I glanced over at Anya, who was staring behind Drago, perhaps thinking Callahan had accompanied him. “What happened to your meeting?” she asked.
“He had to postpone.”
I looked at him suspiciously, wondering if Callahan was the one who actually postponed. I decided to needle him.
“So, why did you come here? We were just about to leave,” I said, gesturing to my packed bags.
“I was in the area, so I figured I’d drive you home myself.”
Anya and I continued to stare at him—a look of astonishment on her face and a growing smile on mine.
“Why were you in this area?” Anya asked.
“None of your business,” Drago sniped.
She snorted but wisely left the room.
“So, I thought you were going to let your men handle this.”
Drago frowned. “I did. You were taking too long.”
I felt a wave of affection for him, knowing his need for control drove him here. I reached up and rubbed his cheek. A part of me wanted to continue teasing him, but I relented. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Hard, gray eyes that turned smoky. “Yeah? Why’s that?”
I leaned in close to him, rubbing my breasts against his chest and sliding my arms around his waist. “I need someone to carry my bags,” I whispered seductively.
The side of his mouth kicked up at my joke and slapped me on the ass. “What do you need me to carry?”
“I just have a little more to pack.” I turned to my closet and grabbed my last empty bag. “Oh, can you grab my pajamas out of the top drawer of my dresser?”
Drago smirked. “I’ll grab them, but I can’t promise I’ll let you wear them.” Instead of walking to my dresser, he walked over and opened the top drawer of my nightstand.
“No, not that—” I shrieked.
“Well, what have we here?” Drago drawled as he pulled out my Lelo vibrator. It was an indulgent purchase, but they were so pretty, I couldn’t resist. “Were you going to leave this behind?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
I slapped my hands over my heated cheeks. “Oh my god, just put it away! Don’t you know what a dresser is?”
Drago chuckled and threw the sex toy on the bed. “Come here, kotyonok.” He pulled me in his arms as I buried my head in his chest. I knew having a vibrator wasn’t a big deal, but I had been a virgin yesterday. There was a bit of a learning curve here.
“There is no need for embarrassment. Believe me, I’d rather you bring that,” he nodded his head in the direction of where the vibrator that had landed on my bed, “than your pajamas. In fact, the sooner we get you packed, the sooner I can watch you play with it,” he added.
A part of me wanted to crawl under my bed with embarrassment, but another part was unbearably aroused at Drago’s words. “How can a person simultaneously be mortified and turned on?” I asked, peeking up to look at him.
He rubbed my back soothingly. “Oh, it’s possible. This is all new to you, but you’ll see.”
A concern that had been in the back of my mind roared to life. “Does that bother you?”
Drago’s dark brows jumped. “What? Your lack of experience?”
I nodded. “I mean, I imagine you’re used to—”
Drago covered my mouth with his hand. “Don’t go down that road.” His eyes looked like molten steel. “How do I feel about being the only man who has ever touched your naked skin? The only one who knows what your pussy tastes like? The only one who knows what it feels like to slide my cock inside your tight body?”
I felt more heat scorch my face, but this time it wasn’t only from embarrassment. My thighs clenched at his description. “Yeah, how do you feel?” I rasped, feeling as if my throat was filled with metal filings.
“I think you know how I feel because you can feel how hard my dick is right now just talking about it.” He paused for a moment. “Is last night the only sexual experience you’ve had? I know you were a virgin, but have you done anything else?”
His expression was neutral, so I couldn’t tell if he was hoping I had some other experience outside of him, or fearful I had. “Uh, not really.”
“Not really? What does that mean?”
“Okay, more specifically, not at all. I mean, I’ve been kissed before, but that’s about it. Unless you include what you found in my nightstand—can you have an intimate relationship with an inanimate object?” I asked with a half-smile, attempting to inject a little humor to distract from my awkwardness.
Instead of smiling, heat leapt into his eyes, and his jaw ticked. “Jesus Christ, I’ve got to get you home. I need to see how that relationship played out.”
Drago started grabbing luggage and dragging it out to his car.
“Wait, I still have to put—”
“Later,” he said over his shoulder as he made his way down my hallway.
Anya ducked her head in the room, and I made a dive for my bed to grab the vibrator and hid it behind my back.
“What’s gotten into him?” Anya asked, jerking her thumb over her right shoulder.
I shrugged. “I think he’s just tense about everything that’s going on. He’ll feel better when we’re back home.”
Anya’s pale eyes widened in surprise. “That rolled off your tongue pretty easily.”
“What did?” I asked, still distracted by what I was hiding behind my back.
“When we go home?” Anya parroted using finger quotes. “You’re practically married after one day of dating! This has to be a record.”
I laughed. “Well, it’s not like there was no build-up. And we lived together before, so I’ve probably said, ‘when we go home’ before,” I said, using finger quotes, but forgetting there was a vibrator in my hand. I gasped and quickly whipped it behind my back again.
Anya's mouth gaped. “What the hell are you holding, Katya? Is that what I think it is?”
Before I could reply, Drago walked back in the room and, without saying a word, grabbed the last two bags. He took in my red face and the way I was standing and reached behind me, plucking the vibrator out of my hand and shoved in one of the bags he was carrying.
“Let’s go.”
Blushing furiously, I followed him out the door of my bedroom.
“Have fun!” Anya called out behind us.
Chapter 23
Drago
I herded Katya to my car, relieved that Callahan canceled the meeting, though his doing so was suspicious. I’d have Maxim look into what was really going on with him. I was half-way to the southside bar when I got the text that the meeting was off. Instead, I headed to my office, determined to let my men do their jobs taking care of Katya so I could do mine.
I found myself looking at the clock every three minutes, and the longer she stayed in her apartment, the more my discomfort climbed. It was as though I could feel Yuri’s beady little eyes trained on her, waiting for the right opportunity to grab her. I lasted about twenty minutes before I headed up here. I wasn’t about to admit to her that I couldn’t stay away, but I didn’t think I was fooling anyone.
Besides, it ended up being a productive visit, given the rather intriguing item I found in Katya’s drawers. Lust coiled in my stomach at the thought of how I was going to use the toy on her.
Pulling my focus back to the present, I carefully surveyed her street as we put the last of her bags in the car, noting a black Ford Taurus that hadn’t been there when I arrived. It might be nothing, but right now, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Anya followed us out, giving Katya one last hug. “Call me later.”
“I will,” promised Katya as she pulled away and got in the car.
I walked up to Anya. “Let me know if you see anything unusual. Yuri might think Katya is still staying here.”
She nodded her head, still looking a bit uncomfortable after the Callahan debacle.
“I’ll still continue to pay the rent, if you want to stay,” I said, knowing this was the first place she’d lived in afte
r moving out of her dad’s place.
She gasped and put her mouth. “Thank you, Drago,” she said sincerely. “I still feel bad for what happened—”
I held up my hand. “It’s in the past. Let it go.”
She nodded her head, and I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, then turned to get into the car. When I pulled away from the curb, the black car followed.
I felt slightly vindicated—I was right to come here.
“So, did your meeting really get postponed, or did you postpone it?” Katya inquired skeptically.
I glanced behind me as I turned from Sheridan to Lake Shore Drive. The sedan was three cars behind us. “It did get postponed, but I had a time limit set. If you weren’t done within an hour, Boris and Will were to take you out of there. Since the meeting was canceled, I notified them that I was coming up to get you myself.”
She blinked. “I didn’t know you set a time limit.”
I shrugged. “I knew you’d have all the stuff you really wanted and needed packed within an hour. I figured you’d torture yourself over the rest, so I set the time limit.”
Her only reaction was to roll her eyes. She probably thought I was being too controlling. She was probably right.
“I’m bummed it got postponed. I know we have to figure out what is going on with Yuri and how much Callahan knows about what he’s up to, but I was dying to hear what he has to say about what happened with Anya.”
I snorted and shook my head. “You need to be followed everywhere you go, you have been under surveillance for years because you are being stalked by a certified sadistic lunatic, and you want more information on how Callahan felt like he got catfished by Anya?”
Katya burst out laughing, and I was momentarily captivated by the surprised amusement on her lovely, expressive face. I’d become so accustomed to being confronted by her frowns, grimaces, and scowls for the last couple of years. I didn’t realize how much I missed the beauty of her carefree happiness.
“Where have you been hiding this comedic side of your personality, Drago? Catfished? How do you even know that term?”
I gave her a dry look, but in truth, I was enjoying bantering with her. “I live in society. I use computers, Katya.” I glanced in my side mirror, noticing the black sedan still three cars behind us.
She shook her head, still smiling. “Catfished! I love it. Anyway, yes, I like having something else to worry about besides Yuri skulking around Chicago, looking for opportunities to abduct me. Focusing on Anya and Callahan is a welcomed reprieve, to be honest.”
I reached over and rubbed her thigh. This years-long ordeal with Yuri had to be weighing on her, exhausting her. “It will be over soon, kotyonok, I promise you. I will be putting in a bullet in Yuri’s head very soon.”
She gave me another sweet smile and reached down to clasp my hand. “It’s kind of funny that you are explaining how you’re going to kill someone to put my mind at ease, and it’s working,” she said then gave a short chuckle.
I shrugged. “His death is no loss.”
“Agreed.”
Glancing in my rear-view mirror, I spotted the Taurus darting in out of traffic in order to follow us. I had been steadily accelerating and passing cars to see if they would follow suit. They did. Laying my arm across Katya, I quickly jerked the car to the right, abruptly heading for the LaSalle street exit, toward North Avenue.
“What the hell?” Katya yelped, gripping my forearm to stabilize herself.
“We’ve got someone following us a couple of cars back. I don’t trust them not to start shooting up Lake Shore Drive. If they disable the car, this location is too exposed, too difficult for my back-up to access.”
“Are you serious? They’d start shooting on a busy road like this?” Katya asked in disbelief, her head twisting back to see if they were following us. “Which car is it?”
“A black Ford Taurus.”
“I see them! They nearly drove a car off the road to make the exit. Hurry up!” Katya said, anxiety causing her voice to rise. “Do you think they’re going to start shooting? Oh my god, do you think it’s Yuri? We have to get out of here.” Katya’s panic had her gazing back and forth from the front of the car to the back as if she expected Yuri to hop out of the car and walk up on them.
“Katya, settle down,” I said firmly. I pulled up to a red light, keeping an eye on the sedan, which was now four cars back. I slid my hand around the back of Katya’s neck. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You are safe with me. Breathe.”
I didn’t know if it was the sound of my voice, my touch, or my words, but hazel eyes that had been wild with borderline hysteria only moments before settled down. She took a deep breath. “Okay, okay. I trust you,” she said softly.
My chest constricted under Katya’s adoring, trust-filled gaze. I was going to have to get used to the emotional impact of Katya saying things like this, heartfelt words of faith and confidence in me.
I leaned in and gave her a hard kiss before glancing forward and jamming on the gas at the green light. I continued down LaSalle before taking a quick right and darting down side streets. Fortunately, the traffic wasn’t too heavy.
I grabbed my phone and called Maxim. “We’re being followed by somebody’s men; they may be from Alfonsi’s outfit or Yuri’s. I’m going to keep darting around while allowing them to keep me in their sight. I need two cars to trap them, grab them, and put them on ice on the South Side. I’m leading them to an alley between Chicago Ave and Superior just west of Wells street.”
I heard Katya gasp as she understood my plan. “I thought we were just going to lose them.”
I grunted, not prepared to get into a back and forth with her right now.
I kept the sedan close enough to follow me, but not close enough to possibly catch us or shoot at Katya, though I had taken my gun out and rested it on my lap, just in case.
I drove around for about ten more minutes until Maxim shot me a text, informing me that both cars were in place. I pulled into an alley and let the car get close enough to think they might have a shot at us, literally. I stepped on the gas, speeding out of the other side of the alley, which was immediately blocked by Maxim and Will. A second car full of my men drove in behind the Taurus, effectively blocking both exits.
The Taurus squealed to a stop to avoid slamming into Max’s car. Seeing itself blocked, the car was thrown into reverse but brought up short by the car now sitting behind it. Maxim nodded to me as he got out of the car with his gun held close to his side. Normally, I would have been pulling one of those assholes out of the car, but I wasn’t comfortable leaving Katya. I wanted to try and limit her witnessing my more violent tendencies, and if I got my hands on one of those dickheads, I would definitely get violent.
“Bring them to the warehouse. I’ll follow you,” I yelled to Maxim in Russian. Maxim and Will cuffed the two guys and shoved them in the back of their car
“What are you going to do with them?” she asked hesitantly.
I gave her a long, hard look. “Do you really want to know the answer to that?”
Katya gulped. She had grown up in this world, and while her father had shielded her to some extent, she was wise enough to know what would happen. “You’re going to kill them, aren’t you?”
They would be begging for death when I got through with them. Not only did I need information from them about Yuri, but I also needed to send a message about what would happen if anyone—anyone—targeted Katya. “Eventually.”
I was conflicted between my desire to drop Katya off and remove her from this whole scene and my need to wrap my hands around the throats of those motherfuckers and choke the information out of them.
Bloodlust won.
Chapter 24
Katya
I was surprised to see Drago pull out behind Maxim and follow him to a warehouse near Chinatown, still chilled by our conversation and his intentions. I knew this type of stuff happened all the time, but it wasn’t something that I had b
een exposed to routinely. The Bratva had property and businesses all over Chicago, but I had never been allowed access to any of them, not by my father, and definitely not by Drago.
“I should take you home,” Drago muttered as he trailed Maxim, starting to pull off of Lake Shore Drive.
I grabbed his arm. “No, don’t. I want to stay with you. I’ll feel safer that way,” I replied.
He paused, conflict evident in his expression. “I don’t like you being around this type of thing.”
“Please, Drago, I just feel rattled and want to stay with you. I know…I know this kind of thing goes on, but I don’t want to be alone right now. Even if I have your guards protecting me, I’ll be freaking out. I feel safest with you.”
Still looking conflicted, Drago finally nodded as he cupped the back of my neck, massaging the tension away. “Okay, Katya.”
I think he was affected by the idea of my vulnerability and wanted to keep me close as well.
I was pulled from my thoughts as we parked the car, and I watched Drago’s soldiers drag the struggling men through a rusty door. Drago removed me from the car and diverted me into another, more formal looking door, which led to a small, rudimentary office. The white walls were cracked and grimy with one dirt-covered window that only allowed muted sunlight into the room.
Drago led me to an ancient, battered desk that had one drawer resting crookedly in its slot and tried to sit me down in an old, torn office chair covered, by the looks of the tan fabric, with any number of stains of undetermined origin.
“Sit,” Drago commanded bruskly, his mind focused on getting to the two men that were being detained somewhere else in the warehouse.
“Are you crazy? I’m not sitting on that chair.”
Drago’s mouth kicked up at the side as he glanced at the stained chair. His strong hands gripped me around the waist and sat me on the desk, planting his hands on either side of my hips.
“This okay?” he asked dryly.
I nodded, staring at the tanned skin of his throat, my eyes trailing over his strong shoulders, then up to the hard planes of his face, his intense, steely gaze capturing mine.
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