Oak, Sophie - Found in Bliss [Nights in Bliss, Colorado 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (24 page)

And he needed to leave.

He slipped out of the bathroom and started to look for his pants.

“You leave so soon?” Alexei’s voice startled him. Caleb nearly jumped out of his skin. Which was also all he was wearing.

“Damn it. You can’t do that to a person.” Now that there wasn’t a woman in the room, two dudes talking with their junk hanging out seemed wrong. He skipped the underwear and went straight for the jeans, scooping them off the floor and stepping into them as quickly as he could.

“You sneak out, I sneak up. There is no difference.” Alexei didn’t seem bothered by the whole nude dude thing.

Crap. He wasn’t expecting to deal with Alexei. Alexei was supposed to be perfectly happy to see his ass leave. Alexei should have stayed curled around Holly. “Go back to bed, man. I’m going to head home.”

“You have trouble sleeping?” Alexei’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

“I don’t sleep much, no.” He looked around for his shirt. The room was littered with hastily tossed off clothes. Holly’s dress had been thrown across the long sofa. Her shoes had made it to the tiny kitchen. There was a bra on the fireplace. He located Alexei’s slacks hanging over the TV and tossed them his way. “If we’re going to have a conversation, put on some pants, man.”

“Americans.” Alexei pulled his slacks on while shaking his head. “We will not mind if you toss and turn. Come back to bed, my friend. In morning, we will make love to Holly all over again.”

They might mind when he woke up screaming and in a cold sweat. They certainly might mind when he punched and kicked, trying to get out of the cage he found himself in every night when he closed his eyes. He could hurt Holly. He hadn’t actually hurt anyone in a while, but it could always come back. He couldn’t risk it. “No.”

A long sigh came from Alexei’s mouth. “Yes, that would be answer. You say no a lot, Caleb. We must find things for you to say yes to.”

He made it sound so damn simple. “I’m not saying I won’t come back.”

“You simply will not to sleep with her. Or is it me?”

Fuck, this was so awkward. “You seriously think I would fuck with you in the same room, but I won’t sleep in the same bed? No. It’s not that. I just don’t like to sleep with anyone.”

There was a long pause as though Alexei was trying to figure out just how to deal with him. This was precisely why Caleb had stayed out of relationships. He didn’t want to be figured out.

“Is it because of what happen in Sierra Leone, Dr. Sommerville?”

Alexei’s words stopped him in his tracks. It was as though Alexei had just pulled the pin on a grenade, and now Caleb had to wait to see if it was going to go off and kill them all. “You know who I am.”

Alexei shrugged. “I had not much to do in witness protection. Your family is very celebrated. It was not difficult. There were many, many articles about your family. One of the US Marshals I worked with thought she recognized you in the hospital. Why do you hide this? You are hero, Caleb.”

Some fucking hero. He’d led ten people to their deaths. His wife. Two nurses. Three local aid workers. Five patients who had come to his clinic seeking anyone who could help them and their children. They had all been slaughtered because a group of soldiers had seen a spectacularly heady payday.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He never talked about it.

Alexei shook his head. “I do not be understanding, Caleb. I know what happen in Africa was bad, but it was not your fault. You were victim.”

“I took them there.” He’d led them into hell.

“You take them to help people,” Alexei insisted. “You take them to bring medicine and healing to people with no hope.”

Yes, he’d done it for that reason, but it was more complex than just that. He’d also done it to get away from a marriage that wasn’t working. His charity work had become his world. He’d ignored everyone and everything because it was easier to focus on people who only needed him for his skill. He should have known that Caroline would turn to another man. If he’d had half a heart, he would have freed her before he went into the jungle. If he’d done that, she wouldn’t have come after him in search of her divorce. “You don’t know anything about it, Markov.”

“Then explain to me. Maybe you should talk about it.”

He fucking thought about it all the time. He didn’t want to talk about it. Anger started to simmer inside him. Alexei thought he could walk back in and put him in some weird kind of therapy. Or was there something more sinister at work? Maybe Alexei wasn’t as friendly as he seemed. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had gotten close to him in order to feed off his family. “And I was beginning to think I was wrong about you. Tell me something, are you planning on telling Holly?”

Alexei leaned against the wall. “I don’t understand why you hide this, Caleb. She would understand better if you tell her the story.”

“Yes, she would love it. I chose to go by my mother’s maiden name a long time ago. I don’t live in my brothers’ world. I don’t fit there. I never really did. So, let’s skip all the small talk and get to the shakedown portion of the evening. How much?”

For the first time, Alexei didn’t look totally self-assured. “I don’t to understand.”

God, that whole “I don’t get English” thing was probably a scam, too. “How much to keep your mouth shut? How much to get you to leave? Money. That’s what we’re talking about. How much of the Sommerville pie do you intend to get your hands on? It’s a big fucking pie. I’m sure you think you’re entitled to a slice. I have to say, I appreciate your tactics better than the last fuckers who got a little out of me. At least you didn’t kill my wife and shove me in a cage. The sex thing was a much better way to start your extortion play. Did they teach you that in the mob?”

Alexei stood up straight, his face opening. “Caleb, what are you talking about? This has nothing to do with mob. This is one friend trying to watch after another friend.”

“Sure it is.” Why hadn’t he seen it? He’d let his lust for Holly blind him. Holly. Alexei had seemed to want her so badly. She was going to be hurt, too. Motherfucker. “Did you think about her for one second? Did you think that she would fall in love with you, or was that part of your plan, too?”

Alexei’s eyes went cold. “Do not bring her into this. And do not question my feelings for her. I know who you are. I am not the one keeping secrets from her about myself. I have not told her about you. I will not tell her, but how will she feel when she realizes you did not trust her?”

He trusted Holly. At first he’d just wanted to keep everything quiet. Wolf had promised him that this was a place where he wouldn’t have to worry about reporters and where almost no one would know or care who his family was. Stefan Talbot had known, but he’d promised to keep quiet. The town had needed a doctor. It had seemed like a place where he could do his work and be alone.

And then he’d met Holly. And the more he knew about Holly’s past, the deeper he realized he was in. Holly had gotten the shit kicked out of her by one political family. How the hell would she feel about the fact that he had a brother in the Senate, two cousins in Congress, and a father who had served as the Secretary of the Interior. The Sommervilles made the Langs look like tiny gnats. She would flip out at the prospect of dating a Sommerville.

And perhaps at one point in time she would have been right to do so, but Caleb was done with the whole scene. He couldn’t explain to her that his brother wouldn’t look down on her. His brother would just be happy that he was dating someone. Dating would be normal, and Eli would probably dance a jig if he knew about it. As for his younger brother, Josh would probably fight him over Holly. Holly was just his type.

But she didn’t have to know until fucking Alexei came along. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I agree. You are not your family. But I wonder. You do so many good things. Why do you hide them?”

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

Alexei held up a hand. “Then we will not.”

Caleb opened his mouth to tell the fucker that he wouldn’t pay him a dime, but Alexei stopped him.

“Don’t to talk anymore. You will only make me angry, and nothing will be helped. I am not going to blackmail you. I don’t want your money. Though I do not understand why, I want your friendship. I found out who you are exactly the way I said I did. Nothing more. Nothing less. I admire your work. I am grateful for your work. It save my life. I would not to repay this with blackmail. I have done nothing that would make you believe me. I can only live and prove that I am not the man you think I am.”

But Alexei had done something. More than something. He’d heroically saved Holly and then offered to share her.

Caleb wasn’t sure which Alexei was more dangerous—the criminal or the man who acted like a saint. He had two choices. He could believe Alexei or he could watch him with suspicion.

He might do a little of both. “If I find out…”

Alexei held up a hand. His whole body seemed to go on full alert.

“What?” Caleb had barely gotten the word out when Alexei hushed him and reached down to pick up his shirt. He lifted it, and Caleb caught sight of a big, shiny object. “Holy shit, is that a gun?”

“Shhh.” Alexei hefted the gun—yep, that was a big fucking gun—and clicked off the safety. His voice was low as he came close. “Someone is outside. I hear car, and now someone is moving.”

Caleb stopped and sure enough, he heard it, too. Someone was outside the cabin. He heard footsteps on the porch. They stopped and then began again, this time moving around to the side of the house. Still, he wasn’t sure about that gun. “Is that necessary?”

Alexei’s eyebrow lifted. “Yes, it is necessary when many peoples wish to kill you. Stay here. I will take care of intruder.”

“No fucking way. I’m coming with you.” He might have to stitch someone up. “You need to be careful with that thing. It could be Mel looking for aliens. Or Laura checking in on Holly. We’re not alone out here, you know.”

But Alexei was moving along the floor toward the back door. Holly’s cabin was small, with the front and back doors in sight of each other. Alexei moved almost silently, a genuine feat for a man his size on old hardwood floors. The door squeaked quietly as Alexei slipped out.

Someone was out there, and Alexei was taking it seriously. It was probably someone they knew, but then again, Holly’d had a close call earlier. Adrenaline started to pump through his system, giving him an edgy energy and making everything seem sharper, more visceral. Alexei thought someone had cut the brake line. What if the same person had decided to try again?

Who could be after Holly? He was suddenly damn glad that Alexei had the gun. Maybe it was a necessary accessory in Bliss. His heart began to palpitate as he followed Alexei. He wasn’t sure what he would do, but he meant to be there. It seemed wrong to let him go alone.

The night was oddly silent around him, the only sound the gentle rush of the Rio Grande. The moon illuminated the yard. Holly’s back door led to a small porch and a single set of steps. Somehow Alexei managed to make it to the grass without a sound, but Caleb’s every step squeaked and groaned, the wood shifting under his feet.

Alexei turned and sent him an intimidating look. All Caleb could do was shrug. He’d never gone to “sneak up on someone” school. He crossed the porch as fast as he could.

Alexei held out a hand, stopping Caleb from moving further. They both pressed against the side of the cabin. Alexei poked his head around and quickly came back. He held up a single finger.

One
.

He quickly cupped his junk. Caleb nearly rolled his eyes, but got the silent message.

One man.

There was a strange man walking around outside Holly’s cabin.

He didn’t like this feeling. His stomach spasmed, and just for a moment, he could have sworn he heard the sounds of the jungle, felt the heat on his skin. His vision blurred, and in his mind he saw a canopy of green and smelled the antiseptic scent of his clinic. He kept it clean, so clean. He shivered a little. The jungle was always so hot, but this was Bliss and the night was cool.