“Survivors of human trafficking. Young boys and girls with no families and no one who can deal with their trauma.”
“But your friend does.”
“My friend and his wife. His wife is the central figure in teaching all of us how to be better people.”
“All of you?” she echoed.
He was wading into quicksand. He felt the earth moving beneath him, warning him subtly to be very careful. It was important to him that she know as much about him and the others as possible, so when the time came to tell her the things he was holding back, she would be more accepting. He would be more than grateful for her intelligence, knowing she would understand once he explained their mission.
“Throwaways like me,” he said. “Children whose parents were murdered, and who were handed over to the cruelest people imaginable.”
She was silent, her eyes soft. Lashes still wet. “Kasimir.”
He didn’t respond. She knew. She’d figured it out. She was accepting of Kasimir, but the blow was about to come. He saw her piecing it all together.
“Lana is Kasimir’s birth sister. He has that curly hair, and her hair is straight and black. But they have similar features. She wasn’t lying to me when she said Kasimir is her brother, was she?”
He remained silent. Hurt crept into her blue eyes and his heart stuttered. His gut clenched. He’d known this confrontation was coming. He’d assessed the risk and thought they could pull it off. They were all used to playing roles. The problem was he didn’t want the members of his club to play a role with Azelie. They were his family, and he wanted her to know them as his family. That risk had been his. He’d tossed the dice and he lost.
“Lana is part of the throwaways, isn’t she? Just like Kasimir. That makes it probable that she didn’t just happen to have seen me at the college or to have rescued me from Billows at the bus stop. You had her watching me.”
He listened carefully to her tone. There was hurt but no condemnation. He stroked one finger down her face, traced her cheekbone and then her ear. His fingers settled over her pulse. A little too fast, but steady.
“She was at that horrible school with you, wasn’t she? If it was a school for assassins, she’s most likely lethal, just as you are.”
“I refuse to take chances that Billows is going to hurt you. Or that the maniac he has watching you decides to act on his impulses.”
That wasn’t exactly answering her, and yet it was.
“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth, Andrii? I don’t like being made a fool of. I believed Lana had befriended me because she liked me.”
“She does like you. How could she not? You’re genuine, Azelie. We don’t get a lot of genuine.”
“The probability is extremely high that Kir, Lazar and Gedeon are part of your family of throwaways.” She made it a statement.
“Baby, don’t be upset over Lana. That was my decision, not hers. She would have been happy to tell you the truth.”
“But you felt it necessary to keep me in the dark.”
“I don’t know how good of an actress you are.” He tugged on one of her curls. “I can read you like a book. I don’t know if that’s just our connection, or if everyone can.”
“I can’t ask you why, can I?”
“I’ll tell you everything you want to know as soon as I can. You’ll have to trust me.” Maestro found he was holding his breath. He was asking a lot of her. How would he react if the roles were reversed? He’d just admitted that he’d had Lana deceive her. Never mind that it was for a good reason. It was his reason, unknown to her. Deception hurt.
Azelie liked Lana. She believed they had become friends because they shared the college experience. She’d been grateful to Lana for her timely rescue. Now, through no fault of her own, she would be leery of the friendship, not believing it was genuine.
“There’s that word again. Trust. I seem to be the one having to give all the trust. You don’t trust me though.”
“Zelie.” He said her name like a reprimand. “You know that isn’t the truth. I trust you implicitly. I’m protecting you and a great many others. That’s the most I can give you right now, and it’s most likely more than I should.”
She pushed back the heavy fall of hair, tucking wayward strands behind her ear. The wild curls and waves simply escaped. There was no loud clock ticking, but he heard it anyway. The countdown to the bomb going off. Azelie didn’t speak for a long time. She sat still in his lap, contemplating their future. Or her next move. He thought he could read her, but she felt closed off to him.
Then she let him have her weight, her head against his chest, back pressed firmly into him. “I think I need my head examined.”
“What does that mean?” He stroked the pad of his thumb down her vulnerable neck and once more found her pulse. Beating too fast, but steady. That was his woman. She took her time thinking things through before she made a decision.
“It means I’m probably going to get my heart broken because I’m going to let you get away with not answering me.”
Relief was overwhelming. He dropped his chin on top of her head, feeling her soft curls tangling with the bristles on his jaw. “You aren’t going to ever have a broken heart, Solnyshkuh. I’m going to do everything in my power to make you happy.”
“I am happy. I made a life for myself, and I’ve been happy in it.”
“You forgot to include a future with a husband and children. Somewhere safe you can write your stories in peace. Those are important things, Zelie. I’m the man to give them to you.”
He nibbled his way down her neck, scraping his teeth gently along the way. Tasting her skin on his tongue. Savoring that faint taste of strawberries. “Want you again, Solnyshkuh. I want to go to sleep with you in my arms and wake up seeing you first thing. I love to breathe you in.”
He was making a statement. He wasn’t leaving. She might be nervous about him staying, afraid of Billows and McGrady, but he wanted her to realize he wasn’t in the least bit worried. He wanted her to have that kind of faith in him—in them as a couple. They were stronger than Billows. They always would be.
“I want those things too, Andrii. But more than anything, I need to know you’re safe.”
This woman. He tightened his hold on her. “I’m a badass, baby. You don’t want to believe it, but I am. Have a little faith in my abilities. I need to stay.”
He waited. Watching her. He saw the capitulation in her eyes and then she turned to him and lifted her face to his. Bog, her mouth. She tasted like wildfire. It was Azelie who pulled back first. She tugged at the hem of his shirt, and he complied with her silent demand, removing it one-handed. Then he tugged off her little top to give him free access to her full breasts. He loved looking at her body. All those lush, feminine curves. To him she was beautiful.
Azelie placed little butterfly kisses over the hard muscles of his chest. Her mouth kept climbing, finding his throat, and then she kissed along his jaw. Little kisses. Barely there. He shouldn’t have been able to feel them, but he did. Those featherlight kisses were like dozens of little flames leaping from nerve ending to nerve ending.
“I want to learn how to please you, but you’ll have to instruct me. And you’ll need your jeans off.”
