Dimitri's Forbidden Submissive(21)

He hesitated, then nodded. “Yes.”

“Then we should go somewhere else.”

Once again his dark brows drew down. “It would be out of character for me.”

“Why?”

“Because I rarely leave my brother’s side.”

“You have brothers here?”

“Right now he is in Boston, but he will be back at the lodge in two days.”

“Okay, well then let’s get out of here for two days.”

He chuckled. “You trust me enough to leave with me, even knowing I am Bratva?”

“You might as well learn this now, Dimitri, I live my life to the fullest. I have a job that demands all of my attention so I rarely get to take vacations, but when I do, I try to experience everything I can. I’ve gone with my instincts my whole life, and so far, they’ve done a pretty good job at keeping me alive and happy. Right now, my instincts are telling me that I need to spend some time with you.”

“Why?”

“Because…because life is so very fragile.” Dark memories filled her and she shivered as phantom cold iced her skin.

“You are chilled.” He leaned forward enough to hold her with one arm, then the other as he took his jacket off and settled it around her shoulders.

The cloth was still warm from his body, and she took in a deep breath of his smell still lingering on the material. It was such a nice gesture she didn’t want to tell him that she wasn’t really cold, that the shiver came from a memory rather than reality. Talking about her past was a total mood killer, and she didn’t want to answer the questions he would ask right now.

“Thanks.”

He began to stroke her cheek with his thumb, the touch at once arousing and comforting. “If you could go anywhere, do anything, what would it be?”

“Hmmm…well, I’ve put a pretty good dent in my bucket list, but if I could go anywhere and do anything right now I’d have to say I would like to go motorcycle riding along the Grand Canyon. I’ve heard it’s stunning and my grandfather’s people were from that area.”

“That is natural wonder, yes? The Canyon?”

“Yeah. I’ve heard it’s really beautiful and I love riding on a motorcycle. It’s so…freeing. I can go where I want, do what I want and feel the world around me. Do you ride?”

“Yes, I can drive motorcycle. I have a Ducati Monster 696.”

She didn’t know that exact model, but Ducati’s were wicked expensive. “Wow, nice.”

“What about you? You have motorcycle?”

“Yeah. I have a Harley Davidson Softail Slim. I don’t get much of a chance to ride it in the winter because it’s cold as hell in Buffalo and we get a lot of snow, but if the weather’s nice, you won’t see me in a car if I can help it.”

He gave her a swift kiss on her nose then lifted her off his lap. “I must make call. Please sit here. I will not be long.”

Confused, she shrugged then sat back in the chair, cuddling into his jacket while she watched the sun set over the forest. She couldn’t decide if the sky was purple or blue in the beautiful twilight. Dimitri’s voice rumbled behind her as he spoke Russian during his phone call, enchanting her with how exotic the language sounded even if she had no idea what he was saying. She snuck a quick peek over her shoulder and found him staring back at the lodge. The lights were on inside and she could see people moving around behind the windows, though not as many as there had been last night. It seemed like over half of the guests at the lodge had left for the party in Boston, and she wondered who the people were that were a threat to Dimitri.

It still seemed surreal that Dimitri lived the kind of life where she could be in danger from just being seen with him. She should be more worried about it, any normal person would be, but she wasn’t scared of dying. Hell, she dealt with death every day at her job as a nurse at a hospice facility outside of Buffalo. Beyond that, she’d had her own brush with mortality and knew that there was life after death.

She was drawn from her dark thoughts by Dimitri’s hand rubbing her shoulder. “Rya, would you go on adventure with me?”

Blinking at him in the dim light, she stood and pulled his jacket around her. “What are you talking about?”

For a moment he hesitated, looking almost uncertain, then his usual arrogance returned. “I take you on two day adventure. Where we can be Rya and Dimitri.”

“Okay.”

He looked stunned. “Okay?”

She smiled up at him, remembering he wasn’t used to her impulsive ways. “It sounds like fun.”

“You do not want to know where? Or if you will be safe?”