Zurlo, Michele - Two Masters for Samantha [Awakenings 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (46 page)

“That’s not true,” Samantha said. Tears pricked behind her eyes. Between Sabrina’s news about her gallery owner friend and Jonas’s financial lecture and the life-changing decisions her lovers wanted her to make, she was feeling a lot overwhelmed. “I let you tie me up, blindfold me, and do anything you want to me. I trust you implicitly.”

“No,” Lex said. He knelt on the floor next to her, smoothing her hair away from her face with one hand. “If you trusted us, you would accept that taking care of you is something we’re driven to do. We love you, Sam. Why would you deny us our right to make sure you have the kind of life we want you to have?”

The dam broke. Samantha had always been an emotional person. Realizing she was a submissive and a masochist, falling in love with two men, and all of her other worries were too much to handle. She had been raised to be an independent person, to make her own way in the world, not to put her life in the hands of anyone else.

Alexei’s arms came around her, and she sobbed. Yes, she did want them to take care of her. She liked that Alexei flew all the way to
Michigan
and made her redesign her website. She was an artist, a visionary. She sucked at the details, and she lacked the motivation to do the small things that made such a huge difference, like marketing.

“I want to live with you,” she said, her words muffled by Lex’s shoulder. “I want to be with the both of you always.”

Stefano scooted the table out of the way and held her from the other side. “But?”

Lifting her head from Alexei, Samantha looked from him to Stefano. More than anything else, she wanted to have a life with them. “I’ve never been weak before. I’m not looking for a white knight to rescue me and make my life better.”

Stefano stared at her, that hard line returning to his mouth. “So you would deprive us of the only woman we’ve ever loved, the only woman who has ever touched our souls, all because you don’t want to appear weak? It takes a tremendous amount of strength to admit what you want, especially when it’s not what you’ve always thought you should want, and then take it. Sammy, you’re being selfish.”

Alexei cleared his throat. “I agree. Selfish.”

Oh, they knew how to push her buttons. Appealing to her selfless nature was a ruthless manipulation. Samantha was well aware of what they were doing, but she did take a minute to shift her thinking.

Since she had let Alexei and Stefano into her life, into her heart, she had never been happier. It was only the prospect of disappointing her parents that kept her from taking the dive and committing to them fully. However, hadn’t her parents always said they wanted the best for her? Hadn’t they always said they wanted her to be happy? Being with Stef and Lex made her happy.

She nodded and sniffed. “Okay, fine. Which one of you is going to marry me?”

Alexei, still kneeling next to her, looked up and across her at his brother. “Rock, paper, scissors?”

Stef shook his head. “Who can make her come the most in fifteen minutes.”

Lex nodded in agreement. “But we warm her up together.” Samantha opened her mouth to give her opinion, but Alexei turned to her next. “Where are your pieces, Samantha? We’ll load the car while you change.”

Sam realized she wasn’t going to have a say in the matter. Her eyes went to the white box on her counter. “What’s that?”

Stefano pressed his lips together before blowing out a loud exhale. “It’s a dress.”

“You brought me a dress?”

Color stained Alexei’s cheeks. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I saw it in a store today and I thought you’d like it.”

Her eyes dropped to regard the man at her feet. She knew he was thinking of his father at that moment. Though they had both expressed anger and disappointment at their father, Alexei’s anger seemed raw, while Stefano’s seemed like it was a demon from the past that no longer bit.

She ran a hand through his hair, silently lamenting its shortness. “That’s so thoughtful, Lex. Thank you.” Leaning down, she let loose all the tenderness permeating her heart in a long, slow kiss. When she opened her eyes at the end of the kiss, the vulnerability oozing from him almost knocked her from the chair.

“You’d better get dressed, Sammy.”

Stefano’s reminder was softly spoken and reluctant. Sammy rose at Alexei’s nod. She didn’t want to leave him high and dry when he needed her.

As she skipped off to her bedroom to dress, the prospect of introducing Alexei and Stefano to her parents made her heart soar. How could they not love these two wonderful men as much as she did?

She dressed carefully in the forest green cocktail dress Alexei had chosen. The sweetheart neckline molded to her breasts in a way that was tasteful and elegant, and the hem fell past her knees. Alexei had also managed to find matching shoes and a handbag. Samantha supplied the bra and decided against underwear.

The gallery wasn’t on the way to the Morozov estate. Stefano drove, speeding along the highway during rush hour traffic with an ease that did nothing to alleviate the tension and nausea in Sammy’s stomach. As soon as they stopped at a light, Samantha freed herself from her seat belt and crawled in the back seat with Alexei.

He chuckled at her. “He drives like a maniac all the time. You’ll get used to it.”

Samantha hadn’t remembered it being this bad on the way back from the airport, but then again she hadn’t exactly been paying attention and her career hadn’t been on the line.

They survived the first leg of their journey. Samantha white-knuckled it and Alexei’s hand had the nail marks to prove it.

Treva Andreas was a very tiny, very old woman. Her head was a mass of wrinkles topped with wiry grey hair twisted into a neat bun. She grinned upon seeing Alexei and Stefano enter the gallery, and she held out her arms for a hug.

“My boys, all grown up. Which of you is who?”

“I’ve got red, Lex has blue,” Stefano said. “Just like always, Treva.” He leaned down, but he didn’t hug the elderly woman.

She grabbed his face and smacked a loud kiss on his cheek. Then she reached for Alexei. “You boys don’t come around nearly enough. I thought maybe you’d gone and died like the rest of my family and friends.”

Alexei laughed. “You can’t get rid of us that easy.”

She made a thoughtful sound and turned toward Samantha. “And who do we have here?”

“This is Samantha Spencer, Treva. She’s Sabrina Breszewski’s sister-in-law.”

“Ah, yes.” Treva studied Sam, raking knowing eyes up and down her figure before perusing Alexei and Stefano, who stood on either side of her, with the same intensity. “Not a Spencer for long, I’d wager.”

Samantha didn’t even think to blush. She was too nervous. “I brought the paintings and photos you wanted.”

Once Lex and Stef scattered the art in the places Treva directed them to put them, Sam watched the woman move from piece to piece. She wrung her hands and picked at her cuticles until Alexei captured one and Stefano captured the other. Their warm hands enveloped her with a reassuring possessiveness.

At last, Stefano spoke. “Treva, we’re meeting our dad for dinner. Are you going to take much longer?”

She shot him a nasty look. Sam sucked air. At last, Treva harrumphed. “Leave them with me overnight. This will be a difficult decision.”

Alexei squeezed her hand. “All right, but we’ll be back by ten, Treva. That’s your deadline.”

Sam wanted to speak up, to assure Treva she could think about it for as long as she wanted, but Stef shook his head at her.

As they sped off, Samantha thanked her lucky stars that Alexei was driving. She sat in the front seat. “How could you rush her like that? I don’t have plans for those pieces. What if she decides against showing anything because of that deadline?”

“Don’t worry, Sammy.” Stefano’s reassurance did little to placate her. “That’s how Treva operates. She needs a deadline or she’ll take forever to make up her mind.”

Stopping at the gallery made them exceptionally late for dinner with the elder Morozov. Now that the initial meeting was over, the worst of Sammy’s nerves were calm. She was starving. They arrived to find that dinner hadn’t been held for them.

Dmitri Morozov was as tall as his sons. His steel grey hair was liberally sprinkled with black threads, attesting that he had once had hair just as dark as his sons. After the things Alexei and Stefano had said about their father, meeting him was a deflating experience. He didn’t seem one ounce the ogre they described.

As a matter of fact, Samantha could see much of Alexei and Stefano in the way the man greeted her, clasping her hands between his with warmth and respect. His brown eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Samantha Spencer. At last we meet.”

At last? Sam was under the impression that neither of her lovers had disclosed their relationship to their father.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Morozov. I’m sorry we’re late. It was my fault.”

His smile widened. “In that case, all is forgiven. A beautiful woman need never apologize for being late. It’s expected.”

A throat cleared behind Samantha. She turned to find Sabrina’s mother lingering just inside the doorway. Melinda Breszewski was a short woman. She had a delicately oval face and deep chocolate eyes. Shoulder-length, rich brown hair was twisted in a classic upsweep. She wore a simple sheath dress that perfectly accented her figure and a tentative smile that betrayed her nervousness.

* * * *

Nausea churned Alexei’s stomach as he watched the woman he’d known his entire life hovering in the protective safety of his father’s proximity. “Melinda?”

He knew the color had drained from his face only to be replaced with the ruddy tones of fury. Images of Melinda on their yacht dressed in the skimpiest string bikini or of her dressed to the nines for a dinner party combined with the current situation. When he was a teenager, she had stopped coming around so much. Had his mother known that Melinda had designs on his father? Samantha stepped in front of him, blocking his path when he would have crossed the room to confront the interloper.

Stefano muttered a warning. “Lex, don’t.”

The tight lines of Alexei’s body didn’t relax, but he did redirect his rage to Stefano. “You knew. You knew and you didn’t say a word!”

Stefano shrugged. “It wouldn’t have done anything except put you in a shitty mood before now.”

Dmitri held out his hand, and Melinda slipped hers into it. “We ran into each other a few weeks ago. Neither of us expected anything to happen.”

Alexei trembled with the effort it cost to contain his emotions. He wanted to punch his father and he wanted to storm out of the room. A glance down at Samantha’s concerned face didn’t sway his emotions. He felt no need to alter them for her. She understood that he wasn’t angry with her and she wasn’t the least bit afraid of his temper. She had no reason to be. However, looking into her silky blue eyes let him see that his own eyes glittered like diamonds, hard and unforgiving. “Dad, can we speak to you alone?”

Samantha’s hands tightened around his biceps. She had one hell of a firm grip.

“No. Anything you have to say, you can say in front of Melinda. You’ve known her your entire life, and now she’s going to be my wife.” Dmitri was stone, strong and unmovable.

Melinda stepped forward, her open palm facing upward in a placating gesture. Dmitri retained hold of her other hand. “Lex, I know how close you were to your mother. I know this is difficult for you.”

Alexei’s eyes dropped to Melinda’s hand. He stared at it with a mixture of alarm and disgust. He had to know the whole story, even if it killed him. There was a good chance that this night would lead him to break all ties with his father. “How long has this been going on?”

Dmitri nodded, accepting the question he knew was coming. “Two weeks.”