Snuggling in deeper to the dark cocoon I’ve made, I drift back to sleep, only waking when my cousin Yulia comes barging in and then has the audacity to yank my covers off and smack me on the ass.
“What the hell?” My voice is thick with sleep and I’m still groggy because those extra few minutes didn’t do anything to help make me feel rested.
“Come on,” she says, giving me a big smile. Her sweet dimple and big green eyes aren’t working on me this early in the day, though. She may look innocent, but she’s all evil this morning. To prove it, she sneaks in another quick smack to my butt and then laughs at the look I give her.
“We have to head back in a few hours. We need to get some more swimming in.” She picks up the book I’d stayed up way too late reading and raises a brow at me. “I hope it was worth it.”
“It was,” I say, not regretting a single second.
She flips it over and starts to read the back while I force myself out of bed. I grab my bikini and head for the bathroom, smiling when I hear the surprised gasp she gives.
“He’s stalking her?” she asks.
“He sure does,” I yell through the door. “And then he kidnaps her and keeps her locked in a room in his house.” Her stunned silence has my smile growing. “He’s very sweet to her, though.”
“This is a romance?”
Her shocked tone makes me laugh as I open the door to see her still looking appalled at the idea of being kidnapped by an obsessive stalker.
“It is. He just wants to keep her safe, Yulia,” I tell my cousin. “And to give her more pleasure than she thought possible. It’s actually really sweet the way he treats her.”
She still looks doubtful when she hands the book back to me. “If you say so.” While I put my hair in a messy ponytail, she gives me a playful grin and says, “Everyone thinks you’re so smart because you’ve always got your head in a book, but really you’re just reading about deranged men who break every law imaginable because they’re in love.”
“Hmm,” I say with a laugh, “I wonder what part of my DNA could’ve led me down this particular path.”
“Hey, I’m from the same family, and I’m not reading books like this.”
“You’d love them if you gave them a chance,” I tell her.
“You know I love my cozy fantasies,” she says. “Life is scary enough. I just want a happy escape.”
I wrap my arm around her and follow her out of the room. “I know you do. You read whatever the hell makes you happy,” I tell her.
“Instead of the smut you like?” Allie says as soon as we step out onto the deck.
The yacht we’re on belongs to my parents, and we’ve finally reached the point where they’ll let us take it out for overnight trips to one of the tiny islands near our home. If I ignore the five armed guards who are with us, I can almost pretend it’s a getaway weekend for the girls.
I smile at Allie and take the blueberry muffin she offers me. My dad and uncles run the Medvedev Bratva, and Allie’s dad came over from Russia with them. He lives on my Uncle Vasya’s property with his wife Svetlana, and Allie was raised with us, so she’s always been like another cousin to me. Just like Kostya and Tyoma. Both their dads work for the Bratva too, and I’ve always thought of them as family.
“I can’t wait until Talia is done nursing so she can come out with us again,” Yulia says, grabbing a muffin and plopping down on one of the deck chairs.
“Yeah,” I agree. “We’ll have to make the most of it, because I think Max plans on getting her pregnant again real soon.”
Allie gives an exaggerated groan. “I don’t want to hear about anyone having sex that isn’t me.”
Yulia darts her eyes to the closest guard and then wiggles her eyebrows at us. Allie snorts out a laugh and shakes her head.
“I don’t know who my dad would shoot first, me or him. No way am I going there.”
I laugh and pop the last of the muffin in my mouth. “Your dad would never shoot you.”
“Not to kill,” she agrees, “but I’m guessing I’d end up with a flesh wound at the very least. He’d probably have Bran do it. I’d never see it coming.”
I can’t help but laugh at the idea of her dad having my sharpshooter of a cousin maim her as punishment for sleeping with a bodyguard.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Yulia says. “Let’s not go there. We’ll get you some action some other way.”
Allie sighs and spreads her arms wide. “Face it, girls, we’re locked down until some guy right out of Sitka’s books comes to rescue us.”
