Yalena and Novak both gasp at the bold rudeness of his comment, and I feel Harlow stiffen next to me. Not that I really would’ve expected any differently, but their reactions confirm that whatever he said was far from polite. I may have the accent down, but I could never wrap my head around the language. I clench my fist, ready to punch this fucker out, but Harlow calmly puts her hand on my arm.
“I got this, babe,” she tells me before turning to Urie. “Ya luchshe budu shlyukhoy, chem trusom, pozvolyu zhenshchine rasplachivat'sya za svoi prestupleniya.”She turns to his companion. “Razve ty ne predpochel by imet' shest' krasivykh bogatykh muzhchin s bol'shimi chlenami?”
The blonde looks us up and down, then shrugs her shoulders and nods. “Da.”
The slimy Russian growls at this, his face filled with fury, and drags her away as Novak and Yalena laugh. “Oh, Harlow, I do like you. Come, let us eat.” He gestures to the table, and we make our way over to it, Harlow and I being directed to sit across from our hosts.
Oli claims a seat on the other side of Harlow, and I hear him whisper to her, “What did you say?” I listen in, also curious to know.
She takes her napkin and places it in her lap, creating the picture of politeness that completely contrasts the words that come out of her mouth. “I said to him ‘I would rather be a whore than a coward, letting a woman pay for his crimes.’”
“And what did you say to his companion that he got so upset about?” he pushes, and she blushes prettily, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze.
“It doesn’t matter. I didn't mean how it sounded.”
“But I want to know. Come on, Harlow. We won’t be upset,” Oli pleads, and she sighs.
“I said to her, ‘Wouldn’t you rather have six handsome rich men with big cocks?’.” Oli is silent for a solid minute before he bursts out laughing.
“And she said yes. That’s the limit of my Russian, but even I understood that.” He turns to whisper in Holden's ear, and Harlow looks up at me, biting her lip with worry.
“You know I didn't mean it,” she says quietly.
“So you don’t think I’m handsome or that I have a big cock? I mean, I'm willing to take one for the team and show you if you would like.” Her eyes widen in surprise, and I bring her hand up to my mouth, placing a kiss on it. “Yes, Harlow, I know you're not with us for the money, don't you worry.” She sighs with relief before a smirk teases her lips.
“Maybe we could revisit the proof of the other thing later though.” I groan as said cock hardens, pushing against the zipper of my pants. I turn to scold her, but of course I get a view of that cleavage that I had been trying to avoid looking at all evening. Now there’s no chance of my dick ever going down. That creamy expanse of skin, the dress cupping those perfect breasts like I want my hands to be cupping them. I just want to nuzzle my nose against those erect nipples that the fabric of the dress does nothing to hide before taking them into my mouth and seeing if they taste like raspberries.
Her throat clearing has me looking up into the beautiful green eyes that are sparkling with amusement.
“How about we buy a company and then you can spend the night spouting odes to my breasts?” she says quietly.
“I said that out loud?” Wow, she really has got me rattled. I’m usually a vault.
“Yes, you did, and your accent gets thicker the hornier you are. Not gonna lie, that’s sexy as fuck too.” She squirms in the chair next to me.
Right. Let’s buy an airline and get the fuck out of here.
* * *
The evening goes very smoothly, and when we all arrive back at the suite, we are the proud owners of a new airline. I think that asshole blew it from the moment he called Harlow a whore. Novak and Yalena loved her and were enthralled by her love of animals and abandoned houses. She so thoroughly charmed them both that she extracted a promise for them to come visit once they started traveling. She promised that she would show them how she teaches a stunt horse to rear on command.
It’s late, and we only have a few hours before we need to check out and get to the plane, so we all say our goodnights and go our separate ways. Jaxon had already claimed dibs on sharing Harlow's bed, and I don't think either of us are quite there yet anyway. Okay, so maybe that’s a lie. I’m totally there, but I need to learn to play fair with my brothers so I don’t fight for it. With them being ahead in the game, so to speak, I’m the one who feels a tiny bit like an interloper, taking more of her attention away. So I’ll let Jaxon have it without being a pouty brat about the situation. God knows he’s going through an identity crisis right now, and if Harlow makes my little brother feel better, I won’t deny him that TLC.
We’re a weary bunch when we board the plane in the morning, bidding the crew hello. Jilly is bright and cheerful despite the early hour and informs us that she has breakfast ready for us once we hit cruising altitude. Nobody hangs around chatting. We’re all ready to get home, so we quickly take our seats. Before we know it, we’re in the air.
Once breakfast has been served and enjoyed by all of us, Jace and Jacinta disappear down to the back bedrooms. They had drunk entirely too much again last night, celebrating our win, and are both suffering their second morning of hangovers in a row. The rest of us hang out, chatting until I need to get up to use the bathroom. I head forward to the master suite and use the bathroom there, but when I finish up, wash my hands, and make my way back out, Veronica is sitting on the bed. She looks up at me with hope in her eyes, an emotion that’s entirely misplaced if I have anything to say about it.
“Look, Veronica, I’m not sure how many times I have to tell you this, but it was a one-time thing. We told you then, and I’m reiterating it now.Again.If you have a work problem, then you need to take it up with your supervisors. You can’t keep cornering me,” I say, no longer giving a single fuck about whether or not I’m coming off as a little—or maybe more than a little bit—cold.
There’s a flash of anger in her eyes as she stands up, hands on hips, and opens her mouth to say words that have my stomach sinking to my feet.
“I’m pregnant, and either you or Kai is the father.”
Epilogue
Chuck
I’d had a rough day; Luke hadn’t appeared for work this morning, and with Peter still gone, it left me with a lot of horses to deal with on my own. Thank god for Brad’s stable manager Josh. He’s been a godsend.
