“Kieran?” Janina prompted sharply when he didn’t immediately answer her.
Which meant she was right: there was something Kieran wasn’t telling her. Hell, there were probably dozens of things Kieran wasn’t telling her. But this one, she sensed, was of personal significance to her.
“After the wedding and before your father returned to Moscow two weeks ago, your father and Marisha both made a point of asking me to personally take care of you,” he finally answered.
Her chin rose. “And here I thought you actually liked me, but that sounds as if I’m nothing more than a job to you,” she taunted to hide the hurt she felt if that was true.
His jaw set and his lips pressed into a thin line. “I didn’t say that, damn it!”
Janina felt a frisson of pleasure course through her at his ready defense. “Then what am I?” she prompted softly.
Kieran’s scowl deepened. “You’re a stunningly lovely and intelligent woman who is asking to have her arse spanked.”
Her brows rose. “I wouldn’t advise you try that—I have a black belt in jujitsu so I’m likely to spank your ass right back,” she explained at his questioning look. “Although…Marisha once told me that Jericho—”
“I really don’t want to hear anything about my brother’s sex life, thank you very much,” he cut in forcefully.
She eyed him curiously. “What makes you think sex was involved?”
He breathed out his frustration. “We both know that it was.”
No, Janina didn’t know that.
Marisha had only owned up to the fact Jericho had spanked her the one night because she’d winced as she sat down the following day and Janina had been concerned as to why that was. A blushing Marisha had reluctantly admitted that her bottom felt sore because Jericho had spanked her for having gone for a walk on the grounds without telling him or any of the other bodyguards where she was going. Janina had absolutely no doubt, and she knew Marisha didn’t either, that Jericho’s fear of something happening to his future wife had been the motive behind the spanking.
Janina had no idea if sex had followed, but Kieran seemed to be saying it would have.
Interesting.
Janina’s experience with men came down to having just those two boyfriends, both briefly, and she hadn’t had sex, or wanted to have sex, with either of them.
She was definitely interested in having sex with Kieran.
She’d spent the past two months wanting that with him.
Merely being in the confines of the same room with him now was making her hot and needy. Her breasts felt too plump for her bra, the sensitive nipples chaffing against the lace, and between her thighs felt slick, the lips there swollen.
How would she feel if Kieran put her over his muscular thighs and spanked her bottom?
Warm.
No, hot.
Definitely hot.
And she would ache with need.
Everywhere.
Just imagining being spanked by Kieran caused Janina’s nipples to tingle and between her thighs to grow hot.
“What are you thinking about?”
Janina snapped her attention back to Kieran as he still leaned back against the desk. His legs were parted, feet braced to support his weight, bringing him down to her level when he normally stood a foot taller than her five feet two inches.
It would be so easy for her to step between those parted thighs, to press herself against that muscular torso and place her hands on his shoulders for balance as she leaned forward to initiate a kiss between the two of them. His lips would be firm and responsive, and—
Kieran straightened before Janina had time to decide whether or not doing any of that would be a wise move on her part. Probably not, considering Kieran had just asked her to move into his house in the grounds with him.
An invitation Janina knew she should also refuse, considering her feelings for him, but it really was too tempting an offer for her to say no to. “I was just thinking about the stuff I would need to move over to your house. After I’ve explained where I’m going to Carla and Leon, of course.” She didn’t really have that much to move anyway.
She had left Moscow so abruptly two months ago, she hadn’t had time to bring anything personal with her from her apartment. Instead, she’d gone into New York and bought new underwear and the minimum of outer clothing within days of arriving here. She spent most of her time in her nurse’s uniform now anyway, so a couple of sweaters and jeans were all she needed. She could buy lighter clothes in the spring when the weather became warmer.
“Kieran?” she prompted when once again he failed to answer her.
Kieran felt as if his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth, making speech impossible. Had Janine really just said that she was going to move in with him?
Well, you did just ask her to do exactly that, ya wee eejit, he mentally answered his own question.
Yes, he had, but he hadn’t really thought Janina would agree to do it, even though it was the logical answer to both her dilemma and Kieran’s need to keep her on the estate.
Janina would no longer have to stay in the main house, feeling like a third wheel, and Kieran definitely had plenty of empty bedrooms for her to move into.
Perfect solution for everyone.
Except…
How the hell was he going to be able to sleep at night knowing Janina was in the same house as him, maybe only on the other side of the wall? Perhaps also lying awake, although probably not for the same reason.
Oh Janina seemed to like him well enough. As she’d said, they had become friends these past months. Her sister having now married his brother made her family too of sorts.
But Kieran doubted she was going to be tossing and turning in her bed trying not to think of his naked body in bed merely feet away in the way Kieran knew he was going to be doing about her.
“Fine.” He cleared his throat after realizing his voice sounded a couple of octaves higher than normal. “Before or after dinner?”
She chuckled. “I didn’t mean today. I’m working tomorrow, but I have the day off after that one. I’ll be able to move in then. That short delay will also give me time to talk to Carla and Leon about the move without looking as if I can’t wait to escape their hospitality.”
He nodded. “I usually eat with the other guys in the main bunkhouse. They take turns to cook. You can join us if you… I can have some groceries delivered if you want to cook for the two of us,” he added when she looked less than happy at the idea of eating with the dozen or so onsite bodyguards. “Or I could cook for you. Or you can just cook for yourself, and I’ll continue to eat with the guys, if that’s what you want?” Expecting Janina to play “house” with him, no matter who cooked, was probably going too far.
Disturbing enough they would be sharing the house in a couple of days’ time without also being together at mealtimes and on the evenings he wasn’t working.
“You still haven’t answered me, Kieran,” she said softly but firmly. “Who are you ensuring I remain safe from?”
Fuck!
He’d really been hoping that the past few minutes’ conversation about her moving into his house with him, would have taken her mind off his previous comment. He should have known better. Janina was every inch her father’s daughter and Marisha’s sister.
He grimaced. “Your father is a powerful man—”
“And the man who tried to usurp him, and his brother and their men, are all dead,” she said flatly.
Maybe.
During a meeting with Leon two days ago, the older man had informed Kieran that Sergei Federov, the man who had tried to kill and usurp Janina’s father as the head of the bratva in Moscow, might have a relative left who was now seeking retribution for Federov’s death. Their existence had been overlooked when Gregori Markovic, head of the London bratva, had “dealt with” the rest of the Federovs, before placing Janina’s father back as pakhan of Moscow.
Information about that relative was a little sketchy still. But they would be foolish to ignore the possibility of there being another attack on Boris or his two daughters when Markovic’s second, Nikolai Volkov, was the source of this new information.
Volkov had grown up on the streets of Moscow, and he was currently there assisting in ensuring a smooth return of the power of the bratva to Boris. The ruthless Volkov had heard rumblings from his informants regarding the possibility of another attack on Boris and/or his daughters.
Volkov wasn’t called The Wolf for nothing, and if he was the one issuing the warning, then they would be foolish to ignore it.
Which didn’t help Kieran in the slightest when it came to formulating a suitable answer for Janina.
Suitable?
To hell with that!
Janina wasn’t a child, nor was she unaware of the danger of being her father’s daughter, and Kieran would do well to remember that.
“And don’t even attempt to lie or hold anything back.” Her firm statement only added to that conviction. “I’ve had enough lies told to me by my father. I don’t need that from you too.”
A warning Kieran intended to take note of.