Exquisite Danger (31 page)

If Tom truly thought that whatever he had to say was going to cancel his mark, I allowed myself trace of hope that brought my mind back from the killing edge.

Trying to cover my stunned reaction, I nodded, and Tom’s grin grew into a wide smile as he said in a low voice, “Good choice. Sit back and enjoy the show, my friend. I’m about to pull a feat of magic like you’ve never seen. Just like you did when you found Amy. Watch and be amazed at the awesomeness that is me.”

Without even pausing, he went straight to the table and brazenly took a seat next to Mimi, who appeared to be considering the idea of stabbing his smug ass as he flashed her a charming smile.

Before I could get over my shock of him appearing out of thin fucking air, Tom placed a manila envelope on the table with a serious, no-bullshit expression. In an instant the room chilled, and Swan briefly met my gaze, her confusion evident, before she returned her attention to Tom. I met Beach’s eyes next, and whatever he saw on my face made him visibly relax. He leaned over and whispered something to Sarah, who quickly grabbed Swan’s hand beneath the table.

As everyone stared at him, Tom inclined his head in greeting to the men seated across from him. “Marat Loktev, how good to see you again. My uncle, Petrov Dubinski, sends his regards. He says he looks forward to meeting with you when you return to Moscow.”

I knew in theory that Tom had overseas relatives who were big in the Russian crime world. I’d even partied with a bunch of ’em at a luxurious BDSM dungeon in Moscow when I went over to help Tom with some issues a few years ago, but I had no idea how big until Loktev paled and looked like he might throw up. “Mr. Sokolov. It is good to see you again.”

I had to fight a grin at the way the man seemed to choke on calling Tom Mister instead of by his first name. No wonder Tom insisted on Mr. Sokolov if this was the kind of reaction he got. Leaning back in the chair like he didn’t have a fuckin’ care in the world, or a bunch of people one heartbeat from pulling their guns on him, he tapped his fingers on the envelope as if bored. “We would like to propose a trade.”

“I don’t...”

“This is not a trade for you, but for your boss, Mr. Boldin.” He switched to Russian and continued on.

If I thought the guy paled before, he was positively ghostly now. I really hoped he didn’t have a heart attack. Stealing a glance at Swan, I saw her looking carefully between Tom and Loktev, her brilliant blue eyes focused and intent. I wished that I could have read her mind to become privy to the astonishing speed of her thought process. Because I was watching her so intently, I noticed instantly when she began to relax. Her shoulders slumped and the tension in her face eased. While I was sure she didn’t speak Russian, she was very good, in her own way, at reading body language, and whatever she saw reassured her.

“You would make this trade?” Loktev switched back to English, his voice strained. “What do you want?”

“It’s not what I want, it’s what Ms. Anderson wants. Agree to all of her terms and drop all penalties. I’m aware of exactly what you received in addition to the missiles.” He chuckled and it wasn’t a nice sound. “We’re taking care of your import, and you will split the profit 50/50 with the Anderson sisters. None of these terms are negotiable. Do we have a deal?”

I was waiting for Mr. Loktev to waste time calling his boss or some other stall tactic, but to my surprise he nodded. “Then it is done. Ms. Anderson, the Boldin
Bratva
agrees to your terms. We will discuss payment arrangements with Mr. Sokolov.”

He leaned across the table to shake hands and Sarah stood, but instead of shaking his hand she took a piece of paper out from her bra and handed it to Loktev who seemed nonplussed for a moment.

“The codes,” she said in a cool voice and Loktev nodded.

A small smirk twisted Beach’s lips, while Swan looked from Sarah to me, the joy brightening her eyes to sky blue while her beauty knocked me on my ass.

Now, usually I’m fuckin’ solid in a situation like this. I’ve done plenty of hostage negotiations and dealt with some truly psychotic motherfuckers, but this time, it was my heart, my life on the line. I’d been fighting to protect her from the day I laid eyes on her, and since then, I’d not had a moment where my worry for her wasn’t a background hum in my mind. I found it hard to let that worry ease as I stared into her eyes and found everything I felt for her reflected right back at me.

Jesus Christ, she was finally safe. Somehow this managed to happen with only a little bit of bloodshed and few dead bodies. Including the men my girl had to kill. It still roasted me with anger and guilt when I thought of how I hadn’t been there for her, that I wasn’t able to protect her, but I was getting better at focusing on the future than the past.

“That is all lovely,” the Israeli representative, Mr. Dahan, said in a thickly accented voice, his dark eyes cold and empty, “but there is still the little matter of what your mother owes us, Ms. Anderson, that priceless item she stole so easily. Unless you have it. Do you have it, Sarah?”

“I…no,” she whispered, and I carefully eased my hand to where my gun was strapped to my thigh.

The relief dropped from everyone’s face, but then Tom’s quiet laughter filled the silence. “I was wondering when you were going to speak up, Mr. Dahan.”

Mr. Dahan gave Tom an almost a sorry look before his expression went bland. In his early thirties, the guy had almost as much arrogance as Tom, but there was something about him that made me edgy. For some reason, my instincts said this fucker was more dangerous than Mr. Loktev and his guards. He’d been nothing but polite so far, and yet, now that the attention was on him, it was easy to see the anger simmering below the surface.

“I am sorry, but even for you, Mr. Sokolov, this is out of my hands.”

With a casual flick of his wrist Tom flicked envelope over to Mr. Dahan. “Inside you will find something better than the product.

“And what would that be?” Dahan asked with no hint of real interest.

“The person who made it.”

A hint of surprise flashed through his dark eyes and his eyebrows rose a bit, but he didn’t reach for the envelope in front of him. “A very generous offer, but it will take at least a year to make. Even this will not save them from paying the price for their mother’s sins.”

Shit, this asshole wasn’t going to let it go. I might need to eliminate him. Not an easy job with so much collateral in the room. I stole a quick glance at our side of the table, taking in Beach furiously whispering to Sarah while Mimi slowly lowered her hands to her lap. My heart beat faster, then I looked and found Swan, hoping she’d calm me down, but she was staring across the table with murder in her eyes.

Fuck.

Leather creaked around me and movement seemed to flow through the group like water rushing over river smooth stones. Adrenaline flooded my bloodstream and everything around me sharpened. The tension between our two groups caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. Across the room from me, one of the Israeli bodyguards caught my gaze and held it. We stared at each other, both promising a swift death to the other once the violence started, before I turned my attention to Swan, waiting for her to make the first move.

Tom sighed then rubbed his square jaw. “My cousin, Dimitri Novikov, is calling in his marker.”

What the fuck? Even I knew Dimitri Novikov was a bad ass. The man would swiftly eliminate anyone who threatened him and his new wife, Rya. Oddly enough I knew her dad, a biker that I done some rides with in the distant past. Good guy, down to earth. I’d had dinner with them at their palatial penthouse the last time I was in Moscow, and they were gracious hosts, but Dimitri radiated a silent menace whenever I looked at Rya for what he deemed too long. Tom had attended their wedding, and when he described the lavish event, I joked with him that it sounded fancier than a royal wedding. He told me then that it was a royal wedding in the world of the
Bratva
, and that Dimitri was kind of like a crown prince.

Evidently, he wasn’t bullshitting because Dimitri Novikov’s name clearly shocked most of those in the room. Sarah and Swan were confused as shit, but Mimi gave Beach a smug smile for some reason. He was too busy staring down each of the bodyguards on the other side of the room to notice.

Mr. Dahan gave Tom an openly surprised look, then sat back heavily in his chair before nodding. “I will have to verify this.”

He held out his hand and one of his bodyguards placed a phone in it, whatever number he needed already dialed. I moved through the crowd, aware of everyone’s gazes on me, but I needed to be next to Swan to calm her down. I’d originally stationed myself by the door because I wanted to be the first line of defense between my girl and anyone who might try to get in here and harm her, but now I needed to stop her from doing anything stupid. I watched her gaze dart across the room, no doubt cataloging risks and assets in case things went to shit. I managed to reach her before she started inching for her gun.

I knelt next to her and grabbed both of her hands in mine. “Easy, baby girl. Let Tom take care of this.”

She sucked in a quick breath, and I rubbed my thumbs over her wrists. For whatever reason my touch seemed to ease her anxiety, and sure enough, her blue eyes softened as she stared down at me, distracted from her volatile feelings. In Sarah’s case, the situation appeared to be reversed with Sarah trying to calm Beach down. Yeah, good fuckin’ luck with that. Now that Beach knew he was gonna be a daddy, he was gonna be damn near impossible to live with. Sarah would be lucky if he didn’t put her in a suit of armor before she left the house.

I stood and placed my hands on Swan’s shoulders as Mr. Dahan had a conversation with someone in Russian. We all watched him and when he chuckled, I allowed myself a bit of hope that we would once again beat the odds and get out of this unscathed—something that seemed a lot more likely when Mr. Dahan actually smiled at Sarah and Swan.

“Ladies, it is a good day when two beautiful women such as yourselves are given a second chance. Your debt to us is forgiven and you are now under our protection. Congratulations Sarah and Swan Anderson. You have become untouchable.”

Tom looked over at me and cocked his head, giving me a mocking look that made me want to punch him right in his smug face as he silently asked if we were good.

I nodded once, amazed that he’d managed to pull this off but tried to keep those feelings off my face. Our marker was clear, and after I spent two days alone with my girl, just loving on her, I was gonna have to find out exactly how Tom pulled this magical rabbit out of his ass. Someone must have been talking with him. I watched Sarah as she stood, went over to Tom and gave him a huge hug. I was pretty sure at that point who’d called him in. He laughed about not wanting to crush the baby, then Sarah leaned in, cupped her hand around his ear, and whispered something far too low for anyone to hear.

After about a minute of this Beach started to grow agitated. As if sensing this, Sarah glanced back at him, then gave Tom a kiss on the cheek before returning to her crazy possessive fiancé. Not that I had room to talk, I wanted to kick the ass of every guy in here who was checking Swan out. The need to stake my claim filled me, and I stalked back over to Swan’s side, picking her up out of her chair and holding her against me with one hand in her hair and one hand on her fine, fine ass. She gave a little squeal as I nipped her lower lip, but as soon as I sucked gently on it to soothe her, she melted against me and our bodies curved together perfectly.

Mine. All fuckin’ mine, every sweet damn inch.

Sitting back in the white leather lounge chair on the enormous balcony of the presidential suite of the Four Seasons in downtown Denver, I took a full breath for the first time in months as the poisonous cloud of worry eased deep within me. Shit, felt like fuckin’ years. I’d experienced this same lightness in my chest after surviving battles when I was in the Marines. It was the deep breath of someone realizing they were still alive and well enough to take one.

Only this time, I was better than alive. I was reborn. The promise of a future with Swan was now a fact. Someday there would be a wedding, then a honeymoon someplace where I could put her round ass in a really small bikini and take her to a public beach. The mental image of her coming out of the ocean in a tiny bikini, all wet and tan, made my cock twitch. Yeah, yeah, I’m a pig, but I love showing my girl off knowing other men are envious of me. It’s not a nice or pretty thing to admit, but it’s how my fucked up mind works. Now, if any of those men look at her for more than six seconds, we got problems.

Life was pretty good when my biggest concern was a man boldly eye fucking the perfection that is my woman.

It was hard to believe Swan was now untouchable, that she had an invisible shield around her that was bomb proof. The sun was setting over the Rocky Mountains in the distance while Beach and I ate our dinner. The balcony was enclosed with clear glass so that it looked like we were perched on the edge of the roof. Our girls were together in the palatial bathroom with its own sitting area while Sarah took a soak and talked ‘girl shit’ with Swan. They’d scarcely left each other’s sides since the meeting this morning, and it made my throat thicken to see how absolutely overjoyed they were to be together again. I had a feeling they had a lot of catching up to do, and even though I’m greedy as shit about spending time with Swan, I knew she needed to reconnect with her sister.

Plus, Sarah had threatened to feed me my balls if I ate the surf and turf I’d ordered for dinner in the suite. Evidently the smell of beef made her sick. So Beach and I ate our meat after the girls disappeared to hang out. With pregnancy hormones in full effect, neither of us wanted to piss Sarah off. I gotta say, after seeing Sarah in action today, my respect for her had grown by leaps and bounds. Yeah, I knew she was a force to be reckoned with, but knowing and seeing are two different things. Bitch is tough, yet still a lady, and Beach couldn’t be any prouder of her.