Russian Mobster's Pregnant Mistress (3 page)

“How do you know when it’s time to leave?” She swallowed away the cottony feeling in her mouth. “I mean, if I’m going to be doing this regularly I think I might need a set of rules or something.”

“So this is going to become a habit for you then?”

There was no hint of what he might be feeling in his voice. Dammit. What had been a really comfortable moment had just turned on her. She began edging away from him on the bed. Then his arms locked and he hauled her back to his side.

Maggie sighed. “You’re not making this easy.”

“So just give in and spend the night.” He yawned. “It’s too late to go home.”

“Yes, but I sleep better in my own bed.”

“Perhaps we don’t need to sleep?” The rumble in his voice made her belly knot with desire.

“No. I most definitely need to sleep.” She deliberately pulled away from him and rolled to the edge of the mattress.

The air was cool against her naked skin. Maggie realized her dress was still out in the main room of the suite draped over a barstool. That was a bit of bad planning. She made a mental note to put that on her list of appropriate precautions to take when having a one-night stand. KEEP CLOTHING HANDY.

“It’s been fun,” Maggie called over her shoulder. “Maybe I’ll see you around the club.”

Jacob sat up, bracing his broad shoulders against the headboard. “Oh you will most definitely be seeing me.”

Maggie turned, surprised by the certainty in his voice. How could he know that? Obviously the guy was loaded. He was in the freaking penthouse suite. She cocked her head, trying to decipher something—anything in his expression. “Are you threatening me?”

“Not a threat. A promise.”

“Who
are
you?” Maggie demanded. “What kind of guy doesn’t want no strings attached sex?”

“What kind of woman pretends she wants to have a one-night stand?” he shot back.

Okay, that was fair. “The kind who doesn’t want some psycho stalker for a boyfriend,” she told him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. It’s been fun, but I’m out of here.”

Jacob counted to ten after the front doors of the suite had slammed shut. That was about the time Sasha appeared inside the bedroom with a scowl on his face that would have terrified a lesser man. Jacob was not a lesser man. He was Sasha’s boss. Not that the distinction prevented Sasha from giving Jacob an earful when it suited him.

“Are you insane?” Sasha snarled. He loomed beside the bed, glaring down at Jacob as though he were about dress down a schoolboy. “Do you have any idea what sort of agenda that woman might have? You’re the highest ranking man in the Dolohov syndicate. You cannot take chances with your life the way you did tonight.”

“If I cannot handle myself with one woman I think I probably deserve whatever I get,” Jacob reasoned.

“She could have had other men waiting outside the club.” Sasha threw up his hands in frustration. “Getting you outside the club at a certain time and place could have been her entire purpose! What if there had been an assassin waiting?”

“Then I would be dead and we would not be having this conversation.” Jacob didn’t add that he was very tired of having this and similar conversations on a daily basis. “Between you overreacting to every single thing that happens and the almost constant complaining and nagging from everyone else, death by assassin is looking rather pleasant.”

“You don’t mean that and you know it,” Sasha grumbled.

Jacob gestured to his state of undress. “You’re in here bitching at me and ruining the afterglow of the best sex I’ve ever had. So yes. I mean it.”

“Maybe its time to think with your brain and not your dick.” Sasha began pacing energetically in front of the bed.

“Because I’m in such a habit of putting my cock before my responsibilities to the organization.” Jacob was beginning to feel more than a little irritated. “Do you have any idea what I’ve sacrificed for the good of the syndicate?”

“Sacrificed,” Sasha scoffed. “Yes, because these posh surroundings are such a burden.”

“I’m here at this hotel for one night, and only because we’ve set up a meeting with the Luciettos to talk about the split for the coming year.” Jacob thought about the meeting and how badly he did
not
want to deal with that bullshit. “It’s on me to make sure we don’t get screwed. Yet if I stand firm and refuse to yield a percentage point to that Italian bastard, we run the risk of setting off a war that will end with my men dead on the streets.”

“They are Dolohovs,” Sasha said arrogantly. “They know their duty and are proud to perform it.”

“Because their duty should be to die for me?” Jacob knew he and Sasha would never agree on this point. “But this is not about the meeting.”

“No. It’s about you chasing some whore without allowing us to screen her first,” Sasha said derisively.

The open disdain in his tone for a woman he hadn’t even met made Jacob unspeakably angry. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He pointed to the tattoo on his right arm. “Do you remember what this means? Or have you become so Americanized that you’ve forgotten how to read Russian?”

“I remember,” Sasha said, his expression sulky.

Jacob raised his eyebrows. “Then what does it say?” He pointed again to the words scrawled down the right side of his ribs below the rendering of a tiger on his shoulder.

“Draw not your bow before your arrow is fixed.” Sasha did not look as if he were truly appreciative of what that meant to Jacob.

“And the other?” Jacob prodded, pointing to the words on his left side. “Read it, Sasha.”

“Little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape.”

Jacob gave Sasha a narrow eyed glare. “Remember why I chose those proverbs. Never forget what they mean to me. I know I don’t.”

Sasha dipped his head in acknowledgement, but his attitude was not at all improved.

“Our meeting starts in two hours,” Jacob reminded his second in command. I suggest you occupy yourself with getting ready for that. I’m sure there is plenty of screening to do before the Italians show up and make a mess of things.”

Sasha started to exit, but hesitated at the last moment. “Can I ask you one thing?”

“Obviously.” Jacob was in no mood to be magnanimous about anything.

“Why her?”

Jacob felt a smile tug at his lips. “You didn’t see it, did you?”

“Obviously not. What was I supposed to see?” Sasha demanded.

“She’s different from any other woman I’ve ever come across.” Jacob thought of her witty conversation and her uncertainty about the concept of a one-night stand. “She was honest, about everything. That’s a rare trait these days. Especially in my life.”

“So her charm is that she tells you the truth about herself?”

“I suppose that’s the simple answer. Yes.” Jacob couldn’t seem to stop himself from smiling. “But truthfully I know that I would never be bored with that woman. And that is more valuable than anything else I can conceive of.”

“Do you want us to check her out?” Sasha asked, a note of hesitation in his manner.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say no, but Jacob thought better of it. “Yes. I would like you to find out more about her. Perhaps where she lives and what she does for a living. I would prefer to run across her again on accident, but at this point I don’t believe I want to leave things to chance.”

“Then you’re determined to see her again?” Sasha looked mildly annoyed, but also resigned. It was an improvement.

“Yes. Though I think it will have to wait until these negotiations are complete.” Even the thought of the bastard Luciettos was enough to make Jacob curse. He didn’t want to inadvertently put Maggie in harm’s way. He would never forgive himself if she was hurt because of him.

Chapter Four

One month later…

Maggie swallowed and took deep breaths, trying to control the urge to gag. Lately she’d had this feeling every time she walked into the break room at work. The mingled scents of her coworkers’ lunches, the baked goods usually sitting around on the countertops, and the general lemon smell of ammonia based cleaner made her want to vomit.

The law offices of Peters & Kirk boasted nearly twenty paralegals, four associates, and the two managing partners. They occupied the top two floors of an office building. Their address might not have been Manhattan, but Williamsburg was respectable enough. And it wasn’t as if there weren’t plenty of people getting divorced in and about the Williamsburg area. That meant there was plenty of work and good pay.

Maggie yawned. Someone had left the break room television on. The news was playing. Maggie didn’t bother to shut it off. She decided even the news would be a welcome distraction while she grabbed a snack. She’d been so hungry lately that she had taken to spending her breaks in there munching away.

“I thought I might find you in here.” Courtney entered the room and perched on the edge of a table. “I swear you’ve become the queen of snacks. I keep thinking you’re going to blow up like a balloon, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting you like it would a normal person.” Courtney’s features scrunched into a frown. “How is that fair, by the way?”

Maggie popped the top on a container of yogurt. “So, you found me. What do you want? Or is this actually work related and are you trying to talk to me like a lawyer talks to a paralegal?”

“Nothing that dramatic, I assure you. I want you to go out with me tonight!” Courtney said eagerly. “You haven’t been out since that one time you slept with what’s his name.”

“His name was Jacob,” Maggie supplied. “And no. I haven’t felt like doing another one-night stand. I got lucky last time. Jacob was really nice to me. He could have been a total douche, but he wasn’t.”

“So you’ll go and meet another guy who isn’t a total douche. It’s simple.” Courtney jumped down from the tabletop. “I’ll pick you up at eight. We can split a cab. We’ll even go to the same club.”

There was a tiny part of Maggie that wanted to agree, only because she secretly wondered if she would somehow manage to meet Jacob once again. The idea of seeing him was a pleasant one. Although he had started to get kind of weird when she had left his hotel room. He’d told her that she would be seeing him again. Yet she hadn’t. Had he changed his mind?

“Come on, Maggie.” Courtney put on her best pouty face. “Please?”

Maggie was just about to respond when something on the news caught her eye. She blinked in shock as she realized that there was a picture of Jacob—her Jacob—on the screen. Leaning over, she turned up the volume.

“What are you doing?” Courtney demanded.

“Hush.”

Courtney didn’t appreciate
that
one bit. “Seriously, Maggie. You’ve been acting really weird lately.”

That was true enough. Maggie
felt
weird. “Don’t you recognize the guy on the screen?” she asked Courtney. Maybe it was a feeble attempt to hope she wasn’t seeing what she was seeing.

“Holy shit!” Courtney gasped. She went to the television and got so close she could have kissed the picture. “It’s that Jacob guy!”

“And apparently he’s the most notorious mafia kingpin in New York,” Maggie groaned. “How is it possible that I didn’t know that?”

“Are you up on all of your local crime news?” Courtney asked with a snort. “Because I assure you, I’m not. He really is hot though. Look at him!” She pointed to the screen. “Even in a mug shot he looks good.”

“Are they saying they indicted him?” Maggie was having trouble following what the news anchor was saying.

“No. She just said he was released without charges because they didn’t have any evidence.” Courtney pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I wonder how often he gets arrested. Hmm, that is so”—she paused as if she were searching for the most dramatic way to say the obvious—“sexy. Yes. That’s
sexy
!”

“Are you saying illegal activities are sexy? Because that is insane. You are a
lawyer
, Courtney! And both of us should be steering clear of this guy.” Maggie heaved a gigantic sigh. “You know what? I’m totally going out with you tonight.”

“Woohoo!” Courtney bounced up and down. “That’s awesome! Although I’m slightly confused as to why you’ve had a sudden change of heart.”

“Maybe I just need something to get my mind off Jacob.” Maggie didn’t add that she was hoping to see the jerk at Club 599. Then she could really give him a piece of her mind. What kind of man slept with a woman but didn’t mention that he was a real live criminal mastermind? Maggie realized that Courtney was still waiting for more of an explanation. “Okay, so the night I was with Jacob at the Plaza?”

“Yes?” Courtney said expectantly.

Maggie swallowed. She had no notion of how her friend was going to take this bit of news. “Well I sort of forgot to mention that he told me he would see me again.”

“Wow!” Courtney looked thunderstruck. “So you’ve been waiting all month for this jerk to get ahold of you and he didn’t.”

“And now I find out that he’s been a little busy with this big investigation into his mafia activities.” Maggie felt ridiculous even saying that. “Now I totally understand why he never contacted me, but I’m equally certain I don’t really want him to.”

“This is messed up,” Courtney said with a hard nod. “You totally need to go out and get laid tonight. It’ll help clear your head.”

“You have the most baffling outlook on life, Court, especially for a woman who negotiates prenuptial agreements and divorce decrees for a living.” Maggie told her friend. “Seriously, I think you honestly believe that sex solves everything.”

“Oh it does.”

Maggie didn’t even have to think twice about that one. “I think in this case it might just make things more complicated.”

“Your place, eight o’clock,” Courtney reminded her. “We’ll share a cab.”

Maggie felt the first twinge of real excitement she’d experienced since she had left Jacob’s hotel room. “See you then.”

***

One night at a club did not make Maggie an expert in club rituals or the behavior of those who hung out there. Still, the second time she followed Courtney into Club 599 she felt far more comfortable than she ever would have expected. The music was still so loud it felt as though her teeth were growing loose in their sockets. The beat pounded off the walls and the sea of dancers spun and gyrated to the rhythm.