by Kat Mizera
Toli chuckled. He knew Zakk wasn’t being disrespectful to Tessa; he was just trying to lighten the mood. “I’m kind of impressed I got shot too,” he said, earning a snort from Anton.
“You’re a nut, Dad,” he said, shaking his head.
“I try very hard to be crazy,” Toli nodded.
“Come on, I’m sure Tessa is dying to jump your bones!” Zakk said, turning off the engine.
“Ew, gross!” Anton groaned. “You’re not going to have sex, are you?!”
“Well, maybe not right this minute,” Toli glanced back at him. “But this is my honeymoon and I have yet to consummate my marriage.”
Anton opened his mouth, but nothing came out and Zakk burst out laughing. “Stop teasing him, Toli—poor kid’s going to die of embarrassment!”
Toli got out of the truck slowly, keeping his arm tucked against his chest. The sling was hot and uncomfortable, but he knew he had to wear it. He would go back to get the stitches out in two weeks and they would decide when he could start physical therapy.
Walking into the house, he breathed in the smell of something cooking and sighed happily. Tessa was a great cook and he was starving. He couldn’t wait to sit at the table with her and then take her to bed. Pain or no pain, he wasn’t letting another day go by without making love to his new wife.
He could hear her footsteps and turned to her with a smile. “I’m home!” he said with a grin. His smile faltered slightly as he watched her face. Though she smiled and gently kissed him, he knew immediately something was wrong.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, turning towards the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, gripping her arm with his good hand.
“We can talk later,” she said.
“No, we can talk now.” He pulled her to him and looked into her face.
“Your ex called and I had to sit there and get yelled at for fifteen minutes,” she said stoically. “It would be nice if you would at least give me a heads-up next time you make a big decision without me.”
“Tatiana yelled at you?” he asked blankly.
“Not Tatiana!” she snapped. “Debbie!”
“My mom yelled at you?” Anton had been right behind them. “She almost never yells.”
“Well, she did today.” Tessa gently pulled her arm free and moved into the kitchen to check the casserole in the oven.
“Why would she yell at you?” Toli asked, cutting a look at Anton, who flushed.
“She’s evidently not happy that Anton is moving to Las Vegas!” Tessa grunted, putting the casserole on the counter with a thud.
“Anton!” Toli gave his son a dirty look. “I said we would talk about it after I talked to Tessa! What the hell were you thinking?”
Anton grimaced. “She kept asking me when I was coming home, like every day, so I finally told her I was thinking about staying here! I told her we hadn’t decided yet!”
Toli growled with irritation. “Jesus Christ. I just got home from the hospital—could I have five minutes with my new wife before the drama starts?!”
Anton blanched, taking a step back and Toli instantly regretted his words.
“It’s fine,” Tessa said quickly, not wanting to cause trouble between father and son; she could handle a disagreement with Toli, but he and Anton spent so little time together she didn’t want to be the reason they fought. “I’m okay. I just wish I’d known this was on the table so I could have said something intelligent, instead of sitting there like an idiot.”
“I’m sorry,” Anton said quietly. “I didn’t think she’d call you!”
“You knew she wouldn’t like this,” Toli said in frustration. “Couldn’t you at least have waited until I got home?”
“I said I was sorry.” Anton’s face was that of a lost little boy, and Tessa put a gentle hand on his arm.
“I’m not mad at you,” she said quietly. “I was just caught off guard. You guys can’t keep me out of the loop on something this big.”
“Sweetheart.” Toli put an arm around her waist. “I’m sorry. We talked about it the night I was shot and to be honest, I didn’t think about it again until just now. It’s been a crazy couple of days with Erin in critical condition and the police wanting to talk about Marco’s death…” His voice trailed off. “It wasn’t intentional.”
“I know. She caught me off guard and I felt stupid.”
“I’ll call her,” Toli said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Tessa,” Anton said, hanging his head. “She was making me crazy. She thought I would come home the day after the wedding and she keeps talking about how much it’s going to cost to change my ticket…”
“Why does she care?” Toli frowned at him. “I paid for your ticket, and I’ll pay for the changes.”
“She’s been weird since I got hurt,” Anton said.
“Is that why you want to come live here now?” Toli asked him.
“No. I just want to live with you—this is my last chance before I become an adult and I’ve never lived with you. Is it wrong that I want to spend some time with my dad?!” With an indignant huff, he stalked out of the room towards the guest room and slammed the door.
“Wow.” Zakk blinked. “I am super glad I don’t live here anymore. I’m going home to my very pregnant, very hormonal, but more rational than a teenage boy, girlfriend.”
“Jazzy!” Raina had been waiting patiently to get his attention and now looked annoyed with him. “Jazzy don’t go!”
“I have to go home, kiddo,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
“Raina go too!” She held up her arms.
“Zakk has to go home,” Tessa laughed at her daughter.
“No! No! No!” Raina was working up a temper and Tessa sighed.
“Listen, you.” Zakk got down on his haunches and looked at the little girl intently. “You and I will have a play date this week, okay? Didn’t you want to have a tea party?”
Raina clapped her hands. “Tea party!”
“Okay, but today I have to go. I’ll come have a tea party tomorrow. Deal?”
Raina made a face and said something unintelligible. Zakk kissed the top of her head.
“Bye-bye, Jazzy!” Raina put out her lower lip.
“Bye, honey!” Zakk bit his lip to keep from laughing as Tessa shut the door behind him.
“I’m sorry,” Toli said to Tessa, leaning against the wall as he realized how tired he was.
“It’s okay.” She moved close to him and slid an arm around his waist, careful to avoid his bad shoulder. “I just wasn’t expecting it—I didn’t even know she had my number.”
“I gave it to her before Anton flew out for the wedding,” Toli said. “In case she couldn’t reach me.”
“I understand.” Tessa shook her head. “But damn, you had zero drama while we were dating. We’re married an hour and you get shot, and then I get yelled at by your ex three days later. No fair!”
He chuckled. “Technically, she’s not my ex. We had a two-night stand, not a relationship.”
“Well, it’s easier than calling her your two-night stand,” Tessa said, looking up at him. “So, is Anton going to move in with us?”
“He says he wants to,” he sighed. “And I want him to. Like he said—he becomes an adult soon and then he’ll be off to either college or the NHL. This is our last chance to be a family like this.”
“How is he going to play hockey and live in Las Vegas?” she asked, frowning.
“It’s complicated,” he admitted. “But I’m too exhausted to think about this right now. Can we go lie down?”
“I have to feed Raina and put her down for a nap,” Tessa said. “You go ahead and I’ll come in soon.”
“Okay.” He kissed her and ambled off towards their room. This wasn’t the homecoming he’d been hoping for, but it didn’t appear he had control of any events in his life right now.
He stretched out on the bed and stared up at the ceiling in frustration. He was a little pissed off; at Marco, at Anton, at Debb
ie, and even at himself. This wasn’t what he’d wanted for the beginning of his life with Tessa, and while he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could control everything, he was annoyed that all these bad things seemed to be happening at once. He wished Anton hadn’t said anything to Debbie before he had a chance to talk to Tessa, but he was especially pissed that Debbie had yelled at Tessa.
Pulling out his phone, he hit the speed dial button for Debbie and raised the phone to his ear, preparing himself for the conversation he was about to have.
“You and I need to talk!” Debbie snapped when she answered.
“And we will,” he said quietly. “But first you will listen.”
“What?!”
“Dammit, Debbie—we’ve known each other more than 17 years and I’ve never said a cross word to you, but today you will listen to what I have to say!” He sat up, frowning even though she couldn’t see it. “From the day we had our accident with the condom, I have never treated you with anything but respect. I supported your decision to keep the baby, and supported you both financially and emotionally when he was born. I never had a negative word about Mike, even though you brought in a man I didn’t know to raise my son. When your children were born, I treated them almost exactly the same as I treated my own—including sending them to that very expensive and very exclusive private school they attend.”
“Toli—”
“I asked you to listen!” he snapped. Then he took a breath; he hated arguing with people. “I’ve been married three days. Three days, Debbie, and I got shot at my wedding. My new wife watched me and her best friend get shot on her wedding night, she’s not going on a honeymoon, and now she’s going to have to take care of me until I’m healed. Three days later, my son’s mother is yelling at her on the phone. This will never happen again. She’s not to blame for any of this, and you sure as hell have no right to take out your anger on her. I had no idea Anton was thinking about moving in with me, and quite frankly, I had just come out of surgery when he told me. I understand you’re upset, but you will never, ever go after my wife like that again. Do you understand?”
“I’m sorry, Toli.” Debbie sighed heavily. “You’re right—I shouldn’t have taken it out on Tessa. This was between you and me.”
“And Anton,” he said firmly. “What’s happened that Anton wants to live with me?”
Debbie sighed again. “I don’t know. I’ve probably been a little overprotective since his accident, but Jesus—he fractured his skull! Don’t I get to mother him a little?”
“Of course,” Toli soothed, knowing that’s what she needed to hear right now. “But it has to be something else. Anton is mature enough to understand the difference between mothering and anything else that might be going on?”
“I honestly don’t know. When he came home after the injury, he wasn’t himself but I thought it had to do with the speech problems and such. He wasn’t happy in Detroit, but when he came home he was bored and equally unhappy at his old school too. I’m not sure what’s going on.”
“Let me handle it, okay?” he asked softly. “He’ll be 17 in three months. You could stop him from coming to live with me, but what good will that do? He has the financial means to move out in a year anyway.”
“Toli!” Debbie sounded horrified. “You have to take away his money!”
“I’m not going to take anything away!” Toli said firmly. “He’s had access to money in my account since he was 14 and he’s never abused it. I’m not going to punish him for something he hasn’t done. Besides, it’s only fair, Debbie. You’ve had him his whole life. Why can’t I have him here with me for a while? It’s his senior year so this is it. I won’t stop sending money, if that’s the problem.”
“That’s not the problem,” she murmured sadly. “I just don’t want my baby to leave.”
“He was in Detroit most of the last two years—how is this different? And most likely he’s going to go play hockey somewhere because there’s nothing here in Las Vegas at his level, so he won’t technically be living here either. Debbie, don’t make this hard on him. It’s only going to hurt your relationship.”
“You don’t understand,” she whispered.
“I don’t understand?” he demanded incredulously. “I’m the one who missed all the big events, most of his baseball and hockey games, most of his birthdays and holidays—I missed almost everything except a few weeks every summer! How do I not understand?!”
She was quiet and for a moment, neither of them spoke.
“You’re right, of course.” She took a breath. “See what you can find out and let’s talk again in a day or two.”
“Okay.”
“And tell Tessa I’m sorry—I’ll call her and apologize myself once this is settled.”
“Thanks—I will.” He hung up and noticed Tessa was standing by the door. He held out a hand and she approached him slowly.
“Was that Debbie?”
“Yes.” He pulled her close to him. “I told her she cannot yell at you ever again. I was very clear.”
“Thank you.” She kissed the side of his face. He kissed her back with interest, his mouth finding hers without hesitation.
It was so good to feel him kissing her, here in their bed; she felt a wave of emotion wash over her. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she had to break away, resting her head on his chest.
“Sweetheart.” He lifted her chin. “What is it?”
“I was so scared you were never coming home, that you were going to—” She broke off, unable to say the word “die.”
“I know.” He rubbed her shoulder with one hand. “I’m sorry—this isn’t what I wanted the start of our life together to be like.”
“I thought I was going to lose you!” She broke down for the first time since the reception, her sobs coming in big hiccups against his chest.
“Oh, baby.” He held her with his one arm, hating that she’d had to deal with this and wondering how he was going to make it better. All he’d been thinking about since it happened was whether or not he would be able to play hockey again, and she’d been worried that he might die. Then this had happened with Debbie; he was definitely making a mess out of their first days as husband and wife.
He bent his head and brushed kisses along her forehead, wishing he could use his other arm to hold her. “It’s going to be okay,” he said softly. “I’m fine, and everything will go back to normal soon. We’ll go away, even if it’s not the honeymoon we planned, and relax.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she sighed.
“Come—lie with me.” He motioned beside him. “I’m exhausted and in a little while I’m going to have to get up and deal with my son. Let’s have a few minutes together.”
She managed a small smile. “Okay.” She snuggled down into his side, head on his good shoulder, and she could feel him relax as he drifted off.
Chapter 5
Toli stared at the ceiling for a long time. Even with Tessa sleeping soundly beside him, Anton and Raina in rooms across the hall and everything calmer now that Erin was doing better, he was still furious. Furious that Marco had dared to attempt to get his revenge during the most important event of Toli’s life. Furious that he’d been shot. Furious that he’d practically sold his soul to the devil to ensure nothing would happen, but it still had. He didn’t know what had gone wrong, but he was going to find out. The idea that he’d called on his father’s old KGB contact to add a level of security to his wedding only to have them not show up was unbelievable to him. What the hell had happened? Sergei was equally baffled, but they hadn’t had much opportunity to discuss it and Toli didn’t dare make another phone call. The only way to find out for sure would be to go to Russia, but he wasn’t sure if that was the smartest thing to do.
With their honeymoon to China cancelled, they now had the time, but what would he tell Tessa? He didn’t want to bring her with him, but they were newlyweds, so leaving her behind wasn’t an option. A family vacation to introduce her to his relative
s in Moscow was the best cover, and he knew his mother would be thrilled. Tessa would do it if he asked her to, but he hated the thought that a trip to Moscow would be her only honeymoon. Especially since a family event meant bringing the kids, which wasn’t much of a honeymoon at all. He had to get answers, though, because he knew people like Grisha didn’t play by the rules. He was someone his father told him he could trust in the event of an emergency, but to only contact him if there was absolutely no other choice.
Toli had made that choice but now it weighed heavily on his mind, keeping him up much of the night. In the morning he had to make a decision, and with that in mind, he finally dozed off. The next thing he knew there was a warm, delicious feeling between his legs and despite his restless night, he couldn’t help but smile. Tessa’s mouth was doing amazing things to his cock and he sighed happily, reaching out to run his fingers through her silky hair.
“Good morning,” he rumbled in a sleepy voice.
“It’s about time,” she giggled. “I didn’t think you were ever going to wake up.”
“I’m definitely awake,” he chuckled.
She sucked him as deep as she could, always awed by how big he was and loving the sounds he made as she wrapped her hands around the base. He moved against her with ease, careful not to push too far until she was ready and always as gentle as he was passionate. Sex had always been pleasant but nothing special before Toli; now she longed for him if more than a day passed without making love. It had been 34 days since he’d last touched her, and she knew he was as anxious as she was to officially consummate their marriage.
“Sweetheart, I’m close,” he rasped, edging out of her mouth. “I want to make love to you, not come in your mouth.”
“Will your shoulder be okay?” She looked up with concern.
“Get on top.” He smiled as she crawled up and straddled his lap, leaning down to kiss his lips.
Careful to keep her weight on his lower body, Tessa moved back until she was perched just above his thick, hard cock and slid down slowly, sensuously, enjoying the sensation of feeling him spread her open. After more than a month, her body mildly protested the invasion, but as one of Toli’s big, calloused hands moved down to cup her ass, she sank all the way down. They both moaned with pleasure and need, Toli squeezing her cheek and watching as she began to move. Her eyes locked with his and their bodies created a perfectly harmonized display of passion.