“Yes.”
“Did you capture the men who had held them captive and those that had come to buy them?”
“Some of the others resisted and we had to eradicate them.”
“Then you are a hero. Those girls are free tonight able to return to their lives and loved ones because you were willing to step into the dark. Evil men were brought to justice or sent to face the ultimate justice because you were willing to step into the darkness.”
He shook his head. “That may be true but every time I step into the darkness more of it stains my soul.”
“No Kris, you are looking at this all wrong. The knight enters the dragon’s lair and fights the dragon. When the dragon is defeated the knight doesn’t become the dragon he returns home, cleans the gore and blood of the dragon from his weapons and himself and is celebrated as a hero. That’s you, a modern day knight fighting the dragons that society doesn’t realize are threatening their lives and tranquility. The only difference between you and that knight is that you fight in secret and are never celebrated for the hero you are. But I see it. I celebrate it. Stained? No, the light is never made less by the darkness. The light chases away the darkness making the world a less dark place. Now come to bed and let me reward my brave, strong hero. Let us celebrate that you once again vanquished the dragon.”
She stood and turned off the water patting him dry with a towel before taking him by the hand and leading him to the bed. She pushed him down onto the mattress and then began to show him a hero’s welcome the only way she could by loving him and letting him make love to her. Kris didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this wonderful woman but he vowed in his heart to always try to live up to her idea of who he was. That was the last thought in his head as she held him and he drifted off to a restful sleep for the first time ever after a mission.
Raisa lay in bed watching Kris as he slept. In sleep he looked so peaceful. She marveled at the man beside her. He was so good and pure that even the thought of taking the lives of evil men who did horrible unspeakable acts of evil made him feel stained. She wished he could see how pure he really was. How he was an agent of justice and righteousness in the world, but he didn’t see it. All he saw was that he’d taken lives and that made him feel stained. Which in itself was proof of how good he was. In contrast she was sure that Gregori never felt like he was stained with evil or darkness. She was positive that Nestor never anguished over those he hurt or killed. But her man, her precious Thorn felt like he was wrong when he took even the most evil of lives.
She lay there feeling the love she had for this man. Her man, her broken hero who felt like he was less than he was. Before they had been thrust together by the Syndicate, Raisa had felt like helping to run her family’s diner was her destiny, her purpose in life. However, Gregori had ripped that purpose away from her and she knew she should want her part of the diner. She should wish to reclaim her birthright and purpose but she felt like she’d found a new purpose. Showing Kris the light inside of himself. Taking care of this wonderfully wounded hero. That was her new purpose to be there to help him see himself through her eyes. To recognize that what he did was necessary and vital. She thought of those young women and little girls that tonight were free instead of servicing men they’d been sold to. Her man had done that. He’d seen what was going to happen and unlike ninety percent of the population he hadn’t walked away saying it was none of his business. No, he’d jumped into action putting his life on the line to see them free and those who held them and those that planned to purchase and corrupt them punished.
Yes, her purpose had changed and as long as she was allowed she would take care of this man. She would love him, see to his every need physical, emotional, or otherwise. She would hold him when he needed her to. He’d told her he wanted to marry her and when he asked she would say yes. If he didn’t ask soon she may even be bold enough to ask him instead. There was nothing she wanted more than to take this man’s name as her own to love him and be loved by him. To watch as her belly swelled with his children and to teach them to follow in their father’s footsteps standing against the darkness shining the light of justice and righteousness into the face of evil.
She leaned over and kissed him as he slept. Just a light kiss, not with passion or to entice him to awake and make love to her again but to seal in her mind her resolve to care for him for the rest of their lives. This was what she’d been born to do. To love this man, to lift him up when he felt like he was less than he was. She knew it and she accepted the role of lover, companion, wife and mother of his children, his partner in life and love until her heart stilled in her chest.
She snuggled against him, her head on his chest listening to the sound of his heart and his breathing. Letting the rhythmic sounds and feelings permeate her and relax her until her eyes grew heavy and she slipped into a deep and peaceful sleep filled with dreams of a lake house filled with children, her brave hero on the deck laughing with his coworkers. Peace filled her in that dream. Yes, they still had to finish the battle with Gregori Volkov but together they would be victorious.
Chapter Seventeen
K ris sat up in bed realizing that a new day had dawned a while ago. He’d rested so peacefully that he’d overslept for the first time since he joined the Navy. He looked around the room and realized that Raisa had risen and not woken him. He kind of missed waking to her in his arms, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he hated not waking to those little sucking kisses she seemed to place on his neck and chest while he was sleeping. Most of all he missed what those kisses led to almost as much as he just missed her presence beside him. He sighed knowing that he had changed so much since giving in to the temptation of getting close to Raisa. He knew he should have kept her at arm’s length but he just couldn’t help himself.
He had taken her into his arms that first time for no other reason than to get her off the cold concrete of her balcony and into the warmth of her apartment. That she’d captured his heart and never let it go right then had not been his plan but once the deed was done he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. Now he couldn’t see his life without her. Honestly, he could and it wasn’t a life he’d want to live. It would be a life without light and love and purpose. He’d be lost and without direction without her in his life. He wanted to give Raisa everything she desired. He wanted to protect her, provide for her, nurture her and watch her bloom like the flowers in the hothouse that he had on the island that were used in his flower shop.
He climbed out of the bed and took a quick shower before dressing in casual clothes. He needed to work today. To plan which sites of Volkov’s he’d shut down today. He kept hoping the man would get the hint and leave Raisa alone but there was a part of him, the part that dealt with evil men, that knew he would only stop when he was forced to stop and the only force that would be enough to stop him was to remove him from the face of the earth. He thought again to last night to the things Raisa had said to him about how he wasn’t stained with darkness but that he shined the light where darkness ruled. Maybe he wasn’t becoming the villain but he still didn’t feel like the hero either. Maybe he was just a necessary part of the balance of the universe. He could live with that.
As he walked into the kitchen to see Raisa cooking his heart leapt in his chest. Here was his heart doing domestic things and looking sexier than a pin up girl doing it. It wasn’t that she was dressed provocatively though those yoga pants did leave very little to the imagination; it was the fact that she was in his kitchen cooking his food for them to share that had parts of his anatomy standing up and taking notice.
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against him kissing her exposed neck. She wiggled provocatively and giggled. “If you keep that up Raisa, breakfast is going to be later than it already is.”
He heard the sigh behind him and turned to see Sparky standing in the kitchen doorway. “Will the two of you stop acting like a couple of horny teenagers, for goodness sake. You’re
both adults, why don’t you act like it.”
Kris grinned and pulled Raisa tighter against him, kissing her neck noisily “Someone should stop acting like a dried up old prude when she’s only in her late twenties. Come on Sparky, I know it’s been a while but you remember what new love is like.”
“Oh I remember it and I remember how much grief you used to give Marshall about it too. You want to ravish my client, you take it to your bedroom. Some of us have to eat in this kitchen you know and I don’t want your naked body parts on the counters, table or any other surface my food might end up on.”
Kris swooped Raisa into his arms “Now that sounds like an excellent plan, you’re on your own for breakfast, Sparky. An important issue has just come up that Raisa and I need to take care of.”
Raisa blushed and then swatted at Kris’s hands with the spatula she was holding. “Stop that! Put me down Kris, I have biscuits in the oven and the eggs, sausage and gravy is all but done. Behave and let me finish this up so we can eat.”
Kris growled in the back of his throat. “I want something else for breakfast.”
She grinned and kissed him quickly, not letting him take control like he wanted. “You can have that for second breakfast, now put me down or you won’t get a second breakfast.”
He grumbled but put her down and swatted her on the rear. “You better make sure my second breakfast is filling, woman. This is not fair treatment.”
Sparky groaned. “Oh my God, you’re a grown man act like it, you whipped wimp.”
Kris filled two coffee cups before sitting across the breakfast nook from Sparky. “Nova darlin’, I know how much you loved Marshall but it’s been three years. You need…”
“Don’t you dare tell me that I need to get back out there, Kris Lawson. My husband died. Wasn’t anyone’s fault but it happened and I wasn’t looking when I found him. If I’m supposed to find love again then it will happen without me looking this time too.”
“Who’s talking about love? I just think you need to get your bell rung. Maybe then you wouldn’t be so grumpy all the time.”
Nova glared at him. “When is that supposed to happen, huh? Unless you’ve forgotten I’m busy right now watching the girl whose bell you’re ringing and when I’m done watching her I’m going to Europe.” She held up her hand when he started to speak. “If you dare suggest that I let one of the Diva’s European fan-boys near my special parts, I’m gonna show your girl how to clean a man’s clock right here in the kitchen. I promise you’ll miss your second breakfast if that happens.”
Kris raised his hands in surrender just as Raisa came to the table carrying three plates with eggs, sausage, and biscuits covered in a thick white sausage gravy. No one said anything for quite a while as they stuffed their faces. Kris kept sneaking looks at Raisa that made her blush every time. Suddenly he decided after some time upstairs with her he was going into town. There was a certain jewelry store he needed to visit before he started deciding on which stash houses to hit tonight. It was time to buy the ring. Because sitting right there at the breakfast table he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to make Raisa his fiancée and get her planning a wedding for them.
Raisa slipped into her clothes feeling deliciously satisfied. She had spent time keeping her promise of a second more private breakfast with Kris and he’d just left to go take care of some things that were probably related to his assignment to shut down Gregori and the Syndicate. She knew that the assignment was only because he’d insisted that he was going to destroy Gregori’s power base with or without authorization but the fact that he wanted to set her free that much was humbling and made her love him even more.
She headed downstairs. She needed to clean up the breakfast dishes as Kris had been in such a hurry to get her upstairs he hadn’t allowed her to wash up first. Plus she wanted to see if she had everything to make the stroganoff she’d wanted to fix him the night she was almost abducted. She entered the kitchen to see everything had been washed and put away. Nova was sitting at the breakfast nook table with a bunch of stuff spread out, maps and blueprints as well as several sheets of printer paper. “Did you do the dishes?”
The woman smiled at her. “Well aren’t you glowing like a Christmas light.”
Raisa blushed. “Stop it!”
“What? That post sex glow looks good on you.” Nova winked. “I know I come across as surly sometimes but I’m really happy for the two of you. Kris deserves someone who loves him and so do you. It just makes me miss Marshall. That’s all.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
Nova sighed and put aside her work. “Marshall was a Navy Seal. His team worked with Kris’s Special Boat Unit a lot. So they became friends. So much so that when Marshall and I married, Kris was the best man. Those two were like brothers. It was about a year after we were married that Marshall’s team was sent on a mission. Kris was in charge of getting them in and out of the mission zone but something went wrong once they were in the mission zone. Half of Marshall’s team were killed, and they had to abort the mission. Each of the remaining SEALs carried out a fallen team member because they never leave anyone behind even if they’re dead. Marshall had been hit but he never said a word just stuffed a tampon in the wound and carried his dead team leader out. Kris met them at the extraction point and got them back to the ship they’d staged out of. Only thing was Marshall’s wound was worse than he thought and he died in Kris’s arms on the way back to the ship.” Tears ran down Nova’s face as she wiped them, then shrugged. “That was the end of my fairy tale. Kris left the Navy six months later when his enlistment was up and went to work for the Office of Special Warfare. They’re the black bag arm of the Department of Defense. Blackguard is one of their cover operations. Kris blamed himself for about a year but he did his job and brought Marshall back to me. Just not the way I wanted him back.”
Raisa found tears on her cheeks too as she looked at this strong woman who was quickly becoming her friend as well as her bodyguard. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. My story may have ended sooner than I liked but we loved each other and you know what they say, ‘it’s better to have loved and lost… or some bullshit like that.”
“So how did you end up working for Mac and Blackguard?”
“I was a cop and a martial arts fighter. Mac quit before Kris did and he felt as guilty about Marshall’s death as Kris did. Mac was military intelligence and he was the one that assigned Marshall’s team to the mission. It wasn’t his fault either; the information they were given was faked. It was a set up from the start, the fact that any of the team made it out was a miracle and one that partially was because of Kris. When he offered me a job working private security instead of the streets of this town, I took it. Pays better and the job is safer.”
Nova stood and stretched. “I need to go for a run. Are you going to be okay for about an hour here by yourself?”
Raisa nodded. “Sure, my plan was to see if we had everything I needed to fix my stroganoff for supper tonight. If not I’ll call the caretaker and have her run to the market but I don’t plan on going anywhere today.”
“Okay just stay in the house or let Friday know if you’re going out in the gardens so she can monitor you and let me know. I’ll be back in an hour and then maybe I can start teaching you some defensive moves. That will put you ahead when you meet up with Moshie.”
“Sounds fun; enjoy your run.”
Nova laughed. “I don’t really enjoy them but I need to be able to stay in shape. And after that breakfast you cooked I need some kind of exercise and I don’t have a big strapping man to give me a work out.”
Raisa blushed and Nova left laughing. Raisa went into the pantry and started looking for the things she needed to make noodles from scratch and then moved on to the refrigerator and freezer looking for the other ingredients she needed. She was startled when her cell phone rang. She looked and realized it was her brother calling her. They hadn’t
talked since she found out that he had lied to her about the loan on the restaurant. She wondered why he would be calling her now? Only one way to know. “Hello Stephan, what do you want?”
“Sorry my pet, but your brother is a bit busy.”
“Gregori!”
“That’s right pet. It’s time for you to come home to me. I’ve let you and your florist have your fun but now you need to take your rightful place in my bed.”
She opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell when a loud heart-rending scream came over the line. “Your brother says hello, by the way. Oh, he wants to tell you something else.”
She heard the phone being put on speaker. Then her brother screamed again “Don’t come Raisa, stay away from here.” That was followed by the sound of fists on flesh and a deep groan from Stephan.
“Leave Stephan alone Gregori, he’s not done anything to you.”
“You’re right, but you have. So you’d better come soon, my pet, or I’m afraid Nestor’s brother will go too far with your brother. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for Stephan’s death, now would you?”
She stopped breathing for a minute as she heard her brother scream even louder than before. “Oh he’s getting creative with his blade now. Better hurry pet, we’re at the office but I don’t think Stephan will last much longer. Oh and come alone or I’ll put a bullet in his head before I kill whoever you bring with you.”
“I’m coming, just leave Stephan alone.”
“That’s up to you, my pet.” He hung up.
Raisa rushed to the door and stopped. “Friday.”
“Yes Raisa?”
“I need you to not play the last twenty minutes of security footage to Kris or anyone for at least an hour.”
“I can’t do that, Raisa.”
“Yes you can. Kris told you I had the same access as he did, right?”
Her Hero: Next Door Page 12