Stranded but not Alone (Midnight Moanings Collection) (10 page)

“Son, she’ll be fine. Young lady, are you up here with your family?” She waved a hand, as if erasing her first question. “No matter. Come in here by the fire.”

Seth released Simone. She stumbled along behind the woman, who led them into a large kitchen to sit in front of the fireplace. They crouched on the hearth before the glorious flames blazing bright. He lifted her to his lap, tucked her under his chin as she trembled in violent spurts. He removed both their jackets.

“Mr. Shamochernyi, I’m sorry to barge in like this, but we had no choice. I have to speak with you.”

“Have some coffee first.” Anya handed him a large mug, but he waved away the one intended for Simone. She appeared so gentle relying on him. He hadn’t seen that look from a woman in too long. Tipping it to her mouth, his chest warmed as he watched her drink the hot liquid trusting in his care.

“Miss,” Simone stammered twice before they realized she was speaking. “This is asking a lot, but we have no dry clothes after dragging our bags through the lake when the wolves charged us. If I could place a few pieces in the dryer?”

Seth frowned as Anya shook her head and angled a hand out toward them.

“Come with me. I cannot watch you shivering any longer, young woman. There are robes in the guest room down the hall to the right. Get out of those wet clothes at least. Come back out tell us about your parents, young man, and wash your clothes. This way you will have clean dry clothes after you’ve eaten and then have a hot shower.”

“That would be wonderful,” Simone, crooned. “We appreciate it. Thank you.”

“How’s your knee?” Seth asked.

“Tender,” she said.

“Here, put your arm around my neck.” He picked her up and a flash of the two of them in the shower crossed his mind. He grew tight beneath his wet jeans. The vision formed in his mind of her soft and naked body clinging to him. She didn’t deserve this from him, she’d saved his life and all he could think of was what her lips would feel like wrapped around him.

~~~

Dirty but dry, the two of them sat around the fireplace, Simone drinking hot coffee by his side sharing Anya’s delicious sweet, fat pastries. Clean clothes were folded on the kitchen chair. All attention was on him as he told the tale.

“My parents, Larissa and Sergei Dragoslava, were told that my twin died at birth thirty years ago. Two years ago a baby trafficking ring was exposed and both the doctor and attorney involved were finally being brought to justice. Turns out the doctor was the same one who delivered me and my brother. After two years of intense researching, I tracked my brother down to you as his adoptive family. I need to know how you came to adopt Mikhail.”

The older couple’s faces tightened.

“If you are suggesting, young man, that my Anya and I had anything to do with stealing your brother from—”

“Josef.” Anya’s tone held apprehension. “I don’t think he’s accusing us—are you, young man?”

“I’m asking questions and I need answers,” he told them as Simone pressed a hand to his chest, he took her warning.

“I can’t imagine the pain of such a loss for your parents,” Anya said. “We had no knowledge of this.” She looked at her husband, her eyes clouded with unshed tears. “We were told he had been abandoned by his mother. They said she left him at the hospital.” Her face paled. Wadding the hem of her sweater, she set her eyes on each face in the room one by one. Switched to smoothing out the hem of the sweater, down over her hips. She took a breath and appeared to calm herself before blowing it out. “You have to believe that, young man.”

“I need to see record of that adoption,” Seth warned.

“Son, I believe you are accusing my Anya and I of participating in this travesty.” Josef stood tall, his face tight. Seth needed proof it was just that simple.

“Wait,” Simone said. As she pressed her hand along his arm, the warmth penetrated his skin spreading up to his heart. Stroking the pounding muscle until his breathing leveled out. Why could her touch sooth him? “Mr. & Mrs. Shamochernyi, you have been more than hospitable and gracious with your home and time and we appreciate that, but you have to understand Seth’s need for answers.”

“I understand, young lady,” Josef started and his face became blotchy and red as he spoke. “But to come into our home filled with…”

“Take your anger out on me, not Sim,” Seth ordered, angling himself in front of Simone. “Talk to me.” He shot a glance to his right, Simone stood at his side, running her hand along his spine.

“May I say something?” She asked calmly and he allowed her to step before him as he rested his hands on her shoulders

“If it will bring peace to my home, please do,” Anya said.

“Seth’s parents believed their son to have died and now to find he’s alive—there’s going to be a lot of riled emotions and hurt feelings bringing all this to the surface. I’m an outsider and I speak from a limited view, but Seth is doing this for his parents. He isn’t trying to hurt you. He’s watched his mother desperately mourn her baby for years. All he is asking for are answers to ease her minds. Anything you can provide will be more than what his parents have now.”

He’d been holding his breath listening to her speech and blew it out when he noticed his hands massaging her neck.

“Seth,” Josef said. “If she is only a friend, you are missing out on a wonderful woman. I will bring you all the information we have, young man.” Josef turned to his wife, who nodded politely as he left the kitchen.

Seth’s brow rose as Anya waved a hand at him, shooing him from the kitchen. “Go take your shower while I speak with your friend.”

He locked eyes with Simone and she offered a weak lift to the corner of her mouth. Was she seeing the pain he has kept buried inside all these years? Could she sense his desperation to end these thirty years of mourning? Give his mother the only son she’d ever loved—Mikhail? He was no longer looking for approval. He just wanted it over.

~~~

Simone rested a hip against the kitchen stool. This gave her a great view of Seth leaving the kitchen, scrubbing a hand over his thick wavy hair. He was naked under the thin robe. Each cheek teased her as he moved into the shadow of the short hallway. Visions of his body when she’d undressed him flared behind her eyes. No—she was vulnerable and weak around him. She had to stay focused on getting home and not getting laid. Anya touched her face.

“He will make you a good husband,” Anya whispered next to Simone’s ear handing her a towel from the basket to fold.

“Excuse me?”

The women cantered her face away from Simone, eyes bright and wide. “He doesn’t know you love him, does he?”

“We met yesterday,” Simon said, choking on the words making a mess of folding the rectangle of cotton in her hands. “I’ll admit I’m attracted but not love.”

“Love does not come with a day planner, young lady. There is something happening between you two. Why do you fight it?” she prattled on.

“Mrs. Shamochernyi…”

“Anya.”

“Anya… I’m here on vacation that’s all.”

“Eh—you stare at that man with hunger in your eyes.”

“I do not,” Simone barked in defense.

“Maybe it’s the mole below his left eye you were staring at—hmm,” Anya said and leaned out over the kitchen counter, her face resting on the palm of one hand.

Simone snapped another towel in the air before massacring it instead of folding the square of cotton. “It’s not on the left but the right side in his hair line above his temple,” she corrected Anya and wanted to crawl under the kitchen counter. Why didn’t she just tell her about the mole on the inside of his left bicep, or the small scar on his stomach close to his naval?

“Love, my dear. It only comes along once, maybe twice, in a woman’s lifetime. Take my Josef. We met when I was a young girl, sixteen, going on seventeen. I begged my parents to allow me to go to America after high school.”

“You met Josef in America?” Simone asked setting the laundry basket on the bar stool”

“No, no. For a year, I begged and pleaded with my parents to go to America. I saved my money. And when the time came, my parents agreed I could go for the summer.” She paused and rubbed her hands over her arms.

“What happened?”

“Josef happened. He was getting off a flight, striding through the airport in his uniform. An hour later, the flight to America left short one passenger. Those dark brown, soul-searching eyes have held me in an embrace ever since.”

“What happened to your dream of going to America?

“My Josef took me to New York the next year. I knew from the first moment there could be no other for me.”

“I’m glad it worked out for you. Seth is a nice distraction—not my love.”

“Alright.” Anya held up her hands. “One of our guests, the woman in cabin “C” has been asking after my Mikhail. Wait until she sees he has a twin. I’ll see if I can find you two separate rooms,” she said.

“Trying to make me envious of the other woman isn’t going to work. Seth and I are friends, Anya, just friends.” She clutched the robe closer, shaking her head. This woman was relentless. “We appreciate your kindness and will be out of here as soon as possible.”

Why did Seth sleeping in a separate room bother her? Because she had the hots for the cute Russian in her room that’s why. Crud.

The door creaked on its hinges as she pushed it open. There was Seth, bare feet, strong calves, and robe hanging loosely tied with the sash. His black chest hair framed by the lapels lay easy on his strong body.

“Have a nice talk?” he asked, eyeing her with a smirk.

“She thinks we’re a couple, but says she’ll find me a separate room if I don’t want to share with you.”

“So you won’t be lying beneath me tonight?” He moaned and she backed up to the wall as he stalked her toward the bathroom. He dropped down in front of her. “Pull your robe back. Let me see your knee.”

She wanted to curl into a ball and roll away. She thought he was gonna kiss her. She gazed up to the ceiling, steadying her mind as his hands closed around her calf, squeezing gently. He kissed her knee and the sensation crawled straight up to her sex.

“Go ahead and shower. I’ll find some ointment for your knee,” he said, pushing up from the floor. He set his hand on the wall to each side of her face. “Am I sleeping alone tonight?” He teased and she shook her head under a second kiss this one her forehead.

“The shooting in the woods—you left that out of the conversation in the kitchen, Why?”

“The man wasn’t alone, and if the Shamochernyi’s are lying, they could be behind the shooting.”

“You saw their faces. They have no idea this is going on.”

“We’ll know soon enough once Mikhail shows up.”

She fluffed a hand through her hair, pulling out small leaves and debris. “It might ease her conscious to think so, since we’re sharing a room and not married,” he said, parting her hair. “You have very thick hair, Simone. Could be a squirrel in here and you’d never know.”

She pinched his nipple through the robe. He jerked back, stumbled and came at her. She lurched to the left and he caught her around the waist, pinning her to the wall. Instead of pinching her, he started tickling her. Simone burst out laughing. Seth found her spot along her ribs and tickled her until she was breathless.

“Seth, I… That’s not fair, stop tickling me,” she said, her breathing ragged.

He leaned over her with her back to the wall. His chest heaved from all the horseplay. “Next time you pinch my nipple, better be with your teeth, lady.”

Lord he was sexy. “Alright, move so I can get a shower. You don’t mind if I get one first, do you?”

“Please do. You stink.”

Her mouth went slack. Did he really just say that? “I stink, wolf-boy? You smell like swamp water. Just for that I’m washing my hair in the shower. I’ll be in there twice as long now.”

“Great then I can finally get one of those pastries you were scarfing down.”

“Me? You ate two before your second cup of coffee, greedy man,” she said, setting a change of clothes from the pile of folded on one of the beds. “We’ll have to buy groceries before we leave just so they’ll have some food at the rate you woof it down.”

The sweater hit the floor as Seth moved on her. Angling her body, she stepped around the dresser and lost balance when her body made contact with air instead of the bathroom door.

The hard tile floor caught them in a tangled mess. He was naked under the robe and the clothing parted, leaving them skin to skin from her knee to her stomach, almost.

Closing her eyes, she waited for him to get off her. When he didn’t, she cracked one open and found him smiling above her resting on one elbow.

“I thought you were naked under there,” Seth said.

“You did not.”

“I did,” he teased her. “I never figured you for silk panties.” His deep baritone trembled down her body as heat rode up to her face with that observation.

“You cannot tell…” Her words faded as he moved his hips over her in a slow circle, staring off in thought.

“Silk, like I said.”

“Get up, Dragoslava.”

He ran a hand over her face. “You’re very pretty, Sim. Calling you stinky didn’t make you less attractive as I hoped it would.”

Simone squirmed, trying to keep her bruised knee free of his leg. The length of him slipped in between her thighs where her body cradled him. Awakening the desire building over the last two days for this man. Heat pooled in those same panties under the thickness of him pushing into her. She gave in for two seconds and arched into him. Heavy with muscles, the weight of his body dazed her. His behind fit perfect under the palm of her hand flexing over the hard muscle.

He said nothing, just stared down into her face with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Licking her lips, she forced her hand from his butt and brushed hair off his face, giving her time to cool down enough to speak. This man was built for long nights and happy mornings.

“Am I making you blush, Simone Daniels?”

She closed her eyes and swallowed the moisture forming in her cheeks. He was pouring on the charm now and her body was wallowing in it like a cat in heat.