“Wow.” Caelan’s voice was rueful as he leaned back. “Has quite the temper doesn’t she?”
Feeling a bit frazzled, Zhenya nodded. “A bit. She comes by it naturally. Her father was not a quiet man. Shhh, Sophia, it’s fine. These men are our friends. Master Caelan and Gabriel would never hurt us…” She kept up the nonsensical words even as Sophia continued to fuss. Zhenya’s face flushed as she began to pace. “I’m sorry she never does this. Maybe it was because I took her out today…”
“Here give her to me while you talk to Caelan.” Gabriel pushed away from the counter. “I know a thing or two about babies.” He gave her a sad smile. “I’ve been an uncle a time or two.”
Zhenya nibbled on her lower lip, even as she handed the loudly crying baby to Gabriel. “Are you sure? I don’t expect you to take care of her…”
He sighed. “If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have offered, Ms. Addi.” Cradling Sophia against his chest, he hummed softly to her before resuming the pacing Zhenya had been doing. “Now there, it isn’t all that bad, is it? You sound just like the little mouse your momma calls you.” He lightly rubbed her back. “I promise nothing bad will come to you, mikró pontíki.” Unlike with her mother, Sophia slowly quieted until finally she whimpered once, then twice, and laid her head down on Gabriel’s shoulder. The sight of her daughter being cradled by the dark-haired man had Zhenya’s nose burning and her eyes stinging as she tried not to cry. This was what her daughter was going to miss out on - a strong father to protect her. Despite all Ossie’s flaws, she’d like to think he’d have been a good father.
“It seems our friend has the magic touch with babies.” Caelan smiled encouragingly. “So why don’t you come sit down with me, and we’ll discuss this situation with your former father-in-law?”
Shooting one last glance at Gabriel and her daughter as he walked down the hall towards the bedrooms, she finally nodded. Sinking onto the cushion next to Caelan, she met his concerned eyes. “All right, what do you want to know?”
“Well first of all, did you run away from your husband? Is there going to be an irate spouse showing up on my doorstep? I know you said he died and I didn’t want to pry, but if this could possibly affect Nisey or me, I need to know so I can make arrangements.”
“I didn’t lie to you about that, Caelan. My husband did die just before I came over to the States, and I have no family left that I claim. I was an only child and my mother and father passed away several years ago in an auto accident.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “And your husband’s parents?”
She sighed. “Still alive and well from my understanding—or at least they were when I left Greece six months ago. What Nisey probably told you is true. They kicked me out right after Ossie’s death. To say we had a strained relationship would be putting it mildly.” Tucking her legs under her, she tried to keep her composure. “I suppose if I was still in Greece they might try to take Sophia from me, as they wouldn’t want their friends to know that some american pórni̱ had their grandchild…”
“You’re not a whore…” Gabriel paused next to the futon, his voice soft in deference to little Sophia who was sleeping on his shoulder, her pink rosebud lips parted, drool glistening in the corner of her mouth. “I don’t want to ever hear you call yourself that again. Am I clear?” The steel in his tone assured her that she’d best agree.
“Yes,” she squeaked, her fingers twisting the afghan under her fingers.
“Good.” He nodded, moving back down the hall.
Caelan squeezed the bridge of his nose. “All right, even though you don’t think they’ll come over here once this woman calls them, I’m still going to contact my security company. Jude and Jackson will both probably want to upgrade the security around here. I’ll let you know once they give me a time, so we can work with your schedule. And I don’t want to hear any protests.” He smiled down at her reassuringly. “You and Sophia are important to us. We won’t let them take Sophia from you, Zhenya. She’s your daughter, and here in America that means something.”
Chapter Seven
“So what do you think of this mess?” Caelan asked Gabriel as they headed back downstairs to his part of the house. Looking over at his friend, Gabriel wanted to protest. He didn’t want to get involved but his heart went out to Zhenya and Sophia.
“I don’t know. From what I’ve heard, all she wants is to start over and raise her daughter.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he followed Caelan into the living room. “And that should be her right.”
Caelan nodded as he toed off his shoes. “Exactly. Which is why we’re going to call Jude’s office in the morning and arrange for him to come out here and beef up my security.”
“It sounds like a good plan.” Gabriel grasped the wet hem of his t-shirt and jerked it off. “You said Nisey could dry this for me?”
“Dry what?” Nisey appeared behind them, wearing nothing but a pair of panties and Caelan’s collar. He didn’t even flinch, because it was normal. It was a common sight and he’d known he’d see it when he’d accepted the man’s offer to stay.
“My shirt. I gave little Sophia a bath while Cael here talked to your guest.” He smiled ruefully. “I forgot how much babies like to splash in water.”
Nisey smiled as her eyes lit up with mirth. “That she does. I keep teasing Zhenya her daughter is half fish.” She took the shirt from him, before acknowledging Caelan. “I’ve fixed a light snack as you asked, Máister. It’s on the table whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you, grá.”
Caelan followed Nisey out of the room but instead of heading down to the laundry room in the basement, they adjourned to the dining room. As promised there was a tray of cold cuts, cheese and chips waiting for them on the table. And Nisey’s famous chocolate chip cookies, Gabriel noticed as he grabbed one off the tray.
Once they both filled their plates, Caelan motioned him out onto the enclosed sun porch. In deference to the cool weather and Nisey’s penchant for sitting in the evening to watch the sun go down, a small space heater was on. Settling into the comfortable wicker chairs, Gabriel had just bit into his roast beef sandwich when Caelan picked up their previous conversation.
“So what time works good for you? I’d like to call Jude in the morning and let him know.”
Gabriel choked on his sandwich. His eyes watered as he coughed a few time “Excuse me?” he finally wheezed. “But I thought I just heard you ask…”
“To come with me to discuss the upgrades of my security…” Caelan said around a mouthful of chips. “…yep, you did.” Swallowing, Caelan reached for his drink. “It’ll do you good to help take care of Zhenya and Sophia. Think of it as a way to dip your feet in the water without strings.”
Gabriel set his plate aside, suddenly nauseous at the thought of taking responsibility for the girls above his head. “I can’t.”
Caelan smirked. “Of course you can. You just have to give yourself permission. Besides if it’d been a year or eighteen months ago, you would’ve come with me in a heartbeat.”
Anger sizzled pushing aside his fear. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not the same man I was then.”
Caelan eyed him shrewdly. “But you want to be, right? Just look at this as a first step forward back to normalcy. I’m not asking you to move in here with us, or even to have you take Zhenya and Sophia home with you, just to go with me and discuss what’s the best way to protect them.”
“You could look at it as if you’re helping out a friend.” Nisey joined them, curling up on Caelan’s lap, her head pillowed on his shoulder.
Despite his anger, he could see how worn out she looked. Caelan was definitely correct in something going awry with her. Her animation from earlier was gone, and if he wasn’t mistaken her breasts were indeed more swollen than the last time he’d seen her and Caelan at the club. Envy replaced his anger as Caelan wrapped one arm around her and used the other one to continue eating. He suddenly was tired. He was beginning to fe
el like a goddamned yo-yo and Caelan was at fault here.
“She does have a point, Gabe. You’re my friend, and I have my hands full with this…” He squeezed Nisey’s hip. “…little minx. I’m only one man and these women are starting to outnumber me. I swear every time I turn around there’s another one coming into my house. First it was my sister, then this one, and now it’s Zhenya. I need a revolving door on the apartment upstairs.” He nuzzled Nisey’s head, but his eyes met Gabriel’s across the room. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to read the plea in them. If Nisey was indeed pregnant, there was no way Caelan would be able to handle one sub with a baby and another who had one on the way by himself, especially as headstrong as both of the women were.
“Well until you do as I suggested and turn it into a man cave, I guess I’ll have to take pity on you.” He gave an overdramatic sigh. “But I’m only going to save your poor ass from the women this time. The things a man has to do for his buddies.” He said it good naturedly, but even as he did, all he wanted was to run as far away as possible. He just had to remind himself Caelan would be there to help shoulder the responsibility. He was just going to a meeting, that’s all. He wasn’t the one protecting Zhenya and sweet little Sophia. Yeah, right and I own ocean front property in Arizona.
* * * *
Later that night, Gabriel was jerked out of his fitful sleep by a noise. Leaning up on one arm, he squinted at the alarm clock on the bedside stand. Without his contacts, he could barely make out the red numbers on it. Two thirty-eight? His fuzzy mind begged with him to go back to sleep. Growling in frustration, he dropped back down to the bed and jerked up the sheets that had fallen to his waist. He was about to succumb to slumber once more when the muffled snap of a screen door had him shooting up straight in bed. Glancing out the window, he couldn’t see anything but fuzzy shapes. What the hell was going on here?
A light tap on his door had his head swinging around. It creaked open and a rumpled Nisey stood in the opening. “Can you do me a favor?” She nibbled on her lower lip.
A sinking feeling in his stomach warned him he wasn’t going to like what came out of her mouth. If it had something to do with her being pregnant or Zhenya, he was so screwed. There was no way he’d keep a secret from Caelan if Nisey confided in him. Please Lord don’t let it be that. She should be talking to Caelan or one of the girls not me…surely you’re not that cruel… Reaching for light, he snicked it on to buy time.
“What is it?”
“It’s Zhenya.” She rang a hand through her tousled hair and looked over her shoulder nervously.
Leaning back against the headboard, he crossed his arms over his chest as relief it was the latter that caused Nisey to seek him out. Zhenya he could handle…hopefully. “What about her?”
“She’s out in the gazebo and Máister said if he caught her out there again in the middle of the night there’d be consequences.” She looked over her shoulder once more as if she expected Caelan to show up.
“Where’s Cael, Nis?” He didn’t think she’d done anything notorious to her Master, but if the other man woke up and found her missing, Nisey had just earned her own punishment.
“Sleeping.” She confirmed his suspicion. “I haven’t been sleeping good as of late, so I was up reading when I heard her come down the back steps.”
Gabriel studied her. It made sense. The stairs leading up to the outside staircase were right above the Master Suite. “And what do you want me to do?”
“Can you please bring her back inside before she gets into trouble?”
“You mean like you are?” a grumpy male voice said from behind Nisey. Her shoulders slumped and Gabriel could see the vague outline of Caelan behind her. Dressed in what were obviously pajama bottoms, his chest was bare.
Turning around, Nisey sank to her knees. “I’m sorry, Máister. I just didn’t want Zhenya to get into trouble again. Not with everything going on. I was just asking Master Gabriel to go escort her back upstairs.”
Caelan sighed. “And what makes you think he’s going to go any easier on her than I would?”
“You spanked her the last time she disregarded your rules!” As the words flew out of her mouth, her hands flew up.
“Of course I did. What did you expect? I take not only your safety seriously but hers as well.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You snuck out of bed in order to protect your friend from being taken to task about disregarding her own safety? Is that what I’m too assume this is to mean?”
Gabriel couldn’t hear what Nisey replied, but the nod she gave told its own story. “Master Gabriel, would you mind dealing with Zhenya for me while I take my own sub to task about her behavior?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. You’ll find the key to the back door on a hook next to the alarm pad. I’ll deactivate it before I go downstairs while you get dressed.” Caelan’s tone turned grim. “To the playroom, Nisey.”
“But…I didn’t do anything…” She protested but rose from her knees and trailed after him, pleading her case.
Swinging his legs off the bed, Gabriel groaned. The last thing he wanted to do was get dressed to go out in the cold to fetch a stubborn woman, but he would because he certainly didn’t want to overhear Nisey’s punishment. He knew the tone well enough. Caelan was going to get to the bottom of his sub’s behavior or heaven help her, Nisey would be walking around with a sore bum.
After dressing and shoving his contacts back into his gritty eyes, Gabriel slipped into his coat. From the hallway he could hear Caelan and Nisey’s voices, but was thankful he couldn’t understand the words being said. From the tones however he could only assume Nisey was pleading with Caelan to forgo her punishment. Gabriel himself had ‘been there, done that’ more than a few times with Sara. Sometimes submissive women chaffed against the rules their Masters placed on them, especially the ones having to do with their safety. Grabbing the key off its hook, he was just letting himself out when the first cry echoed up the stairs.
Shutting the door firmly behind him, he made sure it locked before making his way down the steps. Carefully crossing the stone path to the gazebo, he shivered against the cold wind. Spring was rumored to be around the corner but with the harsh winds coming off Lake Michigan, it felt like they were still in the grips of winter. Jerking open the screen door to the gazebo, he stepped inside.
With a startled squeak from across the way, Zhenya looked up at him like a scared little mouse, her nose peeking out from the heavy winter parka, stocking hat and scarf. “Master Gabriel? Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”
“Shouldn’t you be?”
She shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought a bit of fresh air would help.”
Fury washed over him. “What about Sophia? What about Caelan’s rules? The ones that are supposed to protect you, and at this very moment have Nisey in hot water?”
“Crap. She heard me come out, didn’t she?” Her hand went to her mouth and she chewed on one of her fingernails. “Dammit, how many times do I have to tell her not to get herself in trouble on my account? And my daughter…” She tugged a baby monitor out of her pocket. “…is sleeping like a baby. “
“Well at least you weren’t being totally foolish.” He moved closer, his breath crystallizing in the air. “As far as your friend…well you could tell her a thousand times and she’d still do it, Zhenya. But you shouldn’t be worried about Nisey at this moment. Her Dom will deal with her impulsive need to protect you…I think you should be more concerned about…”
“What? What does the grieving Dom think I should be worried about, that I’m not? I have a brand new baby my louse of a former father-in-law may or may not try to steal from me, I’m a single mom no man would want, let alone a Dom…” She ticked off each reason on her fingers. “…and to top it all off, I haven’t been touched by a man since before my husband died.” A bitter laugh escaped her. “So pardon me if I’m fresh out of worry. My plate is full as it is.”
“Well then you’
re going to have to make room for one more thing, Zhenya.” He crowed closer, invading her space.
“And what’s that? You have some more bad news for me? Threats?”
“No, no bad news, no threats, just a promise.” He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “Before this night is over you’ll promise to never, ever pull a stunt like this again.”
Chapter Eight
Zhenya’s eyes widened in surprise. Her anger dying a sudden death as desire crashed over her. It was all she could do to stand her ground as she tried not to imagine how he’d accomplish said task. The tension in the gazebo rose as their breaths mingled in the cold air. She hadn’t lied about the length of time since she’d been touched, and her traitorous body welcomed the idea of the man hovering over her breaking her dry spell. She shouldn’t, her life was in too much upheaval at the moment, she had a brand new baby, her body was still healing from the birth. She was in no position to be wanting what she did. She had to remember that.
“No. I didn’t agree to be under your protection, Gabriel.” She looked directly into his eyes, keeping her voice steady despite the flutters in her stomach. “I only agreed to Caelan’s because I was new to America, still reeling from the death of my husband, and he and Nisey offered a safe port in the storm. Once they knew I was in the scene, it was logical.” She tried to smile but failed miserably. “So you’re out of luck. He’s the only one I gave permission to discipline me in matters of my own safety. We both know as a Dom you can’t do anything without his permission.” She drew a deep breath and tried to shoulder past him. “Now, if you excuse me, I think it’s time I go inside—”
“Which he did.” Gabriel’s claim sent a shiver of dread down her spine as he refused to budge.
“He did?” The squeak left her throat. “He wouldn’t have!”
Gabriel's Light (Doms of Chicago) Page 6