Russian Bad Boy's Untouched Love (8 page)

“As it happens,” Giovanni began slowly. “I did know about this incident, but only because one of the investigating officers is the husband of my bartender’s cousin.”

Vlad acknowledged the source with a nod.

“He mentioned that they—the officers mind you—had a belief that once the Sokolovs were notified of this breach, that they would be handling it themselves.”

“Ah,” Vlad murmured. “So the disinterest on their part was intended to be for my benefit instead of meant as a slight.”

“Exactly.”

Vlad didn’t believe that for one second, but he was willing to let it slide for the moment. “You have children, Giovanni. Have you had anyone break into your child’s school to steal their records?”

“My children attend Catholic school, but no.” Giovanni’s face slid from its usual expression of disinterest to something resembling worry. “It is trouble though, to think that someone might be willing to use children as collateral for something.”

“Yes, it is,” Vlad agreed. It was more than troubling. It was downright scary.

The front door of the restaurant burst open. Vlad leaped to his feet. So did Giovanni and almost every other person sitting in the dining room. A man stumbled inside the restaurant. One side of his face was swollen, and his lips were a bloody ruin. His hands were bleeding as though he had repeatedly fallen on his way there.

“Giovanni!” the man cried out. He collapsed at the Orsini man’s feet, sobbing as though he had completely lost his mind.

Vlad couldn’t tell what Giovanni was thinking. The man had completely closed his face. His jaw was iron and his lips were thinned into a tight line. Finally he leaned down to touch the broken man on the shoulder. “Petruchio, what happened?”

“I took the children for a walk in the park this morning,” the man wheezed. “I wanted them to be out of doors on a beautiful day like this.”

“Yes?” Giovanni prodded.

“Then
he
came.”

Giovanni fisted his hands at his sides. “Who came?”

“The Man in Black. That is all I saw.” Petruchio was sobbing as though his entire world had come to an end. “I tried, Giovanni. I
tried
!”

“Tell me what happened.” Giovanni’s tone was hard as stone and colder than ice.

“He took your Jonathan.” Petruchio lifted his battered face and Vlad could see tears streaming down his cheeks. “He took your son.”

Giovanni’s olive complexion went white. He turned to Vlad. “If you have any ideas,
any
about this man. I want to know. I will not rest until I have my son back. Even if I have to tear this city to the ground.”

Chapter Ten

It was nearly midnight when Vlad knocked on Mary’s door. She knew it was him because she had seen him approach through the bay window. Most of her day had been spent sitting in the padded window seat. For some reason she felt better wrapped in a warm blanket in a place where she could see the danger coming.

“What are you doing here?” Mary asked softly, ushering him inside and closing the door behind him. “It’s so late! Even mafia bodyguards need their beauty rest.”

“I had to see you.”

He took her in his arms and held her so close and so tightly that Mary instantly knew something else had happened. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into the contact. She didn’t know what she could offer, but if comfort was what he sought then she would do her best to provide it.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

“One of the other families lost a son today.” Vlad swept her into his arms without another word and began the walk back to her bedroom.

The bottom dropped out of Mary’s stomach. “Lost?”

“He was stolen,” Vlad corrected. “From a park. He had a guard with him. The man was beaten very badly.”

“Oh my God.” Mary put her hands over her mouth. “That’s horrible!”

“There were other kids there, though.” Vlad seemed to be reasoning this through. She imagined that he’d been trying to find a pattern or a solution all day long. “Giovanni’s other children weren’t touched. Just the eldest.”

“But Ioann is the youngest.”

Vlad glanced down right before he set her on her bed. His face was a mask of uncertainty. “I know.”

Vlad began stripping out of his clothing. The bedside lamp was on. Tonight she was completely sober and in control of her mental faculties. That meant she was getting a delightful view of his beautiful body.

Since the moment she had first seen him, she had been fascinated by his tattoos. Now she was getting a full look at them in the light as he unashamedly got naked in front of her.

“Vlad?”

He seemed distracted, which was understandable. Yet she needed him to focus away from the horror and relax. So Mary reached out and brushed her fingertips over the crow tattooed across the right side of his ribs.

“What do all of these mean?” Mary asked.

He seemed surprised. “I must confess that many of them don’t mean anything at all. Most of the time I forget I even have them.”

“What do the words say?” She pointed to the phrase in Cyrillic that peeked out of the collar of his shirt.

“It says faithless,” he explained. “It is to remind me that most people are.”

“That’s not encouraging.” She felt almost disturbed by his jaded outlook. “What about the crow?”

“I like crows.” He shrugged. “I believe they’re couriers of the dead. They carry the souls of the living to the land of the dead.”

Mary stared at the unseeing eyes of the black bird. “I’ve always heard they’re tricksters who lead unsuspecting people astray.”

“That too.” He looked pointedly down at her. “You’re wearing far too much clothing.”

She glanced down at her clothes. “I have on a bathrobe and pajamas. How is that too much to go to bed?”

“You should be naked.”

“I never sleep naked.”

“You will.”

He playfully grabbed the belt of her robe and tugged it loose. The garment fell open and she let it slide right off. Vlad tossed it aside and reached for her pants. Hooking his fingers in the waistband of the loose pajamas, he began dragging them down her legs.

Mary giggled and rolled, trying to keep hold of them. In the end though, she really didn’t put forth much effort. Vlad easily removed her pants leaving her in her panties and an old T-shirt.

“I told you that I’m not a very sexy woman,” Mary reminded him.

The way he was looking at her though, it made her melt on the inside. Vlad put both palms on the insides of her bare thighs and gazed up at her with so much desire in his eyes that Mary began to tremble.

“Do you say this nonsense because you don’t have the voluptuous figure of a fertility goddess?” he asked.

“I suppose.” She shrugged, uncomfortable with this topic even though she’d been the one to bring it up. “I know my breasts are small and I don’t have much in the way of curves. That’s all.”

“That doesn’t mean that a man wouldn’t find you attractive.”

She thought of some of her near encounters in the past. “That’s not how a lot of guys see it.”

“Then a lot of guys are stupid,” Vlad announced.

“No argument here.”

He growled and climbed onto her bed. He rolled to his side, taking her with him. When he had settled on his back he helped her to sit astride his body. The position was unfamiliar, but not uncomfortable. She wiggled a little. He groaned. That was when Mary realized that she could feel the hard ridge of his cock right against the crotch of her panties.

“Does this feel good to you?” she asked, staring down at his handsome face and trying to gauge what he might be thinking.

“Yes.” He put his hands on her hips. “Although not as good as it would feel if you were naked.”

She got up on her knees and squirmed to get her underwear off. It was awkward, but she finally managed to scoot it down her legs and get rid of it. The action was very likely not at all sexy, but somehow she felt like it didn’t matter right now.

When Mary returned to her position astride his body, she felt the shaft of his cock nestle between the fleshy nether lips of her sex. The sensation was exquisite. Everything tingled and she felt a rush of creamy fluid soak Vlad’s cock.

“Is that okay?” she asked, truly curious.

SHE WANTED TO know if that was okay? Vlad struggled not to lose control then and there. Her core was hot and wet against him and he couldn’t help but arch his hips to grind himself against her pussy.

“That feels so good,” she murmured.

Her eyes slid closed and she put her hands on his chest. Vlad grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and began inching it north to get rid of it. With her T-shirt off he got a wonderful view of her breasts bouncing slowly with every motion of her body. She was right. They weren’t huge. They were perfect. Vlad cupped them in his hands and gently caressed her nipples with his thumbs. The tiny buds grew hard and pebbled into points. When he rolled them between his thumbs and index fingers, Mary started to gasp and moan.

His cock wasn’t actually inside her body just yet. That was okay. Vlad was enjoying the sight of her riding his shaft and grinding him into the sensitive parts of her pussy. He could feel her clit brush the tip of his penis. The hard nub throbbed with each stroke.

Mary began to gasp and pant with each motion of her hips. Vlad could feel the tension in her pussy even where it rested against his shaft. She was so close to climax. Her pants turned to little whimpers and Vlad knew he needed to give her just a nudge.

Letting one hand drift down her belly, he slipped his index finger between her swollen pussy lips and found her clit. Vlad rubbed in circles until he felt her seize. Throwing her head back, Mary began to move her hips in earnest as her orgasm pushed her into an erotic dance.

“Vlad, I need you inside me,” she told him breathlessly. “Please show me?”

He bracketed her waist in his hands and lifted her just until he felt the head of his cock slide inside her body. As soon as he had penetrated her just that small amount, she lowered herself the rest of the way. The instant embrace of her hot, tight channel nearly made him burst. He groaned and thrust his hips up into the contact.

“Holy shit that feels good!” She sounded shocked, but excited.

“Ride me,” he told her. “Keep moving until the friction is exactly the way you want it.”

He only had to tell her once. Vlad grunted when he felt her thighs tighten around his sides. Then she began deep motions that ground the entire length of his shaft against the inside of her pussy. The heat and friction were incredible.

The feel of Mary’s body around his was perfection, but it was the sight of her that drove him mad with lust. She lifted her arms, pushing her fingers through that thick red hair and lifting it away from her neck. Her breasts bobbed with each stroke and her narrow hips were a gentle flare that completed her utter femininity.

“Mary,” Vlad groaned. “You’re killing me here! I have to have you. Please let me fuck you.”

“How?” She rested her fingertips on his chest and gazed down at him with confusion plain on her face.

Taking her hips in his hands, he flipped her onto her back without removing his cock from her channel. She cried out in surprise, but quickly got into the new position. She wrapped her legs around his waist and encouraged him with her body to give her everything he could.

Pulling out as far as he dared, Vlad slammed back inside her body. He did it again and again until there was nothing in the room but the sounds of their skin slapping together. The scent of sex filled the room and their harsh breathing reached a fever pitch. He surged inside her over and over until he knew he was right on the edge of his climax.

Taking her thigh in one hand, he lifted her leg and angled his cock down. The new entry into her body seemed to push her right over the edge. Mary screamed his name as her inner muscles squeezed and clenched around his cock.

Vlad felt his release coming fast. It burned its way through his veins until he was nothing more than the man plunging in and out of this incredible woman. His balls tightened beneath his body. His cock throbbed and finally the long vein down the center pulsed as he spilled his seed deep into Mary’s body.

He felt utterly spent after only a few minutes. Still, he also felt completely satisfied. Vlad rolled to his side to avoid crushing Mary’s tiny body. Pulling her close, he tucked her against his chest and wrapped his arms tight around her.

“Hey,” she whispered with a yawn. “I think you completely wore me out.”

“Me?” he teased. “You were the one riding me as if you were trying to whip me into shape.”

She nuzzled his chest. “Maybe I was.”

Vlad felt a moment’s unease as thoughts of what had happened to Giovanni’s son crept back in. Mary had helped him to forget and he was grateful. But the truth was that it wasn’t safe, and nothing was going to change that until they found out who the culprit was and what they wanted.

“Mary?” He gently traced the shape of her jaw. “I think we should stop seeing each other for awhile.”

“What?” She sat up so quickly she banged her head on his chin. “You can’t just ditch me like that!”

“Mary, I just want you to be safe.” He tugged her back down, tucking her alongside his body and wishing he could make her understand. “Whoever is out there is willing to attack you to get the information on those kids. We don’t know what they want with the kids, but we need to figure it out fast. If something happens to Ioannn, you could get caught in the crossfire.” Vlad leaned down and took her mouth in a deep, drugging kiss. “I could never live with myself if that happened.”

Chapter Eleven

He wanted to break up with her in order to keep her
safe
? Mary was still stewing over that little tidbit by the time Sunday evening rolled around. She hadn’t heard from Vlad all day long. They had woken up in a twisted tangle of naked limbs and then he’d rolled out of bed and headed out as though his butt were on fire.

Mary scrubbed her kitchen sink a little harder to get rid of her frustration. It wasn’t as if Vlad didn’t like her. She knew he did. Which in itself was crazy. There was no way she could be his type. She was the epitome of a good girl. In school she had never even had a detention.