tuition.”

He nods. “Dimitri promised. He swore on his life he wouldn’t let them get their claws into you. All I could do was hope he’d come through.”

“He did.”

Sammy nods. “You don’t think it’s all too convenient? I mean think about it.”

“Convenient? Are you kidding me? You could’ve died.”

“Exactly. And they let me live.”

“To control me. That’s why I went with them willingly.” A cold chill runs up my spine at the memory of my brother so weak and helpless in the hospital bed. Sammy notices the change in me. He reaches for my hand and holds it tight. His way of telling me, “I’m here, princess.”

“They knew I’d come to you, and they were waiting. Once I was there, they threatened to kill you and showed me how easy it would’ve been. I had no choice but to leave with them.”

“Who knows? Maybe I’m just jealous. Or a sore loser. Either way, I’m not walking you down the aisle. I can’t give you away. To him or to anyone else.”

My brother, the only family I have left, refuses to be part of what’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life. He broke my heart. Whether he meant to or not, there it is, lying at Sammy’s feet in pieces.

“I’d much rather be your best person.”

My mouth opens equal to the size of my excited eyes. “Do you mean it?”

Sammy nods. “Of course I do.”

I throw my arms around his neck with such force, we both fall over laughing.

“I want you to be happy, princess. It’s clear that you love him. He was always special to you. And I think you’ve always been just as special to him. You must be, or he wouldn’t have put so much on the line to save you.”

Behind us, a toe taps on the floor. My eyes follow the toe up a long, slim leg and eventually up to Ana’s bright blue eyes.

“Is this some sort of kinky, incestuous brother/sister relationship?”

“That turn you on, babe?”

She shakes her head and walks away in a huff.

“Yep, luckiest man alive. That’s me,” Sammy says, getting to his feet, dusting himself off and extending a hand for me.

“No. That’s me,” Dimitri says, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom with his arms folded across his chest and a smirk on his lips. “Now let’s go find a priest and make this official.”

“You okay with this?” I ask Sammy.

“You hurt her, and you’re going to answer to me,” Sammy threatens.

“No worries. I’m never going to hurt her.”

“Does that mean I have your approval?” I ask.

“Yeah. Go. Be happy, princess.”

I give my brother a quick hug, then slide into the arms of the man I love. My first love. My true love. My only love. Standing beside him, I’m ready to jump in headfirst and start living our happily ever after.

Thank you for reading My Russian Nightmare. I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please tell a friend and post a review on the site that you bought it from.

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Continue reading for an excerpt of
Man Up Party Boy
.

Noah York is looking forward to the beach vacation he’s been planning with his best friend, Cooper. He has visions of relaxing days on the sand and fun nights with the girls. However, all his plans come crashing down when Cooper abandons him for a trip to Italy. Not wanting to leave his friend in a lurch Cooper arranges for his sister to take his place. Noah hasn’t seen Lexi in years and isn’t looking forward to spending a week with her or her attitude.

Lexi can’t stand party boy Noah. At least, that’s what she thinks. But when she sees him talking to a blonde at the bar on their first night in the beach town, jealousy takes over and she interrupts them with a kiss. One kiss leads to another. Before either of them realizes what’s happening passion and desire are awakened between them, but Lexi knows better than to fall for Noah. He is, after all, just a party boy.

Chapter 1

Noah

"You're kidding." He has to be joking. "Please tell me this is your lame attempt at humor." Cooper may be my best friend, but right now, if he was standing in front of me I'd put his head through a glass window.

"No, dude. I'm serious."

"Italy?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't pass this shit up. It's a free trip. As in, I'm not paying for airfare or the hotel."

"That doesn't sound like 'Sorry, Noah, I'm just fucking with you.' Doesn't sound like it at all." I crumple a piece of paper on my desk and toss it at the trash can. I miss. Great. Another sign that this is going to be a fucking awesome day. Not.

Three months of planning-- talking to realtors and giving them our parameters to find the perfect rental-- down the drain. We had to act fast and jump on the deal when we found the house on the boardwalk. It's right off the beach. Not too close to any sort of activity so it affords us privacy, and not too far from it either so we could drink all we want and not have to worry about getting in a car to drive anywhere. And now what?  My best friend is dicking me over for a last minute trip to Italy with his flavor of the month.

"It was a non-refundable deposit, and unlike you, I'm not fucking flight attendants that can whisk me off to Europe or some exotic country. I can't afford to flush a grand down the toilet."