I nod fiercely.
I have no intention of ever doing that.
Chapter Fifteen
Jett
The trip to the store goes by without any hiccups.
I call my contact from a payphone, telling him there’s fifty grand in it for him if he arranges a meeting for me with Igor Zhirkov, the leader of the Bratva. He agrees though he can’t help but add, “He’s going to kill you, Jett, the second you step foot into that meeting. The best you can do is run.”
“And have him always chasing me?” I growl.
I mean us.
Before I met Juliana, the idea of living a life on the run would’ve meant nothing to me. Alone, I can slink through the shadows like a predator of the night, ignored, unseen.
But I’m not going to raise a family that way.
This has to end.
I tell my contact something else, too, but there’s no way to know if he’ll act on it.
It’s the longest of long shots in this world—trusting a dishonest man to do the right thing.
I’m quick in the store, grabbing the food we’ll need for the next couple of days.
The meeting with Igor is in two days’ time.
I can’t help but grab a few other items while I’m there—special items for Juliana, my body groaning and swelling at the prospect.
I return to the house by the back passage, moving through the woods that border the property. My senses are alive to any slight noise or change in the atmosphere, anything that tells me I need to snap into hitman mode.
But I get to the safe room without a hitch, a mere hour and fifteen minutes after I left.
I type in the code on the keypad, my chest feeling tight, my body thrumming at the prospect of seeing my woman again.
Every second I was away from her, my body was pulsing for her, my muscles strained and bulging with the need to be with her.
At the checkout, the cashier tried to flirt with me.
She had dyed pink hair and big stretcher earrings in her ears, and she basically stated that she’d take me to the back office and do whatever I wanted. I was fucking sickened at the idea.
I’m a stranger, and she’d do that?
This is why I’ll never be ashamed about waiting for my Juliana.
I need to own the woman I fuck.
Own her for life.
The door finally swings open and Rebel comes bounding out, wagging her tiny tail and leaping up onto my shin, smiling broadly. I can’t help but chuckle as I kneel down and offer my hand to the tiny dog. She yaps and rubs her head against the back of my hand, so small, so fragile.
“I think she likes you,” Juliana says, standing over me with red rimmed eyes.
I give Rebel one more stroke and then climb to my feet, looping my arms around my woman’s shoulders, squeezing her close, and laying a kiss on her forehead.
“What is it?” I murmur. “You’ve been crying.”
“We were discussing how much she cares about you,” Patricia says from the edge of our embrace, with a bite in her voice. “And I was telling her that if you ever hurt her, you’d have me to answer to.”
I nod, taking her words seriously.
“I’d never hurt her,” I say. “You have my word on that. And I’m glad she has a person like you in her life, Patricia, another protector.”
“So you two are going to get along now?” Juliana says, looking up at me, her verdant eyes brimming under her eyelashes. “No more nasty looks when the other one talks, hmm?”
I smirk. “Nasty looks? I’m not capable of such a thing. I’m the happiest bastard there is.”
“Yeah,” Patricia agrees, chuckling. “I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Uh oh,” Juliana giggles. Her chest vibrates against me, her breasts jiggling, temptingly. I have to grit my teeth to fight the urge to squeeze them. “I think I might have started a bit of a double act here. But seriously, even if it involves some teasing, I want you two to get along.”
“Of course,” I tell her, kissing her reddened cheek. “For you, Juliana, I’d be friends with the devil himself. Not that I’m saying your friend here is a devil.”
Juliana giggles. I reach down and take her hand, nodding toward the stairs.
“Come on. I got you both some simple clothes. But I also got you a little surprise, Juliana.”
She stands at the edge of the bed, staring down at the dress I selected for her.
It’s black but also bright, the inlaid jewels making it glitter where it lays like something scaled and alive. The hem is cut short, which means I’ll get a delicious look at her thighs when she pulls it on.
There’s a tasteful amount of cleavage, too, but not too much. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to resist yanking the dress down and revealing her big bouncy tits.