Page 60 of Thorns of Lust
“Tonight?”
“You could go with Byron Ashford,” he offered. Aurora’s brother. It had to be a sign and the best part was that the Billionaire King wouldn’t bother asking any questions.
As Alexei noted, he had bigger problems to deal with and wouldn’t pay me much attention.
TWENTY
KONSTANTIN
She was on the move.
Lenosh sat next to me, watching Tatiana make her way through the luxury backyard of the residence. I remembered it well. How could I fucking forget! It was where I first spotted Tatiana all those years ago. Second time was in my restaurant - Constantinople. Yeah, the name was not very discreet. My little sister named it.
Unbeknownst to the Nikolaev family, I had a tracker inserted in Tatiana right after her accident. A simple dental procedure while she was at the hospital. Maybe it was a little overboard. Tatiana’s safety was more important than her right to privacy.
I had questionable morals. Fucking sue me.
For the first few months, there was absolutely no activity. Then the fighter that I knew her to be, she started digging, seeking answers. Marchetti was getting impatient. So were the others.
But nobody dared to attack. Except for the Yakuza. They weren’t members of the Thorns of Omertà, but they had an indirect connection to it through Amon. But as far as I knew, they weren’t blackmailed. Not like the members of our organization. So that meant they wanted to get their paws on the chip so they could expand into our territory.
Putting those thoughts on hold, I focused on the woman I’d been watching for years. Since Adrian’s death, I’d had men on her twenty-four seven. Yes, her brothers had bodyguards on her too, but that wasn’t good enough. They gave her too much freedom, which meant too many opportunities for someone to get to her.
She had landed in D.C. late last night. Byron Ashford didn’t even realize how close he was to dying. She flew with him and the fucking ‘gentleman’ escorted her inside the Waldorf Astoria hotel to check-in. Two minutes. He was alone with her for two minutes. A hundred and twenty seconds. One more second and he would have been a dead man. If he came back that night, he’d have been a tortured dead man.
Fucker!
I watched her roam the property on the Patapsco River. It was where we first met and she didn’t even remember it. I let out a sardonic breath. She was all I had thought about for the past seven years and she didn’t even remember me.
Fucking irony.
Her heels sunk into soft ground and she muttered something I couldn’t hear, then continued tiptoeing, bypassing the house. She headed straight for the vast landscape in the back of it that backed up to the Patapsco River.
Sunset threw shadows, slowly lowering down the horizon. The property belonged to me so even if I hadn’t been tracking her, the alarm would have been set off the moment she stepped foot on the property.
Images of my first encounter with the woman who became my obsession flashed through my mind. The way she strolled into the party like she owned it. The way her eyes glimmered like sun rays reflecting over the Caribbean Sea.
Then that note. That fucking note asking me to fuck her. Jesus Christ, I was many things but a saint wasn’t one of them. So I followed her into the gazebo and fucked her brains out. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, she left an impression.
Just as we found our release, my cock buried deep inside her tight pussy, her fucking bodyguard came back. I didn’t know her name back then, albeit I was determined to find out.
But Adrian started playing his games. He was always in the fucking way, even back then when I didn’t know who he really was. Motherfucker! I should have shot him as he approached, then got back to fucking her and listening to those moans and whimpers.
Regardless, shortly after my sexual encounter with Tatiana in this very gazebo, I convinced the owners they wanted to sell.
I was never sentimental, but I fucking needed this place. It was a sacred temple that I’d been determined to bring her back to and worship her all over again. The home wasn’t bad either - the white manor on the Patapsco River with plenty of acreage to afford privacy and protection.
I could fuck her any time, day or night. Inside and outside. Perfect fucking dream.
Fuck!
The way Tatiana strolled through it like she owned the place. In that pink dress, her thighs played peekaboo each time she took a step.
Sasha Nikolaev’s voice faded into the background. So did my twin’s.
Jesus, I couldn't quite decide whether she looked like an angel with that light blonde hair or a seductress. Everything about her was enticing. Like a femme fatale determined to act innocent. And then she blindsides you with an insinuating message. Or those fucking moans I’d dreamt about since that night in the gazebo.
Blood rushed to my ears and heat to my groin.
