in front of the fireplace. Sex was often, and it was always wild.
She was sore, a delicious, secret soreness that made her feel as if she really belonged to Mitya. He’d given her hope when she’d had none. They hadn’t talked about the men who might have killed her family. He’d cautioned her to take one step at a time. He was reaching out to his contacts to find out who the man was that had come to her home with others to finish the job they’d started.
“Hey, girl. You haven’t been in lately,” Evangeline greeted, flinging herself into the chair opposite Ania. “We were hoping you’d come back.”
“Mitya is keeping her prisoner,” Ashe said, sliding onto the chair to the right of Evangeline.
“Ashe, need coffee,” one of the bodyguards called.
“You know where the coffeepot is, Jeremiah,” Ashe returned, sounding snippy. “I’m not getting up when I just sat down. You waited on purpose.”
Judging by the smirk on Jeremiah’s face, Ania was fairly certain Ashe was correct.
“I see Evangeline is keeping you out of the kitchen,” Jeremiah said as he rounded the counter to reach the glass coffeepot with the hot brew kept ready for customers.
Ashe gave him a rude finger gesture and turned back to Ania. “Ignore him. It’s the only sane thing to do.”
“Is he your brother?” Ania asked.
Jeremiah was clearly younger than the other bodyguards and he didn’t have the rough, scary features or hard edge the others had. The way Ashe and Jeremiah interacted, as if they were affectionately annoyed with each other, made her think they had some close association.
Ashe flashed another grin at Jeremiah. “People think you’re my baby brother,” she announced with obvious glee.
Jeremiah returned the rude gesture. Even some of the bodyguards sitting at their tables pretending to read smiled.
“Jeremiah and Ashe are good friends,” Evangeline said firmly. “We’re more interested in you and Mitya. Fyodor and Timur are Mitya’s cousins. Mitya was shot protecting Fyodor and me right here in the bakery.”
Ania’s heart clenched hard at the thought of Mitya being shot. She saw his body often. She knew every scar he had. She’d traced them with her fingers, with her lips and tongue. She saw how often he had to ease his body into a different position in order to stop pain he still experienced. “I knew they were close.”
“Fyodor tells me Mitya is staying at your home with you.”
Ania found herself smiling as she lifted the latte and took a drink. She wanted to moan it was so good, but she figured that would be considered inappropriate. “I think these men gossip more than women do. Yes, Mitya is staying with me at my house. My father is very ill and he’s staying close to him.”
“To him?” Ashe teased. “I’ll bet he’s not nearly as close to your father as he is to you.”
Ania blushed. She had never been given to blushing, but the mischievous note in Ashe’s voice, all-knowing, conjured up images of Mitya striding into her dining room and laying her across the table. He’d spent an inappropriate amount of time devouring her, because he said they were in the dining room and that made him hungry.
“You’re turning red,” Ashe added. “Lobster red.” She nudged Evangeline. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Stop teasing her,” Evangeline said, laughing. “You’re being awful.” She sent Ania a reassuring smile. “I’d like to tell you she gets better with time, but it isn’t true. She’s a bit of a handful according to Timur.”
A derisive snort came from somewhere across the room, from Jeremiah’s direction. Ashe glared threateningly, causing Ania to burst into laughter. They made her feel part of their circle, and she needed that. She missed her family, the laughter and comradery. She hadn’t had anything close to it for three years. Mitya had given her this.
“Tell us about you and Mitya,” Evangeline encouraged, giving Ashe a warning look.
Ania rubbed her finger along the inside of the mug handle. “He was very unexpected.”
Evangeline leaned closer. She knew that their bodyguards were leopard. All had excellent hearing. She lowered her voice even more. “Is something worrying you?”
Of course, she was worried. They couldn’t live on sex. The sex was beyond anything she’d experienced. If they came together just for sex and lived separate lives, they would do fine. Mitya wasn’t having any of that. She chose not to tell them how afraid she was that Mitya was taking over her life and she was just letting him. Instead, she gave