Love Thy Enemy (Red Stone Security #13)(46)

Feeling her cheeks heat up, she shifted her head so she could look at him. “A little sore, but good.”

His blue eyes heated with hunger but he withdrew his hand and wrapped his arm around her, just holding her close. “I thought you would be.”

They’d had sex again a couple hours after that first time. He’d slowly taken her from behind as she gripped the headboard, teasing her clit as he moved inside her. Even thinking about it made a shudder rack through her entire body.

She set her head back on his chest, feeling more content than she had in a long time. “Why do you hire so many Russians? I mean, I know you are Russian. I just wondered if there was a reason,” she said after a few minutes. There was so much about him she wanted to know.

“That’s a long answer.” The rumble of his chest under her head vibrated through her.

She smiled against his hard body, wishing she wasn’t so sore right now. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”

He didn’t respond for so long, she thought he wouldn’t at all. “I had already started to break away from my father before he…died. He was a violent, vindictive * so I had to move slowly, setting up various accounts and a lot of stuff I won’t bore you with. For lack of a better term, he was a gangster. He’d created his own little empire right here in Miami but not all the men who worked for him did so willingly. From the time I was a kid I watched him carefully—watched his people carefully. I knew who would break away from him when I made my move.”

“He died before that though, didn’t he?” Viktor had told her that his father had left him her family’s house as part of his trust and she couldn’t believe that he would have done that if Viktor had cut ties.

She felt Viktor move slightly, as if he was nodding. “Yeah. There was another man who’d always been in competition with me.” He paused again, and she guessed he was choosing his words carefully. “He wanted my father’s empire, wanted me out of the way. I wanted the same thing essentially so I made a deal with him. I took the men I knew who were loyal to me and we severed ties from that life in a clean break. I’d already started working legitimate side businesses, so the transition wasn’t difficult. As long as I didn’t try to take any of his criminal enterprises we had no problem.”

She looked up at him. The room was dim except for a few streams of light coming in through one of the curtain-covered windows. “He just let you go?” She didn’t know much about the criminal lifestyle but that sounded too easy.

Viktor gave her a dark smile. “He had no choice. Not unless he wanted a war.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Is there a possibility he’s the one who attacked you last night?”

He snorted, his expression easing. “No. He’s actually at the bottom of my list. We haven’t had contact in years. I stay out of his way and he stays out of mine. The people who attacked last night weren’t pros.”

“You still keep pretty intense security at your house.” She knew that even the Caldwell brothers didn’t have the kind of security he did. Not actual armed guards anyway.

“I never let myself get complacent. I can’t afford to.” He cupped her cheek, his touch gentle. “I’ll never risk your safety either. Don’t doubt that.”

“I don’t.” She might not have known him that long, but she didn’t doubt him. He made her feel…happy in a way she hadn’t been in a long time. Which was hard to swallow. She turned her face away from his hold and lay back on his chest.

He stiffened slightly. “What?”

“Nothing… Okay, I feel a little guilty being so happy with you. It makes me think of my mother and then I get so angry at her.” Shame swelled inside her for feeling angry at all. “She left me. I feel like…she didn’t love me enough. Like I wasn’t worth sticking around for. Which is stupid, I know.” Her throat grew tight as the mix of long-buried emotions shattered inside her. She hated feeling like that.

His hold tightened ever so slightly. “My father was an evil man who ground people into the dirt. The fact that she endured being with him… She loved you very much, Dominique. That’s something you should never doubt.”

His words soothed all the jagged edges. She didn’t respond, just let him hold her. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed there but when her stomach rumbled loudly she buried her face against his chest.

He laughed, the sound so sweet to her ears because he rarely seemed to do it. “I think it’s time I got you fed.” He reached a hand down, palmed her ass before squeezing possessively. “Then I plan to eat you. Slowly.”

His words set her on fire, but if she was going to have enough energy to keep up with him, she knew she should eat something. Then…she hoped they headed right back to the bedroom.

Last night had been amazing. She hadn’t expected her first time to be so good. Now she was so glad she’d waited. Being with a man like Viktor who’d been so giving, clearly putting her pleasure before his own, had been incredible. She was pretty sure she’d fallen for him. It didn’t seem to matter that her head said this was way too fast. Her heart wasn’t listening.

*

He couldn’t concentrate on anything today. Not after last night’s failure. He’d hired those men specifically because of their shock tactics and penchant for violence. They were supposed to have killed Viktor’s men and taken the woman.