Page 17 of Tangled Vows

I swallow my curses and take my foot off his calf.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I command. “If I ever see your face around here again, I’ll gut you like a fucking pig.”

Getting on his hands and knees first, he staggers forward. He passes Clare and doesn’t look back as I lower my gun. I shove it back into its holster, watching her breathe in pants and clutching her chest.

“What are you doing out here?” I ask, my tone strict. “You can’t walk around alone, and you know why. You’re supposed to be in the safe house. Who gave you perm—”

“Nobody,” she interrupts, lifting her gaze to mine. “I snuck out the backyard. I wanted to get some fresh air.”

I bite my lower lip, keeping my opinion to myself. She knows she shouldn’t have done this, but she’s too upset for me to scold her for being so reckless.

“Follow me,” I say, my voice calm. I offer her my hand and turn around, the safe house in my line of sight. “What happened back there?”

“I was walking around when I ran into those two,” she says in a wobbly voice. “They started saying all kinds of nasty crap, like “I’d ride you hard” and “I want to watch that ass twerk on my cock. Total losers.”

“Losers or not, one of them was about to kill you,” I remind her. “You must have said something to set him off.”

She gives an amused snort. “Yeah. I told him he smelled like a distillery. He didn’t like that. But still...” She pauses and looks up at me as we cross the street. “He didn’t deserve a bullet in the head.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I groan and tear my gaze away from her. “Stop being so naïve, Clare. When someone tries to kill you, you don’t let them get away with it. They’ll eventually come back to finish the job.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” she tells me as we stroll into the side entrance of the backyard. I close the gate door and secure the latch before escorting her through the lawn. “Thanks for the rescue. You have a knack for showing up at the right time.”

“Well, I’ve been meaning to talk with you about last night.” She stops and turns to me, tension written all over her face. “Any regrets? Because I have none.”

“Leonid, the sex was”—she pauses, closing her eyes for a moment until a long sigh escapes her—“unbelievable. I have never felt so wanted, so pampered. But...”

“That’s the part I’ve been waiting to hear about,” I interrupt her. “The but part.”

“It was with you and Ivan, for crying out loud,” she says, making her voice sound sweeter. “When I woke up this morning, I started wondering why you had agreed to share me like that.”

“Let’s say we’re tight,” I answer, not so thrilled by the idea of revealing more to her than she needs to know. “We wouldn’t argue about anything we did with you. You’re still not answering my first question, though.”

“What?”

“Regrets, Clare,” I remark. “Do you have any?”

She shakes her head, letting a small smile form. “None. It’s the implications I’m afraid of. What it’s going to do to your relationship with Ivan, that is.”

“Let me worry about that,” I say, softening my voice. I lean over towards her, her teary eyes taking away my desire to utter any more words. I cup her face in both my hands, her cool skin against mine. I tilt my head down and angle my lips, a cuckoo’s coo in the distance filling my ears. I lock lips with Clare and ease her into my embrace like she’s made of porcelain.

I let go of her cheek and wrap my arm around her waist before she throws her arms around my neck. Interlocking her fingers over the back, she presses herself into me. I savor her sweet kiss and hold her tight, dirty thoughts flashing through my mind. Yet, I block them out in a matter of seconds. We won’t have any privacy. Out in the backyard, we’re surrounded by neighbors.

More than that, my men will go out looking for her when they discover she’s gone. What I do with Clare is none of their business, but this wouldn’t be the only issue if one of them saw us having sex. I know those bastards. They may be loyal, but they gossip a lot. They would talk behind her back, and I’d hate for her to overhear them discussing her private life.

I pull back and end the kiss, choosing to gaze down into those beautiful eyes of hers. Her lips are wet and partially open, her gaze dropping to my mouth before she focuses back on my eyes.

“Thanks again, Leonid,” she says in a tender voice.

“Just make sure you don’t sneak out again,” I tell her in a relaxed tone, gesturing her to the back door of the safe house. I stay there long enough to watch her disappear inside, glad that I had chosen to pay her a visit. If it wasn’t for me, who the hell knows what would have happened to her. Clare could—and probably would—have been stabbed.

The crazy thing about this would be the people I’d hold responsible. Of course it would be the Armenians. They’re pissed at her because she managed to reclaim her life. I wouldn’t consider going after anyone else until I took out at least a handful of those bastards.

Chapter Nine

Ivan

Leaving my penthouse yesterday morning, my mood was nothing like the last time I had been there with a woman.

---