by Stacy Gail
God, he was beautiful when he was happy.
And these days, Polo was always happy.
Winning the tournament was great, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to seeing my man find his place in the world. Now that Polo was in charge of every facet of his life, he’d allowed himself the chance to discover a friend in his older brother, Matteo. Somewhere along the way, he’d overcome the crippling traumas life had thrown at him, enabling him to embrace his role as a loving father, a supportive brother, and a happy, contented husband.
He was winning at life.
For that matter, so was I.
I had Polo, after all. That meant I had everything.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winner and grand champion of Castlemont Country Club’s first annual charity poker tournament, Dasha Scorpeone!”
I glanced toward the front of the ballroom at the microphone-wielding Ginger-lookalike. Tiffany Stoddard used to be Tiffany Stoddard-Fanning, but when she’d kicked her pill-popping, philandering embarrassment of a husband to the curb, she’d dropped his name like it was diseased. Tiffany had been present when Polo had “died,” so her reaction when she first saw Polo while Shona, Emily and I were coordinating this event had been hysterical. I only wished I’d had my phone out to record Polo’s earnest explanation of how he had actually been working undercover for the government, and since the details of that assignment were still hush-hush, he couldn’t talk about it. Matteo had even joined in on that crazy-train of bullshit, so by the time the charity meeting had broken up, Tiffany Stoddard was convinced my husband was Chicago’s version of James Bond.
Such was life when you were married to a man who was still known in every corner of the underworld by simply one name.
Scorpio.
“Let’s give our lovely winner a round of applause as she accepts her trophy. Dasha, if you please.”
Gamely I smiled and headed to the front, the silver and black beads covering my flapper-style cocktail dress shimmering with every step. I adored the dress, partly because the loose cut camouflaged my baby bump, and partly because it dipped so low in back Polo couldn’t seem to stop from sliding his hands underneath it. That particular impulse had nearly made us late to my own charity event. But considering what we’d been doing, I hadn’t minded in the least
Even five months pregnant, Polo thought I was the hottest thing in the solar system. That meant everything to me.
I met Tiffany’s air-kiss without too much awkwardness, took the marble-based trophy in one hand, and got the microphone from Tiffany in the other. “First off, I’d like to thank all of you for joining us in this first-of-its-kind charity event. Because of you, we’ve raised over a quarter of a million dollars.” I waited for the applause to recede before continuing on. “What you don’t know is that the Borysko Vitaliev Foundation is matching the proceeds raised at this event, bringing the actual total to over half a million dollars, and it is all thanks to the people in this room.” As another round of applause went up, I glanced at Polo standing with his back to the wall near Bruno, with both of them sweeping the crowd with that unmistakable bodyguard alertness.
Always on the lookout, always ready to protect me.
Some habits never died.
His gaze slid into mine, and as usual a sweet softening in those dark eyes made me weak in the knees. I could feel my smile ratchet up to the brilliant level just for him before continuing.
“Because this event was to benefit my charity, Chicago’s Future, we were always going to get a percentage of the overall amount raised. But, because I won the tournament, and the winnings are also going to me, it doesn’t seem fair that all proceeds go to one charity alone. Therefore, I’m proud to announce that my partner, Shona Rawlins, and I have agreed to split the proceeds with Dr. Emily Fields-Scorpeone and her amazing new dental charity, Every Smile Matters.”
“Oh, my gosh.” Emily’s eyes were impossibly wide as I joined her, Matt, Shona, Whit and Polo after thanking all the contributors, guests and media. Before I had come to a stop, Emily flung herself into my arms and burst into tears. “For so long I’ve dreamed of putting together a mobile dentist’s office so I can go to the people who really need my services, but I didn’t even know how to get it started. Then I met you and Shona, and you amazing ladies inspired me to try, and thanks to your generosity I now have the funds to bring pretty smiles to anyone who truly needs it, and…oh, my gosh, I’m just so freaking happy!”
“Yeah, I kinda got that impression,” I laughed, breaking through the torrent of babble while trying to breathe through her bear hug. “I’m glad you’re happy. I know you’re going to make a huge difference in so many peoples’ lives, Emily. That’s just the way you are.”
“Oh, I hope so. Thank you, Dash. You’re the best sister-in-law ever. In fact, you’re the best sister ever, period. I love you.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.” I hugged her back, and in my heart, I meant every word.
Only later did it occur to me that the legendary war that had raged for so long between the Vitalievs and the Scorpeones was well and truly over.
My eyes closed as Polo propped my knees way up by latching his arms underneath them. I was pushed deep into the pillows as he surged into me, his urgent rhythm bringing me close, so damn close, that I could almost reach out and touch it. When my breath hitched on a whimper, a low groan rumbled deep in his chest.
“Love those sounds you make, beautiful.” He pumped faster, his cock filling my depths in a way that sent fireworks along my nerve endings. “Love making those sounds come out of you even more.”
He made a lot of things happen to me, and all of them were my idea of heaven. “Deeper, baby. Harder.”
“I can do that.”
I knew he could.
He was my hero. He could do anything.
While his hips rocked, his head lowered to press his open mouth against my neck. I reveled in his tongue against my skin, loving the swirling glide of it so much that I almost missed his hand moving in between us.
“Yes.” A thrill went through me, and I did my best to give him whatever room he needed. He gave me everything, and I was smart enough to take full advantage of his giving nature. “Yes, Polo.”
“You’re so damn perfect. Under me, gloving me, wanting me to make you come. God.” His breathing came in shortened bursts as his touch at last found its target. “Everything you are is everything I need. Come for me, beautiful. I love watching you when you fucking lose it.”
“Polo.” That exquisite, familiar tingling began, in every nerve and cell. He must have felt the change in me, because the stroking of his fingers and the powerful surging of his hips intensified. The tension inside doubled, then folded in on itself again, bordering on painful, and my whole body clenched as if preparing for an explosion.
Then it did explode, a wild rush of madness that arched my back and pushed my head deep into the pillows. The pleasure was endless and I held onto it for as long as I could, undulating my hips and riding his cock as if that was my one and only purpose. Suddenly his muscles strained, tightening to rock-hardness before he thrust into me so wildly my whole body jolted with it. At last he threw his head back and released a long groan of satisfaction that echoed through my mind long after he had stilled, his body pushing mine into the soft mattress.
We stayed that way for a long while, drifting in silence while the ebbing pleasure tingled on the edges. Then he wrapped his arms around me and gently rolled so that I was on top, moving so that our bodies were still connected.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he murmured into my hair, while I nestled my face into the curve of his neck. “How can we keep getting better at this?”
“Practice, practice, practice,” I loved his chuckle so much I had to see its effects. Propping my chin on my hand and my hand on his chest, I drank in his lazily smiling face. Our daughter Gloriana—or Glory, as her doting daddy called her—had that same devilish grin, and the sight of it melted my
heart. “I will say this. If I weren’t pregnant already, we definitely would have made a baby just now.”
“Mm.” That smile stayed in place as he shifted me just enough to run a possessive hand over the bump of my belly. In the past few weeks, the baby’s movements had moved from bird flutters to honest-to-goodness baby kicks, a fact that pleased me no end. “How’s he doing?”
“Fine. Starting to stretch out a bit.” The last sonogram had shown we were having a boy, and other tests had confirmed it. At some point in April, Gloriana would no longer be an only child. “Have any new ideas for a name?”
“Rocky.”
I snorted. “I couldn’t say our son’s name without suffering the earworm of the Rocky theme. Which I now have, thank you very much.”
“You said something about our boy being born an Aries, right? So how about Ares?”
I stared at him. “Wait, like…the god of war, Ares?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Did your ears blink on that god-of-war part I just mentioned?”
“Ares is cool. Ares Scorpeone. Nice ring, yeah?”
“Polo, you’ve lost your damn mind if you think we’re naming our son after a freaking god of war.”
“Well, I’m not going to name my son something weak. When people hear my boy’s name, they’re going to immediately understand this is a man of greatness. A leader. A conqueror of worlds.”
Alert, alert. Dangerous levels of testosterone detected. “A conqueror of worlds? Did you really just say that?”
“You know what I mean, so just roll with it.”
I gave it a moment’s thought. “The first conqueror that comes to mind is Alexander the Great, and if we name our son Alexander, Alexei is going to claim him as his namesake. Once that happens, we’re going to have a pouting Yuri on our hands.”
“Holy shit. The thought of a pouting Yuri breaks my brain, so we need to avoid that at all costs.”
“What we need to avoid is naming our son Alexander.”
“I was thinking Konstantin.”
My breathing hitched in surprise before my eyes brimmed with warm wetness. Battling back those tears as best I could, I reached up to cup his cheek. “Are you serious?”
“Kon was your true brother. I know we said we weren’t doing any family names because we’re all about leaving the past behind us where it belongs,” he added before I could say a word. “But we named Glory after Jubilee, and that felt right, yeah? So why can’t we name our son after Kon?”
The smile I gave him wobbled under the weight of how much I loved him. “I can’t think of a reason why we can’t.”
He bent his head forward to kiss my brow. “Good.”
“In fact, it’s so perfect I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself. What made you think of it?”
“I met up with Vasili the other day at the gun range,” he said, lifting a shoulder. “I mentioned that that was the last place I’d seen his little brother alive, and how I could still see Konstantin smiling and waving at me as he dropped you off into my care. That’s when he said the damnedest thing. Fucking broke my heart.”
My brows drew together. “What’d he say?”
“Vas said I was lucky to have such a memory, and that he wished he had even one memory of his baby brother smiling at him like that. But considering how Vas used to be Kon’s number-one bully, it’s not surprising he doesn’t. That’s a hard lesson to learn about not being a dick to your own family.”
I didn’t want to think of how Konstantin had gone to his grave believing his oldest brother hated him, because Polo was right. It was heartbreaking. “Maybe Vas will be a better man for it, now that he and Pavel have taken over what’s left of the Vitaliev Bratva.”
“Maybe.” He slid a hand through my hair, letting it fall through his fingers before lazily repeating the motion. “Hey, Fearless.”
“Hm?”
“In all this time, you’ve never asked who pulled the trigger—me, or Pavel.”
I tensed, more out of surprise than anything, before I relaxed again and let the stroking of his hand in my hair soothe me. “It’s never mattered to me. Nizhy died a long time ago. All I know is that my man gave everything he had to protect me.”
“I’ll always give my all to protect you. That’s why I left it to Pavel to find closure for Konstantin’s death,” he went on, and when that confession brought my head up in surprise, he shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me having Knives’s blood on my hands. I wanted him dead, yeah. But I wanted you to be at peace with it even more. In that moment, and in every moment since then, you were my only consideration.”
The sweet clenching around my heart bordered on painful. “Really?”
“Yeah. Well, you and the kids we’d have one day. You talking about them crystallized how important it was for us to find a way to live free and clean of all that shit.” The hand in my hair fisted gently. “If Pavel hadn’t been there, I would’ve done what had to be done. For you, for me, for Glory, for little Konstantin and for anyone else who shows up, God willing. But I’m damn glad he was there, Fearless. I just don’t have the taste for that kind of thing anymore. And I sure as hell didn’t want to come to you with that kind of stain on me.”
“Thank you so much for thinking of me, but it wouldn’t have mattered.” And it wouldn’t have, I realized as I craned my neck forward for a kiss. There had been so much beauty in my life once the past had been put to rest. One blessing after another had cascaded in; it had started with discovering I had a sister, who was adored by an attentive, protective man who’d move mountains for her and their son, Lorenzo. Then there was the success of Polo’s second nightclub, River Styx, and the Borysko Vitaliev Foundation that helped me bring some good to those who needed it the most. Added to that, there was my precious baby Glory, and Emily and Matteo and their children, and now baby Kon, to round out that all-important feeling of family.
Life was more beautiful than it had ever been.
And, if I didn’t dwell on how I’d been blessed with so much now that Knives was dead and gone, it didn’t hurt too much.
So I didn’t allow myself to dwell.
Except, of course, for the lesson my brother had taught me.
“I think I’m a lot like Vasili,” I said, looking into my husband’s hooded, dark eyes. “I appreciate family so much more now. That can only be a good thing, considering the fucked-up family ties we both come from.”
Polo made a sleepy sound of amusement. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“We’ve got to make sure Gloriana and baby Konstantin never take each other for granted,” I went on, beginning to fret. “And they can’t take for granted what it is to be a family. There are so many things that could go wrong. They could wind up hating each other, or us, or how they were raised—”
“None of those things are going to happen, Fearless. They’re not going to happen because we’re going to show them how family is done.”
“We are? How?”
“We’re going to love the crap out of them.”
I waited a beat. “That’s it? That’s the plan?”
“Kids learn about the world by taking in what’s around them. If we show them who and what we are—two people who love each other and believe in each other completely—then we’re doing our job. That, and loving them so much they know they’re the most important people in our world.”
That was so unexpectedly beautiful it made the warm wash of tears come back with a vengeance. “Is it really that easy?”
“Easy? What the hell, Dash, this love shit is the hardest damn thing in the world to get right. It leaves you defenseless in a way that nothing else does, and if it’s not right it fucks you up nine ways to Sunday. But it’s worth the risk. I’ve known that from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”
My heart overflowed with such happiness and love I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. “My sweet Polo.”
“In my book, what we’re bu
ilding together is worth any risk.” His arms tightened around me as more happy tears fell. Thankfully he was now used to the wacky hormonal waterworks that often cropped up, so he merely smiled as he wiped the tears away. “Our kids are going to be fierce. They’ll be just as fearless as we were when we fought to be together. And every day, we’ll show them that the people you love are worth that fight. We can do that, yeah?”
“Does that mean I get to show you how much I love you and our kids?”
“It does. Think you can handle that?”
“Oh, yeah.” Smiling through my tears, I reached up to bring his mouth to mine. “I can most definitely handle that.”
For a peek at how Rude and Sass began,
Please enjoy the first chapter of
HOUSE OF PAYNE: RUDE
Chapter One
It hurts.
Sass’s jaw locked as she stared up at the high ceiling beyond the privacy curtains. There were three separate places she could feel her heartbeat, and none of them were in her chest.
Ribs.
Shoulder.
Jaw.
The ribs were the worst. They were also the reason why she’d finally decided to hobble into Northwestern Memorial’s ER. Otherwise she would have just blown it off, chalked it up under her miles-long list of Things That Hadn’t Killed Her, and moved on.
Then she’d coughed up a tiny speck of blood, and the pain of doing so had nearly made her pass out. That was when she began to worry that this might eventually go on the so-far blank list of Things That Killed Her.
But after being in the ER for three hours without expiring, she’d come to the conclusion she probably should have just stayed home and slept through the worst of it.
Or tried to, anyway.
“Good, you’re still awake.” The rattle of the curtain rings announced the arrival of the nurse attending her, a massive African-American man who probably could have qualified for giant status. Then again, she’d lied on her driver’s license when she’d put down that she was five-four. Almost everyone was a giant to her. “How’re you feeling, doll? Those pain meds kick in yet?”