He almost chuckled. I was beginning to think of his laughter as a muscle that hadn’t been worked out. We would ease it into use.

His expression turned serious. “I will always desire you no matter how you look.”

I leaned in and nipped his bottom lip. “Lose your rock-hard abs, and I’m outta here.” Excellent, Vice, making jokes about leaving him? Quick change of topic . . . “How do you foresee our days?”

“I want to take you all over the world. Or as far as we can get between your family’s Sunday dinners.”

Dinners Dmitri wouldn’t be going to. “Don’t you have a home in Russia you need to get back to?”

“No. After selling my company, I moved from one property to another.” He added to himself, “Fleeing ghosts.” Before I could ask about that, he said, “We have several properties I think you will enjoy.”

“But you’ll want to live in Russia eventually.” Say yes. Give me one major stumbling block.

“No. I like California. I believe my bride does too.”

Did I ever. “What would our regular day-to-day be like here?”

“Other than the hour I need to conduct business, I’m at your service. Once we’ve traveled and enjoyed ourselves, perhaps you’d like to pursue your dream of designing clothes. We should visit Paris and Milan and investigate where your interests lie.”

Well, then. “Just hit up the fashion capitals of the world?”

“Why not? Money affords us an enviable entrée. We could attend shows and expos and tour the most famous houses. We could invite your friends or family. Or mine. Or both.”

How would my crew get along with the Sevastyans? Didn’t matter. I could never risk one of them slipping up and exposing us. I pictured what would happen if Dmitri found out he’d been maneuvered and used. Would he believe anything between us had been real? That I truly cared for him and wanted him to be happy?

“And, of course”—he reached for a breast—“you and I will provide each other vast amounts of sex.”

But I leaned back. “Hold up, big guy. We’re going to have to ice my pussy if you don’t give it a little rest. It’s gone from off limits to all access, zero to sixty.”

He dropped his hand, squeezing it into a fist. “We’re late for an appointment anyway.”

“Appointment?”

“Yes, out on the water. So I’ll give you a reprieve till tonight. But then I’m going to show you something I think you’ll like. . . .”

CHAPTER 27

I sputtered when windblown spray from a whale’s blowhole dotted my face.

They were swimming all around our kayak—that close! I cast a shocked look back at Dmitri. “Did that just happen?” I vibrated with so much excitement, I probably rocked the boat.

He flashed me a grin, looking like a god in the afternoon sunlight as he paddled us around. He wore a pair of board shorts. No shirt. The misted skin of his broad chest shimmered. “I’m a witness.”

Earlier, he’d told me to hurry into a swimsuit or we’d be late, then rushed me down to the cove to hop in a kayak. When I’d hesitated, admitting I didn’t know how, he’d pinched my chin and told me, “I’ve got you. Just relax, and let me do the work.”

Now I breathlessly asked him, “How could you have an appointment for whales? How’d you know when they would show?” Benji would have given anything to be able to take pictures.

“There’s an app for that. My phone sounded an alert when this pod started moving down the coast.”

“Amazing. You keep boggling my mind. And all I’ve done today is shake my tits a little.”

His grin widened. “I made the better bargain. Tell me, do you like our home?”

“Eh, s’okay, I guess.” I shrugged. “Of course I freaking do! There are whales in the backyard!”

Another one surfaced even closer, and it had a baby! I gazed back at Dmitri, wanting him to see how thrilled I was.

“You know, they mate for life,” he said, his expression telling me, As have I.

Whoa.

Once the pod moved on, Dmitri smoothly steered us farther along the coast. We rounded a headland into the next cove, and I caught sight of several bungalows dotting the hills. Their modern design and expanses of glass called to mind the main house. “What are those?”

“Guest residences.” Each one would have a picture-postcard view of the ocean. “For family to visit.”

My family consisted of approximately thirty Valentines and company. Hey, maybe we could hide from the cartel here.

Except then Dmitri would definitely figure out what we were. What I am.

Worry tempered my happiness. I gazed down at my ring wistfully. How would I smuggle it to Karin? I didn’t want anyone to make an official visit, and the security cameras would prevent a drive-by on the sly. Maybe I could hide the ring out in the woods and leave my phone for her to track. I could tell Dmitri it must’ve slipped off in the ocean, so no one would get blamed for a theft. Yet another lie . . .

The diamond caught a ray of sun, aggressive pinpricks of light stinging my eyes—as if it knew we coldly planned to fence it.

Yes, I was as superstitious as the next grifter, and I believed wedding rings were symbols.

By sacrificing the ring Dmitri had given me, would I jinx his feelings toward me?

Hell, would that even matter? I’d already stacked the cards against us.