Page 93 of Paved in Venom

I moan his name and give his tongue a hard suck as my body tenses and clings to him. He groans when he feels the way my pussy grips him, forcing him to let go with me. Pleasure races through our bodies, and when he slides his hand beneath my back so he can pull me tighter against him, I know it’s because he wants to feel the beat of my heart against his chest as he comes deep inside me.

It’s perfect. This life we share, the beautiful man inside me, our baby slowly growing in my belly, the love that I feel for the two of them that completely consumes me—it’s perfect, and I will never take it for granted.

When he slides out of me so he can spoon me from behind, he lays a protective hand along my stomach and kisses my neck.

“I love you so much, sladkaya.”

I turn my head and kiss him. “I love you, too.”

He holds me while I fall asleep. I know he’ll most likely slip out of bed to keep working, but he always holds me until I fall asleep. It’s one of the many things I love about my husband. I snuggle in deeper, breathing in the scent of him and feeling completely safe and at peace. I smile when he brings his other hand to my heart so he can count the beats.

* * *

Danil

I hold Simona, counting the steady beats of her heart until I’m sure she’s in a deep sleep. But even then, I can’t bring myself to let her go, so I watch her sleep until I can’t put off getting out of bed any longer. Giving her neck a kiss, I whisper that I love her and then gently move away from her and force myself out of bed. I want to stay under the covers with her, feel her body against mine and fall asleep, but I can’t do that. I have too much work to do.

Grabbing the jeans from the floor, I take my laptop into her music room so I won’t wake her up. She’s gotten over her stage fright with me, and I now have a desk in the corner so I can work in here while she plays. This has quickly become my favorite room, and not just because it always makes me think of the time I spanked and fucked her ass, although that is part of it. I love it because it’s our special place. It’s filled with the two of us, but it’s also filled with so much of her.

A few weeks ago, I’d surprised her by having a couple of our guys go to her old apartment and pack up her belongings. I wanted her to have the things that meant something to her. She’d cried when she’d seen the boxes of photo albums. We framed a few, and my favorite is sitting on a bookcase near my desk. She’s ten in the photo and smiling so damn big. Her whole face is lit up. She’s standing between her kneeling parents, and she has her arms spread out to wrap around the two of them. Every time I see it, I smile. I’m so glad she had a happy childhood.

She’d asked me how I knew what her old address was, and I reminded her that she’d used Google maps to see how far away it was. She’d looked so surprised when I told her that, insisting that she’d deleted the history. God, she’s fucking adorable. She honest to god thought that would hide it from me. I’ve hacked into some of the most secure banks around the world, and she thought hitting delete would cover her tracks. I laugh every time I think about it. She’d been just as stunned when I told her that I’d hacked in and erased her student debt.

Sitting down, I pull up the file I’ve been working on. Now that we have a name, I’ve been putting together every single thing I can find on the Lebedev Bratva. It’s taking a long time because as much as I hate to admit it, these guys aren’t stupid. They know how to cover their tracks, but I’m slowly gathering information, and I know that one day we’ll get them.

Our appointment with Dominic is coming up, and we’ve both agreed to share everything we have. It’s an alliance none of us had planned on, but if joining with the Italians can help us find Alina, then we’re all willing to do it. We need to do something to keep moving forward. I’ve had to bring Simona back to Pink a few times, and every time I do it, I hate every goddamn second of it. I bought us each a gold chain so we could wear our wedding bands around them since we can’t let anyone else know we’re married yet. I still hated removing the band from my finger. There was no other way around it, though. Everyone expects her to be on my arm, and we can’t afford to fuck anything up when we’re this close to getting answers.

After staring at my screen for a few hours, I run upstairs to grab something to drink. I’ve just opened a sweet tea when I hear the elevator ding. Lev walks in a few seconds later—hands bloody and a worn-out look on his face. He’s been fighting more and more lately, and we’re all worried about him.

“How’d it go?” I ask him, grabbing another drink and tossing it to him.

He catches it and runs a hand through his sweaty hair. “Same as usual. Beat the shit out of some fuck who thought he could fight and made some jackasses a bunch of money.”

“You don’t have to keep doing this, Lev. You know that, right? Just because they’ve taken an interest in your fights, doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it.”

He takes a long drink before saying, “It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. I think I’d go crazy if I couldn’t hit people.” He gives a small laugh. “I know that sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. Even before Alina was taken, I’ve always felt like I had something dark inside me, something that needed to come out. If I don’t let it out from time to time, I think I’d fucking explode.”

He gives a shrug, but I don’t say anything because he’s not telling me anything I don’t already know. Lev’s always had a rage inside him. We all know this. Hell, we’ve all seen it firsthand. The underground fighting has helped, though. He’s calmer when he has an outlet.

“It’s gotten worse since Alina was taken,” he admits. “The nerve of those fuckers to just grab her like that, like they had the fucking right to touch her.” He shakes his head to clear it before the anger can take over again. “She’s one of ours, and those fuckers are going to pay for what they’ve done to her.”

“They will,” I agree. “They’re all going to pay, and soon you’ll be able to take out your anger on the people you really wish you were fighting.”

“I can’t fucking wait, brother.” He finishes his drink and tosses it in the trash. “How’s Simona’s morning sickness?”

I smile at the mention of my wife. “It wasn’t as bad this morning.”

“Good.” He gives a soft laugh. “God, your baby will probably be hacking his way into banks by the time he or she is ten.”

I laugh at the image, pride welling up inside me. Lev laughs and smacks me on the back before heading to his room so he can get cleaned up. I’m still smiling about our baby when I go back downstairs and crawl into bed next to my wife. Wrapping my arms around her, I scoot her up against me again and rest one hand on her belly and the other one cups her left tit in the perfect way that allows me to feel the beat of her heart. Peace falls over me, pushing aside all my worries and fears and stress until there’s nothing left but her and the life growing inside her. My family. The reason I smile, the reason I wake up excited for the day, and the reason I’m looking forward to a future that I never even dreamed was possible.

We’re going to find Alina, and we’re going to bring her home, and then we’re killing all these fuckers and I’m never going to think about this shit again. All the things I’ve seen, everything I’ve been forced to watch is going to be replaced by memories of my beautiful wife and our growing family.

With that thought firmly in place, I bury my face against Simona’s neck and fill my lungs with her, letting her permeate every part of me so that nothing else exists but her, just the way I like it. The steady beat of her heart, a constant reminder that she’s here and safe, is the last thing I remember before I let go and join her in sleep.

THE END