"And if he dies now," she spoke directly into his ear, "who will be blamed? Please, Nikky. I don't want any more death."
"Fuck." She would play that card. "You can use our medical team, Chan." He motioned to Pavel. Pavel rumbled instructions into the phone.
"Why would you do that, Kaerta?" Suspicion colored Chan's question. "You getting soft?
This is your chance."
His chance to put an end to this pain in his ass. Nik glanced down at Tatyana. He wouldn't do it. At least not today. She'd been through enough. Tears streamed down her cheeks. His eyes watered, too, from the tear gas.
"I'm patient, Chan. I'll wait until you're healthy to kill you. Much more satisfying that way."
Tatyana's hands squeezed Nik's neck as she shook all over. She was in shock. "I'm taking my fiancee upstairs, Chan."
"Safest room in the house." Chan's laugh disintegrated into a cough.
They moved out of the way as the medical team arrived. "Pavel, take care of this." Nik swung Tatyana into his arms and walked out of the room.
"It's over." Tatyana sat on the bed, allowing Nikky to strip her of her holster, her shirt, her vest. "And you're alive." She ran dirty hands through his hair. Her ears rang, her eyes burned, her body ached, but they were alive. Both of them. Alive.
"I told you I wouldn't die, Brat." Nikky kissed her hungrily. She fell back on the soft bedspread. He covered her, his vest pinching her skin.
"Ouch." She pulled at the straps, her hands blistered from the gunfire.
He removed his shirt, his vest, his undershirt. She examined him, needing visual reassurance he was okay. He was. His bare chest was polka-dotted with red marks but his skin was unbroken.
"I was proud of you." His brown eyes gleamed. "When you foughtȄ"
"I shot him, Nikky." Tatyana moaned, horrified. She shot a man.
"I shot him, Brat." He pinged her softly on the head.
"After I did. I shot him in the leg." The man grabbed her. She pressed the muzzle to her attacker's thigh and pulled the trigger. That she did that without thinking. "I shot a man, Nikky."
"He would have killed me." He stroked her shoulder. "He tried."
The slice in Nikky's vest, over his heart. He could have died. She closed her eyes, focusing on his soothing hands, rough against her smooth skin. "And me? Why didn't he kill me?"
She didn't understand. The killer could have killed her easily. Had he been after Nikky?
"I don't know, Brat." Nikky kissed her again, his mouth moving from her lips, over her chin, down her neck. He cupped her breasts. "Hmm..." His fingers slid inside her bra, scooping out the dressings. Her nipples tightened. "But, I do know I wouldn't have let him." Nikky pushed the cups aside, suckling her. "You're mine."
"Nikky." She arched as he reached down to fondle her.
"Fuck, Tatyana. I need you so much." With one pull, he removed her pants and panties, his own clothes removed as expediently. "I can't wait. I need..."
She knew what he needed. She needed it, too. His flesh against hers. She bent her knees and spread her legs and he was inside her, thrusting hard, moving frantically, passionately, alive and healthy into her. He panted, his muscled body sleek with a thin layer of sweat. He was alive, so very alive.
"Nikky." She was coming apart. She clawed at his back as relentless emotion swept through her, needing his skin under her fingertips.
He thrust once more, deep and hard. "Tell me you love me, Tatyana." Heat filled her. "Tell me." He collapsed, his weight pinning her to the mattress.
It was a welcome weight. "I love you, Nikky." He was alive. She was alive. Tatyana pet the back of his head, smoothing down his thick hair. "I'll always love you."
Nine
"Loved ones need the assurance of strength so they can grieve but not worry."ȄSergei Kaerta
"Find out everything about him," Nik instructed after Pavel wrapped up the debriefing.
Details about the slain assassin were key to locating his client. Locating the client was needed to keep the brat safe. Her safety was Nik's top priority.
"We will, Boss." Pavel nodded his head, spread out in the seat across from them. Boris rode up front beside the driver as IvanȄpained coursed through NikȄIvan needed no seat now.
Tatyana sat too far forward on his knees to offer the comfort he needed. Nik wrapped his arms underneath the borrowed blouse she wore and pulled her back, snug against him.
Better. He breathed in the sweet smell of her damp hair. Tatyana was here. He'd deal with the pain and the grief later when they were alone. Right now, he concentrated on her.
Tatyana wiggled. His body reacted. "Nikky." That earned him a halfhearted reprimand as though he was solely responsible for his arousal.
"Brat." It was the sight of her in the maternity top, the fabric billowing around her flat stomach. It got him thinking of ways to put her in that condition. If she wasn't in that condition already. He caressed her soft skin. She could be. They hadn't used protection. His child could be growing inside her.
That possibility appealed to him immensely. The first would be a daughter. He was sure of it. They had plenty of time to have the son needed to carry on the Kaerta name. Nik would get his little girl, first. A baby girl with big trusting eyes and frizzy hair.
"You can drop me off at the Crown Hotel." Tatyana's words shredded his serenity.
What the hell? She wanted to leave him? Nik tightened his embrace. "You're not going anywhere."
She turned sideways to kiss the tip of his nose. "It's over, Nikky. You upheld your side of the bargain. You protected me. NowȄ"
"Now nothing. It's not over, not by a long shot." It'd never be over between them. "Weren't you listening to Pavel? Don't you know what that man was?"
"Of course I don't." She looked at him like he was the irrational one. "Pavel doesn't know
