faded jeans and a tight t-shirt, and he looks far too handsome for his own good.
“I’m going to Cassie’s apartment and need some back up; you okay to ride with?”
“Yep, of course. Let me get my things.” I know he means weapons.
“Where’s everyone?” Konstantin asks.
“The guys you hired are outside on patrol. Andrius is sleeping. Alexei and Kasper are in the den watching some shit on TV, but also watching the gate monitors, and Reece is working in his room. You want me to bring one of them?”
“Yeah, ask Reece to come too, will you?”
“Of course, oh and,” he pauses, then launches into Russian.
Konstantin nods, and Bohdan jogs up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“What was that about?” I ask.
“Business stuff.” Konstantin takes out his phone and fires off a text to someone.
I’ll have to get used to this sort of thing, if I want to be with him. This will be the reality. I keep telling myself I want to leave as soon as it is safe, and he keeps saying he’s going to let me go. Yet, he’s having us tested for STDs, which isn’t the actions of a man about to let someone go.
Yet, if I stay, this will be the life. There will be things he won’t tell me; probably can’t tell me for my own safety. It’s not going to be like having a regular partner where they come in and you ask them about their day at work, and they tell you all about it.
There will be whole swathes of his life I can’t know about. Do I want that? No matter how alive and right I feel in his arms? Will it be enough for a lifetime of danger and being hidden from the truth?
Reece comes down the stairs with Bohdan. He’s got such a friendly demeanor, but it belies a will of steel, I’m sure. If he was special forces and now works in high-end security, he’s as hard as Konstantin and his men in his own way.
We head out to the car, and I sit in the back, next to Reece. Bohdan drives, and Konstantin takes the passenger seat. All three men are armed, I realize, when I see the distinct bulge of a weapon mid-torso on Reece.
He sees me looking. “Legal,” he says in his deep voice. “It’s part of the job. You should learn to shoot.”
“Why? I can’t legally carry a gun here in the UK, can I? I have no wish to carry one illegally.”
“Not to carry, but to use in the house if you needed to.”
“He’s right.” Konstantin turns to me. “One day I’ll teach you, and we’ll get you set up with something. Then you can use it when you need to, if anyone ever breaks in.”
“You forget,” I say sweetly. “I’ll be home in a few weeks if your plans work out, and I won’t need one then hopefully. No way can I keep at gun at my grandparents.”
“You live with your grandparents?” Reece asks.
“I will after things are safe for me to return to my life. I have no job now, or rather, I won’t.”
“You still have your job.” Konstantin frowns at me.
“I don’t want it.” I shrug. “It’s not for me.”
“What the hell is then?” Konstantin asks.
You, I want to say. Instead, I shrug again. “I don’t know,” I say truthfully. “I think I might travel some. I have a friend who lives in Spain. She might know of some work I can do. I’ll spend some time with my grandparents and then decide what to do next.”
“Traveling is amazing,” Reece says. “Changes us forever. I think everyone should travel if they can.”
“Yes, I’ve always wanted to. I want to see so much of the world. I could take a year and work my way around the world.”
“That’s not safe,” Konstantin growls.
“If you neutralize the threat it will be,” I say.
“I mean generally, it’s not safe, for a young woman.”
“Oh, get with the program. We’re not in the 1950s. Loads of women travel alone these days. I’ll be fine.”
He downright scowls at me. “You ought to stay in your job. It’s a good job, and the company needs you.”
“I’m not working for you,” I say. Damn, is he so cold, he can walk away from this, but still have me working for him, seeing me often? Then it hits me. He wants me there so he can keep an eye on me. Let me go, but not properly let me go.