Still, neither one of them could get enough. For the last seven days, after Dylan was put to bed, they had snuck off to his room to enjoy what they had been denied for over eight years.
They held on to every moment, never missed an opportunity to be together. When he wasn’t working, he was with her and Dylan. When they were away, they thought of each other. In just a short period of time, the connection had grown so strong between them until it was justifiable scary.
She held on to his back, nails digging into his skin as he hovered over her. With his hand on her hips, he pushed deeper and deeper into the plush velvet of her skin, feeling his own climax slowly approaching. His mouth parted as he ran a hand down her smooth stomach, planting a palm at the top of her mound to hold her into position.
Lilly could see it in his eyes, though he tried to fight it back. He was on the verge and so was she, yet again.
Planting an arm beside her, he lifted her thigh and planted his feet, quietly tensing to volcanic explosion. His movements became faster and harder. Pulling her closer to the end of the bed by her hips, his head flung back and he let out a growl that shook the walls.
His satisfaction made her smile. She loved to please him, couldn’t get enough of feeling him inside of her or watching his amazing, rock-hard body.
Pulling slowly out of her, they separated but only to crawl into the bed. She pushed her back up into the curve of his chest and rested her head on his pillow. Breathing hard, he threw a large arm protectively over her and kissed the crown of her head.
“Spasiba” he said, out of breath. He closed his eyes and began to drift off for a second.
“You’re welcome,” she giggled. Looking at the alarm clock, she raised a brow. “You’re not going to get any rest before you have to be up.”
Pushing his hips up to her bottom, he sighed. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
As the sun slowly crept upon the horizon Lilly felt her heart drop. She didn’t want to leave him. “I guess that I should get up and get to my bed before Dylan wakes up.”
Vasily’s eyes flashed open. He didn’t want her to go, but he understood. “Da,” he answered flatly. “In a minute. Just stay here with me for a little while longer.”
His request made her smile again, this time gratefully. Slowly, he was opening up, not about himself, but at least about how he felt towards her and Dylan. She only prayed that this entire, very temporary situation, was not giving her false hope. Neither one of them had broached the conversation about where this would lead. It seemed too premature considering no one knew where Leo was or what the final verdict of the situation would be. Or at least, she didn’t. He’d promised her that when the time was right, he would repay Leo with the same courtesy that he’d given him 10 years ago.
Vasily’s revenge is what she often referred to it as, that chance to make the things right that went wrong that night that he was shot. Lilly only hoped that his revenge wouldn’t take him away from her again.
Feeling the ebb and flow of his deep breaths and warmth radiating from his body as he drifted off to sleep, she closed her eyes involuntarily and let their rhythms sync.
***
When Dylan woke up in the bed alone, he wasn’t at all afraid. The sun was shining bright, and it was already seven o’clock in the morning, which meant breakfast would be served soon.
Grabbing the remote, he turned on the television and put it on Cartoon Network while he slid off the large pillow-top bed and made his way to the bathroom to change out of his Spiderman pajamas, get dressed, and brush his teeth.
All dressed and ready a few minutes later, he headed out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him, and excited about getting downstairs to see Anya. Today, they were playing pirates, and he was going to be Blackbeard.
As he passed Vasily’s room, he had a thought. Maybe he could see if Vasily had a patch that he could put over his eye, since Royal had already given them a box full of fake jewelry to serve as their booty.
Going to the door, he twisted the knob but found it locked. Odd. Vasily never locked his door. He knocked on it lightly and pressed his ear to the door.
“Vasily,” Dylan called out. His raspy voice echoed down the hall. “Are you in there?”
He knocked again, this time harder.
Lilly, still wrapped in Vasily’s embrace, suddenly popped up, drenched in sweat and heart beating fast. Looking at the alarm clock, she shook him as hard as she could. “Vasily. Vasily, wake up. You’re late.”
Cracking his eyes open slightly; he looked up at Lilly naked and frantic and grabbed her by her hips. “Shh… it’s okay. I’m getting up,” he said in a groggy baritone. Immediately, his steely erection began to grow.
“No,” Lilly protested. She shook him again. “Wake up. It’s 7:00. You’re late.” She picked up the alarm clock and put it in front of his face.
Squinting his eyes, Vasily growled. “Shit,” he said, sitting up.
When Dylan heard his Mom, he knocked harder. “Mom!” he called out. “Are you in there?”
Lilly bounced off the side of the bed and grabbed her clothes from off the floor. “Yes, honey. I’ll be out in a minute,” she called out in the sweetest tone that she could manage. Dressing as fast as she could, she whispered to Vasily, “How am I going to explain this?”
“Tell him the truth,” Vasily said, slipping on his gym shorts.
“Which part? That you’re his father or that we’re seeing each other?” She let the words slip out of her mouth before she had time to craft them.
“Wait. We’re seeing each other?” he asked, slipping a white cotton t-shirt. He closed the dresser drawer and looked back at her for a response.
The question stunned Lilly. Mouth flying wide open, she swallowed down a caught breath. Fearing she would stutter if she spoke, she said nothing at all.
Vasily couldn’t help but smile. Casually, he walked over to her and kissed her on the crown of the head. “What’s the matter? You don’t know when I’m joking?”
She had to literally hide her exhalation. “No,” she said, blinking hard. “I don’t know when you’re joking. You’ve never joked. Not since the day that I met you.”
“I joke from time to time,” he said with a shrug.
“Like once a decade?” she asked with a faux-frown on her face.
“I’m a funny man. People think I have a wonderful sense of humor,” he defended.
“What people? Do you joke with them right before you shoot them so there are no witnesses?”
Even he had to laugh at that.
“I promise you that I’ll tell a joke the next time that I kill someone. It might help lighten the mood.”
He walked over to the door and waited for her to make sure that she was fully dressed before he opened it.
Seeing that she was as ready as she would be, he opened the door and looked down at his son, who was waiting patiently. “You’re up early,” Vasily said, motioning for him to come in.
“I’ve got plans with Anya,” he said as he strode in. He looked around suspiciously. “Mom, did you spend the night in here?”
Lilly sat on the end of the bed. “Um… ” she looked over at Vasily. “Mommy, stayed up all night talking to Vasily,” she lied. “We talked in here so that we wouldn’t wake you.”
Dylan didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the idea. He did, however, correct her. “Vasily said that I shouldn’t call you Mommy anymore, just Mom. He said that big boys don’t use that word. And I’m a big boy,” Dylan explained, trying to seem as mature as his 70 lbs. would allow him to be.
Vasily smirked.
“Really?” she frowned. “Well, I’m sort of partial to Mommy.”
He turned to his father. “What now? She likes Mommy.”
Despite the small confrontation going on, Lilly couldn’t help but stop and admire the two standing in front of her. Dylan looked so much like Vasily. Their stances gave them away. Both of them crossed their arms across their chests when they talked, and they both
made the same facial expressions though they had not been around each other at all. Plus, more and more, she could see the connection happening between Vasily and Dylan all on its own. She didn’t have to push it. It was just happening naturally.
After work, Vasily always found his way to where Dylan was so that he could talk to him. They had an hour-long conversations about nothing. It seemed that Vasily was trying to soak up as much as he could learn from his son, and she didn’t blame him. It was horrible that she had to keep him away from Dylan for so many years, but she was also glad that he understood.
Her mind drifted off to what it would have been like to have been able to raise Dylan with Vasily, while the two stood in front of her discussing the wording of her title. And in truth, she was in bliss.
“Mom,” Dylan said, turning to Lilly.
She snapped back into reality, concluding that Mom was here to stay and Mommy would be retired, at least until thunderstorms and nightmares came up.
“Yes, baby,” she said, reaching out for him.
He walked over and slipped between her legs and wrapped his arms around her back. Resting his head in her bosom, he hugged her. “Are you coming down for breakfast? I’m hungry and like I said, Anya and I have plans. We’re playing pirates today.”
“Pirates? Sounds like fun,” she said, standing up. Pulling down her wrinkled t-shirt, she tried to behave as though nothing had happened the night before with Vasily. “I’ll just go and jump in the shower. And then the two of us can go to breakfast. How about that?”
“I can meet you down there,” Dylan countered. “You and Vasily can come down together. I’m already ready. I brushed my teeth and everything.”
“Is that okay?” Lilly asked Vasily.
“He’ll be fine,” Vasily said, headed toward the restroom. “Stop coddling him so much. He’s a big boy. If he wants to go have breakfast, let him go. He’s eight years old. At eight, I had a job.”
“He’s not you,” she said, rubbing through his hair. “And we are in someone else’s house.”
“This hardly qualifies as just a house. It’s more like a hotel,” Vasily joked again. “He’s fine,” he said finally. “He’s family. If there is some place that he’s not supposed to go, he won’t be able to get into that room. That’s why they make locks for doors.”
“Do you have an eye patch, Vasily?” Dylan asked, ignoring his mother. “I’m going to be Blackbeard.” He followed his father into the restroom and stood at the counter.
“Come out of there and give him some privacy,” Lilly scolded.
She came to the door to find Vasily had gone into a walk-in closet inside of the restroom instead of using the toilet, like she had thought.
Vasily stepped out of the closet. “The boy is fine,” he said softly.
Dylan looked up confused at the two of them. What was going on?
“I just don’t want him to get in the way,” she explained, hands protectively on Dylan’s slim shoulders.
Vasily looked at the two of them and felt sympathetic toward her. For years, this little man was all that she had. Of course, she would be protective over him and worried for his every move, but she had to let go of the reins just a little bit. And he knew that he had to help her.
He motioned for Dylan to come to him. The little boy did so without question. Rubbing through his curly locks, Vasily smiled at his handsome son, quietly very proud of him in so many ways. “Hey, I have an idea. Tonight, after I wrap up things with my boss, why don’t we sit down, have a nice dinner together with all those Russian foods I told you about and we can have a discussion? Just the three of us, eh,” Vasily said more to Lilly than Dylan. He looked up at her.
Lilly knew what he meant. He wanted to tell Dylan who he really was.
“Do you think that’s wise?” she asked him, voice barely above a whisper.
Vasily smiled. “He’s a big boy, right?”
“I am a big boy,” Dylan protested.
Vasily opened his hand and gave Dylan the eye patch he had pulled from the drawer in his closet. “Yes, you are.”
Chapter 11
President’s Island was a huge industrial park with nothing attractive to see for miles and miles around. Yet, the Medlov men stood out on the mud and dirt talking to the architect about how dynamic Dmitry’s new building was going to be once it was complete. Rolling the blueprints out on the back of an F-150, they looked at what the 250-acres of land would like in a matter of 18 months.
“Now that we have all of our permits and tax abatements from the city, we can move forward,” Dmitry said, leaning over the edge of the truck. “I want no expense spared. This has to be the state of the art arms facility in the country.”
Anatoly was a few feet away by Vasily smoking a cigarette and pretending like he was paying attention to his father. However, he couldn’t get his mind off the deal that they were discussing when Vasily found out about Leo escaping from prison. “We’ve got to make sure that the deal in Ukraine doesn’t fall through,” he said to Gabriel, who was busy sending texts on his phone. Instantly, he wondered if it was business related or the woman everyone knew that Gabriel was seeing.
“If we don’t, we’ll be broke,” Gabriel said, not looking up from his phone.
“I don’t know about broke, but a few million lights,” Anatoly corrected. “I’m thinking we should send someone over there to broker the deal face-to-face.”
Gabriel dipped his head. “I don’t see why not. Sure.” He felt Anatoly’s eyes on him. He looked over at his cousin winking his eye. “Oh, hell no,” he blurted out.
Dmitry stopped talking and looked over at the boys. “Is there a problem?”
Anatoly smiled sarcastically. “Not at all Papa.”
Gabriel turned so that his back was turned to his uncle. “I’m not going to the fucking Ukraine. Get someone else to sort this shit out.”
Anatoly raised a brow. “Well, who else would you recommend?”
“Vasily,” Gabriel said, putting his phone in his back pocket.
“He can’t go.” Anatoly said in a matter of fact tone.
“Why not?” Gabriel asked.
“He’s got his family to look after right now.”
“And I don’t?” Gabriel asked.
“You don’t have any kids, and you barely sleep in the same bedroom with Briggy. I hardly qualify that as family,” Anatoly said with a snicker.
Gabriel’s lips thinned. “It’s not like that. We’re just going through something.”
“It’s been a year. It’s either going to work or it’s not. If it’s not, then break up with her,” Anatoly said, walking out of earshot of his father.
“Let’s just set the record straight. My private life is my business. I don’t need you to tell me what to do with my girlfriend,” Gabriel huffed. “Before you married Renee, you literally fucked everything that moved. I seem to recall a New York Times bestselling author who got the title because you screwed her and posted it online.”
Anatoly shook a finger. “It got her off my back. I screwed her literally, because she was trying to screw me figuratively. Let’s not forget that she, like someone else here, was a cop.”
“Was being the operative word. Some days, you make me want to go back,” Gabriel snapped.
Vasily bit down on his lip to ensure that not even a breath came out. Everyone knew that this was an issue at the house.
For a while, Gabriel had been at odds in his relationship with the woman that he was seeing. She also happened to be a woman that Anatoly had seen before he married his wife, and while that had been no big secret in the home, it had not been the easiest thing to maneuver around.
“Just because you dated her… ” Gabriel began.
“This has nothing to do with me and Briggy. It’s about the integrity of the house. It’s about everyone knowing what the fuck you do when you leave there and the questions that we are asked when she’s moping around. Now, Papa feels like you should be allowed to deal with it i
n your own time, but that’s because Royal doesn’t talk to him about it. Renee, on the other hand, wears my fucking ear out every time she gets a chance.”
Gabriel had heard enough about his broken relationship. He threw up his hand to silence him. “Briggy and I are working things out. That’s all you need to know.”
“That’s all I care to know,” Anatoly said, throwing his hands up. “But it makes a perfect argument for why you should go to the Ukraine and handle this deal.”
“I’m not going to the Ukraine,” Gabriel bit out. “And that’s that.”
“If you say so,” Anatoly said, turning to Vasily. “Do you think we have anyone we can send that we can trust to handle this thing?”
“We have a couple of runners who are reliable. I’m sure that we could send them, but it won’t be the same as sending someone from the family,” Vasily answered. He turned to see Dmitry look dead at him. “I think he wants our full attention.”
“Come over here and learn something,” Dmitry ordered. “Stop arguing over there like school girls. Leave home at home.” Evidently, he had heard more of the conversation then they intended.
“One second, Papa,” Anatoly shouted. He pointed at Gabriel. “You’re the lowest man on the totem pole, you make it happen. Either you go to the Ukraine, or you send someone who we can trust, but I’m not sending Vasily.”
“Fine,” Gabriel said, spitting on the ground.
As they all walked back over to the truck with the rest of the group, Vasily’s phone went off.
Dmitry rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. It was like having three grown sons instead of one.
“Sorry, boss,” Vasily said, seeing the call was coming from a blocked line. He stepped over the patches of mud by the trees and took the call. “Hello.”
There was a pause and then, “It’s Yakov,” the voice said.
Vasily looked up. “I’m guessing that this isn’t a social call?”
“No. Sorry. I don’t know how to say this but just to come out and say it. Leo showed up at my shop with his boys. Sort of made me remember the old times when you and I were running and gunning. He’s got Taras with him now. You know how special he is. ”
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