Air Bound (Sea Haven/Sisters of the Heart 3)

He stroked his hand over her silky hair. "My emotions weren't engaged, Airiana, with anyone else. Not one time. Of course the bodily function was pleasurable, it's meant to be, and I was definitely trained to ensure that, but my emotions were never involved. I never loved someone or wanted to please them because of the way I felt about them."

"There's a difference?" She frowned, trying to puzzle out if he was telling her the truth or not.

"I won't lie to you, honey. I lie to the rest of the world, but not you. If we don't have truth and trust between us, we don't have anything." His fingers slipped from her hair to the heated silk of her bare skin. "You give yourself generously and that's more than half the pleasure right there. You give me your complete trust, and that's a gift beyond any price. More than that, you want to please me."

She pressed a kiss against his chest. "Of course I want to please you. I just don't really know how yet. But I will, Maxim," she added adamantly. "I'll learn."

"Putting your partner's needs and desires above your own is what makes an extraordinary lover. You trust that I'll do the same for you." He moved subtly, enjoying the scorching hot silk of her sheath surrounding him. That little action sent a series of shocks vibrating through him.

"Of course I trust you," Airiana said. "I gave myself to you, didn't I? I wouldn't ever do that if I didn't trust you."

"Trusting me is one thing, honey; giving yourself to me the way you did is something altogether different." He bunched her hair in his fist and brought it to his mouth. "But what do I know? I might be the expert on sex, but you're the expert on love. I'll teach you what I know about sex and you can teach me about love, because I really want to know. This one was my fault because I couldn't control myself. That's never happened before."

"I'm fine with trying again," she assured with a small smile that twisted at his heart. "And I really love the fact that I can make you lose control."

He wanted to make her lose control. To give everything to him. "I want to be a good husband to you, not the overbearing ogre I'm fairly certain I'll be."

She laughed, a sweet, melodic, unexpected sound that sent vibrations through his shaft and melted his heart. It didn't take much for her to wrap him around her finger. She always seemed to react with unexpected amusement.

"Ogre?" She lifted her face and scooted up his hips just enough to frame his face with her hands.

His body left hers and he immediately felt abandoned. His first instinct was to bury himself deep inside her again, but he didn't want her to be sore. He could see the blood and seed on her thighs and that kept him sane enough to stay still.

"Do you honestly think I'd put up with an overbearing ogre? I'm not built that way. I think enough of myself to refuse to be mistreated in any way. And now I've got four children--if they'll have me--and I have to set an example for them."

He sighed. There would be no talking her out of those traumatized children. Truthfully, he would have found a home for them, provided for them and watched over them--without them knowing, of course. Airiana was the hands-on type.

"Honey, you do realize that the oldest girl is only a few years younger than you." He chose his words carefully. "She may be too troubled for someone so young."

"I'm a good ten years older, Maxim, and I have you." She gave him a brilliant smile and pressed kisses along his jaw. "You're old enough and intimidating enough for them to respect anything you say."

"What if they don't want to stay? They're from Italy. They may want to go home."

"Then we'll see to it that they find a good home there. I think we're the right people to help them, but of course I'd never make them stay with us if they didn't want to. Our farm is a magical place--a place of healing. You wait and see."

"We've been gone a few days. They may have forgotten all about us." He didn't know if he was hoping for that or not. Sometimes when he closed his eyes he could see all four of the children staring at him, and they'd looked at him as if he was a hero--a savior--which he was not.

"Right now, my sisters have taken those children under their wing. Judith has probably made each of them their own healing kaleidoscope--she's amazing and can sense just what a person needs. Lexi's got them working the farm with her and Lissa's cooking up a storm with them. Who knows? Rikki might even have given them a ride on her boat. And she doesn't let anyone on her boat."

"Counting you, that's five out of six. What's the sixth one doing for them?"

She closed her eyes and snuggled close to his throat. "Blythe. She'll mother them, just like she does all of us. She'll be the one to call a counselor and persuade them to go. She'll make certain they have clothes and everything else they need."

"Benito will be in his element with five women and his sisters doting on him," Maxim said. "He'll definitely need a firm hand. He's got a temper, that boy. And guts."

"He's like you were when you were young, isn't he?" Airiana asked softly. "He reminds you of yourself."

Knots formed deep in his gut. He refused to give into the temptation to throw his hand over his eyes and shield himself from her brilliant blue gaze. Sometimes she saw too much. Looked too deep.

He didn't reply. Couldn't. He just lay still, waiting for the moment to pass.

"Maxim?" She bent her head to press a series of kisses along his chest as if she knew imparting personal information was nearly impossible for him at times. "Benito is special, just as you are. He's got your generous, protective heart and he'll want to guard it, just the way you do."

"He'll want to kill, Airiana. Don't kid yourself. He's burning up with rage. Rage at what they did to his family and rage at what they did to him. There's so much rage inside you don't dare let it out."

"You're a good man, Maxim," she whispered against his throat. "Benito will be like you and that's just fine."

He shook his head, unable to believe she didn't see that side of him when she saw so much, the cold-blooded rage that allowed him to move in darkness, in the shadows and exist where depravity, greed and perverted sickness lived. "I don't want him to become a killer, or a man afraid of ever having a family and someone to love."

"That's why it's so important that he stay with me . . ."

"With us," he corrected. He'd taken the step out of the shadows by binding his life with hers and he wasn't going back. "It's important he stay with us."

Her blue gaze collided with his. "With us," she corrected. "On the farm. Sea Haven has a special quality about it. You'll see, Maxim. Unless you're bored out of your mind. I don't know how exciting life there will be for you."

"With four children? With you?" He gave her a small smile, his hands cupping her firm buttocks. "I think I'll be just fine. Let's get you into a bathtub. I'm not going to be able to keep my hands off you much longer and I don't want you sore."

"I thought I'd just go to sleep right here," she announced, a lazy, slumberous note in her voice.

His body tightened all over again. It didn't take much. She was soft and warm and melting into him. "I know. A bath first though, and then food. I thought we'd get a message to your sisters and let them know we're coming in."

She lifted her head, her face lighting up. "Talk to them? I'd love that."

He shook his head. "It wouldn't be safe to talk to them yet. Evan is going to have his people monitoring the phones."

She frowned. "Can he do that?"

"He's a billionaire. He can do anything." Cradling her in his arms, he sat up. "Listening in on conversations is easy enough. Private investigators do it all the time. For someone like Evan Shackler-Gratsos, it would be a piece of cake."

He set her on the bed and padded into the bathroom barefoot, pausing to study the outside around them with care. He'd left the windows open, using the wind to sound the alarm if anyone came close, but still, he always checked visually. He stayed alive because he never took anything for granted.

He started the bathwater, making it hot. She thought getting home was going to end their problem, but he knew Evan would never give up. It was possible Uri Sorbacov, in Russia, would continue to try to acquire Airiana as well. He had no idea if she was capable of re-creating the project she'd started as a young girl, but everyone else seemed to think she could, and that made her a target.

He weighed the pros and cons of bringing her back to the farm as the tub filled. The children had been through enough trauma, but he couldn't make a decision based on what was best for them when he had no idea if they were even still there or would want to stay.

He had three brothers residing in Sea Haven--if he could count his youngest brother, Ilya. Ilya's life had been so different from his and the others'. He'd been mostly used for legitimate work, and that had kept him--so far--off any hit list. For certain Stefan and Lev would help him keep Airiana and the others safe.