Page 12

The next morning Olivia appeared in the kitchen bright and early, probably hoping to avoid me. But I was already there with fresh coffee brewing, frying up some eggs for breakfast. Bright red circles of mortification lit up her cheeks when our eyes met, and I offered her a smile.

I guess the smile was going too far, because she bristled with annoyance, hastily filled a coffee cup, and headed out back to drink it by the pool. I watched her through the windows for a moment, shocking the hell out of her when she surreptitiously turned to check out what I was doing.

With a huff I couldn’t hear but could clearly see, she turned away, twisting the chair to better pretend to ignore me. That was fine. For now.

I silently brought her a plate with two perfect, sunny-side-up eggs and set it on the table next to her, returning to the kitchen before she even had a chance to thank me. As if she would.

Unfortunately, I had things to do that weren’t quite as much fun as watching my wife grumpily eat her breakfast from afar, so I pulled out my phone to get started. The first order of business was deciding on who to bring down here. There currently wasn’t a single, solitary soul who knew where we were, and I liked it that way. It was an intoxicating feeling, as if Olivia and I were the only people left on earth. But it couldn’t stay that way for long, and at the least, I’d need to bring in a security team I could trust with my life. And now, Olivia’s life.

That only took a few calls before a group of my most dependable guys were on their way, then I had to face a more unsavory task. Tapping in Benedikt’s number, I waited for him to answer, trying to keep a positive attitude. Barely twenty-four hours had passed, so it was foolish to get my hopes up too high.

“Tell me what I want to hear,” I said as soon as he answered.

His voice was groggy and thick with drink. “Why don’t you tell me what you want to hear so I can tell you, then?” he asked.

“For starters, you’re not actually trying to joke around with me,” I snapped.

“Everything is fine,” he whined. “You know yourself that the money was added back to Aleks’s account.”

I started to tell him he had to make amends, because my brother already suspected he was no longer trustworthy. He needed to apologize profusely and back away from my family, but I had the sick suspicion he was going to try and stay around, all while looking for new opportunities to rip one of us off again. Of course that wouldn’t happen, and he’d end up getting in a world of hurt if he tried.

“And what about Rurik?” I asked when my suggestions fell on deaf ears. Paying off the head of the Kuzmin organization was non-negotiable.

“Everything is fine,” he said, more forcefully, and with a hint of aggravation in his tone. “It’s getting done.”

“No, I need it to be done. Call me when it’s finalized.”

I looked down at the phone when there was nothing but silence after that final warning. The old fool had hung up on me. A glance at Olivia, who had set her empty plate on the table beside her and seemed much more relaxed as she tilted her pretty face up toward the morning sun, kept me from calling him back to set him straight.

I had won in this situation, because Olivia was no longer under his thumb. She was safe with me, and in a place where Rurik Kuzmin would never find her. I could afford to let the old drunk keep a tiny shred of pride while I waited for him to get his shit settled.

The last thing to do was order some things to be delivered, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded since we were so far from civilization. The new clothes for both of us, along with a new laptop for me and a few other necessities, had to be sent to the market in town, where I could either pick them up myself or pay one of the locals to make the trek out here with them.

With that done, I made a couple calls to get a gardening crew out to beat back the jungle and do some landscaping around the house. It seemed like this place was going to be home for a while, and I didn’t hate the idea, so why not make it up to my usual standards?

The place was definitely overgrown, but every bit as beautiful as I remembered it when Ivan and I stumbled across it, and I bought it on a whim. It would definitely make a great resort after a ton of work, but for right now, it was the perfect honeymoon haven.

Except it wasn’t much of a honeymoon, with my wife giving me dirty looks and fleeing from whatever room I was in. As I continued to watch her, she turned around once more to see me, and once again, I got the glare of death. She got up and stomped off to another lounge chair that was out of my sight. Not exactly anyone’s idea of a dream honeymoon.

What had I gotten myself into? Was Max on my back worth it when I didn’t turn up for our scheduled meetings and dodged every phone call? Even being the recipient of Olivia’s scowls, I knew it was. It was worth that and more to know she was out of Benedikt’s and Rurik’s clutches.

I had always liked her when she showed up as Max’s spunky new assistant. She’d been foisted on him by Aleks as a favor to her father, and it was clear in the beginning she didn’t have a clue about how to be an executive assistant, let alone someone who was high up in the most powerful Bratva family in the state.

She put her nose to the grindstone and learned the ropes, though, and I admired the hell out of her for never giving up. She excelled at the job and brightened up some of the more tedious aspects of being in business. She wasn’t just the cutest thing on two feet, but as beautiful as a goddess to me, and she’d been a welcome ear to spill out my grievances to when I thought Max was being a real dick. Deep down, I had just been biding my time, waiting for the right moment to take our friendship to the next level.

This was the next level, all right. We’d skipped every rung of the relationship ladder and landed straight on marriage. Was it any wonder she was a bit shaken up? Deciding to back up a little, I headed out to the pool, where she now sat with her feet dangling in the water. The jeans she’d been wearing when we hauled ass out of LA the day before were shoved up to her knees, and she wore the same t-shirt. The only other clothes she currently had were her wedding dress, and even with expedited delivery, her new things would take a few days.

“I come in peace,” I said, holding up my hands. “How about a trip into the village to explore and stock up on supplies? I seem to recall there’s a pretty good restaurant there, too.”

“Oh my God, absolutely,” she said, jumping up with a beaming smile on her face.

Not unlike a prisoner getting let out of solitary confinement and being given a chance to walk around the yard. I grumbled as she scampered past me and ran upstairs, returning in the pretty white dress she’d worn to our wedding ceremony.

“It’s not too fancy, is it?” she asked. “My other clothes aren’t too clean.”

“You look stunning,” I said, then frowned. “Did I forget to tell you that yesterday?”

She shrugged as if it didn’t matter and followed me to the car, swiping a notepad and pen off the counter on her way out. She fell silent again on the drive, and in town, we parked at the cantina on the outskirts and walked along the main road to take in all the local businesses, where she perked up at all the new sights.

“First, we should probably get some clothes,” she said, frowning.

“Good idea since the ones I ordered online will take a while, but why the look of despair? Sure, there’s probably not going to be any Chanel boutiques here, but—”

She whirled around and cut me off. “You should know I don’t care about stuff like that.” Now she looked hurt, and then exasperated. “I just don’t want to owe you any more than I already do.”

“You don’t owe me a damn thing,” I snapped.

“And yet, here I am,” she muttered.

I didn’t bother to tell her the fifty or so bucks I was about to spend on t-shirts, and shorts was a drop in the bucket compared to the three-quarters of a million her father siphoned off of me, but I kept my mouth shut. That wasn’t Olivia’s problem; she shouldn’t have been part of it.

Once we started shopping, she lightened up and was actually pleasant. Too pleasant, and worse, efficient. She whipped out that little notepad and jotted notes and checklists, reeling off questions about what was already in the pantry as we headed for the grocery store.

She was acting like a damn assistant, and I fucking hated it.

So much that I pulled her into the alley between a meat market and the small grocery store, pressed her up against the brick wall, and kissed her soundly. She was my wife, nothing else. I wouldn’t have her think she worked for me, or owed me anything.

In a moment of our lips touching, her hands flew to my chest, but this time they didn’t shove away. Instead, she curled her fingers into my shirt at the same time, her head dipped back so I could kiss her more deeply.

Her moan was intoxicating, and I gripped her waist, kneading her soft curves. This was how I wanted things to be between us. Secret kisses while the rest of the world passed us by. The fact she wanted me as much as I wanted her was driving me wild. Tugging her closer so that our bodies ground together, she gasped against my mouth at the feel of how hard I already was.

“It doesn’t take much,” I growled, tasting her throat for a split second before returning to her juicy lips.

Making an unintelligible reply, she raked her fingers into my hair as she arched her back. Now it was my turn to moan as her lush tits rubbed against my chest, the feel of her taut nipples further unleashing my already untethered lust.

“My God, Liv, what do you do to me?”

Digging her fingers into my hair, she shoved me away, dragging my lower lip between her teeth as she broke our fierce and fiery kiss. The look in her eyes was tortured, and I was sure mine reflected a similar pain.

“What do I do to you?” she spat, trying to wriggle out of the cage of my arms. “What are you doing to me? What is this for?”

I looked down at her swollen lips before returning my gaze to her chocolate eyes, now brimming with anger.

And once again, I was certain mine reflected the sentiment. I was starving for her mouth again.

“I needed to remind you that you’re my wife, not my employee. I’d actually rather have you giving me death glares than blandly agreeing to everything I say.”

She turned away, refusing to answer, so I gripped her chin and forced her eyes back to meet mine. “Do you actually really hate me?” I asked quietly.

“I do now,” she said, just as low.

A smile began to slink onto my face. That meant she didn’t always. “But did you hate the kiss? Be honest, because I’ll know if you’re lying.”

A blush rose up her throat to overtake her cheeks as she gave me that death glare I’d been wishing for. “No,” she finally whispered.

In an instant, our mouths crashed together again.