“What’s wrong?” Zhenya pulled free of his embrace, and rushed to Hark’s side.
“You need to go with him.” Hark’s eyes were dark with anger and something else. Before she could identify what it was, there was a loud shattering sound from upstairs. Shoving the baby bag and purse that Gabriel hadn’t noticed him carrying at her, he gently placed Sophie in Zhenya’s arms. “They found you. Go with him, while I hold them off.”
“Who found her?”
Zhenya turned pale. “Sebastene.” She pulled Sophia closer, before grabbing Hark by his shoulder. “Don’t you do anything stupid, Harkahome, do you understand me?” Her threat held a watery tone as if she was holding the tears back. “I’ll find the biggest, baddest Dom I can find and have him work your ass over if you let yourself get hurt, do you understand me?”
A smile that Gabriel hadn’t seen since before his sister died crossed Hark’s face. “I’ll be careful, little one. Now take Sophie and go with him. He’ll take you someplace safe.” He glanced at Gabriel. “Take care of her, or you’ll be answering to me, Poulanos.” The scent of smoke drifted down the stairs and Hark cursed. “Those son of bitches!”
Then he sprinted back up the stairs leaving Gabriel with a sobbing woman and a crying babe. Slipping back into the role of protector was surprisingly easy. Taking the bag and the purse from Zhenya, he firmly guided her out of the house towards his vehicle while ignoring the shouting coming from upstairs.
“Come on, we have to go. Hark is a big boy and can take care of himself.” Gabriel spoke softly.
Her eyes glittered angrily as she jerked her arm out of his hand. “As if you care about what happens to him!”
He gritted his teeth. “I may not get along with him, but I don’t wish him dead, Zhenya. Now get your ass in the truck before I decide to paddle it right here and now.”
Her lip trembled. “I don’t have Sophie’s car seat.” When she moved towards the garage, he grabbed her arm.
“I have one.” He yanked open the back door of the SUV, showing her the brand new seat he’d pulled out of his storage unit near Olivia’s, before heading up to Zion. He’d come prepared. “Now get in before what little lead time Hark has given us is gone.” He cursed loudly as he spotted two men dressed in black coming around the side of the house. “Now, dammit.” He gave her a gentle shove and slammed the door shut, before climbing into the driver’s seat. Throwing it in reverse, he backed out of the drive as the splattering sound of bullets ripped through the air. Glancing back in his rear view mirror, the last thing he saw was the top of his sister’s house in flames, two men firing at them still, and an avenging Hark appearing in the doorway behind the men, before engaging them. Personally he was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of Hark’s fury, as he reached for his cell phone and hit the emergency call button.
“This is 911, what is your emergency?”
“I need to report a fire and gunshots fired at….” As he rattled off his sister’s address, he was vastly aware of the soft crying from both Sophie and Zhenya behind him.
Chapter Sixteen
Zhenya didn’t say much as Gabriel pulled into the underground garage, while she nursed her daughter in the backseat. The tears she’d shed after leaving Hark behind had dried up when Sophia began screaming. Not only could her daughter feel her mother’s tension but she was also hungry. So she’d dried her eyes, and made cooing noises hoping to calm her daughter, as Gabriel spoke briskly on his cell with first the police, then to Jude or Caelan. She wasn’t entirely sure, since he never addressed the person by name, but the content of their conversation led her to believe it was one of the two men. Now however, he was entirely focused on the attendant. Whispering soothing words to Sophie as her daughter tugged hungrily on her nipple, she felt the vehicle pull through the checkpoint. Moments later in a designated slot, he pulled to a stop.
“We’re here.” Gabriel put the SUV in park and turned around in his seat to address her. “Is she okay? When she started screaming, I thought maybe she’d gotten hurt…”
“She’s fine, just hungry.” She didn’t bother to look up. After her earlier response to him, she wasn’t going to push her luck. She was going to need to keep her distance from him, or she’d end up doing something like falling into bed with him. Not that it would be the end of the world, but she’d definitely have regrets when the passion was over, and he realized she wasn’t his beloved Sara.
“Okay.” He seemed at a loss for words, because the silence between them returned to the same uncomfortable proportions it had been before they’d stopped. The strident sound of his phone going off broke the tension. He twisted back forward. “Poulanos.” There was a pause. “Great. I’ll let her know.” There was a pause. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. Thanks, Caelan. And do me a favor, apologize to Olivia for me, will you? I acted like an ass earlier at the club.” A low chuckle rumbled free of him. “Now come on, she won’t hit you. You’re like her brother. If I show my face at the club, she’s liable to take that crop of hers to me.” He sighed. “Fine. I’ll take my lashing. I didn’t realize you were such a coward, you Irish prick.”
Intrigued about the one sided conversation, she waited for him to explain what they were going to do. But even more, she was curious about what had happened between him and Olivia. It was obvious by his clothing he’d been to the club. While he disconnected the call, she tucked herself back into her nursing bra, before blurting out the first thing that came to her mind. “Tell me what?”
He twisted back around as she straightened her top. “Hark just called in. He’s fine, Zhenya. I wish I could say his house was as well, but unfortunately it didn’t survive the attack. According to the Zion’s fire department it’s a total loss. The bastards not only threw a smoke canister through an upstairs window to lure you out, they also decided to shove a Molotov cocktail down through a basement window well. By the time Hark got back inside and then downstairs the basement was totally engulfed.”
“Oh, no.” Tears filled her eyes at the thought of the destruction of Hark’s beautiful workshop, which had been housed in the basement. “He lost all his tools, his art.” She wiped at the offending tears. “Dammit, why can’t Sebastene leave me alone?”
Gabriel’s expression softened with either understanding or pity - she wasn’t sure. “You’re not at fault. He is. You’ve every right to protect your daughter from him, so don’t for a second blame yourself. In fact if I hear you doing it again, I’ll warm your bottom for sure. Do you understand?”
Her eyes widened at the forceful tone. “I…yes. I understand. No blaming myself.”
He gave a sharp nod of his head, as if he were satisfied with her answer. “Good. Now what we’re going to do settle you upstairs in my condo, and while I hate to say it, you’re gonna be under house arrest until we either have Sebastene in custody or he’s left the country.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Is that necessary? Even at Hark’s I was allowed to go to the store with him, and he was planning on bringing me back in later this week for Sophie’s three month physical and a recheck on her ears. She had an ear infection last week.” Tucking Sophia into her seat, she fumbled with the unfamiliar latches on the base of the car seat. The sway of the S.U.V. when Gabriel exited warned her, before he opened the door and with a quick flip of the wrist managed to unlatch the infant carrier from its base. From the floor, he grabbed a dark knapsack she hadn’t noticed earlier and slung it over one shoulder.
When he lifted Sophia, carrier and all out of the vehicle, Zhenya slid across the seat to follow. Hooking the baby bag and her purse over one shoulder, she allowed him to guide her towards the elevator with a hand at the base of her back.
“Which is probably how Sebastene’s goons found you in the first place.” He picked up their conversation with ease. “Did you happen to use your credit card or anything while staying with Hark?”
She shook her head. “ No, Hark always paid for everything. He told me I could pay him back after th
is was over.”
Escorting her inside the metal box, he pressed the button for the sixth floor. “So you used cash or Hark’s card the entire time? Smart man.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” Her lungs filled with his cologne and she tried not to stare at him, but in the close confines every breath she took was filled with his scent and the aroma of his leather pants. He’d obviously been at the club and the dark bag hanging from his shoulder made her heart race as she speculated at its contents. She couldn’t be a hundred percent sure it was his toy bag, but the thought it might be had her imagination running wild, and her long neglected libido stirring. “So you were at the club earlier tonight?”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Yes.”
When he didn’t continue but turned his attention back to the doors, her face heated. Great, I haven’t even made it into his condo yet and I’ve already overstepped my boundaries. So she closed her mouth and wisely said nothing more. When the elevator slowed to a stop, she was more than ready to leave its tight confines.
As the doors parted, she moved to escape the close space, but was drawn up short by the arm he threw in front of her. She opened her mouth to protest, but he just shook his head in warning.
“Let me check the hall first. Didn’t what just happened at Hark’s mean anything?” The harsh warning tone was all it took to have her freezing in place, her back stiffening as anger rushed through her.
* * * *
Gabriel knew he was more than likely coming off as an ass with his over-protectiveness, particularly when her back stiffened up at his abrupt order but he couldn’t risk something happening, especially after what had occurred at Hark’s home. He’d never been as scared in his life as he had been when he realized the intruders were actually shooting at a defenseless woman and child.
“And how the hell would they know that I’m at your place? You said no one followed us.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her lower lip sticking out slightly as she glared up at him. “I’m sorry your vehicle got shot up, but we left the attackers behind. There’s no way they could track us here, right?”
He scowled at her. “No - not right. How about the fact they could’ve gotten my license plate number? It’d be easy enough for them to run it through the D.M.V. - in fact I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”
She paled and he wanted to curse his own stupidity. He didn’t want to scare her, but she had to listen to him, to take precautions and obey orders or there was a very real chance that either she or the baby would end up being taken.
“They could?”
Sighing, he glanced into the hall before pulling her out of the elevator. “If I had a plate on the front of the Suburban, they could. Lucky for you the deer I hit last week when I drove out to Glen Ellyn took out the front plate, and I haven’t made it down to the Loop’s Secretary of State’s office to order a replacement. Hopefully our attackers were too busy dealing with Hark to actually catch a glimpse of my rear plate. ”
He could read the relief in her expression as he stopped in front of his door. On this level there were only two condos. He noticed how she looked over at the other door. “It’s empty at the moment – Mrs. Siems moved out last month to live in a retirement community in Arizona.” Unlocking the door, he pushed it open, allowing her into the apartment.
Following her in, he idly wondered what she thought of it, as she stood in the middle of the living room. Gone were the fru-fru throws and pillows Sara had used to cover the gorgeous leather of his couch, recliner, and love seat. The dried flowers and shells Sara had loved to grace his mantle with had been replaced by a pair of ivory candles flanking a small battery operated waterfall. The same one, which had been there before she’d moved in with him.
As Zhenya wandered over to the mantle to dip her fingers in the still water, he found himself watching for her reaction. Would she like the tinkle of water flowing over the rounded stones, or would she be like Sara and claim it only made her want to pee, instead of soothing her as it had him. When he’d placed it back on the mantle last week it’d been bittersweet, but he was ready to move on. He couldn’t live as half a man anymore.
So he’d carefully packed away Sara’s things into several boxes to give to her parents. Other than the few things he hadn’t been able to let go of, he’d stripped his place of everything Sara had brought in. He was damned if he was gonna let Linus and Regina Kempton accuse him of stealing. So last week when he’d visited Sara’s grave in Glen Ellyn, he’d made a brief stop at her folks’ place. Just long enough to drop of the boxes and once more be accused of killing their daughter. Remembering the ugly confrontation left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Putting the memory on the back burner, he set Sophie’s seat on the couch after deactivating his security alarm. Freeing the baby from the seat, he lifted her to his shoulder, taking in her smell of baby powder and Dreft laundry soap. Pressing up with little fists Sophia tried to hold her head up, but like all babies of her age, ended up wobbling so badly he had to cup her small head so she didn’t inadvertently hit her pretty little nose or face on his chin.
“Whoa there, peanut.” At the sound of his voice, her dark gray eyes, so similar to her mother’s focused on him, and she gave him a drool-filled smile. Right at that moment, Gabriel Poulanos, the man who’d sworn he’d never let another human close again, fell in love.
“Would you mind if I turned it on?” Zhenya’s voice broke the connection between him and Sophia, as both of their heads turned towards Sophia’s mother. When she gestured to the fountain, he realized what she wanted.
“Of course not. Go ahead. I find it quite soothing when I’m stressed. We’ll be right back. I want to show, Miss Sophie here, the kitchen. Cradling Sophie close, he moved down the hall toward the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink, Zhenya? Water, soda or perhaps something a bit stronger?”
“Water will be fine, Mast…I mean Gabriel.” She turned away and flicked the switch on the fountain. It gurgled to life
“Then water it is.” He pushed aside his need to hear the word ‘master’ from her lips once again, and took Sophia down the hall with him. As he passed the closed door on the right he inwardly groaned. The idea of tucking little Sophie into bed and then tucking something entirely different into her mother had him hurrying past his playroom. In his rush to protect Zhenya and Sophie, he hadn’t thought at all about their sleeping arrangements once he got her inside his home. With his office for work occupying one bedroom and his playroom the other, it left only one bed in the entire house - his. His cock hardened at the idea of having the woman he’d been lusting after for so long in his bed and arms. The situation was torture and it was going to get worse. She’s going to fuckin’ kill me when she finds out - especially when I tell her she isn’t sleeping alone.
* * * *
“Excuse me?” Zhenya’s tone was even, but inside she was scared out of her mind. Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly. “I thought I just heard you say I was sharing the master bedroom with you?”
Sitting across the table after a filling meal of perfectly cooked penne, ground beef, tomatoes and cheese - an authentic pastitsio Gabriel had whipped up for dinner, Zhenya had never expected him to spring something like this on her. The ass lured me into relaxing with traditional Greek comfort food - the bastard.
“We don’t have a lot of options here.” Leaning back in his chair with the dark shadows gracing his jaw, an open silk shirt and leather jeans, Gabriel looked dangerous - and like temptation reincarnated. “It’s either we squeeze all three of us on the couch, or we share the Master suite.”
She looked around the condo. “You’re telling me a place this size only has one bedroom. I just don’t believe that—”
He held up a hand. “Whether you believe it or not, there’s not another single solitary bed in this place, unless you’re wanting to sleep on the bondage bed in my playroom. And I can guarantee not only is that bed not the most comfortable for sleeping
, if I catch you in my playroom, I’m going to assume you’re there for reasons other than sleep.” He gave her a hungry look that had absolutely nothing to do with the food they’d just consumed. “In fact it’s the only room in my entire condo that’s off limits, unless you plan on submitting to me.”
The glitter in his eyes dared her to answer him. As a result she had to swallow several times before she was finally able to speak. She had to force herself to remember why it wasn’t a good idea to give him what he obviously wanted. “I will not be a substitute for Sara.”
He leaned forward bracing his elbows on the table, eying her as if she were a tender morsel of lamb. “And you won’t be, Zhenya, but it’s been over a year since I’ve felt the soft flesh of a submissive woman under my hands. So unless you want to be the one to break my dry-spell, steer clear of my playroom.”
She nodded. “Consider it done. And don’t worry about sharing you bed with me. I don’t have an issue with sleeping on the couch for the duration of my stay…”
His nostrils flared. “But I do. I need you close to my side at night. How the hell am I going to protect you if you’re out here and I’m in my bedroom at the end of the hall? No, it’d be better if you’re within my reach during the night.”
Her nipples tightened at the silky innuendo, and she tried to focus on anything but the idea of him reaching out in the dark and pulling her against his muscular body. She remembered all too well what it felt like to be held by him as she slept. She couldn’t risk it. “What about Sophie? She can’t sleep between two adults. I figured that I’d share a bed with her…”
A slow grin crossed his face. “On my way to Zion, I called Kalinda and asked her to bring over the twins’ pack and play, so Sophie has a place to sleep.” He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Want to try again?”
Her ears burned. “I’ll sleep on the floor if it’s that big a deal…”
Gabriel's Light (Doms of Chicago) Page 13