Page 39 of Deadly Protector
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Dimitri glanced up as Zamira stepped into his living room, a smile on her face. He loved seeing her smile, knowing she was a little more at ease after the day they’d had.
After dealing with Ryba, they’d gone to her sister and Lyosha’s, and now they were back at his place. “I’m guessing your kids are good?”
“Very good,” she said as she sat next to him with a smile. She kicked her feet up next to his on the big ottoman and laid her head on his shoulder.
She fit perfectly against him—perfectly into his life. Or that was what he was telling himself. Right now was just the two of them, but her kids would be back soon and…he wondered if she would want him to meet them. Technically he had, at the wedding, but that was before they’d started whatever this was.
“They’re staying so busy, which is good. They don’t have time to miss home and they’re getting good bonding with their grandparents. I miss them though.”
“Of course you do.” He kissed the top of her head.
She settled against him. “I love this view,” she murmured.
“Me too.” It was his favorite spot, overlooking his pool and backyard area through the oversized glass doors. The view was part of the reason he’d bought the place. He didn’t watch a lot of television at night, usually just relaxed by his pool with friends or by himself. “When I was growing up we had a small one-bedroom apartment,” he said, deciding to tell her more about his past. He didn’t normally open up to anyone. Viktor and Lyosha had known him growing up, and while he’d had it better than them—Viktor’s father had been a violent psycho and Lyosha hadn’t had any family—they never talked about their pasts. He wanted Zamira to know more about him though. Just as he wanted to know all about her.
“We?”
“Just me and my mom. She dreamed of getting us a two-bedroom place in a better part of town.” That had been her dream, just a bit more space and a good-sized apartment pool. It broke his heart that her dream had been so damn small. “She tried so fucking hard for me, for herself. But…I don’t want to say the system is necessarily rigged, but—”
Zamira snorted softly. “The system is rigged. If you’re poor, with no built-in system of help, it’s almost impossible to escape poverty. There aren’t many ways out.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, it really is. She worked two jobs all the time, but would pick up seasonal jobs too so it was often three jobs. And she never complained. She was born to immigrants who believed working hard was the only way to succeed. And to an extent, they were right. Hard work matters.”
“It only gets you so far,” she murmured. “I’m a single mom, yeah, but I’ve got a mom, an abuelo, and all my sisters. Back when I was in school, if my childcare fell through and I needed to be in class or at work, I had people to turn to. And I had health care through the school since I was a student. Without all that, my life would have turned out very differently. I had scholarships, sure, but without help…” She shook her head. “Life is hard without safety nets.”
“It was hard for her, for us. But mainly her. I could see a way out because I was good at taking things. My mom…she didn’t love it when I came home with things and couldn’t explain where I got them. So I stopped bringing things home and just started paying her bills when I could. She wanted me to stay in school—and she’s the only reason I got my high school diploma.”
She glanced up at him in surprise. “You didn’t go to college?”
“Nope. Does that matter to you?”
“Not a bit.” She gave him a soft smile and laid her head back on his shoulder.
He’d never felt so settled with a woman before. Hell, never felt settled enough to open up so much about himself. “She died too young. Lung cancer.”
“I’m so sorry.” She squeezed his leg gently.
“Thanks. I was sixteen and it was far too advanced when they caught it. Her housecleaning job fired her but I was able to pay our rent and other bills while she was in the hospital. She never made it out of the hospital though.”
Zamira looked up at him again, cupped his face gently. “That’s very young to lose a mother.”
Oh God, when she looked at him like that it was almost too much. Throat tight, he nodded. “You lost your father young too.”
“Yes, but I had my family, my mama, we all had each other as support. It doesn’t sound like you had anyone. And I’m not feeling sorry for you,” she added. “Just sorry you had to go through that alone.”
A tension he hadn’t realized was bunching up in his shoulders eased at her words. She laid her head back on him again and he tightened his grip around her shoulders ever so slightly. “It was hard.” When he’d lost his mother, he’d lost his only family. And looking back, it had hit him harder than he’d realized. “I went off the rails after she died. I stayed in school, graduated a year early only because I’d promised her. But also because I was focusing all my time on my other job.”
“And then you got caught.”
“Yep. Like I said, it’s the best thing that happened to me. Until I met you.”
Her head snapped up and she turned to look at him, her eyes searching. “That’s a good line.”
“Not a line.” He was dead serious where she was concerned. “I like you a lot, Zamira.”
At his words, a hint of panic bled into her dark eyes. And…he wasn’t sure what to make of that. Maybe all she wanted was sex. That…would hurt.
