by Apryl Baker
“Viktor!” Delia charged the doorway, and his laugh slid up Sara’s spine. She fought the shiver that tried to overtake her when she turned to see Delia swinging off his arm, the smile on her baby’s face the things magic was made of.
“Did you get bigger, malyshka?” Viktor asked, his expression serious. “I think you’ve grown at least a foot since I saw you this morning.”
His Russian accent wasn’t as thick today, but it was still prominent.
“No!” Delia squealed when Viktor swung her up in the air. “I’m still little!”
“I don’t know,” he said, doubtful.
“Silly.” Delia laughed when he set her on the ground, and she hugged his leg.
It didn’t deter him. He walked into the kitchen with the child clutching his leg. Tears pricked Sara’s eyes. Roger had never been like this with his daughter. A stranger treated her better than her own father.
Roy’s eyes were about to bug out of his head, and Sara laughed. She’d told him how taken Delia was with Viktor, but seeing it was an entirely different thing. Even Gabe looked a little shocked. Ben, like her father, was staring like Viktor had sprouted fairy wings and pranced into the kitchen with a little imp attached to him.
“Viktor, this is my dad, Roy Grafton, and my brother-in-law, Ben.” Sara picked up the mashed potatoes, one of the last dishes to be set on the table. “Now, let’s eat.”
Viktor reached down, picked up his sidekick, and tossed her on his shoulders. “You ready to eat, malyshka?”
Delia rubbed her tummy. “Yes!”
That brought chuckles from all around as they filed out of the kitchen and to the dining room. Delia insisted on sitting between Viktor and Ben, her other favorite person.
“So, Viktor, Sara tells me you own your own company.” Roy passed the biscuits to his wife as he spoke.
Viktor turned his attention from Delia to Sara’s father. “Yes, sir. I opened it right after my tour in the Marines ended. Most of my team at KSI are people I know from my time there.”
Roy’s eyes shifted to Gabe, who answered without being asked.
“Viktor and I were in the same squad. I trust him with my life.”
Roy grunted. “Good to know. What prompted you to go into the military?”
“My father is a soldier. He’s been in the Marines his entire life. My brother Conner and I joined up right after we graduated.”
“So, you joined to make your father happy?” Roy asked.
“No. Well, that was part of it, but a small part. My father would be proud of us no matter what we did. He instilled in all of us the respect for service to our country. We’d watched him serve our entire lives and how much it shaped the man he became. We wanted to know what it was like to honor our country.”
“Why the Marines, though?” Roy sounded genuinely curious. “From your accent, I’d think you didn’t grow up around here.”
“I grew up in Russia.” Viktor took the mashed potatoes and heaped his plate. They smelled delicious. “My father met my mother in Russia, and she didn’t want to leave her home. He sent his boys to high school here in the States. I suppose we could easily have joined the Russian military, but we honored our father by following in his footsteps. It’s the only thing we knew, really, as we grew up around American military bases in Russia.”
“Did you move from base to base?”
“No, sir. My mother wouldn’t have it.” Viktor grinned, thinking of his tiny mother chewing his papa out for trying to get her to move. “They bought a home outside of St. Petersburg. That’s where I grew up. Papa was stationed all over the world, but my mother never moved from her little house in the country. Once he gained higher ranks, he was able to stay home more and more. He runs the base in St. Petersburg now.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Sue Anne asked, and Viktor’s gaze drifted to Sara’s mother. She’d been a little intimidated by him that morning, so it was good to see her starting to thaw toward him. He didn’t want her afraid of him.
“Six of us, in all.” His grin widened at her gasp. Six boys were a definite handful.
“Good Lord,” she muttered. “How did your mother survive?”
“She terrified us.” Viktor laughed. “For such a small woman, she had the power to make us feel ashamed of ourselves with just a look. We did not want to disappoint her.”
“No sisters?” This was from Ben.
Viktor studied him a moment before responding. The boy looked like Roger, but his eyes didn’t have that same slimy snake oil salesman quality. The fact he sat here having dinner with them spoke more about the person he was and the relationship he had to Sara than anything else. He only hoped he wouldn’t get in the way of taking Roger down.
“Something for which we’re all grateful. She would never have made it out of the house with a date. One or more of us would have escorted her on each and every one.”
“Your women are important to you, then?” Ben asked, his expression calculating.
“Of course. They are the most precious people in the world to us. They’re to be protected and cherished at all costs. Just ask my sister-in-law, Angel. Sometimes she gets so aggravated with us, you can tell by her expression she’s contemplating what it would feel like to strangle us.”
Ben finally cracked a smile at that. He picked up Delia’s knife and helped her cut up her porkchop when he saw her struggling with it. “I’ve already started buying guns and bullets for this one.”
Viktor nodded wisely. “Got to start early and make sure the pups know what’s waiting for them if they get a little too handsy.”
“Really?” Sara rolled her eyes at them both. “She’s only six.”
“So?” They said in unison, and Roy laughed.
“I like you, son. I really do.”
“If you have a few minutes after dinner, Mr. Grafton, I need to talk to you about security here at the farm.”
“Please, call me Roy. Gabe and I already talked about it. Do what you need to do to keep my girls safe.”
“It’ll mean installing a security system,” he warned. “Sara said you might be resistant to the idea.”
“I was,” Roy said truthfully. “I’ve lived here all my life and never needed one of them. Old Bertha was always good enough.”
“Old Bertha?”
“My shotgun,” he clarified and took a sip of his beer. “She usually gets the point across.”
“Pawpawl loves his guns.” Delia chewed her food and spoke at the same time.
“Pawpawl found your mama’s BB gun up in the attic. ’Bout time you learned to shoot too.”
“Roy, she’s a baby. She doesn’t need to be knowing a thing about guns.” The censure in his wife’s voice didn’t deter him, much to his credit.
“Sara could shoot by her age, Sue Anne. It’s time.”
“It’s good for her to learn about guns early, Mrs. Grafton.” Viktor decided to butt in before an argument broke out. “If she learns to respect them at this age, it’s something that will stick with her. My father had us all shooting pistols by the time we were her age and taught us proper gun safety. If you’re going to have guns around kids, they need to understand how to use them and to respect them. Keeps accidents from happening.”
He saw Ben and Gabe nodding in agreement as they ate. Sara’s mother’s lips thinned, but she let it drop, knowing she was outnumbered.
The issue of guns and children was something Viktor was passionate about. Seeing all the school shootings happening in the US was a severe cause for concern, and it made him sometimes rethink his position on making sure kids were exposed to guns so they could learn the dos and don’ts, but something his father said to him always made sense. There’s no such thing as an unloaded gun. If you were going to have a gun and ammunition in your home alongside children, you’d best make sure they understood the potential damage a gun could do to them or someone else.
As a society, people needed to dig in and find the root cause of what was happening in
America and these school shootings. Keep the guns locked away from those who were disturbed and depressed, but don’t stop teaching kids proper gun safety. It kept tragic accidents from happening. Plain and simple. And for the love of God, keep the guns and bullets behind lock and key. So many kids got hold of guns just lying in a drawer somewhere.
“Sara and I were talking about it earlier.” Roy reached for his beer again, his eyes lidded. “We both agree that while we keep our guns locked up, Delia needs to know so she won’t hurt someone if she ever gets her hands on one of them.”
“You have a gun?” Surprised, he looked to Sara, who hadn’t really said much the entire dinner.
“No, but I’m getting one.” Her mother’s shocked gasp didn’t go undetected, but Sara ignored it. “I’m never going to be helpless again.”
“Both Gabe and I will be armed while we’re here.” He directed this at Roy. “We have carry permits in New York, and I’ve already applied for ones here in Virginia. We’re just waiting on them to come through before we strap our weapons on. I wanted to warn you all so you wouldn’t be shocked to see it.”
“Is that really necessary?” Sue Anne asked, her voice a little shaky.
“Ma’am, I’d rather be prepared for anything than see something happen to you or your family.”
“You do what you need to, son,” Roy told him pointblank. “You’ll get no arguments from any of us.”
“Gabe and I need to walk the property after dinner to determine where the weak points are. I’ll call my youngest brother and have him fly down as soon as he can to start on the security setup.”
“Youngest?” Roy leaned back in his chair. “How much could the boy know if he’s the youngest?”
Viktor laughed. “Mason knows more about computers than anyone I know, including our brother Nikoli, who owns his own gaming company. The boy’s a hacker. I’ve had him working for me to keep him out of trouble. He set up the security system at the firm and Conner’s clubs. He’ll get it done, and get it done well.”
“How exactly will that work? Will strangers be monitoring our movements?”
Ah, there it was. He’d wondered why Roy had been so resistant to a security system. The older generation didn’t want anyone watching them.
“I’ll have it wired so if the system gets tripped, it’ll go right to local police. The screens will be monitored here at the house via computers and your mobile devices. I promise you there will be nothing invasive about it.”
Roy frowned, but didn’t say anything else. Sue Anne asked if anyone wanted dessert, but Viktor demurred. He really needed to walk the perimeter while it was light out.
“As soon as we get a good idea of what we’re working with, we’ll come inside and brief everyone.” Viktor stood, Gabe right behind him, and excused them both from the table.
This farm was large, and he needed a good idea of the layout if he was going to be effective.
And he needed a break from Sara. It had taken a lot to sit there and not watch her every move. The fresh air would do him good.
The next week passed with no major upsets. Gabe and Viktor worked out a security plan for the farm and set about implementing it. They even helped Sara’s dad repair some fences that had come down around the immediate acreage.
Sara did her best to stay away from Viktor. The man was too much of a temptation and flirted without even trying. She did stop and watch him when he played with Delia. He and Gabe both went out of their way to show Delia special attention. They were never too busy for her, something her daughter ate up. At one point, she had them wearing princess tiaras while they had tea with her. It was enough to send her mother running to the kitchen in a fit of giggles.
“Sara!”
She heard her mother calling and found her in the kitchen, putting vegetables in three crockpots. Usually, one would have been enough, but Gabe and Viktor could eat. Sara assumed the extra was for them.
“You need something, Mom?” She looked over her mother’s shoulder and saw the pot roasts that had to have been simmering since last night. Her favorite.
“Yes. I’m out of several things and was hoping you’d go to the store for me.” She flexed her left wrist. Arthritis had set up in it recently, as well as in her knees. “I’m not feeling so well today.”
“Sure, Mom. Just give me a list of what you need, and I’ll run into town.”
“On the counter.” Sue Anne nodded to the island, where a sheet of paper rested. “Those boys are eating us out of house and home.”
The words were said with no malice, but affection. While her mom might have been intimidated at first, the men were winning her over with their charm.
“I shouldn’t be too long. Can you watch Delia for me?”
“Of course.”
Sara grabbed the note off the counter before finding her purse in the front hall. She slipped on her shoes and dug out her keys. It was still early, so she hoped the grocery store wouldn’t be overly crowded.
“Going somewhere?”
The chill that raced along her spine was sinful. How could such a big man move so quietly? She turned to see Viktor standing a few feet behind her, dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt that hugged his body like a second skin. The same tattoos that coated Gabe’s arms were mirrored on Viktor’s. It gave him an extra healthy dose of badass. Sex on two legs. That was what he was.
“To the grocery store for Mom. You and Gabe eat a lot.”
He laughed. “Da, we do. I’ll throw some money in for food.” He walked over to the shoe rack and dug out his own shoes.
“What are you doing?” Alarm bells started going off.
“Putting on my shoes.”
“Why?”
“Why?” He paused and looked up at her. “So we can go to the store?”
“I’m going to the store. You aren’t going anywhere.”
Nope, nope, nope. She was not sitting in the car with him for any length of time. The temptation to touch him would get the best of her.
He stood, his height towering over her small five-foot three-inch frame. His eyes went hard, and she took an instinctive step back.
“We’ve had this discussion before, Sara.” He took a step closer, but she barely noticed. His eyes were blazing with intent. “I’m here to keep you safe, and I can’t do that if you go off running around by yourself. You’re stuck with an escort until this case is resolved.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Escort sounds better.” He plucked the keys out of her hand and set them aside. “We’ll take the Jeep.”
“My car is perfectly fine,” she huffed. The way he simply decided what they were driving grated on her nerves.
“Yes, your Focus is a perfectly fine car, but as you pointed out, Gabe and I eat a lot. The Jeep is roomier, and I plan on loading it down with groceries. Your parents shouldn’t have to foot our food bill.”
It was logical, but she still didn’t like the decision being made for her.
“Viktor…”
He put a finger to her lips. “I know you hate this, but I’m only trying to help. We’ll take your car next time.”
She reared back away from the feel of his skin against hers. His fingers burned, and she let out a little hiss. He cocked an eyebrow and gave her a smile that said he knew exactly what his touch did to her.
Damn him.
Sara narrowed her eyes and flounced out the door, leaving him and his smirk behind. The Jeep’s doors unlocked as she reached it. She climbed in and tried to calm her nerves. They were only going to town. It was a short trip. She could control herself that long.
Viktor slid into the driver’s seat, his phone in his hand. “I sent Gabe a text to let him know to watch the house until we get back.”
The scent that was all Viktor surrounded her as soon as he closed the door. He smelled woodsy with a hint of gunpowder. He must have been cleaning his guns earlier.
They rode in silence for the first few minutes until Viktor turned on th
e radio to the local station. The sounds of Sam Hunt filled the small space.
“I met your husband.”
She glanced over at him, startled. “You did?”
“The day I arrived, I swung by his shop.”
“Does he know who…”
Viktor shook his head. “No. I told him I was interested in renting some of his four-wheelers. I wanted to get a feel for him.”
“And?”
“And he’s a weasel.”
Sara laughed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
He flipped the radio station several times before giving up. “Fucking radio wasteland. Ah, shit…I shouldn’t have said fuck…damn it.”
“I think you should stop while you’re ahead.” Viktor had a potty mouth, but he tried his best not to cuss around women. It was one of the first things she’d learned about him. He usually failed miserably, and she loved it.
He shot her a sheepish grin and turned onto the main road that led into town. “Where is the grocery store?”
She gave him directions and settled back. She waved to a few people who were just opening their shops. Anything to distract her from the scent invading her space. He smelled masculine in a way Roger never had. This scent was slowly driving her crazy. It was bad enough in the house, but in a closed in area like the SUV? Not good.
Viktor finally pulled into the local grocery store and cut the engine. Sara latched onto the handle, eager to escape into fresh air, but he reached out and gripped her arm, stopping her. Again, that jolt of electricity shot through her.
“If we get separated, all you have to do is shout if you see your ex. I’ll be right there. Fucker won’t get near you.”
The promise in those words sent a shiver down her arms. He leaned closer, staring into her eyes, and this time the shiver had nothing to do with Roger, but all Viktor. Those beautiful black eyes dilated then started to glow with intent. He leaned closer, and her breath hitched. Was he going to kiss her?
Sweet baby Jesus. He was going to kiss her.
Viktor caught himself right before he kissed her.
Fuck.
He pulled back and let go of her arm. His fingers still tingled from where they’d been pressed into her skin. He’d been so careful not to get too near her this entire week for fear he’d end up hauling her close and kissing her. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He should have had Gabe bring her to town.