I didn’t know what to do with it.
“Everything good,” Maxim asked from his spot behind the steering wheel.
“According to the doctor everything is perfect,” I assured him.
“Great news.”
“Would you have lunch with me today,” Igor whispered the question in my ear, making me shiver.
I turned to him with a soft smile, so close I could see every fleck in his blue eyes. “I would like that very much.”
His lips brushed mine and the moment was perfect, so of course something had to ruin it.
“Igor, it seems we have company,” Maxim said as he briefly turned away from the windshield. His voice was tense which immediately put me on edge because the man was as cool as a cucumber. He was the most even keeled man I knew.
Igor tensed and turned to look out the back window, which I instinctively did as well. “Son of a bitch!” he produced a gun and before I could ask where the hell it came from, his hand landed on my thigh. “It’s okay, April. I’ll keep you safe. Promise.” His blue eyes met mine, begging me to believe him.
“I know,” I managed to push past my lips just as a bullet hit the back of the car. “Oh!”
Maxim pulled out his own gun, but Igor stopped him. “You focus on the road, Maxim. Keep us on the road and make sure we get home in one piece. I’ll worry about these motherfuckers.”
Was it strange that I found this commanding, badass side of him incredibly hot? Even in the midst of danger I managed to soak my panties.
Suddenly the car came closer, and Igor shouted at me to duck. Before I knew what was happening bullets were flying, some hit the car, and one shattered the back window which sent me curling into a ball on the seat. “Get down and stay there until I tell you to get up,” Igor shouted at me, sparing me a quick glance before he turned back to the quickly approaching black vehicle.
I dropped down on the spacious floor and covered my head with my hands but that didn’t stop the sound of gunshots. Suddenly I was right back in that restaurant, surrounded by chaos and shattered glass, the sound of bullets hitting the metal of the car.
One jarring turn and then another sent me rolling back and forth. Tires screeched and I wasn’t sure if it was us or the car gaining on us. I held my breath and waited for the feel of glass falling on top of me, warm blood splattering against my skin, Igor’s body slumping on top of me.
“Son of a bitch,” Igor shouted. “He’s down,” he shouted to Maxim. “Watch out,” he started just as the car slammed against us and sent me flying toward the door. “They’re done,” he said a moment later, his tone quieter and calmer.
I was curled up tight on the floor when I felt a familiar pair of hands grip my arms.
“It’s okay April. You’re okay.” His touch steadied me, but he waited for the tension to leave my body, which took several long minutes.
I couldn’t move, but eventually my muscles relaxed, and I let him pull me onto the seat beside him where he pulled me right up against his chest. “Igor,” I whimpered.
“You’re okay. You’re safe.” He repeated those words over and over in a soothing tone that eventually worked. He held me close all the way back to the compound and he didn’t let go as we slipped inside the house and up to my rooms.
Even for a long time after that he didn’t let me go.
And I held him back because he seemed to need it just as much as I did.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Igor
“This is bullshit.” I seethed in my office while I paced the length of the room, the view just outside nothing but a blur of colors. I left April up in her room after she fell asleep in my arms nearly an hour ago. She’d been expectedly shaken up by the car chase and very public shootout and though she let me cling to her for a long time, she also needed the comfort. Several times I tried to untangle our bodies, but her grip tightened so I stayed with her, my arms wrapped around her until her breathing slowed down and her breaths came in long, even puffs of air.
My mind whirled while she trembled and whimpered herself to sleep. There was no doubt in my mind that Voronov was behind today’s attack and as soon as Maxim returned with confirmation his fate would be sealed.It should have already been sealeda part of me taunted, the truth of it a visceral ache in my chest.
I’d been distracted. Too distracted lately and it almost cost me everything.I need distance.April was a distraction. A beautiful, sexy, tempting distraction, one that could cost me the very thing that brought her into my life. Distance and time was what the situation required. Instead of promising to share her bed each night, I should have taken her to a doctor to find sleeping pills appropriate for pregnant women, or just let her sleep when she could.
Now Dmitry had caught me off guard—again—and it had to be the last fucking time.
Maxim’s sharp, heavy knock pulled me from my thoughts. “Enter.”
His expression was grim, but his broad shoulders were squared and determined. “It was Voronov’s men. Two dead and three injured, no civilians.”
