She felt like a dirty little spy, but the alternative was to let her family die, and she couldn't do that. Dmitry knocked on the door and opened it.
He leaned against the entry and yawned. "What are you doing in here?"
"Work. I have a lot to do tomorrow." She smiled a little, realizing that she wasn't really lying."What about you? I saw Brigitte packing your bags."
Dmitry paused. "I have a follow-up meeting in Sochi tomorrow. I'll return home day after tomorrow."
"Can I go?"
Dmitry raised his brow. "This is very boring meeting with very boring men. You won't enjoy yourself."
"I'll take that as a no," she said, typing on her computer.
"Trust me. I'm doing you a favor." He tried to sound upbeat and playful.
Royal hated when he lied. She tried to bite her tongue and control her heating temper.
"What time do you leave in the morning?"
"Early."
"Well, since you'll be gone, Anatoly can help do a few things at the shop. I need a man's opinion."
"He's going with me." He looked her in her eyes.
"Anatoly? Why?"
Dmitry scratched his five oclock shadow as he lied. "I think he has girl in Sochi."
"Oh. Okay," she smiled. "Well, goodnight."
"You're not coming to bed?"
"I'm going to stop and check on Anya first, then maybe I'll be there."
"Alright. Don't stay up too long. Good night."
"Night," Royal said, watching him close her door. She rolled her eyes when she heard his feet head down the corridor. "Liar," she mouthed as she closed her laptop.
In less than a half an evening, she had conceived a master plan to save the very man who would rather die than tell her truth, beat the woman who tried to screw him and seen a very attractive stranger naked. To say that she had experienced a full day was less than explanatory.
She was surprised that she was still sane and valium-free.
A small grin crossed her pierced lips. She was sort of proud of herself too. This was more excitement than she had had in her life for three years.
* * *
In the morning, at the crack of dawn, Royal felt Dmitry stir beside her. He looked up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head thinking for a while and then reached over to see if she was awake.
She kept her breathing calm, even when he whispered her name and sank his lips into her neck to kiss her. His breath sent tingles down her skin and his tongue electrified her. It was impossible for her to keep her moans to herself when his large hand ran over her body, but she always did that in her sleep. He was never the wiser.
"Are you sleeping so hard that you can't wake for me?" Dmitry asked, pulling up her gown. "I need you this morning. I need my Royal Flush." His fingers trailed down the side of her thighs up to her abdomen and cupped her breasts.
When she did not respond, he sighed heavily. "Please understand that the only reason that I'm doing this is for the family. It's not for me," he confessed as he kissed the back of her head. "If I don't protect you, who will?" His words were more for himself than her.
Royal held back tears and clenched her eyes closed. She did not move though she wanted to reach out to him and hold him tight. She felt his large body embrace her from behind. The heat from his skin was against her own. His rigid, concrete muscles wrapped around her, and she found herself even with her eyes closed completely lost. She bit her lip and buried her face in the pillow to keep the torture from getting to her.
How much more of this could she take?
"I love you," Dmitry said finally.
He pushed the comforter from his legs and got out of bed. In the darkness of the room, Royal watched his massive, naked frame disappear into the bathroom and close the door. She rolled over in the bed, in his spot, in his heat and sighed. His cologne lingered on his pillow. She inhaled him and felt her heart skip a beat. My Dmitry, she thought to herself, I love you, too.
* * *
When she was certain that Dmitry's helicopter had picked both himself and Anatoly up, Royal jumped out of bed and ran to the shower a little more than an hour later.
Where she normally took forever to get dolled up, she only took minutes to run through the water, brush her teeth and wash her face. With no makeup and no jewelry, she pulled on a pair of jeans, a turtleneck and gym shoes and headed downstairs.
"Momma said she was going to take me to Disneyland one day, Davyd," Anya said, eating her cereal at the kitchen table as she watched the Disney Channel.
"I'm sure she did. Don't talk with your mouth full, darling," Davyd admonished.
"She can take you, too," Anya added.
"I've already been," Davyd smiled at Anya and put his hand over her small mouth. "Now, no talking with your mouth full."
"Good morning," Royal said, entering the room with a bright smile.
"Good morning, Mommy," Anya greeted. "Morning,"
Davyd looked on curiously. "You don't… don't look like yourself this morning in the jeans and everything. You look, I don't know, like you're 17."
Royal smiled, taking his observation as a compliment. "Well, I'm going to really get the back room of the boutique clean today. So, I figured that I better dress down."
Davyd nodded. "Dmitry gave me direct orders that you were not to go near the boutique today."
"Dmitry should have been man enough to give his orders to me then," she
