Chapter 17

Kris sat up in bed, realizing that a new day had dawned a while ago. He’d rested so peacefully that he’d overslept for the first time since he’d joined the Navy. Looking around the room, he realized Raisa had risen and not woken him. He kind of missed waking to her in his arms. He knew beyond any doubt he hated not waking to those little sucking kisses she seemed to place on his neck and chest while he was sleeping. Most of all, he missed what those kisses led to almost as much as he just missed her presence beside him. He sighed, knowing that he had changed so much since giving in to the temptation of getting close to Raisa. He knew he should have kept her at arm’s length, but he just couldn’t help himself.

He had taken her into his arms that first time for no other reason than to get her off the cold concrete of her balcony and into the warmth of her apartment. That she’d captured his heart and never let it go right then had not been his plan. But once the deed was done, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. Now he couldn’t see his life without her.

Honestly, he could, and it wasn’t a life he’d want to live. It would be a life without light and love and purpose. Without Raisa in his life, he would be lost and without direction. He wanted to give her everything she desired. Kris wanted to protect her, provide for her, nurture her and watch her bloom like the flowers in the hothouse that he had on the island that were used in his flower shop.

He climbed out of the bed and took a quick shower before dressing in casual clothes. He needed to work today. To plan which sites of Volkov’s he’d shut down today. He kept hoping the man would get the hint and leave Raisa alone. However, if he were honest, there was a part of him, the part that dealt with evil men, that knew Gregori would only stop when he was forced to stop. Thorn also knew the only force that would be enough to stop him was to remove him from the face of the earth. He thoughts returned last night. To the things Raisa had said to him about how he wasn’t stained with darkness but that he shined the light where darkness ruled. Maybe he wasn’t becoming the villain, but he still didn’t feel like the hero, either. Maybe he was just a necessary part of the balance of the universe. He could live with that.

As he walked into the kitchen to see Raisa cooking, his heart leaped in his chest. Here was his heart, doing domestic things and looking sexier than a pin-up girl doing it. Not that she was dressed provocatively, though those yoga pants left very little to the imagination. It was the fact that she was in his kitchen, cooking his food for them to share, that had parts of his anatomy standing up and taking notice.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against him, kissing her exposed neck. She wiggled provocatively and giggled. “If you keep that up, Raisa, breakfast is going to be later than it already is.”

He heard the sigh behind him and turned to see Sparky standing in the kitchen doorway. “Will the two of you stop acting like a couple of horny teenagers, for goodness’ sake? You’re both adults. Why don’t you act like it?”

Kris grinned and pulled Raisa tighter against him, kissing her neck noisily. “Someone should stop acting like a dried up old prude when she’s only in her late twenties. Come on Sparky, I know it’s been a while, but you remember what new love is like.”

“Oh, I remember it and I remember how much grief you used to give Marshall about it, too. You want to ravish my client, you take it to your bedroom. Some of us have to eat in this kitchen, you know. I don’t want your naked body parts on the counters, table, or any other surface my food might end up on.”

Kris swooped Raisa into his arms. “Now, that sounds like an excellent plan. You’re on your own for breakfast, Sparky. An important issue has just come up that Raisa and I need to take care of.”

Raisa blushed and then swatted at Kris’s hands with the spatula she was holding. “Stop that! Put me down Kris, I have biscuits in the oven and the eggs, sausage and gravy are all but done. Behave and let me finish this up so we can eat.”

Kris growled in the back of his throat. “I want something else for breakfast.”

She grinned and kissed him quickly, not letting him take control like he wanted. “You can have that for second breakfast. Now put me down or you won’t get a second breakfast.”

He grumbled, but put her down and swatted her on the rear. “You better make sure my second breakfast is filling, woman. This is not fair treatment.”

Sparky groaned. “Oh my God, you’re a grown man. Act like it, you whipped wimp.”

Kris filled two coffee cups before sitting across the breakfast nook from Sparky. “Nova darlin’, I know how much you loved Marshall, but it’s been three years. You need...”

“Don’t you dare tell me I need to get back out there, Kris Lawson. My husband died. Wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it happened and I wasn’t looking when I found him. If I’m supposed to find love again, then it will happen without me looking this time, too.”

“Who’s talking about love? I just think you need to get your bell rung. Maybe then you wouldn’t be so grumpy all the time.”

Nova glared at him. “When is that supposed to happen, huh? Unless you’ve forgotten, I’m busy right now watching the girl whose bell you’re ringing. When I’m done watching her, I’m going to Europe.”

She held up her hand when he started to speak. “If you dare suggest that I let one of the Diva’s European fan-boys near my special parts. I’m gonna show your girl how to clean a man’s clock right here in the kitchen. I promise you’ll miss your second breakfast if that happens.”

Kris raised his hands in surrender just as Raisa came to the table carrying three plates with eggs, sausage, and biscuits covered in a thick, white sausage gravy. No one said anything for quite a while as they stuffed their faces. Kris kept sneaking looks at Raisa that made her blush every time.

Suddenly he decided after some time upstairs with her he was going into town. There was a certain jewelry store he needed to visit before he started deciding on which stash houses to hit tonight. It was time to buy the ring. Because sitting right there at the breakfast table, he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to make Raisa his fiancée and get her planning a wedding for them.

*****

Raisa

Raisa slipped into her clothes, feeling deliciously satisfied. She had kept her promise of a second more private breakfast with Kris and he’d just left to go take care of some things that were probably related to his assignment to shut down Gregori and the Syndicate.

She knew that the assignment was only because he’d insisted that he was going to destroy Gregori’s power base with or without authorization, but that he wanted to set her free. That much was humbling and made her love him even more.

She headed downstairs. She needed to clean up the breakfast dishes as Kris had been in such a hurry to get her upstairs; he hadn’t allowed her to wash up first. Plus, she wanted to see if she had everything to make the stroganoff she’d wanted to fix him the night she was almost abducted. When she entered the kitchen, she noticed that someone had washed and put away everything. Nova was sitting at the breakfast nook table with a bunch of stuff spread out, maps and blueprints, as well as several sheets of printer paper. “Did you do the dishes?”