Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Radimir must have heard the worry in my voice because he sat down beside me and slipped his arm around my back. He nodded, watching me intently. Go on.
“But we have to go back,” I said. I looked at the tattoos on his chest. “Don’t we?”
He followed my gaze and nodded. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t leave.”
“They don’t let anyone leave?” I asked. “Ever?”
He shook his head. Then he winced and gave me a half-hearted nod. “There was a man, once. He got out.”
“Your friend in New York. The hitman who fell in love with his target.”
“Former friend. Yes. His boss let him out because...well, he did something huge for him.”
“But you are the boss,” I said gently. He said nothing. “But you still can’t leave, can you? You don’t want to.”
He sighed. “It’s not about not wanting to. It’s...this is in my blood, Bronwyn.”
My heart sank.
He took my hand. “It’s who I am,” he said. “It’s who I’ll always be.” He looked down at his chest and pointed to one of his scars, on the side of his pec. “Here. Look.”
I looked. It was small and circular, so I’d taken it for a bullet wound. But it wasn’t the same as the others. The edge was too perfectly circular and there were ridged lines in the center that almost seemed to form a symbol.
“After my father died…” He stopped suddenly and looked away, unable to continue. “Before we went to Vladivostok….” He broke off again. I kept quiet, giving him space, my chest aching. What happened to his father? What happened in Vladivostok? I wanted to help but I couldn’t, until he told me. And I wasn’t sure he ever would.
He took a deep breath and started again. “My father had this metal seal, passed down through the family, for sealing letters with wax. He never used it: no one writes letters anymore. But it was his, and it had our family’s symbol on it. And—”
I put my hand over my mouth as I realized what the scar was. “Someone branded you with it?!”
He shook his head. “No. I did.” He met my eyes and held them. “And then I did it to Gennadiy. And Valentin. Before we went away. To remind us that we were Aristovs, and that we needed to stick together. And that one day, we’d build something together, something no one could ever take away from us.” He shook his head. “I can’t leave them, Bronwyn. And I can’t leave the Bratva. I’m sorry.”
I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. I could feel things shifting inside me, realigning. I wasn’t mad at him, I understood. And I couldn’t ask him to change. But what he’d said confirmed everything I’d been afraid of: there’d always be this big, dark presence in his life, pulling him away from me.
“Having regrets?” he asked after a while.
“No,” I said immediately. I twisted and looked up at him. “Not for a minute.” And I meant it. Him walking into my bookstore was the best thing that ever happened to me. Him leaving the Bratva had always been a long shot, but I’d had to try. I’d just have to find another way to make this work.
We ate dinner in one of the hotel restaurants and then, when we got back to our villa, Radimir told me to put my swimsuit back on. At first, I thought he just wanted to fuck me wearing it. But then he gestured me out onto the terrace and up a flight of stone steps on the side. I slowly climbed them, mystified.
It was a rooftop terrace, with a wall at the back to give us privacy, a spectacular view out over the ocean...and our own private hot tub.
Radimir appeared behind me with an armful of towels. “I know how much you like baths. So...”
Delighted, I climbed down the steps and into the tub. Underwater lights made it glow, and the water was bathtub warm and gently bubbling. I sat down—the seats were padded!—and felt all my troubles melt away as I immersed myself right up to my chin.
Radimir climbed in after me, his red swim shorts billowing in the bubbles. He got comfortable, then adjusted the controls and I squeaked as bubbles erupted under the soles of my feet...then groaned as the jets started to massage my soles. I lay back against the padded headrest. “This may be the most comfortable I’ve ever been,” I murmured.
A wicked grin crept across Radimir’s face. “I think I know a way to make it better.”
He waded across to me, put his arm around my waist and lifted me. Then he sat and put me down in his lap, leaning us both back so that we were almost lying, with my head resting on his shoulder. Now I had the gloriously hot water, the bubbles...and his rugged, near-naked body underneath me.