Air Bound

16

MAXIM became aware of movement close to him. His hand tightened around the butt of his pistol beneath his pillow—an automatic response—just before awareness told him where he was and who lay beside him. He was curled around Airiana’s body, her breast nestled in his open hand. He felt her nipple against the exact center of his palm.

He found himself smiling. He had a gun in one hand and a breast in the other. That had happened exactly seven times throughout the night—but he’d slept beside her. He’d actually gone to sleep with another human being beside him. Elation filled him. Airiana was magical. She represented everything good he’d never dared to want or dream about having.

He had only known pain. Loss. Heartache. Betrayal. He trusted no one, and no one trusted him. He had been alone for so long, existing in a shadow world where he was nothing but a ghost. He would have died in those shadows eventually without ever knowing what love was.

He breathed her into his lungs. His mouth moved against her temple and all that soft hair tumbling around her face slid over his jaw. Her skin tasted like love. Her hair felt like it. When he looked at her, his armor, always in place, always formidable, had cracked. Crumbled. Fell away.

He had promised himself he would never feel like that helpless boy, ripped apart by the loss of every single person he loved. He wouldn’t love. Wouldn’t feel. No one could ever hurt him like that again. How had she slipped past his every defense? How had she found that tiny piece of his soul he kept hidden from the world?

She stirred and he slipped his arm around her waist, wanting her to sleep as long as possible. He needed a little time to assess the intensity of his feelings for her. So strong. Overwhelming really. There was no way to hide from the emotions building with every minute spent in her company.

He hadn’t known he was vulnerable. Now, it was too late. He had said he had no choice, and maybe the truth was, there never had been one, not when it came to Airiana, but he knew his conscious choice would be her. He would be risking everything. Everything. His life didn’t matter that much to him, but his heart . . . his soul . . . those mattered, and she owned them.

He had watched her the entire time they were together, and a man like Maxim noticed everything. He knew her every move. The little faces she made when he annoyed her and the sudden flashes of humor or temper. He had never considered what it would be like to have a partner, someone to watch his back, and he certainly would have laughed if someone had told him this little slip of a woman would be the one he would always want with him.

He pushed back strands of blond hair spilling into her face. Her eye was several shades of purple and still looked a little swollen, but the seawater had helped, taking some of the raging fire out of it. Her feet were healing a bit as well. She seemed to be able to heal fast and he was grateful for that.

She regretted killing the men she’d been forced to kill. He wondered what it would be like to be that innocent. He knew what those men were like, what they were capable of. There was no redemption—nor did they want it. The men he hunted and the ones associating with them were the dregs of society. They made up the harsh underbelly where it was kill or be killed.

Maxim breathed her in again, taking her deep. She was already tangled tightly inside of him, and there was no getting her out. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t hide. He had to face the fact that love had ferreted him out. He hadn’t been prepared so there was no way to combat it. The emotion stole up on him and like the truest arrow, pierced his heart until he knew there was no recovery.

Her lashes fluttered, those long, feathery lashes that drew his attention immediately to her eyes. He bent to brush kisses along the lids. Her eyes were gorgeous, such a startling blue, and could deepen or lighten in color depending on her mood. He had to admit the storm clouds swirling at times were well worth stirring her up.

A man had to wonder if her passion ran as hot as her temper. Or if that habit she had of giving herself so generously would be there in her lovemaking. His body had flared to life the moment he had awoken, her breast in his palm. He shifted, sliding his thigh between her legs, careful to keep his movements gentle. One hip and thigh carried bruises from her encounter with Gorya.

There was something extremely sensual and decadent about sliding one’s skin along a woman’s soft skin, especially her inner thigh. His body hardened more, his blood rushing to fill his aching shaft with a hungry demand. He pressed close to her buttocks, nestled there between her soft, firm cheeks, warm and aching with a pleasure he’d never known.

“Maxim?” Her arm reached behind her to circle his head. “You slept.” It was a question and a statement.

He brushed kisses over her eyes and down her nose to the corner of her mouth. “I’ve never slept so much in my life. Lying beside you is amazing.” He kissed her, tangling his tongue with hers, thrusting inside her mouth to get the taste of hers that drove him mad and kept him coming back for more. The taste he dreamt about and had on his tongue when he wakened.

She pushed her body tighter against his, kissing him back with the same generosity she showed in everything she did. She just gave herself to him. Completely. Her trust was like an aphrodisiac pouring into his mouth and down his throat. Heat surged. Rushed. Electricity crackled and sizzled. He wanted her until every cell in his body ached and demanded.

He rolled her under him, on her back, still kissing her, trying to stay gentle when he felt like a tiger about to devour its most alluring prey. Her hands slid over his shoulders, touched one wound lightly and slipped to his biceps. Just that whisper of her touch on his body inflamed him more. He wanted her to touch him everywhere. He needed her touch.

Right now, he wanted to know every curve and valley. Every shadow. Intimately. Her body had been given to him, into his care, and his job, as he saw it, was to care for every aspect. He kissed his way to her chin, her throat and then down to the swell of her breasts.

Her breath came in a ragged, shocked gasp as his mouth closed over her breast and drew it deep, his tongue lashing her nipple. Teeth scraping. Her body arched. Pushed into his. So responsive. So perfect. She made a little sound in her throat and his own body answered with hot blood raging in his veins.

He indulged himself as he never had before, taking his time, using his teeth to tug and his tongue to ease any sting, his hands shaping and kneading. She fit in his hands. Her perfect little body, all woman, curved and soft and belonging to him. He realized he’d be ferocious in his possession of her. No other man would ever come near his woman or her body. And no one would ever harm her.

He kissed his way over her breasts down along her injured ribs to the dip of her sweet belly button just waiting for him to explore. Her little noises drove him wild, and now her body writhed under him.

“You’re mine,” he whispered against her soft skin. He kissed her belly, right where his child would grow someday. He had choices, and his choice was to claim her. To keep her. To let her teach him all about love. Enough that he could share that love with children.

Her eyes met his. Even with one slightly swollen, her intense blue gaze moved him. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. His entire body felt paralyzed with need for her. She shook him up so that the world tilted for a moment, and he held her close, waiting for the intensity of his emotions to settle.

Show me, Airiana. I want to learn how to love with you. I’m not going to run away. I honestly didn’t know I was hiding myself away, but I don’t want to be alone anymore. He couldn’t give her the words aloud. He just couldn’t. But he could say them in his mind to her. He could kiss her firm belly and swirl his tongue over her delicious skin.

I know everything there is to know about sex, but not about love. I want to love you, to show you I can be counted on. I’m not going to bolt the moment things get rough.

She reached up and pushed back his thick hair. “I know that about you.”

He wanted her to know everything. To know her trust and faith in him would never be a mistake. I’m tenacious and relentless. I’m capable of being there for you under any circumstances and I always will be. You’ll never need to worry that I’ll want another woman.

“I’ve always known you were a man of your word and once you gave yourself to someone, it would be forever. For always. You have too much integrity to do anything else, Maxim.” Her fingers slid lightly over his nose and traced his mouth.

The things he’d told her about himself were all true. He knew once she belonged to him he would hold on to her with everything he was, but he had to trust her that she would accept that flaw in him.

She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to his. “I’m not going to hurt you, Maxim. I just want you safe. You’ll be safe with me.”

He allowed himself a small smile. “There’s nothing safe about being with me, Airiana, both of us know that, but if you’re really willing to take the chance, I’m willing as well. Are you really looking at me? Do you see me?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes holding his. “I see you better than you see yourself. You want out, away from these men who send you all over the world, but you’re so afraid everyone you love will be taken if you escape. You’re a good man. A brave one. But you’re far too protective of everyone.”

He knew he had been attempting to protect his heart and the small slice of a soul that was left inside of him. If he loved her and lost her . . . He groaned and lowered his forehead to hers, still looking into the deep blue of her eyes. “Be certain, Airiana. I’ll never give you up.” It was already too late—love had found him and it was already wrapped tightly around his heart and had entered his soul.

“You’re my choice, Maxim.”

“It won’t be easy loving me.” He could at least admit that to her. Warn her. He would hold too tight. Make her crazy with his arrogance. Expect her to follow his every dictate. He had the feeling his shins were going to be black and blue a lot.

Her soft laughter vibrated through his body. “Did you really think I didn’t know that about you?” She took his hand and brought it to her mouth, her tongue sliding over the center and then up his finger. Gently she bit on the pad of his middle finger, her teeth scraping back and forth. His breath left his lungs when she sucked his finger into her mouth.

“You must really like a good challenge,” he said, hardly able to draw air into his lungs. Her mouth, so tight around his finger, gave him the same sensation around his cock. She nearly drove every sane thought from his head. Thunder roared in his ears.

Her tongue wrapped around his finger, stroking along the pad until his only thought was to bury himself deep inside her and relieve the building pressure. He withdrew his finger, and for one moment reveled in the knowledge that he would be teaching her how to please his body with her mouth and tongue.

He had that privilege. That pleasure. He kissed her. Gently. Tenderly. He hadn’t known tenderness and certainly hadn’t known he was capable of such a thing. Possession welled up. Need. A dark craving that spread through him like a firestorm.

He nipped her chin with his teeth, lavished more attention on her breasts until she was once again writhing beneath him, arching up to give him better access. He wanted her with every breath he drew. She was more precious to him than his gift of air. He stroked his hand down her body possessively, from beneath the soft rise and fall of her breasts to the triangle of curls guarding her treasure.

His hands caressed her inner thighs as he pushed her legs apart and wedged his hips between them to keep her open to him. “You’re going to lie very still for me,” he instructed. “No matter how difficult it is, you’re going to do that because I want you to. I want you to feel everything I’m doing to you.”

He lifted his head to look into her deep blue eyes. Fear skittered there. Just a small edge for the unknown, but he saw the trust. She bit her lip and nodded her head.

“Say it, for me, baby. Tell me you’ll hold still for me, even if you’re afraid. You’ll trust me.”

She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I trust you, Maxim. I gave my body into your keeping a long time ago. You just didn’t know it.”

He didn’t wait. He’d already waited too long. He simply bent his head and tasted her. All that sweet, creamy honey waiting for him. He knew what she’d be like, totally addictive. He already craved her and he hadn’t even had the chance to devour her—until now. He needed to eat her like a bowl of wild honey.

His tongue lapped at the heated liquid dripping there as if from the very center of the honeycomb. She cried out, a soft little shocked cry that only spurred him on. He drew more liquid out, his hands holding her flower open to him. His teeth found that small bud and teased while he suckled.

Airiana bucked, although she couldn’t go far, and her small, whispered apology only added to the excitement and pleasure as he took his fill. He wanted her slick and hot, so slick he wouldn’t hurt her when he entered her for the first time. He had no illusions that it would be perfect for her.

He used one finger to feel her tightness. Her muscles resisted for a moment and then opened enough to allow his entry. She gasped and pushed against the mattress, her body shuddering with the effort to keep her promise to him.

“Maxim, it’s too much. I feel like I’m going to fly into a million pieces,” she whispered, her voice strained.

Her head tossed on the pillow, her hair wild. He loved the way she looked, her body flushed, her lips parted, eyes a little dazed. The way his hands looked so large and dark against her white skin and small bones made him feel his power all the more.

“It isn’t too much, honey, this is the way you’re supposed to feel. Let yourself go. Give yourself completely to me. All of you. Everything you are. I’ll catch you.”

He lowered his mouth again, and she screamed, a cry of shock and pleasure. He held her still when she could no longer keep herself from pushing into him, need driving her now.

That’s what he wanted—that mindless hunger that would allow his entry to be much more comfortable. He knelt between her legs and positioned the head of his cock at her entrance. She was so hot, he could feel that welcoming heat before he even lodged himself inside her.

Her eyes widened as he pressed forward. She gasped at the burning, stretching feeling she hadn’t expected. Her channel was slick and hot, just as he’d planned, grasping at his invading shaft, nearly strangling him she was so tight. Her body gave way reluctantly, opening like a flower, but slowly, and unwillingly.

“Stop. You’re too big.” Panic was in her voice. In her eyes.

He stopped moving but didn’t withdraw, just held himself there, her body surrounding him with the most exquisite feeling he’d ever known. Her gaze clung to his. He refused to allow her to look away.

“I’m not too big, Airiana. You were made for me. That mark on your palm told both of us you were. It’s your first time. You’re a little scared, but in a few minutes, the pleasure will take over. You have to relax. Take a couple of deep breaths and feel me inside of you. It’s where I belong.”

She pressed her lips together as if to keep from contradicting him, her gaze still clinging to his as if he was her lifeline. He was her everything, she just didn’t know it quite yet. He gave her another moment and slipped in another inch. His hands held her open to him and he caressed her soft skin with his thumbs, but she couldn’t move. Couldn’t writhe around or buck hard against him.

He didn’t dare allow her to inflame him anymore than he already was. He wanted her so much. Everything in him demanded he take possession, that he bury himself deep. The roaring in his ears was too loud, the fire raging too strong. He’d never been out of control before, certainly not during sex. Now, more than any other time, he needed discipline and control. He wanted her first time to be wonderful, not painful and frightening.

Another inch set him against her firm barrier. Panic set in, he could see it in her eyes, but she still didn’t fight him, or demand again that he stop. He felt his cock grow even more, swelling with hot blood, as her body, stretched around him, gripped him with burning silk. He grit his teeth, fighting to stay in control when his body was going up in flames.

“Look at me. Keep looking at me,” he ordered. He waited until her eyes cleared. He surged forward, a hard thrust, driving through the barrier and seating himself deep.

Airiana gasped, a small cry escaping. Tears swam in the blue of her eyes. He held himself very still, allowing her to get used to his invasion, used to that full, tight, stretched feeling.

“We’re good now, honey,” he soothed. “I’m sorry that hurt.”

She nodded, her gaze clinging to his. Again, all he saw was trust, and it was humbling. He hadn’t given her that much reason so far to really enjoy sex. He was more determined than ever to love her, to show her love.

He waited until he saw the pain recede from her eyes before he moved again, a long leisurely surge, watching her closely the entire time. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes went wide.

“That’s it, honey, just relax and let me do the work. It’s going to feel good. I can promise you that.” It had to feel good to her, because her scorching hot, liquid honey surrounded him, held him tightly, the friction sending streaks of fire racing through his bloodstream to center in his groin.

He set a smooth, easy rhythm, watching her intently, touching her mind with his to ensure she wasn’t in any pain. Once her expression cleared he guided her response with his hands, bringing her body up to meet his.

He saw the moment the sensations went from too tight and too stretched to pleasure. He’d never forget that moment or the expression on her face—or the way her gaze jumped to his in startled shock. In awe. Almost reverent. He increased the pace, still careful of her, needing to take her to a place of pure pleasure.

Her little panting gasps drove him wild. Her ragged breath became a counterpoint to his own. The sound of their bodies coming together added a depth to the music he heard in his head along with the roaring in his ears and the thunder in his veins.

His control was slipping fast. She was hot and tight and felt as if she’d sheathed him in tangles of living silk. He began to thrust harder and deeper, driving them both up again and again to the very brink, the friction turning into a fiery crash of pleasure consuming him.

He clenched his teeth as flames licked at his thighs, his balls, his belly and then centered in his groin. She gripped him, milked and squeezed, surrounding him with sheer pleasure. He’d been taught a million ways to please a woman, but he’d never had the experience of a woman trying to please him.

Her shy, untutored responses pleasured him more than all the experienced women he’d ever been with. He lost himself in the sensations welling up, gripping her tightly, taking her past the point he should have, but he couldn’t stop.

Maxim?

Her voice quivered just a little, bringing out his every protective instinct. Stay with me, baby. I’m right here. Let yourself fall. I’ll catch you.

I can’t.

It wasn’t going to be perfect for her. As a first time, it wasn’t bad, but she was just too small and tight, and he couldn’t stop his body’s reaction to her scorching sheath and her innocence. He gave himself up to the fire, allowing the flames to consume him. He felt like the phoenix, dying in one fiery ecstasy of death and rising again reborn into something altogether different. Or maybe he just wished for different.

Her body trembled, but she didn’t fall with him. She didn’t soar. He was supposed to be the best at sex, so trained no woman could ever resist him, and the one woman who mattered the most, that meant everything to him, had a painful, unfulfilling experience. What the hell kind of lover was he?

“I’m sorry, baby, I’d never experienced making love. Just sex, and there’s a hell of difference—or maybe it’s just you. I’ll do better next time.”

He kissed her over and over, knowing he couldn’t take any chances and do a better job that moment, but he would before the day was out. “I know that wasn’t the best for you, Airiana, but it will definitely get better.”

“It’s better than that? Because I thought it was pretty good.”

“Believe me, honey, I can do much better for you.” Thank God she was so innocent and had no clue. She still looked at him as if he was the greatest man in the world when he definitely didn’t deserve it.

Maxim held her to him, rolling, still buried deep, but pulling her body on top of his so he didn’t crush her. She lay with him, sharing the same skin, trying to recover her breathing. He could feel her heart pounding right over his.

“Was I terrible?” she asked, turning her head so she could look up at him.

“No. You’re . . .” He searched for the right word. “Extraordinary. I had no problems, as you could tell. It was you who didn’t get the full benefit of what we can do together.”

She sighed. “You don’t have to say that to me. I know I don’t have any experience. You’ve probably been with all kinds of women who knew exactly what they were doing.”

He stroked his hand over her silky hair. “My emotions weren’t engaged, Airiana, with anyone else. Not one time. Of course the bodily function was pleasurable, it’s meant to be, and I was definitely trained to ensure that, but my emotions were never involved. I never loved someone or wanted to please them because of the way I felt about them.”

“There’s a difference?” She frowned, trying to puzzle out if he was telling her the truth or not.

“I won’t lie to you, honey. I lie to the rest of the world, but not you. If we don’t have truth and trust between us, we don’t have anything.” His fingers slipped from her hair to the heated silk of her bare skin. “You give yourself generously and that’s more than half the pleasure right there. You give me your complete trust, and that’s a gift beyond any price. More than that, you want to please me.”

She pressed a kiss against his chest. “Of course I want to please you. I just don’t really know how yet. But I will, Maxim,” she added adamantly. “I’ll learn.”

“Putting your partner’s needs and desires above your own is what makes an extraordinary lover. You trust that I’ll do the same for you.” He moved subtly, enjoying the scorching hot silk of her sheath surrounding him. That little action sent a series of shocks vibrating through him.

“Of course I trust you,” Airiana said. “I gave myself to you, didn’t I? I wouldn’t ever do that if I didn’t trust you.”

“Trusting me is one thing, honey; giving yourself to me the way you did is something altogether different.” He bunched her hair in his fist and brought it to his mouth. “But what do I know? I might be the expert on sex, but you’re the expert on love. I’ll teach you what I know about sex and you can teach me about love, because I really want to know. This one was my fault because I couldn’t control myself. That’s never happened before.”

“I’m fine with trying again,” she assured with a small smile that twisted at his heart. “And I really love the fact that I can make you lose control.”

He wanted to make her lose control. To give everything to him. “I want to be a good husband to you, not the overbearing ogre I’m fairly certain I’ll be.”

She laughed, a sweet, melodic, unexpected sound that sent vibrations through his shaft and melted his heart. It didn’t take much for her to wrap him around her finger. She always seemed to react with unexpected amusement.

“Ogre?” She lifted her face and scooted up his hips just enough to frame his face with her hands.

His body left hers and he immediately felt abandoned. His first instinct was to bury himself deep inside her again, but he didn’t want her to be sore. He could see the blood and seed on her thighs and that kept him sane enough to stay still.

“Do you honestly think I’d put up with an overbearing ogre? I’m not built that way. I think enough of myself to refuse to be mistreated in any way. And now I’ve got four children—if they’ll have me—and I have to set an example for them.”

He sighed. There would be no talking her out of those traumatized children. Truthfully, he would have found a home for them, provided for them and watched over them—without them knowing, of course. Airiana was the hands-on type.

“Honey, you do realize that the oldest girl is only a few years younger than you.” He chose his words carefully. “She may be too troubled for someone so young.”

“I’m a good ten years older, Maxim, and I have you.” She gave him a brilliant smile and pressed kisses along his jaw. “You’re old enough and intimidating enough for them to respect anything you say.”

“What if they don’t want to stay? They’re from Italy. They may want to go home.”

“Then we’ll see to it that they find a good home there. I think we’re the right people to help them, but of course I’d never make them stay with us if they didn’t want to. Our farm is a magical place—a place of healing. You wait and see.”

“We’ve been gone a few days. They may have forgotten all about us.” He didn’t know if he was hoping for that or not. Sometimes when he closed his eyes he could see all four of the children staring at him, and they’d looked at him as if he was a hero—a savior—which he was not.

“Right now, my sisters have taken those children under their wing. Judith has probably made each of them their own healing kaleidoscope—she’s amazing and can sense just what a person needs. Lexi’s got them working the farm with her and Lissa’s cooking up a storm with them. Who knows? Rikki might even have given them a ride on her boat. And she doesn’t let anyone on her boat.”

“Counting you, that’s five out of six. What’s the sixth one doing for them?”

She closed her eyes and snuggled close to his throat. “Blythe. She’ll mother them, just like she does all of us. She’ll be the one to call a counselor and persuade them to go. She’ll make certain they have clothes and everything else they need.”

“Benito will be in his element with five women and his sisters doting on him,” Maxim said. “He’ll definitely need a firm hand. He’s got a temper, that boy. And guts.”

“He’s like you were when you were young, isn’t he?” Airiana asked softly. “He reminds you of yourself.”

Knots formed deep in his gut. He refused to give into the temptation to throw his hand over his eyes and shield himself from her brilliant blue gaze. Sometimes she saw too much. Looked too deep.

He didn’t reply. Couldn’t. He just lay still, waiting for the moment to pass.

“Maxim?” She bent her head to press a series of kisses along his chest as if she knew imparting personal information was nearly impossible for him at times. “Benito is special, just as you are. He’s got your generous, protective heart and he’ll want to guard it, just the way you do.”

“He’ll want to kill, Airiana. Don’t kid yourself. He’s burning up with rage. Rage at what they did to his family and rage at what they did to him. There’s so much rage inside you don’t dare let it out.”

“You’re a good man, Maxim,” she whispered against his throat. “Benito will be like you and that’s just fine.”

He shook his head, unable to believe she didn’t see that side of him when she saw so much, the cold-blooded rage that allowed him to move in darkness, in the shadows and exist where depravity, greed and perverted sickness lived. “I don’t want him to become a killer, or a man afraid of ever having a family and someone to love.”

“That’s why it’s so important that he stay with me . . .”

“With us,” he corrected. He’d taken the step out of the shadows by binding his life with hers and he wasn’t going back. “It’s important he stay with us.”

Her blue gaze collided with his. “With us,” she corrected. “On the farm. Sea Haven has a special quality about it. You’ll see, Maxim. Unless you’re bored out of your mind. I don’t know how exciting life there will be for you.”

“With four children? With you?” He gave her a small smile, his hands cupping her firm buttocks. “I think I’ll be just fine. Let’s get you into a bathtub. I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you much longer and I don’t want you sore.”

“I thought I’d just go to sleep right here,” she announced, a lazy, slumberous note in her voice.

His body tightened all over again. It didn’t take much. She was soft and warm and melting into him. “I know. A bath first though, and then food. I thought we’d get a message to your sisters and let them know we’re coming in.”

She lifted her head, her face lighting up. “Talk to them? I’d love that.”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t be safe to talk to them yet. Evan is going to have his people monitoring the phones.”

She frowned. “Can he do that?”

“He’s a billionaire. He can do anything.” Cradling her in his arms, he sat up. “Listening in on conversations is easy enough. Private investigators do it all the time. For someone like Evan Shackler-Gratsos, it would be a piece of cake.”

He set her on the bed and padded into the bathroom barefoot, pausing to study the outside around them with care. He’d left the windows open, using the wind to sound the alarm if anyone came close, but still, he always checked visually. He stayed alive because he never took anything for granted.

He started the bathwater, making it hot. She thought getting home was going to end their problem, but he knew Evan would never give up. It was possible Uri Sorbacov, in Russia, would continue to try to acquire Airiana as well. He had no idea if she was capable of re-creating the project she’d started as a young girl, but everyone else seemed to think she could, and that made her a target.

He weighed the pros and cons of bringing her back to the farm as the tub filled. The children had been through enough trauma, but he couldn’t make a decision based on what was best for them when he had no idea if they were even still there or would want to stay.

He had three brothers residing in Sea Haven—if he could count his youngest brother, Ilya. Ilya’s life had been so different from his and the others’. He’d been mostly used for legitimate work, and that had kept him—so far—off any hit list. For certain Stefan and Lev would help him keep Airiana and the others safe.

From what he’d seen of the farm, they could protect it fairly easily with enough money to buy the necessary equipment to turn it into a small fortress. He had money, and he suspected both Stefan and Lev did as well. It was never that difficult to acquire money when one stayed in the shadows and was smart about it.

If they ran together, he could protect her. She would learn how to fade into the background, how not to be seen or call attention to herself, but what kind of life was that for her? She didn’t belong in his world.

“Maxim.”

Airiana touched his hip and just the small brush of her hand sent his emotions spilling through him. He framed her face with his hands and looked into her eyes—those eyes could sweep him away with all that blue.

“You’re a damned miracle, Airiana. You don’t even know it.”

She brought her hands up to curl her fingers around his wrists. “I know you’re a special man, Maxim, and I want to be with you. Tell me what’s wrong. I can take it. I’ve not let you down once. Talk to me.”

He kissed her. He was best talking to her with his body. He could show her he loved her with his body much better than he could find the words a woman needed to hear. He was going to risk everything for her. He had to. There it was, the choices he always had thought were so important. He had no choice when it came to Airiana, yet she would be his choice every time.

When he lifted his head, her eyes had gone a brilliant sky blue, just the way he loved them. He swept her up again and put her in the large tub. The honeymoon tub had enough room for both of them and he slid in with her, sinking down into the hot water.

“I love the way you kiss me, Maxim,” Airiana said. She leaned her head back against the porcelain, regarding him steadily. “But you still have to use your words. What are you worried about?”

He laughed. Out loud. She was priceless. She sounded like a little schoolmarm giving him a gentle lecture. “Use my words? Did you really just say that?”

“You’re not getting out of this. We’re a team, and we’re talking about spending our lives together. We have to be able to communicate with each other.”

He reached out and snagged her hand, knowing his eyes had gone flat and cold. Cold rage erupted for just one small moment, flaring through him with lethal intent. “Baby, we’re well past the talking stage. We are going to spend our lives together. What the hell do you think we’ve been doing here, other than communicating? You made a promise to me. You’re not going to back out because I’m not the prize you thought I was.”

She didn’t move, her gaze fixed on his face. He’d spoken in a low tone, each word distinct and biting. A slow smile curved her mouth. She gave him a look filled with so much love, her gaze soft and her smile generous, moving him like nothing else could. The anger was gone as if it had never been. Everything in him that felt wild and dangerous, settled. She was his. He saw it on her face, in her eyes, in the sweet curve of her mouth.

“Maxim, I’m not ever going to run off and leave you.”

His heart turned over. He was hers forever. Always. He turned her hand over, his thumb sliding over her palm, the exact center so that the two rings came briefly to the center. So small, and yet she held him right there. In her palm. She was wrapped tightly around his heart.

“I’ve given myself to you. All of me. Wholly. I know how to do that, and I’m not afraid. I know you’ll always be here for me,” she said softly. “You have to believe the same thing of me.”