Dictatorial.
Bonnie bit back a harrumph, but barely. So much for her English as a second language theory. She turned and found not just Cassie waiting for her, but Evette as well. Cassie couldn’t have had a bigger shit-eating smile on her face, and Evette’s curious look said she’d already built up a list of twenty questions about what they’d walked up on. Both of them were dressed far more casually than she’d ever seen them—Evette in red Keds, skinny jeans rolled up to her shins and a white fitted T-shirt with a Captain Marvel logo on the front, and Cassie in a white tee, long tan cardigan and jeggings.
Bonnie finally shook off her stupor and spoke. “Hey.”
Great intro, girlfriend. Way to highlight the awkward moment.
She cleared her throat and tried again, moseying their way. “Mr. Bossy Pants put the kibosh on me going to work today, so I guess I’m doing the barbecue after all.”
Evette’s eyebrows rose high and looked at Roman as though thoroughly impressed. “Mr. Bossy Pants, is it?”
Roman didn’t deign to respond, but Evette didn’t seem to wait for one either. She held out her arm when Bonnie got close enough, wrapped it around her shoulder and guided her toward the backyard. “Sergei told us what happened last night. I take it Roman’s gone large-and-in-charge making sure there’s no repeat?”
“Something like that,” Bonnie murmured.
Cassie fell in on Bonnie’s other side. “You doing okay? Kir said one of them had a knife and that they ransacked your house.”
Roman might have been out of sight, but his footsteps were steady behind her, and his presence was unshakable.
The life you once knew has drastically changed.
You are not alone anymore.
Paired with the solidness of the women flanking her, a light and pleasant, yet utterly foreign sensation moved behind her sternum. Part of her wanted to rant a little more. To combat the powerlessness she wrestled with since waking up with some good old-fashioned bluster the way she normally would.
But that weird feeling took over and steered her words a different direction. “Well, I’m not dead. Or worse.” She kept walking even though she wanted to slow her steps and catch a glimpse at Roman’s face. “Not sure I could say that if Roman hadn’t been there.”
The comment had no sooner left her mouth than the facts and timing of the night before clicked together. She stopped dead in her tracks and faced Roman. “You know—you never said why you were there.”
“You are correct,” he said. “I did not. But you also did not ask.” He inclined his head toward Evette, a small but gentlemanly gesture that hinted at a bow. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll see if Sergei needs anything before our friends arrive.”
And then he was gone.
Just ambled away into the heart of the poolside paradise beyond where Sergei, Kir and Emerson were already gathered amidst the outdoor furniture and three massive grills. Every time she’d seen Kir before he’d been decked out in one fine suit or another, but today, he was just as casual as Roman in jeans and a black T-shirt. That meant the last remaining man had to be the head honcho, Sergei. While he was fitted out in jeans, too, he wore a blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up to show his forearms and some serious tattoos. Kind of a businessman meets killer style that matched the intensity of his every move.
“He just totally stiffed me on an answer, didn’t he?” Bonnie said to the women without taking her eyes off the men.
Cassie sighed and crossed her arms, watching the lot of them the same way Bonnie and Evette did. “Pretty much. They’re sneaky that way.”
“But in a good way,” Evie added with a wistful affection in her voice.
The odd disclaimer yanked Bonnie’s attention away from the beefcake bonanza near the pool. “Not sure I can think of a scenario where sneaky’s paid off in my favor.”
Evie faced her and her gaze softened. “Me either until I met Sergei. Don’t get me wrong—Sergei doesn’t keep much from me, and I doubt Kir does with Cassie either—but if he thinks for a minute something he knows or has done might blow back on me, hell will freeze over before he shares it. At the end of the day, protecting me and Emerson comes first.”
“Seriously, though,” Cassie added. “You haven’t figured out why he was there?” Her smile when she said it looked genuine, and her eyes sparkled to match the cloudless day around them.
Bonnie checked Evie and found the same mirth-filled look on the other woman’s face. The same expression parents harbored on Christmas movies before their kids stumbled downstairs to find all the loot Santa had left behind.
“Oh, no,” Bonnie said, their meaning finally sinking in. “He wasn’t there for that. He’s a nice guy and was super decent considering I totally melted down on him after the fact, but he wasn’t there to go all Romeo on me.”
“Mmm hmm,” Cassie said, shifting her focus to Evie. “You should have seen him at the Dusty Dog when we stopped to visit. Bonnie was busy filling drink orders and totally missed it, but the way he was watching her, I halfway expected him to just pick her up and take her home with us.”
He kind of had done that—albeit several hours later and spawned by violence and blood. He really had been a hell of a hero. Ruthless. Powerful. And, in the end, heartbreakingly tender.
But even thinking in that direction would only lead to trouble. Not to mention mooning and probably making an ass out of herself. “You’re reading too much into it. This isn’t some happily-ever-after thing. I’m sure he had a reason for being there. I just got lucky because of it.”
“Maybe,” Evie said matter-of-factly. “Roman is nothing if not logical.”
Funny. She should have appreciated Evie’s support. Instead, the agreement dug like a burr into a part of her that secretly wished Cassie was right. “You see?” she said to cover the tiny hurt. “Definitely not a fairy tale waiting to happen.”
A low and heavily accented voice sounded behind her. “A new guest graces my home, and I am the only one yet to meet her.”
Sergei.
Bonnie didn’t need to look to know it was him. She felt it to the very soles of her feet.
Evie’s smile blazed to life, the sparkling adoration in her hazel eyes aimed over Bonnie’s shoulder. “Well, the idea was to keep her here for a while. Roman’s already done his part to stomp and grunt this morning. I wasn’t sure she was up for the King Alpha just yet.”
Bonnie inched out from in between them and dared a look at the man Roman so reverently referred to as pakhan.
Yep, definitely a powerhouse. The very epitome of danger and cunning all wrapped up in a darkly sinful demeanor. Energy practically crackled around him, so much so the hairs along her forearms prickled as though she’d just walked through an electrical storm. Whatever pakhan meant, this guy owned it.