The Healing Touch - Anniversary Edition (A Manwhore Series Book 3)

by Apryl Baker

  “Umm…I’m guessing I don’t want to know what he’s doing?” The hesitancy gave way to flirtation. “But you can tell me what you’re doing.”

  She got up and walked over to where he sat in the floor. “Your brother is cute.”

  “He’s a brat.”

  “Yes, he is your brother.” She remembered the word meant brother.

  “No, I mean brat in the American sense of the word.” He reached for his phone, and Becca laughed. She knew Mason gave them all a hard time.

  “What?” Dimitri barked into the phone, irritated. He was almost done with this shit. Couldn’t Mase have waited until the morning to call?

  “What put a bee up your ass?”

  “You don’t want to know.” He watched Becca flop back down on the couch, her very braless boobs bouncing. Shit, why the fuck had he agreed to two weeks with no sex? It was going to kill him. He already had a serious case of blue balls. Two weeks of that? He’d be hospitalized.

  “Anything to do with that sexy-as-sin voice that answered your phone?”

  “Keep your fucking thoughts off her.” Dimitri almost snapped the Sharpie he held. “Got it?”

  “Fucker, I wasn’t trying to move in on what’s yours. I was just asking a question.”

  “Yeah, my mood has everything to do with her. Now, what the hell do you want at two in the morning?”

  “Viktor called and told me about your stalker. I didn’t get a chance to look her up until about an hour ago. I was finishing the IT setup at Conner’s new club.”

  “What club?”

  “He didn’t tell you?” Mason yawned. “He’s opening a new club in New York. Since all you fuckers seem to be migrating there, he wanted to be close to family and bought some property in the city. He should be set up to open in a few months. He just wanted the IT stuff done first, for security purposes.”

  “No, the motherfucker didn’t tell me he was opening a dance club.”

  “I never said it was dance club.”

  The mirth in the boy’s tone set Dimitri’s teeth to grinding. “Then what kind of fucking club is it?”

  “Sex club.”

  “The fuck?” Conner owned a sex club? What the fuck? Did Viktor know? They were twins, after all. Something he’d ask him later.

  “Yeah, well, take it up with him. I only set up his damn computer system and the security. We need to talk about your stalker, one Miss Charlene Moyer.”

  “What about her?”

  “You have no idea who she is, do you?”

  “A woman I fucked regularly for a couple months, that’s about it.”

  “Well, she has a history. She seems to like to attach herself to rich boyfriends. There have been some issues. I’m still digging, but it’s enough for me to tell you to change all your passwords for everything, and I mean everything. Block her on all your social media.”

  “Becca already did all that for me, at least the social media stuff. I’ll change my passwords for everything else tonight. Why is this so urgent?”

  “She can get a little too clingy. Nothing psychotic, at least not that I’ve found.”

  “But?”

  “But she has caused some serious fallout for these guys. Ruined images, she even got into the online banking of her last boyfriend and emptied out his accounts. There’s an actual arrest warrant out for her in Philadelphia. She knows her way around a computer.”

  “Well, fuck.”

  “Yeah, fuck. I did some preliminary digging and found she’s posting all kinds of stuff on her page about you. Nothing I can really do there unless you want me to hack her?”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  “Oh, the usual spurned lover shit. How you’re horrible, selfish, tossed her aside for some new whore. By that, I think she means the woman you’re with?”

  “The woman I’m with is Becca. She came down to help out with the book signing.”

  “Your PA Becca?” Mason asked, surprised. “She sounds hot as fuck.”

  “She is, and get your mind out of her pants. Charlene isn’t…”

  “What the hell?”

  Becca’s shout yanked his gaze over to her. “What?”

  “Your ex-flavor of the week is posting shit about me.” Her brown eyes were almost black with anger. “People are sharing her posts on my page, Dimitri. I don’t do this drama crap. She’s calling me a sixpence whore.”

  Dimitri snorted, trying to keep from laughing. Sixpence whore? Leave it to Charlene to try to sound smarter than she was. “That is kind of funny.”

  “It is not funny!” Becca screeched, shoving her laptop aside to jump up and start pacing. “People are going to read this shit, Dimitri. They’re going to believe it, and then they’re going to start asking me questions, all of them everywhere, crowding me…”

  She bent over, her face going red. “Let me call you back, Mason.”

  Becca heard him hang up with his brother, but barely. The thoughts of everyone talking at her, surrounding her, it was too much. She couldn’t breathe, her lungs constricted, black spots appeared in front of her, and she couldn’t stop shaking.

  “I’m here. Calm down, sweetheart.”

  “Don’t touch me!” She pulled away when he tried to comfort her. “This is all your fault.”

  It wasn’t his fault, not really, but her brain needed to blame someone for this, and he was the obvious choice. Her teeth started to chatter, and she fell down, her arms wrapping around her legs to try to stop the uncontrollable shaking.

  Faces swam up, faces from the signing, Henry hugging her, Sara Jane moving closer, Dimitri telling her she had to go. No, no, no, no. She couldn’t do this. It was too much. She wheezed, trying to pull air into her lungs.

  Her inhaler was thrust into her mouth, and she did her best to inhale as the medicine sprayed. Please, just breathe. Four puffs, and she started to feel the effects of the lifesaving medicine. She didn’t need it, but her brain thought she did. It was a trick to fool the body. Air filled her oxygen-starved lungs.

  Dimitri pulled her into his lap and started to rock her. Her panic was so severe, she barely registered it or the way he spoke to her in Russian. All she could think about was what people would think, how they’d react, how they’d make her talk to them, crowd her…

  It was the humming that finally broke through her panic-induced haze. It was low and right by her ear, broken and horrible, but it was a constant. The melody started to edge out the mind-numbing paralysis that was her personal brand of anxiety.

  Dimitri. He was rocking and humming, his arms tight around her. Her breathing slowed, and her heartbeat stopped its rapid staccato. He patiently rocked her, humming while her body relaxed, the panic receding. No one, not even her brother, could calm her panic, make it completely dissipate.

  But Dimitri could.

  “Better?” he whispered, the warmth of his breath tickling her ear.

  She nodded, not trusting her voice. Music played in the background, so softly she couldn’t even make out the lyrics, but the tone was definitely country. So much for his hating on the genre. The thought tugged a small smile from her, and she went from hunched in on herself to relaxing against him, her ear pressed to his heartbeat, which was slow and steady.

  “It’s going to be okay. I promise. I’ll deal with Charlene. She’ll never bother you again.”

  His ex-flavor of the week had already done the damage. There were people calling her a whore, a homewrecker, a slut…she buried her face in Dimitri’s shirt, trying to not think about it.

  “People believe her, D.” She sniffed, trying to hold back her tears. “They are calling me all kinds of awful things.”

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” He stood, picking her up with him, wincing. His legs were on fire, but he ignored the pain. “Let’s get some sleep and deal with this in the morning, okay?”

  “No sex,” she mumbled.

  He laughed and strode into the bedroom. Pulling the blankets down, he put her on the bed and climbed in behind
her. She rolled into him like she’d done it a thousand times before, and Becca closed her eyes, letting the sound of his heartbeat alongside the gentle rise and fall of his chest lull her into sleep.

  Dimitri waited until he was sure she was sound asleep before he left the bed. Finding his phone where it had dropped, he opened Facebook and navigated to Becca’s page. What he saw made him see red. That fucking bitch. She was saying some truly awful things about his woman.

  He called Mason.

  “Yo?”

  “Shut the bitch down.”

  He hung up and crawled back in bed. He had to meet Viktor for breakfast in a little under three hours.

  Then he’d get this damn signing out of the way, and they’d be on the first train back to LA, where he could have his woman all to himself. He just had to get through tomorrow.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dimitri made sure not to wake Becca a few hours later. He hadn’t slept at all, everything running together in his head. Charlene was going to have to be dealt with. Had he known she was this much of a drama queen, he wouldn’t have given her a second glance. He didn’t do drama. Hated it.

  He finished dressing and shoved his phone and wallet into his jeans. Becca rolled and muttered something. He smiled softly, watching her frown in her sleep. Sexy as sin. That was what his woman was. He should wake her, but since he wasn’t going to ask her to go with him to the signing, she could sleep in.

  There wasn’t a force in Heaven or Hell that could persuade him to take her to the signing. Not after all that shit that was posted last night. She was a right mess. The panic attack last night was bad, one he wouldn’t be responsible for her reliving.

  Slipping out, he found Viktor waiting for him in the lobby. His brother looked every inch the Kincaid with his dark hair and coal black eyes. Dimitri looked like his mother, blond and blue eyed. The only thing he’d inherited from his dad was the man’s height. He towered over even the twins, Viktor and Conner.

  “Morning, brat.”

  Viktor looked up from the paper he was reading. “It’s too early for this shit.” He ran a hand through his hair and yawned.

  “Agreed.” Dimitri yawned himself and led Viktor into the little area designated for food. “I didn’t realize that Sara Jane’s staying here until she texted me this morning. She’s running a little late, so I told her we’d be on the terrace. Hungry?”

  “Starved.” Viktor wasted no time in filling up a plate. Dimitri smiled his dimpled grin at the morning clerk who was checking on the guests in the small dining area, distracting her from the fact Viktor was not a guest. She batted her eyelashes at him in return, giving him her come hither smile.

  The woman was beautiful, rich auburn hair and green eyes that promised so much, but for the first time in his life, it did nothing for him. He wasn’t the least bit interested. His dick even stayed quiet. This was new.

  “Hey, you.”

  Sara Jane startled him, and he turned around, bumping into her. “Sorry.”

  “You’re pretty.”

  Dimitri looked down at Sara Jane’s little girl and grinned. She was a beauty, her front tooth missing, her blonde hair pulled back in some kind of braid.

  “You’re prettier than me.” He tweaked her nose. “I’m Dimitri. You must be Delia.”

  “I am.” She had a sing-song voice.

  “Well, Delia, how hungry are you?” He held out his hand, and she shyly took it. “I think we should go find some food before my brother eats it all.”

  “He wouldn’t.” Her eyes widened, and she took his hand, pulling him along behind her. “There’s too much food!”

  “Viktor can inhale it all, I promise.” He ignored Sara’s laughter and bent down to whisper, “We have to feed him enough so he doesn’t eat us!”

  Delia’s little gasp was loud enough to catch Viktor’s attention, and he turned around, a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth. He glanced down at the kid who hid behind Dimitri’s legs.

  “You’re horrible,” Sara Jane whispered.

  “Nah, I’m pretty. Delia said so.”

  Viktor hurriedly ate his bacon and set his overly full plate down. “Morning, ladies. I’m Viktor.”

  “You talk funny.” Delia peeped at him from behind Dimitri’s legs. “Are you really going to eat me?”

  “Eat you?” He shot Dimitri a look filled with the promise of pain. “I don’t eat little girls, only grown-ass men who are pretty.”

  “Language.” Sara Jane came to stand behind Dimitri. “I try not to cuss around her if I can help it. She mimics everything these days.”

  Dimitri watched his brother’s face carefully. He saw the instant lust flash in his eyes before he locked down his emotions and his face went blank. Oh, this could be good. Damn shame he wasn’t going to be able to watch the fireworks over the next few weeks.

  “Sara, this is my brother, Viktor, owner and operator of Kincaid Security Corp.”

  “Kincaid Security and Investigations,” Viktor corrected him. “We changed the name of the company when Kade signed on.”

  “Sorry, I forget. It’s been KSC for so long, it’s hard to remember a new name.”

  “KSC? Like KFC, the yummy chicken place?” Delia slid around Dimitri’s legs so she could get a better look at Viktor. “You make chicken?”

  “No, malyshka. I take care of people who need help. I protect them.”

  “From bad people like my daddy?” Her gray eyes turned serious, and Dimitri’s gut clenched at the pain bleeding out of them. So little to have gone through so much. It wasn’t right.

  Viktor squatted in front of her, his expression as serious as hers. “Yes, from bad people like your daddy. I’m here to make sure he can never hurt you again.”

  “You won’t let him come back?” She twisted the end of her braid. “I don’t want him to come home. He hurt me.”

  “I won’t let him hurt you again, malyshka. I promise.”

  She smiled shyly at Viktor. “Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome. How about we eat before I decide to gobble up my brother?”

  She laughed and followed Viktor over to the food, where he proceeded to help her pick out what she wanted.

  “I…” Sara Jane cleared her throat, and Dimitri saw tears swimming in her eyes. “He’s good with her.”

  “Kids usually hate him.” Dimitri found his way over to the buffet. “He looks scary as fuck, and it usually terrifies them.”

  “He’s hot as fuck.” Sara Jane slapped a hand over her mouth, and Dimitri laughed. “Forget I said that.”

  “Uh-huh.” Dimitri nodded and filled his plate with eggs and bacon. “This is some runny shit.”

  “It’s free. What do you expect?” Sara Jane opted for yogurt and joined her daughter at the table. “Where’s Becca?”

  “She’s still asleep. After last night, I figured she could use the rest.”

  “Last night?” Viktor looked up. “Tell me you aren’t screwing up the one female relationship you have that we all approve of?”

  “No, I’m not screwing it up.” Dimitri took a swig of his orange juice. “I’m talking about Charlene and her bullsh…her BS.”

  “What’s BS?” Delia stopped eating her waffles and stared at them curiously.

  “Nothing that you need to worry about, poppet.” Sara Jane shot both men a warning glare. “Finish your waffles.”

  “What has your stalker done now?” Viktor poured more syrup on Delia’s waffles, earning him the devotion of one very cute six-year-old. Sugar won every time.

  “She’s not only spewing her hateful verbiage at me, now she’s targeted Becca.”

  “I saw all that on her page last night.” Sara kept glancing at Viktor, trying not to get caught staring. “I sent her a message, but I’m guessing she didn’t even look at it.”

  “It upset her to the point she had a major panic attack.” Dimitri put his fork down. “I need to tell you both about that. Viktor, you know how Lily has a thing about being touched
?”

  “Yes.” They both remembered when Viktor tried to hug her and she all but passed out.

  “Becca has an extreme fear of crowds. It sets off panic attacks, really bad ones.”

  “Then what is she doing here?” Sara Jane asked.

  “Because I asked her, not realizing how bad they could get, and she came because I needed her.”

  “Dimitri.” The censure in Sara Jane’s voice made him duck his head, a little ashamed. “You shouldn’t have put her in that situation. Delia is the same way around strangers.”

  “She’s doing okay with us.” Viktor winked at the little girl.

  “That’s because I prepared her to meet you. I’ve been talking about you since yesterday to calm her nerves, and she’s heard me and Dimitri talking on the phone and Skype. He’s not as much of a stranger as you are.”

  “I’m not taking her to the signing, anyway, not after her meltdown last night. I’m not putting her through that. As soon as the event is over, we’re packing up and heading to LA.”

  “She’s going to LA with you?” That got Viktor’s attention.

  “Yes. I booked train tickets this morning. You wouldn’t happen to need a vehicle, would you? I don’t know what to do with my Jeep.”

  “I rented a car, but if you want to give me yours, I’ll take it.” Viktor turned his black eyes on Sara Jane, who blushed hard enough to make Dimitri snicker. She kicked him under the table. He only grinned wider. “We will need to sit down after your event and go over everything. I just wanted to meet you this morning. Anything that’s private,” he nodded toward Delia, “we can discuss then.”

  “Thank you for doing this.” Sara pushed her food around on the plate. “I appreciate it. I’m at my wits’ end, and the stress is starting to get to me.”

  “Don’t worry, ma’am.” Viktor smiled, his eyes still empty, but Dimitri knew him. He was just as enthralled with Sara as she was with him. “I’ll handle it. You’ll just have to agree to a few things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like doing what you’re told when I tell you to do it. Your security has to take priority over everything. What I do, I don’t do lightly, and I expect you to do as you’re told.”