Bought and Bound (7 page)

“I’m just a little down, since I lost my job and everything.” It was the “and everything” part I could never, ever tell her. She’d be mortified. Luckily, I’d never told her I was losing the house, so I didn’t have to explain how I’d kept it.

The opening bars of
Bad to the Bone
wafted through the air.

“Oh, I left my phone on the porch,” she said as she headed back to her house. My daughter Belinda is about to have a baby so I have to answer—oh, you know Belinda!” She called out as she picked up her phone.

I was relieved. She’d always been so kind to me, I was afraid I’d break down in front of her and start babbling about Dimitri. I looked down at my mail.

Bills, bills, advertisements. The usual. I was vaguely aware that a car stopped across the street, but I had no interest in gossiping about who was visiting whom in the neighborhood. I took in a long, deep breath and sighed it out. I turned back toward my front door.

“Tanya!” That wasn’t Mrs. Valdez. And the voice was very familiar, even if I’d never heard my name called out by it before. I froze in place, afraid to turn and find it was someone else.

Maybe it was no one at all. Maybe I’d advanced from depression to auditory hallucinations.

“Tanya?” The voice was directly behind me now. So deep, so masculine, so…?

I turned my head enough to see a pair of large men’s dress shoes on the street near the curb.

So there was definitely someone there. I closed my eyes and allowed my feet to inch around very slowly until I was facing the street. I opened my eyes.

“Hi,” Dimitri said. His voice was gentle and tentative in a way I’d never heard.

The mail fell from my hands as I pinched my arm to make sure this wasn’t a dream. “You found me?” I asked, which was a pretty stupid question, I guess.

He bent down to pick up my envelopes and fliers. When he handed them back to me, he was so close, I had to lean my head back to see his face.

He glanced next door. I followed his gaze and saw Mrs. Valdez in suspended animation watching us. The phone was still near her ear, but if someone was talking to her, they weren’t getting any response.

“Could we sit on your porch for a minute?” Dimitri asked. When I just stared up at him, he said, “If you don’t mind?”

I turned and walked up my porch stairs and sat down on the swing, still dazed. He sat on the old metal chair. It crossed my mind that I hoped he didn’t get any rust on the beautiful black suit he was wearing. Gray shirt…and a black tie. I’d never seen him in a tie. What was he so dressed up for?

I looked down at my faded pink t-shirt and gray yoga pants. “You’re overdressed,” was what came out of my mouth. Neither of us laughed at the ridiculous statement. Our gazes met. “How

—?”

“I harassed Oren constantly for two weeks.”

“So, he told you?”

“No. I issued threats for several days in a row. I finally told him I’d push him down the stairs and leave him until he starved to death, if he survived the fall.”

“So,
then
he told you.”

“No. He left town to give me time to cool off. But it occurred to me that Oren never threw away a contract in his life. He’s meticulous about anything he signs.”

“So, you went to his files.”

“Yes, but they were locked. I went downstairs and got all the tools from the back of the bar and ripped the cabinets apart.” He pulled some pages out of his pocket. “I’ve been staring at this every day for the last week.”

“Why did you wait? Why didn’t you come a week ago?” I asked.
That would have saved me
three of the six pounds I’ve gained and about a hundred dollars in ice cream expense.

“I wasn’t sure you wanted me to find you. I mean…after I thought about it, I understood your position. You hardly knew me. It was too big a risk…” He propped his elbows on his knees and looked down at his hands. “But the last time. What I did to you… In my mind, I thought we both wanted it, even if I was so angry, but then I started to wonder if I—” He looked up into my eyes. His were more vulnerable than I’d ever seen them. “Did I
force
you?”

I reached out and put my hand on one of his. He immediately covered it with his other hand.

“No. I always wanted you, Dimitri. Happy…angry…I
always
wanted you.”

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay…” he said. “Okay.”

“They didn’t tell you how I cried for you when they took me away? I screamed bloody murder.”

His eyebrows went up. “No. No one told me.”

“I’d decided to tell you who I was before I left, even if it cost me the money. I fell asleep waiting for you and the next thing I knew I was blindfolded, gagged and hauled away.”

“Gagged? I’ll kill him!”

“Oren wasn’t there. I wouldn’t stop screaming for you, so…”

We were silent for a long moment.

He looked at my front door. “I’m glad you kept your house.”

“I know it doesn’t seem like much to put up such a fight for, but—”

“Tanya, I own multi-million dollar mansions, but prefer to spend much of my time in my grandparents’ ancient apartment.”

“I guess that’s not common in your circles.”

He shook his head. “Can we start again?” he asked suddenly. “Wherever you want to. We can pretend we just met. I can wine and dine and romance you…sing under your bedroom window at night…”

I laughed. “You wouldn’t do that!”

“Just watch me,” he said. He handed me the folded contract. “This is where I’m staying and there’s my cell number.” He pointed to the information he’d written on the back. “You have a lot to think about. I’ll be there until I hear from you—however long that takes.”

He was leaving me? I’d thought about nothing but him every minute since I last saw him
and he thought he was going to leave me alone now?

He turned and walked down my steps. By the time I stood, his long strides had him half-way across the street.

“Dimitri!” I yelled, as loudly as I had the day they took me away. He stopped and turned back. Tears blinding my eyes, I ran as fast as I could, down the stairs, past my mailbox to where he waited. He put his arms out for a hug, but I grabbed for his shoulders and threw my legs around his waist like a chimp. I pressed my lips to his and pushed my tongue into his willing mouth. I’m not sure how long we stayed there, making out in the middle of the street, but a car finally pulled up and honked at us until we came to and got out of the way.

“You’re staying with me,” I said.

“I thought you’d never ask, my darling,” he whispered into my ear. “God, I love you.”

I realized people down the block were gathering on their porches. For once, I didn’t care. I didn’t need to be innocent, timid Tanya anymore. I had nothing to hide. Dimitri knew all of me.

And he loved me.

The End

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