“Eighty-five minutes?” he said with a shudder. “Nobody should have to spend eighty-five minutes locked in a room with thirty eleven-year-olds.”
“I turned twelve last Sunday,” said Rosie with an arrogant eye roll. “It’s totally different.”
He took his wallet out, the girls’ eyes growing wide while he counted out ten hundred dollar bills. “I expect you to take this gift without complaining because I get enough of that from your sister. I do not want you to spend it on anything frivolous. Only clothes, backpacks, and school supplies, and maybe those expensive sneakers that everybody seems to want.”
“Yeah, because that’s not frivolous at all,” muttered Joy. “And who the hell carries around a thousand dollars in cash?”
“And don’t buy anything that makes you look like a third rate drag queen,” scolded Luka, ignoring her question. “You’re children. Buy in the appropriate department.”
“Like a what?” asked Rosie, screwing up her face.
“He means buy something Mom would approve of, stupid,” said Karrie with a grin, snatching the money out of his hand. Both girls threw themselves into his arms. “Thank you, Luka, thank you so much!”
“And thank you for allowing me into your family,” he said, looking over their heads at Joy. She nodded, giving him as much of a welcome as he was ever going to get, but he grinned as though she’d offered him a million dollars.
* * *
He waited until they’d left to pull Mia and her kitten into his arms. “They are definitely only your half-sisters. I probably couldn’t have convinced you to take the money even knowing we are to be married.”
“You can’t spoil them, you know. They have to learn how to make their own way in the world.”
“They will. I just plan on making that path a little clearer. It doesn’t have to be hard for them just because it was hard for us.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she admitted, holding the tiny kitten a little closer. “I can’t believe you’re here. I didn’t understand anything they said, out there on the deck at Pavel’s, but I didn’t need to speak the language to see all that anger and hate. I... I was afraid you were going to kill him.”
“I should have. I had the chance, but I couldn’t do it. I’ve been wrestling with this all of my life, but I guess, in the end, I’m not like him.”
“No, you’re not. I’ve known that from the beginning, but you’re a stubborn bastard and don’t like to take people’s word for things.”
Luka scratched the kitten’s ears. “He killed my mother, koshka. Damir shot her that night. It wasn’t suicide. I... I tried not to think about it, but it defines too much of who I am, and I should have shared that information with you a long time ago.”
She ran her finger along his cheek before snuggling into his chest. “I can’t imagine an event more horrific and more damaging to a wonderful little boy. I wish I’d been there to comfort him, Luka, but I can hold you now.”
“It’s hard to separate the little boy from the man, but, in my heart, I understand that a nine-year-old couldn’t have done anything to change that outcome. And my sister. Pavel saved her, and I will always be grateful for that, even if she doesn’t want to see me. But I made a mistake the night that I punished you in front of my cousins. It was wrong to put you in a position we hadn’t agreed to in advance.”
“You’d warned me,” she said softly, “and I should have known better than to push you. That’s been a consistent message from the beginning.”
“Don’t let me off the hook. No matter what, you need to talk to me without fear of reprisals or punishment, because... because I don’t want to lose the strong, independent woman who I fell in love with and all the rest of it really is only games.”
“We can find that balance, but I don’t want to lose what we have, either. I love exploring my sexuality with you. I want you to hold me accountable if I cross some line, and I love following your lead. When I’m with you, my strengths and my weaknesses just kind of blend together to make me feel like I’m almost perfect.”
“You are good at those romance moments, aren’t you?” Luka pulled her closer, running his hands over her sides and her bottom. He moved his hands under her shirt to caress her breasts, pleased she wasn’t wearing a bra under the oversized cotton shirt. Murmuring in her ear, he said, “But if that is the case, I owe you a spanking for lying to me and disobeying my instructions the night Vadik was ill. I feel as though it sits out there between us, like unfinished business. How long do you think they will be at the mall?”
She stepped away with a frown creased across her beautiful face. “You’re kidding? Right?”
“I never kid. I’ve been told that I don’t have much of a sense of humor.” He took the tiny kitten from her arms and put it on the floor to explore.
Lifting Mia’s shirt over her head exposed her breasts, and he attacked them ruthlessly as his need grew. She wiggled for a second, pushing him away with giggles before he tweaked her nipple until she settled.
“Be still,” he grumbled. “It’s been a very, very long ten days, and I’m going to fuck you whether you like it or not. Moving forward, it is unlikely I will accept your headache excuse unless you have a raging fever to accompany it.”
Luka slid her out of her old gray sweatpants and panties and pushed her tummy against the arm of the couch. He held her at the small of her back, rubbing her ass with his palm. “Ten. If you wiggle or move, we will start over and someplace in a suitcase in my new car is that new leather belt with a great deal of discomfort just waiting for you. Repeat my instructions back to me, so I know you understand.”
Like his well-trained submissive, his koshka obeyed, and he began, slowly turning her bottom a beautiful shade of pink before he layered the effect to add the necessary sting. He kept her punishment at the place where she embraced her pain, not delivering more than she could handle, but each one was a little harder than the previous. His last three, however, were stinging spanks and delivered quickly so she didn’t have time to adjust before the next one fell. She squealed and wiggled, but he didn’t allow her to move. He was too ready to drive his cock into her pussy to start again.
Rolling to her back, she squirmed uncomfortably with an adorable pout as her punished bottom rubbed against the rough fabric of the couch. He slid out of his clothes, and she grabbed his shoulders when he covered her, caressing his cock across her vulva before driving into her, making her gasp, both of them exactly where they wanted to be.
Chapter Twenty
It had taken some negotiation and quick planning, but neither of them had been willing to wait, so a last-minute cancelation at a nice hotel in uptown Manhattan gave them a venue for both the wedding and the reception for mid-January. When told of the date, Anton had rolled his eyes. “You’re getting married on the first anniversary of the day that I was shot? Are you kidding me?”
“I don’t know why you’re complaining,” said Luka with a sigh. “I’ve asked you to be my best man, so you’ll be in most of the pictures.”
“It doesn’t, you know, really work that way, Luka,” said Mia, rubbing her brow. “He’s a work in progress, Anton, so give me a little more time.”
They had intended to invite just family and close friends, but the Petruskenkovs combined with the Anderson, Latrobe, Shelley, and Ortiz families brought their numbers up to almost a hundred people. In order to streamline the festivities, Luka paid for the hotel rooms for many of the out of town guests, including a room for Robbie and a suite for Joy and the girls.
Only Ana wasn’t there to complete his happiness. With Zoya’s help, he’d spoken to his sister on the phone, but she was unwilling to step back into her old life at such a public event. She did promise, however, to meet him at a neutral location in the spring. It was a small step, but a welcome one.
“I can work with that,” he’d said to Mia. “She just needs to give me a chance because what is there not to love? I’m growing to be adorable.”
Pavel a
nd Zoya had insisted on hosting the rehearsal dinner at a local Russian restaurant. With both families in attendance, they needed to rent the entire venue, complete with a live band and dancers wearing black velvet with sparkly sequins. The buffet was huge and, of course, the bar was flowing to accommodate every adult taste in the room. Even the picky American kids ate the food, Robbie filling his plate to emulate Luka’s cousins, Karrie loving the hot, spicy dishes, and Rosie eating anything with cheese.
Later that night, Luka and Mia asked Joy to meet them at the hotel bar. It would be the last time they saw her alone before they left for their honeymoon. “You have a key to the house, right?” asked Mia for the tenth time. “Check on Robbie at least a few times to make sure he isn’t having any wild parties, and make sure Sybil is doing okay.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Robbie and your cat, but wouldn’t it have been easier to just let her stay at the trailer with us? I would have taken care of her.”
“I don’t think Sybil would do well with a lot of noise,” said Mia diplomatically, “besides, as soon as Luka heard you have coyotes behind the trailer, he almost canceled the honeymoon for fear she’d end up out there. He’s gotten strangely attached to her.”
Joy rolled her eyes and Luka said defensively, “I told you Sybil was a silly name for a cat. Even your mother thinks so. I wanted to call her Jackie the Ripper.”
“It’s a perfect name for a cat,” said Mia, “and she doesn’t scratch anybody except you when you get her all wound up with that feather toy thing you bought. Which, I will point out in front of witnesses, is only one of dozens of cat gifts that are sitting on our living room floor. I think you’ve spent more on the cat than you have on me.”
“That wasn’t a particularly hard challenge, besides, the cat bed was a special therapy cushion with magnets. Why would you skimp on something she spends so much time in? And Robbie knows I’ll kick his ass if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do. I’ve got Vadik checking on him, and my cousins will be in and out of town. He won’t breathe wrong until we get back. The house and Sybil will be fine.”
“How much longer are you going to keep that house anyway?” asked Joy. “Now that you’ve got all of his shit coming from St. Petersburg, isn’t it going to be a little small for both of you?”
Delivering Joy the next piece of news had required a carefully orchestrated planning session and each of them had their role to play. Mia went first. “We’ve made the decision on where we’re going to live. I need to be in Rochester for at least a few more years, so we’re going to build the bigger house that Luka wants out on the lake. He likes the water views.”
Luka tried to look casual, but Joy was challenging under the best of situations and getting her past her objections was going to take some work. “We are giving you her house in the city. The addition will expand the kitchen, and we are tearing down a few walls to give it a more open concept. The upstairs bath is already redone, and we’re repairing the downstairs bath and adding a shower. You and the girls should be able to move in by the end of the school year.”
“I’m not taking her house, for fuck’s sake,” said Joy with a sigh. “I’ve been fine in the trailer for my entire adult life.”
“What is it with this family and accepting a gift?” he grumbled. “Call it my marriage payment for taking your daughter. Robbie needs to be a man and learn to cook and clean for himself. He can stay in the trailer and move out of that pigsty apartment he shares with three other half-grown children.”
“Actually,” Mia said with an eye roll, “it would be a gift from me since, you know, it’s my house, and all. Please, Mom, you might not have been the easiest mother to have around, but I really want to do this for you, so don’t be an ass about it.”
“I can’t imagine why your mother has trouble accepting gifts from you,” he said. “What my future wife is trying to say is, you gave me my strength and my pride, Mother. You made me tough and invincible. Please accept this gift as an appreciation for your years of love and support.”
“Yeah,” dismissed Mia. “All that.”
“I... I...” Joy stammered in a rare display of speechlessness. “The schools aren’t as good in the city, and the girls still have years to go. It just wouldn’t work.”
“They are smart girls,” said Luka, “and they are going to follow in their sister’s footsteps. There is an all-girls Catholic school in town, and I will pay their tuition. I don’t want to take any chances with distractions.”
“You’re going to make a hell of a dad,” said Mia, curling into his side, “so I’m glad that little reversal surgery you had was a success, but soon or later, Karrie and Rosie will start dating and you’re just going to have to adjust.”
“Dating?” he said, raising his eyebrow. “Over my dead body. I have four fine nephews. Any one of them would make a good match, and that little surgery you made me have was more painful than you said it was going to be.”
“It was the opposite of a snip,” she said with a shrug, “and you want to marry my sisters off to the sons of a Russian mobster for the price of a goat? Have you not met Karrie? She’ll castrate them.”
“Castigating isn’t so bad,” he said with a shrug. “Young men need to be reprimanded on occasion.”
“Castrate,” she corrected. “Look it up, Luka. It’s not very nice.”
* * *
Mia spent the night before her wedding with Joy and the girls to avoid seeing Luka before the ceremony. He’d arranged for a stylist to do her makeup and wrap her long hair into a classic French twist. Her mother zipped the back of the white silk dress that snugged over her hips while the photographer took the requisite pictures with her two teenaged bridesmaids wearing dusty pink gowns that made them look all grown up and youthfully beautiful at the same time.
Despite the fact that everybody stared at her on the way to the hotel ballroom, she felt stunning and special, smiling and thanking them for their good wishes. She proudly wore his sapphire earrings that matched perfectly with her engagement ring and had spent more than a few minutes happily studying her reflection in the mirror before she’d left the room.
When the guests were seated, the wedding planner sent Rosie and Karrie down the aisle ahead of her. Waiting for the string quartet to begin her song, her mother kissed her on the cheek and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. “You are stunning, Mia, but I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a father today. You should be walked down the aisle by the man from your childhood.”
Mia reached over and took Robbie’s arm on one side and her mother’s on the other. “I am, Mom,” she said, straightening the tie on his tux from where he’d spent the morning tugging on it. “Let’s go, buddy. You’ve got a job to do.”
They walked her to Luka, his smile beaming and he only had eyes for her. He wore a new tux with shiny shoes and a gold cufflinks, his hair neatly cut and his beard trimmed to showcase the diamond in his ear. Anton, Yuri, and Slavic had lined up by his side with dusty pink handkerchiefs in their tux pockets to match the girls’ dresses.
Joy took her seat in the front row, but Robbie took his place as her last attendant, her three siblings a little off-balanced by his three monster-sized cousins, but it was the only option they’d ever discussed. Luka took her hand, and they turned to the officiant, but she whispered with a giggle, “Eyes up here, big guy. The dress isn’t cut that low.”
“Do you really want to start this now?” he chuckled. “I’m not even wearing a gun today, and I don’t know how much more you can expect me to do.”
“I have a lot of expectations,” she said, kissing him on the cheek, “but don’t worry, I’ll make you a list.”
Mia knew she would remember that night for the rest of her life, a magical fantasy of shimmering glass and candles with a ten-piece orchestra, the one extravagance they’d never argued over. It had taken them longer to settle on the menu, but their choices were beautifully presented by the hotel kitchens: tomato soup with garlic toast rounds, thin slices of
cucumber nestling a bouquet of greens and peppers with a light dill dressing, a classic filet mignon with tender green beans or a vegetarian and couscous entree.
A stuttering Robbie gave a speech as did a stuttering Anton, and the traditional Russian music drew the people from both sides of their family. Rosie danced with her newest crush, her photo partner, Slavic. In dealing with the little girl, he showed a gentle, paternalistic side that Mia had never imagined, but she was content with the knowledge that, with a family like this, the little girl would be safe forever.
With flash of streamers and lots of hugging and kissing, it ended too soon. She and Luka exited the venue filled with wine and good food, but unwilling to end the festivities, they returned through the back door and settled into the big bridal suite with his aunt, uncle, cousins, and a bottle of Galliano, a sweet vanilla-flavored liqueur, to hold onto the magic for just a little longer. The men had taken their jackets off, rolling up their sleeves and leaning back in their chairs with all of the signs of exhaustion, but a little too much alcohol had had just as much of a role as lack of sleep.
“This started off with a kidnapping and ended with a wedding,” said Yuri. “I don’t know how you manage to pull this shit off, but I gotta hand it to you, Luka.”
“Yeah,” said Mia, kissing Luka on the cheek. “You didn’t turn out too badly for somebody who I thought was going to murder me that night.”
“I didn’t kidnap you,” he insisted, slamming his hand on the table to add a little drama, a requisite for a Russian gathering. “I don’t know why you keep coming to that conclusion. Did I even look like a kidnapper? Or a murderer?”
Mia gave him a begrudging nod, and his cousins looked him over carefully before Slavic pointed at his forearms. “The ink really isn’t helping your case, man.”
“It was a delayed business agreement,” he insisted, “that’s all.”
Everybody stared at him, and Zoya rolled her eyes. Mia had to work hard to stifle a very disrespectful giggle before he conceded with a sigh. “Fine. I kidnapped you, but it speaks more to your character than mine that we are at this wedding today, and you need to stop arguing with me. It tries my patience.”
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