“You almost killed him, from what I heard,” Kon laughed.
“Well, he could say the same,” I told him. “We’re both pretty competitive.”
“I had no idea Mr. Boch—, I mean, Gavril liked shooting, too,” she said.
I quickly changed the subject to how Clem had found the Koboyashi Corp and how we were poised to make a fortune on our deal. “Couldn’t have done it without her,” I said, reaching to squeeze her hand.
She gave me a look I couldn’t quite read, and Konstantin jumped in, piling on more compliments and trying to poach her from me. “If you don’t want to stay in Tokyo, I’ve been tossing around the idea of staking a claim in LA. There’s no way Rurik’s paying you enough.”
He seemed to be joking, but was he actually trying to get my wife to leave me for him, whether for strictly business purposes or not? He was about to have a brand new bruise to add to his collection in about ten seconds if he didn’t shut the hell up.
And why was Clem laughing at his jokes like she’d never heard one before? He was already walking the line, talking about guns, then talking about coming to LA, then he started in on some story about a hit on one of our enemies in Moscow, making it sound like some sort of fraternity prank instead of an execution.
“You actually put him in the trunk of your car?” she asked. “Where did you get the handcuffs?”
“Zip ties,” he corrected. “They’re available anywhere. I’ve got some in my car right now, just in case.”
“In case of what?” she yelped.
“He’s joking,” I bellowed. “And he’s leaving.” I pointed to the door. “Out. Now.”
“Is that any way to speak to your uncle?” he muttered, grinning as he swallowed down the last of his orange juice and got up. He took Clem’s hand and gave her a showy kiss on each cheek, finally ducking out as I aimed a kitchen knife at him.
“Holy cow, he really was a lot,” she sighed after he was gone.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, relieved when she let me take her in my arms. “For springing him on you, for worrying you. He can be like a hurricane, but what can I do when he’s family?”
“And needed an emergency signature,” she grumbled against my chest.
Hell. Time to throw good old Uncle Kon under the bus. “Sorry for that, too. He begged me not to tell anyone what was really going on. Apparently, he got tangled up with someone’s wife and…”
“I don’t want to know. But why did you need to sacrifice your face for his bad decisions?” She traced my swollen lip and frowned. “It should be okay by tonight if you don’t mess with it.”
I leaned down and brushed my lips against hers. “What if I want to mess with it? What if I can’t resist this?”
She rose on her toes as I kissed her, not feeling an ounce of pain. I slid my hands down her sides to reach around, making her press harder against me with a soft sigh. Last night had been necessary, and maybe even a little fun. But this was where I wanted to be. Always with Clem. Wherever she was, that was my home. And because of my wild uncle, I had missed out on a precious night of our honeymoon.
Her arms locked around my neck as she opened her mouth. My tongue swept past her lips, and my hands roamed up and down, needing to feel her warm skin. I gathered handfuls of her robe and tugged until my palms touched the smooth flesh of her back.
She arched backward, smiling up at me before tugging my head down again. “Your side of the bed isn’t rumpled at all,” she said.
“We need to fix that,” I told her, backing her down the hall, her slippered feet scuffing along the wood floor.
Her answer was a more frenzied kiss, completely forgetting I was supposed to be babying my swollen lip. Drawing herself up, her body brushed against mine, making me grip her tighter. My cock had sprung to life at the first touch of her lips and was rock hard and pulsing as she pushed closer.
“Don’t do that again,” she hissed, her fingers tightening in my hair. “I hated not knowing if you were okay or not.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, heart soaring again that she cared, while hating that she suffered at all because of me.
“Make it up to me now,” she said, her eyes searching mine as her fingers stilled in my hair. “Then I can finally get some sleep.”
A growl tore out of my throat as I lifted her and carried her the next few feet down the hallway to our room. I barely dropped her onto the big bed when her phone let off an alarm from the desk.
She blinked and tried to sit up, but I pinned her, kissing her until she was moaning in my arms. The alarm grew louder, and she dug her fingers into my shoulders.
“I’m supposed to go shopping again with Erina,” she said, gazing in the direction of her phone with a mournful look. “I should be heading out to meet her and her daughters right now.”
Hearing about her appointment reminded me of mine. “Hell. I’m supposed to tour one of Koboyashi’s factories today.” I glanced at my watch. “In an hour, in fact.” I kissed her quickly, rolling off to strip away my clothes, dotted with blood, I hoped Clem wouldn’t notice this close, and reeking of our night at the bar. “Go and have fun with Erina while I do my part to seal this damn deal.”