Her Hero: Next Door
George H. McVey
Her Hero: Next Door
Book one of Her Hero series
By George H. McVey
Copyright © 2018 by George H. McVey All rights reserved.
Cover design by Erin Dameron Hill/ EDH Graphics
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote brief excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. The author created names, characters, places, and incidents either from his imagination or using them fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental or used fictitiously.
This book was written by a human author, not an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) This book cannot be used to train an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) how to write a book.
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Introduction
Warning! This book has adult themes and situations that may trigger some people. It explores themes of stalking, human trafficking and abduction.
Raisa Felfan’s life is comfortable. A second-generation Russian immigrant, she spends her days working in her family’s diner and flirting with the gorgeous man next door. She suddenly finds herself in an uncomfortable situation as the local Russian mob boss decides to make her his mistress against her will. What’s a girl like her to do?
Kris Lawson is not what he seems. He owns and operates the flower shop next door to the Felfan diner, but he isn’t just a florist. He has a dark side that keeps him from asking the sweet woman next door to date him. That is until a local mob boss decides to force her into his bed. Now Kris’s training as a government operative was going to be used to keep this beautiful woman safe. Kris claims Raisa as his own and sets out to show the mobster just why you don’t take what’s his.
Will Kris turn out to be Raisa’s hero? Is it as hopeless as Raisa tells Kris it is? Does the mob boss always get what he wants? What happens when Raisa finds out that she has found Her Hero: Next Door?
Dedication
For Sheri: You still make my heart sing.
And to Author April Wilson: creator of the McIntyre Security Romances. Which inspired me to try my hand at this sub-genre.
Chapter One
Raisa
Raisa looked up as the door opened and smiled. It was seven-thirty, and he was right on time. She turned to the window where her brother was fixing the breakfasts that their customers ordered. She handed him the ticket for her favorite punctual customer, Kris, the guy next door. Maybe today would be the day he’d finally ask her out.
His eyes caught hers as she turned around, and he smiled. It sent a jolt of desire straight through every fiber of her body. He was sexy in that completely unknowing way.
Raisa watched as Kris walked to the table in the back corner of the diner. He took the chair with its back against the exposed brick wall facing the front. It was the only place he’d sit, and he would wait for that table every time. She tried to make certain to keep it free at this time of the day because she knew he’d be in to eat.
She grabbed a large to-go cup and poured his coffee. The first time he’d come in two years ago, she’d made the mistake of bringing him a normal coffee cup. He smiled and asked her if he could have a large to-go cup instead. Just like everything else that day, it had become routine. She couldn’t help but take in his looks again.
Kris was the type of man every woman dreamed about; tall, dark, gorgeous. His polo style shirt with the logo for his flower shop was stretched tight across a thick chest and shoulders. His arms strained at the sleeves. It tapered down to his waist, and she knew his abdomen was rippled with a washboard stomach because she had seen him working out on his balcony in the apartment next to hers. His jeans were black, they were always black and tight in all the right places.
She sighed and carried his drink over to him. She could look and even dream, but she knew that’s all it would be. Guys like Kris never looked at girls like Raisa. She worked in a restaurant, and while she couldn’t cook for anything, she enjoyed sampling her brother’s food a bit too much and it showed. She wasn’t some size two model and guys like Kris always went for the size two models.
“Hey Kris, here’s your java. Your order should be up in a minute.”
He smiled and nodded. That was the other thing; Kris was quiet. He hardly ever spoke. Oh sure, those first few months he said more as they got to know each other some, but he was a constant. Nothing changed. He sat in the same place, ordered the same thing, drank three cups of coffee, and took a refill with him. Paid his check in cash and left her a five-dollar tip for his breakfast, which was more than any other customer. Then he walked next door to Doghouse Flowers and made floral and gift basket arrangements to get men out of the doghouse with their ladies. That was his specialty.
Raisa wished she was bold because she’d strike up a conversation with him. But she wasn’t. She was shy and introverted. Raisa would rather be home with a wonderful book than be the life of the party. She was forced to be friendly with people here at the Diner but she needed her quiet time at home to recover. She could never tell Kris she was interested, and not just because she feared he’d tell her he didn’t return her interest. There was something between them, a connection, but she was too afraid to see what it was. She sighed as her brother hit the bell, letting her know Kris’s food was up. She carried him his breakfast and refilled his coffee. Then she went back to her place behind the counter, wishing she could just be bold once.
Kris
Kris Lawson walked into the Felfan Diner and smiled. There she was, Raisa, the girl next door. She lived next door, and she worked next door. He often wondered if that was a sign. She was perfect in every way. Quiet yet friendly, curves in all the right places. She wasn’t one of those tiny stick-sized women he was always afraid to touch for fear they’d break. No, Raisa was perfect, and when she smiled, his heart and soul screamed at him to make a move and claim her for himself. Then his brain would remind him he was a killer and didn’t deserve someone as sweet and innocent as Raisa.
He moved to the corner and put his back to the brick wall, feeling less exposed that way. He could see the whole dining room of the diner and had a clear path to the kitchen door and the rear door down the hall behind him if needed. Kris never forgot for a second the words of his Special Boat Unit instructors, “Always have a way out. If you have more than one plan, you’ll never get outmaneuvered.”
Raisa brought him his coffee and he couldn’t help but watch her walk to him, every step accentuating her curves under her cute top and tight pants. Every time she got close, his body and soul screamed “MINE” and yet she wasn’t for a man like him. She deserved a man who was pure and innocent like her, not some washed up special forces squid turned private contractor like him.
She should be with a man who walked in the light, not the shadows. So as much as he wanted to tell her what she did to him and how his blood sang for her, as much as he wanted to wrap his arms around her and devour her full lips, he just smiled and nodded and watched her walk away again.
He should never have listened to those guys from the government that came to see him right before his second enlistment was up. He was already tired of the pressure being the team leader of a Special Boat Unit had put on him. Kris was meticulous. When the SEAL team assigned to his unit got a mission, he pored over their objective and planned both infiltration and extraction methods upon methods to get them safely where they needed to be to complete their mission and get home again.
They impressed the powers that be with his unit’s record. They’d never once had a mission failure. He got his teams in and out with the least amount of collateral damage. That was the reason they came to him and offered him a position with Blackguard Security.
While the name made it seem like they were a private security company, and they did enough of that to look legitimate, in reality they were a Black Bag Ops contractor for the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government needed a man like Kris who could handle people and situations that couldn't be dealt with through official channels, and get the job done. They’d asked him not to reenlist, but offered him massive amounts of money to work off the books for his country, taking out some of the worst and most dangerous people in the world.
The half a million dollars they paid him as a signing bonus had allowed him to buy the apartment building he and Raisa both lived in. He’d made some modifications that allowed him to have the safety of three hidden escape routes from his apartment and a safe room in case he couldn’t get out. All the hallways had security cameras in them and while they went to his security office, they also were synced with his smart watch. Especially the one on his floor and the main entrance. The rest of the money had gone to open Doghouse Flowers. His mom had been a florist, and he’d learned to arrange flowers and put together gift baskets from her. The act of doing so often calmed the storm in his heart and mind after a particularly bloody mission.
Kris knew that what he did saved lives and kept people safe. However, the act of taking lives, even the lives of monsters and killers, left a black scar on his soul. It was why he wouldn’t allow himself to explore the connection between him and Raisa. He was afraid that his darkness would rub off and darken her innocence. No, Raisa wasn’t for him. He should stay as far away as he could, but there was something that he couldn’t just walk away from. Instead, he tortured himself with her sweetness, knowing he couldn’t have her for his own.
He went to the register and paid her, slipping her the five-dollar tip he gave her every morning, took the refill of coffee she gave him and went next door to arrange flowers for a husband who’d accidentally recorded over his wedding video. Then he’d see if Blackguard had an assignment for him. It had been a while since he’d planned a mission.
Chapter Two
Raisa
Raisa was tired. The breakfast and lunch shift had been brutal today and thankfully, she was about to be done. The college student they’d hired to act as night manager was due in about half an hour. After she arrived, Raisa could go home and get off her feet. She looked up when the bell over the door rang, only to freeze when she saw the three men entering the diner. Gregori Volkov was the ruthless boss of the local Russian Syndicate. He’d risen through the ranks of the Bratva until he’d grown too ruthless and unstable, even for them. Since then, he’d established his own Syndicate with men as evil as he was.
With him, as always, was his right-hand man, Nestor Morozov. Where Gregori was short and fat with a receding hairline and dressed like a reject from an eighties porn movie, Nestor was the opposite. The man was six feet tall and looked like a reject from the Mr. Universe bodybuilder competition. Even his muscles had muscles. He tied his long black hair back in a ponytail. Where Kris Lawson had looked dangerous and sexy, Nestor just looked dangerous.
With the two of them was Gregori’s cousin Vladimir, known as Bad Vlad. The younger man was skinny and pale. Dressed like a goth with chains and metal all over his dark clothes, he lined his eyes with black eyeliner and wore black lipstick, which Raisa thought was a strange thing for a man to do.
Gregori looked at her like a wolf taking in its prey just before the chase. The way his eyes roved up and down her body made her skin crawl. He looked and acted like he was seeing her naked and it made Raisa want to take a long, hot shower just to get the filth of his look off her skin. “Where’s your worthless brother, my flower?”
His voice was worse than his perusal of her. She felt violated by his tone and the use of a private name for her. “Stephan, can you come out here, please?” she yelled. There was a grunt from the kitchen, and her brother walked through the swinging door and stopped when he saw the men in front of him. “Gregori, why are you here?”
The man stepped up to him and walked around him to come closer to Raisa, and she backed up until she was in the corner between the counter and the wall. Trapped, with no way to move away from the gangster. “I’ve come to get my money, Stephan.”
“You know I don’t have it yet. I called you yesterday.”
“Yes, I know, but it is still due. "I can't let you slide on your payment, otherwise everyone will think they can slide and I'll appear weak, and I can’t have that. Can I?" said Gregori as he reached out and stroked her face, causing her to flinch.”
Raisa was confused. “What money? What are you talking about?”
Gregori smiled. “You didn’t tell your sweet sister about the money you owed me, Stephan?”
Raisa looked at the frightened look on her brother’s face. “This has nothing to do with her, Gregori. It’s between you and me.”
The Syndicate leader shook his head. “That isn’t how this works, and you know it. If you owe me, your entire family owes me. Since it is just you and sweet Raisa, then she owes me as well. You borrowed ten thousand dollars from me; where is my payment?”
“I told you I don’t have it yet. I need more time.”
“And I’ve told you payment is due. If I don’t have my money by the end of the week, then I’ll have to get it in other ways.” He licked his lips and put a finger on Raisa’s lips. “However, I am not a heartless man. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll forgive fifty dollars for every day your sister spends at my home.”
Raisa shoved the mobster away from her and rounded the counter. “That will never happen. We will get you your money.”
Gregori’s eyes narrowed. “My Flower, the sooner you understand I get what I want, the better. Until you are willing to help your brother pay off my debt, I’ll be charging him one thousand dollars a day in interest. I wouldn’t wait too long to come to me, or else I’ll have no choice but to hurt him.”
The mob boss nodded to his goon, and Nestor walked up to her brother and punched him in the kidney three times, leaving her brother on the ground in pain. “That’s for not having my money. If I have to come back, or if you don’t come see me by the end of the week, next time will be worse.” He walked over to her and patted her on her rear with a smile. “When you come, be prepared to stay, sweet Raisa, because once I get a taste, I won’t be letting you go.”
She spat at him, and he slapped her across the face. “Just for that, it will only be twenty dollars off per day, and I’ll make sure your stay is painful.”
Gregori snapped his fingers, and Vlad opened the door. Nestor kicked her brother on the way past him and smiled over at her. “See you soon, kitten.”
Then the three were gone. Raisa kneeled down to help her brother up. “What the hell, Stephan? How could you borrow money from them?”
Her brother straightened up and moved to a chair. “What was I supposed to do, Raisa? You remember when the flat top went out, and we needed to get a new one? I had to get the money to buy that and the bank wouldn’t give us a loan. It was ask Gregori or close the diner.”
Raisa sighed. “What type of loan did you try to get, Stephan? Did you offer collateral?”
Her brother shook his head. “I don’t have any collateral.”
“We have the diner. You could have gotten an equity loan using the diner as collateral and not put us in this position.”
Again, he shook his head. “Then I would have had to get you involved. I was trying to keep you from worrying.”
She laughed, but not in a good way. “Instead, you get me pawed and smacked by the Russian Syndicate boss, who wants me to sleep with him to pay the debt. I’m much better off, thanks.”
“Don’t be like that. I’ll try to figure something out. Maybe we could still get the equity loan.”
She shook her head. “It will take longer than a week to do that, and do you think he is really going to wait longer without making me pay?”
“Then what are we going to do?”
She hung her head. “I don’t know, Stephan, but I’m going home. You made this mess, you figure it out. Before he comes back for me.”
Kris
Kris locked up the shop after the last of his employees left for the day. He had a manager because there were times he had to be gone for Blackguard assignments and he didn’t want to close the shop then. He had built a niche for himself as the place a guy could go to get the perfect gift to get himself out of the doghouse with his lady.
Today alone, Kris and his team had to create 12 forget-me-not birthday bouquets for clueless guys who missed their woman’s birthday, three anniversary-overlooked gift baskets with chocolate-covered strawberries, champagne and massage oils.
Then there was the guy who came in just before they closed and asked for him because he’d told his wife of one year that she was acting just like her mother. That one had been a challenge. He’d put together a spa basket complete with a gift certificate to the hot springs spa just outside the city, a selection of bath oils and bombs, a soothing Celtic music CD, a coupon book printed up for her husband to do foot massages, back massages, head massages and flash cards on how to do them. Along with the aromatherapy massage oils, to help with those. It probably wouldn’t be enough, but at least Kris tried to help.
He often found it funny that these men came to him for help to get out of the doghouse. After all, he didn’t have a wife or girlfriend.
Occasionally he had a one-night stand with a woman he picked up at a party or club, but mostly he just went home and fantasized about the woman in the apartment next door. The one girl he wouldn’t let himself even ask out. Raisa Felfan. She deserved someone as filled with goodness as she was. Not the florist that walked in the shadows and dealt death to the worst villains on earth for his government.
No, he’d just go home and break open a bottle of top shelf whiskey like always and drink himself to oblivion. Or he’d step out onto his balcony and work out, pushing his muscles as far as he could until exhaustion sent him into sleep.
Once he was sure he was alone, Kris did his end of the night routine and opened all the hidden weapons safes around the shop. After pulling out each weapon from the safes, Kris emptied them and ensured that they were cleaned, oiled, and in perfect working order. He was under no illusion that his secret life might spill over into his daily life, and so he was prepared for every contingency. Kris opened the panic room and oiled the door hinges so they would open quickly and quietly, if needed. He saved the day’s security feeds to the cloud and reset them for the next 24 hours. Then he pulled out his electronic detector and checked for listening or recording devices.
Once sure that everything was normal, he closed everything up and exited out the back where his Kawasaki 1200 Vulcan motorcycle waited. It was one of three vehicles he maintained in his everyday life. There was the bike, which was great for speed and maneuverability, but not so great for protection. Then there was his matte black Dodge Viper, fast with a bit more protection in the form of a bullet resistant polymer skin. Finally, there was his bug out vehicle, an armor plated Land Rover with a high water kit. It would go practically anywhere and keep the occupants safe.
Most days, unless the weather was nasty, he took the bike and even had an extra helmet in case he invited someone to come with him. He’d yet to use the extra helmet but like the boy scouts, a Special Boat Unit commander’s motto was “be prepared,” so he was. He started up the bike and raced through traffic to his sanctuary. Or maybe it was his prison, since he was all alone there with nothing but his memories for company.
He pulled into the garage and sprinted up the six flights of stairs because it was healthier than using the elevator. That’s what he told himself, but in truth there was less chance of getting caught unaware if he was being hunted. At his apartment door, he placed one hand on the tactical knife he kept in the small of his back; the sheath sewn into the back of his jeans. With the other, he checked the telltale piece of monofilament he connected to the bottom of the door to know if someone had been in his apartment. Finding it intact, he removed the end from the door and then opened his apartment and stepped inside.
Kris quickly laid out a frozen Bertolli pasta meal. He didn’t feel like cooking tonight. He needed to work out to change his mood. For some reason today, the thought of sweet Raisa and not being able to tell her how he felt about her left him in need of the endorphins that would come from a nice punishing workout. He slipped out of his jeans and work shirt, slipping into a pair of SEAL team khaki shorts and a sleeveless tan t-shirt with his SBU logo and unit number on it.
Next, he put on a pair of toe shoes and strapped the ankle hooks to himself for his inverted sit-up bar. He opened the sliding door and stepped out to the vertical bar he had installed out here for his workout. It kept the apartment from smelling like a gym.
Kris grabbed the bar to begin with fifty pull-ups. He had just started when he heard a sound from Raisa’s balcony; it sounded like the whimper of a scared animal. He did five quick lifts and was working on five slow ones when he heard the sound again, now sure he hadn’t imagined it. Even though no one knew he owned the building, he wanted to make sure there wasn’t an animal trapped over there. So he dropped back to the ground and walked to the edge of the balcony and looked over the edge to her side.
There wasn’t an animal. Instead, he saw Raisa curled in a ball laying on her side, her body shaking like she was cold in the eighty-degree heat. Then he heard that sound again and realized his neighbor was on her balcony curled up weeping in the corner. “Raisa, are you okay?”
She didn’t answer him or even acknowledge that she heard him. “Raisa, it’s Kris. Are you hurt?”
When she didn’t respond, Kris decided he was going to check on her personally. “I’m going to come over there on your balcony, okay? If you don’t want me to, you need to let me know you’re okay.”
She still didn’t respond, so he took off the ankle hooks, climbed over the rail around his balcony, maneuvered close to her rail and when he was as close as he could get, he jumped sideways and caught her railing before he vaulted over it onto her deck. He walked over to where she lay and kneeled down, reaching out to touch her shoulder. As his hand touched her flesh, she screamed and spun toward him. He jerked back, “Hey, it’s only me.”
She looked at him, tears still running down her face. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you crying and saw you shaking. I asked if you were okay, but you didn’t seem to hear me. In my defense, I told you I was coming to check on you.”
She looked around, fear slowly leaving her eyes as she realized who he was. “How did you get over here?”
He smiled. “I jumped.”
Her eyes got huge. “You jumped from your balcony to mine?”
He nodded. “Yes, I’m in pretty good shape. Not that it mattered. The jump wasn’t that hard to do.”
She turned to face him fully, and he saw the bruise forming on her other cheek. His hands came out and took her head between them, turning her so he could see. “Raisa, who did this?”
She quickly tried to cover her cheek with her hand. “It’s nothing, Kris.”
His voice got frosty. “It’s not nothing. Did your brother do this?”
She quickly shook her head. “No, Stephan would never hurt me.”
“Then who? Who would mark such a beautiful face like this?”
Raisa
The concern in Kris’ eyes and the sweetness of his words shot through her tattered soul like a bullet. Before she could think about it, she’d wrapped her arms around his neck and was weeping into his chest. Even through her grief she couldn’t help but take in his scent, like sandalwood and cedar with a hint of something musky and all man. Then he’d lifted her into his arms and sat on the lounger she’d been in. Pulling her into his lap, he held her and rocked her, rubbing his hands in small circles on her back. “It’s okay, I’ve got you. You’re safe and I’ll keep you that way.”
Kris kept soothing her and comforting her. The more he told her she was safe, and he’d keep her that way, the more she wanted to believe it was true and not just a desperate male neighbor trying to get her to stop crying. He was like a machine, but softer. Yet she could feel his hard muscles under her cheek and the arms surrounding her. How could someone with so much power and hardness be so tender and soft? If she wanted, she could lean up and kiss his neck and jaw, but to do so might end the comfort he was giving her. As her sobs quieted and she squirmed closer to feel the protection he was telling her he’d give her, he slowly turned her so that he could look into her face. “Feeling calmer?”
She nodded.
“Can you please tell me what happened to make you so afraid and who hurt you without losing it again?”
His gray eyes looked into hers like a storm filled sky just before the sun broke through. She wanted nothing more than to dive into their depths and wrap her mouth around his. Taking comfort in his kiss, or touch. She wanted things she’d never wanted before, all so that this man would be hers. Yet she knew when she told him who was after her he’d be gone. No one was willing to stand up to Gregori in this neighborhood. He owned everyone, including the police, and the entire community knew it. She sighed, then told Kris all about what happened today.
As she talked, she got tense again, and when she came to the end, Kris sighed. “So this Gregori? He’s a local criminal?”
Raisa shook her head. “No, he is the boss of the Russian Syndicate, like the local mob boss, only he’s worse than any other mobster around. No one, and I mean no one, crosses him.”
“But what he did to you, that’s assault and solicitation. What he’s doing to your diner is called loan sharking. All of that is illegal and they could put him away for each of them. You should go to the police.”
She shook her head. “Kris, you don’t understand. If I go to the police, it will just get worse. They will tell him and then he’ll send Nestor to hurt Stephan worse, and me, too. I just need to come up with the money Stephan owes him, or I’ll have to do what he wants.”
Kris held her tight. “NO! I won’t let you do that. Not now, not after I’ve finally gotten to hold you.”
Then, before she could blink, his lips were on hers and she was responding to the demand of his kiss. When she moaned a little and pressed herself closer to him, he devoured her mouth, tasting, probing, and exploring her inside and out. He all but made love to her mouth with his own. Like a drowning man who needs air, he pulled back and gasped for breath. She could feel his desire where she sat on his lap and feel his heart racing along with hers under her hand on his chest. How was this possible? She wasn’t the kind of girl anyone kissed like he just kissed her. She was the girl who was too chunky, too smart, too Russian for an all-American heartthrob like Kris Lawson to notice her. He looked at her. “I won’t let him have you, Raisa, because now you belong to me.”
Her heart sped up. “But I don’t understand. Why now? After two years of seeing each other every day. Two years of refusing to acknowledge the connection between us. Why do you make this declaration now when it’s impossible? I can’t pay the loan and Gregori gets what he wants, Kris, and he wants me.”
Kris stood and pulled her into his arms. “Well, he can’t have you. I won’t let him.”
Raisa laughed. “And how will you stop him? Beat him with roses? I’ve heard of this War of the Roses, but that is not what it means.”
She watched as emotion flashed across his face. Amusement at her pun, anger at the situation. And then something close to what she’d seen on Nestor’s face before he left the diner today. A look of cold, hard determination. “Every rose has its thorn, Raisa, and I name myself yours.”
With that, he kissed her and pulled her tight against his body. Heat and desire shot through her body, and she felt herself melting into him. What he made her feel was like nothing she’d ever even imagined she could feel before. When his hands moved up her sides and under her shirt, she sighed and gave herself over to this wonderful man and the sensations and feelings he was bringing her. When he scooped her up and carried her toward her bedroom, the spell broke. “What are you doing?”
He looked into her eyes and must have seen the fear in them. “I’m putting you to bed.”
She shook her head. “I want nothing more than to be yours, Kris, but I’m not ready to sleep with you. We haven’t even had a proper date yet.”
Kris chuckled. “I wasn’t suggesting that we have sex, Raisa. You’ve had a hard and emotional day. I was suggesting that with the shock and turmoil you’ve endured today that we get you to bed, nothing more.”
Raisa blushed. “Oh, I just thought…”
Kris held her closer to his body as he carried her to her room. “I know what you thought, and we will get there, Raisa. I promise you that, but I’m not the kind of guy to take advantage of your emotional turmoil. When I make love to you, it will be because you ask me to, no other reason.”
His words sent warmth through her entire body. Her heart raced at the thought of him and her together. When they reached her room, he put her down. “Get ready for bed and I’ll come tuck you in when you’re ready.” Kris stated with a wink.
Raisa felt fear and loneliness start to take over as he moved toward her bedroom door. His presence had wiped both away, and now he was getting ready to go home and leave her alone. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
He stopped and looked at her. “What are you asking of me, Raisa?”
Tears started pooling in her eyes. She hated feeling so weak. “I don’t want to be alone. I don’t know if I can rest thinking about Gregori coming for me.”
Kris came back and took her in his arms and held her close enough that she could hear his heartbeat. “I will stay. I’ll sleep on the couch, so you aren’t alone.”
“Please sleep with me. Just sleep,” she said when he shook his head. “Nothing else. I want you to hold me and make me feel safe.”
Kris looked into her eyes and she could see the war going on behind them. Finally, he kissed her with a sigh. “Just sleep. I won’t rush this thing between us, Raisa. But I will give you what you need and ask me for. I’ll make you feel safe because I’ll keep you safe. You get changed and I’ll go do the same. Can I borrow your keys to get back into your apartment? I really don’t want to keep jumping across the balcony.”
Raisa giggled and reached into her pocket and handed him her keys. “Thank you.”
He kissed her again. “You belong with me. I’m yours for as long as you want me, sweetheart. You don’t have to thank me for giving you what you want or need.”
Chapter Three
Kris
Kris let himself out of her front door, shutting and locking it behind him. He entered his house and went back to his safe room, placing his hand on the palm scanner and opening the steel box. He went right to the weapons rack and pulled a Walther PPQ Tactical Navy pistol with a fifteen-round magazine from the wall and two extra magazines of ammo. Kris grabbed a clip holster for the back of his shorts and once the weapon was in place, he picked up a small door alarm stop. It wouldn’t keep anyone out of her place for long, but it would give them warning if someone tried to enter tonight. Kris left the room and picked up his cell phone from the charger in his room where he’d left it to go work out.
He changed into sleep pants and a t-shirt, moving the holster to the back of the sleep pants. He was going to sleep in her bed, holding the woman of his dreams tonight. That thought caused him to smile for a moment while the call he was making went through. He walked back next door, securing his door and then closing and locking hers before placing the stop alarm at the foot. He’d have to show it to her in the morning and ask her to keep using it.
The phone rang and was answered. “Blackguard Securities, how may I direct your call?”
“Human Resources, please.”
“One moment, please.”
There was a series of clicks and then “Human Resources, how can I help you?”
Kirs took a breath. “Asset authentication.”
“Proceed.”
“Tango, Hotel, Oscar, Romeo, November 317 Lima.”
“Asset Verified. How can we assist you, Thorn?”
“I need all information on a local tango named Gregori Volkov, and all known associates and concerns.”
“What have you gotten yourself involved in, Thorn? This is not an officially sanctioned tango.”
“No, it isn’t. This is a private contract, of a personal nature.”
There was a brief pause before the voice came back on the line. “Control has deemed this contract as valid and of a personal nature. He wishes to meet with you tomorrow to discuss the situation. I will send information to your secure email account before that meeting.”
“Understood; would you tell Control I would like to meet him at the Felfan Diner near my cover work? It is germane to the contract.”
“We have notified Control. Response is: ‘Will meet at your cover and proceed from there. Acknowledge Response requested.’”
“Response Acknowledged. Thorn out.”
The line went dead, and Kris sighed. At least they were going to get him the information he needed and while it was a cheesy line from a cartoon he’d watched as a kid, he’d know just how bad this situation was and knowing was half the battle. He shut the balcony door that he and Raisa had left open earlier. He walked back to her room and knocked on the door. “I’m back. Are you changed?”
“Yes.”
He entered the room to see Raisa sitting on the end of the bed in a pair of pajama shorts and a baby doll top that made his heart race. He climbed into the bed and held her, kissing her and rubbing her back until she fell asleep in his arms.
Kris lay beside Raisa and watched as she slept. He’d done it now, he’d promised himself he’d stay away and not sully her light with the darkness of his soul, but someone worse was trying to take her light away and he’d never allow that. He’d claimed her as his own and tied his heart and soul to hers tonight. Now it was time for him to use his skills to make sure she was safe to choose to love him or someone else.
Raisa
Raisa woke to a warm body beside her and an arm tucked just under her breasts.
Her eyes widened at the thought that she wasn’t alone, and then yesterday afternoon and evening came crashing back around her. Gregori, his demand. Falling apart on her balcony, Kris jumping from his balcony to hers and holding her. Kissing her, telling her she belonged to him. She remembered asking him to stay and hold her; she remembered the kisses that had followed after they laid down and Kris’s promise that he’d keep her safe and take care of Gregori.
She turned so that she could see him, and his eyes opened and looked right into hers. “Good morning. How is my lovely lady today?”
She blushed at his question and the too-real answer that popped out of her mouth. “Scared.”
He stroked her face with his hand. “You don’t need to be scared, sweetheart. I will keep you safe. Gregori won’t touch you again.”
She bit her lip, and he pulled her close. Raisa could feel every inch of his body as hers pressed up against him, and she realized she was heating up again, just like yesterday. She kissed him and quickly got up. “I need to get ready to go. It will upset Stephan that I’m late as it is.”
Kris rolled out of bed and she froze when he reached under the pillow and pulled out a pistol and stuck it in the back of his sleep pants. “Where did you get that?”
“I told you I would keep you safe, Raisa. When I went home, I got a couple of things to do so. One of them was my pistol.”
She backed away. “I don’t like guns.”
“It’s just a tool, Raisa. One I know how to use and when to use. You told me last night that this man would stop at nothing to possess you. I promised you he wouldn’t, and I got the tools I needed to make sure he didn’t. It’s perfectly safe in my care, I promise, as are you.”
She knew her fear was unfounded, but she didn’t like that her life had taken this turn. Kris was right, he had promised to keep her safe. She knew that Gregori and Nestor would never hesitate to use guns to take what they wanted. So it made sense that Kris would use one as well to stop them from doing so. She didn’t know he even owned a gun, much less knew how to use one. “You know how to use that?”
He nodded. “I spent eight years in the Navy, sweetheart. I am a master marksman with several types of weapons. Also, I work part time for a security firm.” He handed her a laminated card that had his picture and the words Blackguard Security on it. “Part of that job requires that I stay master marksmen qualified. I’m licensed to carry both openly and concealed. So yes, I know how to use it.”
She shivered. Her sweet and kind florist was also some kind of badass. While that should have caused her to be afraid, if she was honest, it kind of turned her on even more than his perfectly chiseled body did. No wonder he was fit and toned. He was a part-time bodyguard. “Holy crap,” she thought. “I have my own personal hot bodyguard.”
She went into the bathroom and quickly threw on her clothes. She really needed a shower after last night, but she’d wait until she got home tonight. Raisa headed for the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit, and Kris followed her. “I brought you something else, too. It’s an alarmed door stop. After you get home, shut and lock your door and sit this right up against the bottom. See how it is now?” He’d set the triangle thing up to the door and she nodded. He unlocked the door and pulled it back like he was opening it. After a half inch, it stopped and a loud wailing siren sounded. He shut the door and reached down, pushing a button on the device, springing the triangle back up and silencing the alarm. “It won’t keep someone out if they really want in, but it will slow them down and give you time to get out.”
She frowned. “But how? There is only one door?”
He shook his head. “That isn’t true. You have two.” He pointed at the balcony door.
She shook her head. “But if I go out there, I’m still trapped.”
“No, you won’t be. I’m going to fix that today with a bridge you can use to cross over to my side.”
He took her hand and pulled her to the front door. “Come to my place for a minute. I want to show you why you’ll be safe inside my place.” Raisa followed him into his apartment. “I’ll leave the balcony door unlocked so that you can get in anytime you need, okay?”
She nodded. “But how does this keep me safe? I still have to go out past my apartment.”
He shook his head. “Not if you come here. Go this way.” Kris pulled her down the hallway to a door at the end with a metal plate with a palm print in it. He laid his hand on the print and the door in front of him slid into the wall. He pulled her in and showed her a red button on the other side of the wall. When he hit it, the door slammed back across the opening, sealing them in the room. “This is my panic room. It’s bulletproof and blast proof. We are going to record your handprint so it will open for you as well as me. If someone comes after you, get to this room and hit that button. Then see the one beside it, the green one?”
“Yes, does that let me out?”
“No, it calls me and my security company.”
“Not the police?”
He shook his head. “No, you told me they worked for the man who is after you, so only three people can open that door after today. You, me and my boss at the security company. He’s a friend from the Navy. You’ll meet him at lunch today.”
“I will?”
“Yes, he’s having lunch with me at your diner today.”
“Oh, okay, well, I need to go to work. Stephan is going to be mad.”
“Can you be a bit later? I want to get you logged into the system right quick. If he gives you any shit, remind him you’re trying to clean up his mess.”
Raisa giggled, and he smiled in a way that almost turned her into a melty puddle right there. She looked around the safe room; it had a small cot and several shelves filled with freeze-dried food and bottled water, and then there were the weapons behind a locked mesh door. Lots and lots of weapons, including something that looked like small eggs of clear liquid with a black bean on top. “What are those?”
“I’ll give you the full tour tonight after we get home, okay? You’re late, remember?”
She giggled and then warmed at the fact that he said when we get home. She was a part of a ‘we’ now. He typed on a computer and pointed to a glass scanner beside him. “Can you put your right hand on the scanner, please?”
She put her hand where he told her to and a bright green light slowly crawled from the bottom of the screen to the top. Then a voice said, “Handprint for Raisa scanned and logged, voice sample needed.”
Kris pointed to the computer screen and then to her mouth and opened and closed his hand to show she should talk. She looked at the screen and then read the phrase she saw there. “Every rose has its thorn.”
“Voice print accepted. Hello Raisa, I’m Friday, the Artificial Intelligence security system for Blackguard Security.”
“Hello Friday. What does an artificial intelligence security system do?”
“I help the security agents with research and protect anyone allowed entry into this room. I can make calls and provide entertainment and first aid if needed.”
“Friday, it’s Thorn. Update the panic room at the Doghouse and all safe houses with Raisa’s entry information.”
“Affirmative, Agent Thorn. All systems updated.”
“Thank you. We’re leaving now, open the door, then return to standby mode.”
There was a whoosh as the door opened.
“Returning to standby mode. Have a good day, Thorn.”
Raisa’s eyebrow rose. “Thorn?”
“Yes, my dear, Raisa. I told you every rose has its thorn, and I’d be yours. Your name means Rose, does it not?”
“Yes, but why are you calling yourself Thorn?”
“I’m not. It’s been my call sign since the Navy and still is at Blackguard. Because I’m a florist, my old Commanding Officer said I was too ugly to be a flower but just painful enough to be a thorn. It stuck. I’m Thorn, and have been for ten years. Until I left the Navy, I was more likely to answer to Thorn than I was to answer to Kris. Now I answer to either.”
He walked her down to the parking garage, and she opened her unit and got in her Jetta, and he opened his and pulled on his helmet, climbing on the motorcycle she’d seen parked behind the flower shop almost every day. Yes, her florist had a bad boy side to him and that excited her like nothing else. He waved as she started her car and pulled out, and he followed her.
Her smile lasted until she walked through the back door of the diner. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you. I thought something had happened.”
“I was making sure I had some safety measures in place thanks to the situation you’ve gotten me caught up in.”
Stephan hung his head. “I’m sorry Raisa, I’m trying to make it right.”
“Have you found anyone who can loan us the money?”
Stephan shook his head. “No, no-one wants to get involved. I talked to the bank this morning and we can get an equity loan on the diner, but it will take at least a month. I’m sorry.”
His face told her he had something else on his mind. “What Stephan? What are you thinking?”
He shook his head. “Nothing…”
“Oh, you’re thinking about something. Spit it out.”
“Couldn’t you just do what he wants?”
Raisa couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “What did you ask me?”
“This is Gregori, Raisa. He’s going to end up with what he wants, anyway. Why not go to him now and buy us time to get the loan from the bank?”
Anger flashed through her. Her own brother was telling her to buy them time by giving herself to a disgusting mean man so he would be safe. “I can’t believe you even suggested that, Stephan. Never will I willingly give that man what he wants. I’ll die first. Do you understand me?”
“It’s just sex, Raisa.”
She looked at her brother and realized she didn’t know him anymore. “It is not just sex. It is my body and my soul and I will not sell it to anyone. Let alone that man, not for any price.”
“Everyone has a price, Raisa, even you.”
She slapped him. How dare he speak to her like that? How dare he think like that? She spun back around and stormed out the door leading out the back, stopping to look at him before she left. “I’m taking a sick day, because you make me sick. Papa would be so disappointed in you, Stephan.”
She slammed the door and marched over to the back door of the flower shop and banged on the door. When Kris opened the door, she threw herself in his arms. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you take a sick day with me?”
Kris looked down at her and wiped at the tears running down her face, and leaned down and kissed her.
She heard a grunt behind her and turned to see Stephan standing there with an angry look on his face. “I see how it is. You and the flower boy. This is why you won’t do your duty to your family. This pretty boy?”
She gasped, and Kris looked at her. “What’s he talking about?”
She shook her head. “He wants me to give myself to Gregori and buy him some time on the loan.”
Kris looked at her brother. “How much do you owe?”
“What?”
“I asked you how much you owe?”
Stephan looked at him and sneered. “It’s none of your business. Leave me and my sister alone.”
Kris walked up to her brother and placed his hand on Stephan’s shoulder, and her brother gasped. Kris looked him in the eye. “I will not ask again. I’m just going to keep pressing right here until you decide to answer me.”
Her brother cried out and glared until his knees gave out, and then he screamed. “Twelve thousand dollars today! It goes up a thousand every day until it’s paid.”
Kris let him go. “When is this man coming for his payment again?”
“Friday.” Stephan rubbed at his shoulder and upper arm that was still hurting from the pressure point Kris had pressed on.
“I’ll be back to see you after closing with the money and a contract for you to pay me back.” Kris pointed at Stephan. “
“You, not your sister. Is that understood? You got yourself in this mess and then dragged your sister into it as well. It will be you who will get yourself out of it. I’ll take care of getting your sister out of it.”
Then Kris turned and took Raisa into his arms. “Let me tell Carol I’m taking the day off. We will go see my friend somewhere else for lunch.”
Raisa nodded, and together they walked into the flower shop and shut the door, leaving her brother outside.
Chapter Four
Kris
Before they could even leave his store and head back to the apartment for the day, Kris was getting a call from a Blackguard phone. “Thorn here.”
The voice on the other end was deep and calm, but the words spoken sent adrenaline racing through Kris. “Thorn, you got problems.”
“Mac, what do you mean?” Kris moved over to his weapons stash and prepared to lift the table top for heavier weaponry
“I mean the name you gave us, Gregori Volkov, is the head of the local Russian mob, and that diner you want to meet at is one of their fronts.”
“What? No, it isn’t, its owned by a brother and sister.”
“That’s right, Stephan and Raisa Felfan. The diner launders money for the Syndicate, as the group is called. Spidey has the paper trail right here. What is the nature of your involvement?”
“Raisa is my next-door neighbor, Gregori came into the dinner and demanded her favors as part of a payment for a loan.”
“When was this loan supposedly given?”
Kris sighed. “Why don’t you meet me at my place in half an hour? I’ll introduce you to Raisa and we can talk there. Bring the files I asked for.”
Mac was silent on the phone for a moment, then said, “Make it an hour, and we have already sent the file to your secure email. Do nothing until we talk, Thorn.”
“I’m going to take Raisa to my place and get her to relax. Her brother just told her to sell herself to the man they owe to pay the loan. So if this is a situation like Cambodia, the players are pro and I don’t fall for pros, you know that.”
“Depends on how close to the situation you are. You said this was a personal contract. You’ve never had one of those before.”
“Not true. I did that one in Russia.”
He heard Mac sigh. “That wasn’t really personal, though, was it? I’m worried you’re being played.”
Kris gritted his teeth. “Come see for yourself then.”
“Roger, one hour.”
“Copy, Mac. We’ll be waiting.”
Raisa looked at him as he put his phone back in his pocket. He walked over to the girl and she smiled. “That didn’t sound like good news.”
He smiled at her. There was no way he was being scammed here. She had been pure and untouched, and he wouldn’t believe a girl would waste such a precious gift on trying to scam him. “It’s my boss at the security company. He has some information we need to see. He’s going to meet us at my place in an hour.”
He pulled her up and kissed her. She responded with a small moan in the back of her throat. Which made him almost lose control of his tightly held passion; but there was no reason to embarrass his staff by ravishing his new girlfriend on the worktable. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
Raisa nodded, and they walked out the back door with a wave to his manager, letting her know she was in charge. They reached Raisa's parked car and stopped. There was a yellow folded note under her windshield wiper. Kris pulled it out and opened it. In simple block writing was the message. “If you don’t give me what I want, soon I may just have to cut my losses.”
The word cut was underlined four times and when they looked at the car, they realized that all four of her tires had been raggedly slashed open.
Raisa cried at the expense, and Kris pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry about this, Raisa. I’ll get it taken care of. For now, you can ride home with me.”