Gabriel's Regret: Book 1 (The Medlov Men Series 2) (13 page)

Gabriel wondered if that was mutual attraction in her eyes flirting with her midnight colored irises, but he didn’t say anything about it.  “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just walk into that one, because there are so many different jokes that I could make about your thing.”

And just like that the mood was lightened. 

He continued, “Look, time is of the essence for me. I’m only here three days, and I want more than anything to prove to you that we did not intentionally put your brother or your other comrades’ lives in danger.  It was a business decision… a very bad business decision.  And we came here, I came here, to show you that we still want to do business with you, and we want to make this right.” 

She swallowed hard.  “It was just business, da?”  Her face was unreadable. 

Gabriel frowned. “It was, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel horrible for what happened.”  He knew better than to dance around the issue. 

Maybe the vodka had softened her for the moment, but when she looked up into his face, she felt his sincerity.  Stepping back to give herself space from him, she looked away.  “It’s not your fault, not really.” 

Gabriel’s wide shoulders relaxed.  “I’m still very sorry, Valeriya.” 

The music played in the background, the candles danced about creating a fading light and the vodka didn’t help.  Valeriya hoped that in the darkness, her vulnerability didn’t show.  “I want to hate you, Gabriel Medlov.”  Her voice ached for reasons he couldn’t possibly understand.  “But I don’t, not really.”  Running a hand through her hair, she turned from him and looked toward the wall. There was no way she could say what she needed to say looking at him.  “I’m just angry. I lost my brother, but without you, I would have lost my cause as well.  This shipment must have cost you millions and you didn’t have to do it.  So I do…
appreciate
you.”  Her face nearly cracked as she admitted all of that, but it was the right thing to do. 

Gabriel knew that it was very big of her to say that, to admit what she was thinking and admit her faults.  It was truly refreshing to be around a woman who seemed to be so transparent. Normally, it was the last thing he could expect.

Putting his hand on her shoulder, he tried to reassure her. “I’d feel the same way if I were you.”

His contact with her body sent zingers up her spine and goosebumps over her skin.  Pulling away, she turned and smirked. “What do you know about loss?  A man like you?” Her eyes swept over him, accessing his wide, virile frame. 
God, he must have everything in the world that he ever wanted.
“You have the world at your feet, while I have it on my shoulders.”

“Do I?” Gabriel shook his head.  He didn’t want her to see only what everyone else saw. For some reason, that was important for him.  He blew a frustrated breath out of his mouth that swelled his jaws.   “What… what in the world would make you think that?”

“Everything,” Valeriya said, voice low.  “You waltz in here with everything that we need and drop it at our feet, saving our lives literally and you know that even if I wanted to turn my approval from you, I couldn’t, because the entire cause is now behind you.  Listen to them down there.  They are celebrating you, not me.”

And there it was.  The truth. She felt jealous of the joy that he had brought in one night, when she had been trying to do that same thing this entire war.

“It’s hard to see other people being approved of when you’re not approved of yourself,” he said, thinking more of his own situation than hers. “It hurts.”

She cringed. 
Was she that transparent?
Suddenly, she was offended.  “Why do you speak like you know me?” Tears formed in the corner of her eyes though she tried to fight it.  “You don’t know me, Gabriel Medlov.  You don’t know anything about me.”

“I don’t pretend to know you, Valeriya.  I just know where you are right now.”

“Do you?” Her heart began to pound in her chest.  Seeing something unexpected in him threw her off guard.  He was supposed to be an arrogant prick, not a man of such warm understanding.  Grabbing the end of the table, she took a deep breath. 

Gabriel stepped closer. “Yes, I do know.  You would give everything you have for the people that you love and all you want in return is acceptance.  You’ve lost everything that you’ve ever known and all you want are the people who are left to love you, trust you, and believe in you.”  He stepped closer to her.  “And that belief in you is all you need to conquer everything around you.  You would literally move mountains if you could just get them to have faith in you the way that they have faith in others, the way that you have faith in them.  But you’re different and that small bit of difference is what keeps them over there and you over here, and it creates this chasm of pain and agony that boils inside you like a volcano near eruption.”

The tears that welded up in her eyes now streamed down the sides of her face.  He had seen straight through her.  “But I’m strong,” she said with all sincerity, “and I’m capable.”  She blinked the tears away. They fell down to her heart-shaped lips.   “And they don’t see that.”

“Because you’re a woman… a Black woman,” Gabriel said.

“Yes.”  She wiped her face.  “And you?” She understood that for him to see her so well, he must have been in the exact same place.  Maybe that was why they had connected in such a way. 

Gabriel dipped his head.  What did he have to lose by being honest in a dark room half way across the world?  “Because I’m my father’s son and no matter how they try to deny it, they hate me for being my father’s son… and maybe I do too.” 

She knew his words were honest and that he had shared something that no one else in the world knew about him.  Why he did it, she didn’t understand, but she needed it.  Valeriya felt too vulnerable now.  Clearing her throat, she smiled. “So what do you do?”

“Keep fighting,” Gabriel said, clenching his jaw. “Eventually, they have to notice.” He looked away and cleared his mind.  Picking up the plate, he offered it to her. “One day at a time, right?”

Without blinking, she took the plate and gazed at him.  “I don’t like that you can see me so well.” 

“I don’t like that I can see myself in you so well,” he said, pulling out a seat for her.  “Eat.  You’ve been going all day.  You’re just human after all.  We all are.”

Putting the plate on the table, Valeriya looked up at him.  “Who did you lose?”

“My mother, my father, my grandmother, my uncle…” he shrugged. “I lost everything.  Now, the family that I have is waiting for me to prove myself, and I’m determined to do it.”

“Is that why you’re here?”

“Yeah.” He licked his lips. “I need to make this right for you.”

So the key to his inner happiness lie with her?  The idea was unfathomable. “You have made this right.”  She breathed hard, fighting natural instinct as it quickly took over. “Now, go home,” she warned. “Go fight your own battle.” 

Gabriel grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.  “Three days.”

Her hand touched his wide chest.  “I fear that will be too long,” she confessed. 

There was no space between them and the pheromones she released where starting to make it hard for him to control himself. 

“Why?” he asked in a whisper.

Gabriel did know why.  Up until this very moment, he had never believed in, never toyed with the idea that it could be real.  Love at first sight.  She was something different, something exotic, something he needed and he could feel it on a cellular level. 

“You know why,” she said sternly. “After a moment like that, don’t start to be coy. It doesn’t suit you.”

The ambient moonlight coming through the window and the music on the radio was starting to fog the room with raw, unadulterated emotions.  Still, he held her by her little wrist, keeping her captive.  Remembered arousal started to boil over him like volcano he had spoken of before and suddenly, he didn’t care if he had the account or not, he just wanted her. 

Valeriya’s heart swelled with passion. This man who seemed to be so cosmetic before was turning out to be someone who shared the same cross she was forced to carry.  His words, so pure and true, were hard for her to deny and with it his undeniable presence.  He needed to go. 

She tried to step away, but he pulled her forcefully against him.  Gazing at him under heavy lashes, she watched as his hand slipped behind her head, caressing her feather like hair.  He dipped into her body and slipped his velvety tongue into her wet, hot mouth.  Tasting her lips, smelling her skin, feeling her body, he picked her up off the floor in his embrace.

Dark eroticism exploded as she wrapped her arms around him and slipped her legs around his waist.  Maybe this was a result of what Olek had started earlier, but she could not help herself or the need to kiss him.  Their bodies melted together and he pushed her body up against the wall and kissed her mouth with such fury that he worried he would hurt her. 

But she kissed him back with equal need.  Sucking on his tongue, tasting him, inhaling him, wanting him, she moaned as his hand held her bottom and moved her into his body.

“I hope that I’m not interrupting,” Olek’s voice said from across the room. She could hear the judgement in his words.

Valeriya quickly pulled away from Gabriel’s embrace and realized that in their chaos, neither one of them had heard the door open. 

Olek stood in the entryway, eyes burning with contempt.  “I just wanted to check on you, but it seems like you’re fine.”

“She is,” Gabriel said territorially, sensing Olek’s intention. 

“Let me down,” Valeriya said, grasping that she was pinned against the wall and Gabriel was still cupping her butt.   

Reluctantly, Gabriel did as she asked. Sliding her down the wall, he turned toward Olek without bothering to hide is anger or his erection. “Why are you still here?”

Olek shook his head at Valeriya. “This is what you want?  A rich man?  Someone to come and save you from the cause that you can no longer stand?”

Valeriya pulled down her shirt. “Olek, this is none of your business, and you know it’s not true.”

“Really?” Olek frowned. “So when I try to kiss you, it’s a problem. When he tries, it’s all a matter of how quickly you can get your fucking clothes off.”

“Hey, watch your fucking mouth, asshole,” Gabriel snapped.  He closed the space between him and Olek, hands balled into a fist, ready to beat the man’s ass. 

Olek heard footsteps behind him and knew without turning that Nadei was standing behind him, probably ready to put that nickel-plated Glock he had been brandishing in his holster all evening. 

“Sell out,” Olek said to Valeriya before he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

She jumped as the door closed. 

“Who is that guy?” Gabriel asked, standing behind her.  He was unmoved by the theatrics, but pissed by the interruption. 

“My lieutenant,” she answered, embarrassed. 

Gabriel wasn’t satisfied. “Who was he before?” Knowing that there was more to the relationship, he pushed her to tell the truth. 

Valeriya turned to him and wiped her face.  “My ex.”  Clasping her hands together, she walked toward the door. “This was not right.  None of it.”  She shook her head in confusion. “I’m… I’m going crazy.  What did I just do?”

Gabriel walked up to her but she stepped away, putting her hand up. “No.”

“Yes,” he said, pulling her to him again. “Yes.”  Kissing her again, he felt her protests turn to hot lust in an instant. 

“No, stop,” she said, not wanting him to.  His lips felt like silk against her.  Tangling her fingers in his jet black hair, she inhaled his breaths.  “We can’t do this,” she said, looking into his eyes.

“Because of him?” Gabriel kissed her bottom lip one last time.

She smiled as his hands released her small waist.  “Because it’s only three days,” she said, lips covered in tears.  Stepping away, she smoothed her hair down. 

Gabriel licked his lips, savoring the taste of her.  The look of want was still burning in his eyes, having not been properly satisfied.  “Three days can change your life,” he said, walking past her to the door. As he opened it, Nadei was there waiting.  Without turning, he cast a look over his shoulder, “I’ll see you downstairs.”

Chapter Nine

A Bigger Picture…

Dawn was the same everywhere in the world.  As the sun came spanning across the horizon with its faithful, luminous glow, the night and all its woes subsided, a brand new day full of promise emerged. 

Like clockwork, even with his body still in limbo due to constant traveling and time changes, Gabriel’s eyes flashed open as soon as the sun peaked through the cracks of the boarded up windows in his room.  In all his years, he had never been able to sleep past daybreak.  It was a nagging idiosyncrasy that he constantly tried to break. 

A sigh escaped him as he blinked his sleep away, sorry that he had to leave so soon.  He had been dreaming of his mother again.  In his dream, she was healthy and back in her penthouse in New York reading a book by the fireplace, and he was a boy sitting beside her listening to her every word and admiring her red flaming hair.  She had smiled at him approvingly and then passed him her book.  He studied it curiously.  It was the Queen of Spades by Pushkin. 

And then he woke. 

Lying not so peacefully in the rickety but clean queen bed of his double occupancy hotel room, he realized that he was not in the luxurious comforts of his normal life, but in Ukraine in the Hotel Nadiya with a giant knot is his back and his bare feet hanging off the edge. 

“There is a pea under this mattress,” Gabriel grunted sardonically.  Rolling over on his side, he eyed Nadei sitting on the end of the queen bed across from him slipping his jeans from the previous night back on. 

Nadei looked over at him with a fresh face.  “What Boss?”  It was evident in his general demeanor that the hard beds and possible mold in the corners had not impacted his ability to sleep at all.  “A pea?” He appeared confused.  “How can you feel a pea?”

“It’s a…story.  The Princess and the Pea.  Ever heard of it?” Gabriel asked, trailing his gaze over to the dank bathroom.  He entered that bat cave of a restroom the night before to find a tub that hadn’t been scrubbed in a year thick with rust and lime deposits, dripping faucets and a leaking roof that had left a brown stain on the ceiling.  So, it was understandable his bodyguard was foregoing a shower to kick off the morning.  Maybe he would as well. 

“I don’t know this story about a pea,” Nadei said, standing up.  He buttoned his jeans and threw on a clean shirt from his backpack.  “But then again, I don’t know any stories.” 

“Every man should know at least one story.  Women like to hear about something other than you.”  Gabriel rolled back over in the bed and slipped and arm under the flat pillow. 

“Women, huh?  Women hear what I tell them.  I haven’t gotten any complaints so far,” Nadei said confidently.  “Take the little woman who kept smiling at me last night.  I didn’t have to tell her any stories at all before she let me fuck her in the bathroom.  I didn’t even have to get her name.”  He turned and raised a mischievous brow a Gabriel. 

Gabriel snorted.  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t so lucky. The only thing I managed to get last night was drunk.”

Nadei’s laugh echoed around the room.  “Women are hard to understand, which is why I don’t try to do it.  They are the eighth wonder of the world.” 

Nadei was a muscular man, nearly six-feet three with sprawling tattoos across his mountainous back that led up to his thick neck into his blonde spiked hair and down the back of his biceps to the front of his fingers.  With wild blonde brows, dark brown eyes and crooked broken nose, he always grimaced like life itself was an irritation.  While a very dependable guard, he was a man of very few words but occasionally, he would laugh and when he did, it always sounded sinister and dark. 

“You might be right about that.”  Yawning, Gabriel bit his lip.  “I wonder what Her Highness has on the plate for us today?  She’ll probably want to feed us to the poor for good measure.” 

“She was not so hard on you last night, da?” Nadei asked, slipping his arm through his gun holster and at the same time, slipping one socked foot into his boot. 

So it was obvious to everyone then
.  He quickly diverted.  “Listen, I want you to keep an eye on that Olek asshole.  Something isn’t right about him.” Gabriel had seen enough trouble coming his way to know Olek’s type.  Slick.  Menacing.  Possibly a double crosser.   

For Nadei, it was a simple fix – one that didn’t require a lot of thought.  He was used to working for Anatoly, a man who didn’t believe in gray, only black and white, and they solved problems in one way and one way only.  “Do you want me to kill him?” he asked blankly, no emotion detected. “I could do it this morning before we start the day.  Hide the body.  It won’t turn up until we’re gone.  That way, you have time to spend with the pretty lady with the mean eyes.  Problem solved.” He slipped his other foot in the other boot and tied them. 

“Let me think about it,” Gabriel joked, although he knew that Nadei was extremely serious.  “For now, just watch him.  I don’t want him to get any ideas.”   His cell phone buzzed, interrupting his thought. “And find out what you can on him.  Someone here has to know his story.” He glanced over at the nightstand to see a text from Briggy.  “Oh, it’s too early for this shit.”  Sitting up, Gabriel grabbed his phone and read it. “What does she want?”

Please call me today at some point to let me know that you’re okay. 
She texted.

Gabriel texted back quickly and put his phone back down.
  I’m okay.

That was about all the explanation he was willing to give her.  He had learned long ago with a woman named Victoria that the left hand never lets the right hand know what it was doing, especially when it came to work.  

Completely dressed and ready to get on with the morning, Nadei walked to the door.  “I will go and get you breakfast,” he said, hand on the knob.

“I’ll be ready in 10 minutes,” Gabriel said, pushing out of the bed.  “A scotch and a boiled egg should be enough for me.”  He stretched his back.  “If they don’t have anything like that, I’ll take a vodka.” 

“Hair of the dog,” Nadei said, nodding. “Me too, Boss.”  As he opened the door, he saw Valeriya standing there with her hand balled into a fist about to knock. 

Her eyes widened when she looked up at Nadei, looking as dangerous as ever with a scowl on his face.  He was such a strange character, completely different from Gabriel.  “
Dobroho ranku
,” she greeted in Ukrainian, putting her hand down.

Nadei looked down at the little woman and frowned. “
Dobroye utro
.  How long have you been standing outside this door?”

“Just,” she said, looking past his wide frame to Gabriel standing by the bed in his black briefs.  She stuttered as a flutter of butterflies erupted in her stomach. Trying not to sound nervous, she managed a small smile.  “Gabriel, I was just about to come and see if you all wanted anything before I go.” 

Shit.
Gabriel walked to the door, pushing past Nadei like a college co-ed.  “Where are you going this early?”

That was an odd question and none of his business, but still she gave an explanation.  “I need to get those provisions and the ammunition to our people.  They are waiting.”  She tried to avoid looking at his rock hard abs or the way his underwear was way too low on his hips showing the V of carved muscles leading to his rather large bulge. 

“Well, don’t go yet.  Come in,” Gabriel insisted.

“I don’t want to interrupt.”  She stepped back.  “I can meet you downstairs…once you get dressed.”

Gabriel wouldn’t hear of it.  “Nadei’s going to get my breakfast,” he said, slapping his guard on the back and giving him the cue to get lost.  “So, you’re not interrupting anything.”  He pushed the door wider for her as Nadei walked out.  Hesitantly, she walked in past him.  Sticking his head out of the door, Gabriel winked at Nadei. “We’ll be down shortly.”

“Don’t forget to tell her your story about the princess and the pea,” Nadei called out, walking down the hall. 

Gabriel chuckled. 

“What does he mean?” Valeriya asked, cutting her eyes at him.  She wasn’t very fond of inside jokes, especially those that came at her expense.  

“Nothing.”  Gabriel closed the door behind him and looked down at his underwear.  This was definitely not his finest moment, but he had little choice when she suggested leaving without him.  “I’m just going to slip on my jeans.”  Striding past her, he picked up his pants laying neatly over the desk and threw them on the bed.  “It will only take me a minute.” 

“A minute is about all I have.”  Valeriya turned away from him and huffed. So that was why he was so arrogant.  He was hung like a horse.  “So, what do you plan to do for three days while you are here?”

“Spend every second I can helping you,” he said, walking into the bathroom.  His heavy footsteps echoed on the linoleum flooring. 

She noticed that he did not close the door. 
Did he not trust her alone in his room?
  “How can you help me when you can’t even get your own breakfast,” she said under her breath.  Hearing him lift the toilet seat and begin to urinate, she rolled her eyes.  He was a rude, cocky bastard.  And though she hated to admit it, she imagine him sprawled out on his bed sleeping. 

Gabriel smirked, knowing he was getting under her skin.  “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.  What did you say?”  Flushing the toilet, he pulled up his briefs and washed his hand in the soiled sink.  Emerging from the restroom with a towel in his hands, he brushed past her.  “Excuse me.”  

“You’re excused.  I said I’m leaving now and you haven’t even eaten breakfast.”  Valeriya eyed him playfully.  “I would hate to put you out.” 

“I thought that’s what you said.”  Sitting down on the bed, he slipped on his jeans and put on his boots.  “Again, it’s no imposition.” 

“No bath or shower?” she asked.  “I pegged you for being the overly-clean type.”

Quickly, he put on deodorant.  With his arm hiked up where she could get a better look of his veined bicep, he quipped. “Gee, it’s hard to turn down with such fine amenities, but no time.”  Slipping on a gray T-shirt that hugged his wide frame, he rolled his shoulders and slipped on his gun holster.  Putting his guns in their proper place, he ran a hand through his hair and popped a piece of gum in his mouth. “Ready.”

“You’re going?” she asked, touching her chest.  “With me?”

“You’ve got me all to yourself for the next three days,” Gabriel said with a million watt smile. “I can help you deliver whatever it is that you need and get a better understanding of what is going on around here.”

“This is not a game. It’s dangerous out there.  You could get killed,” she said, face tight.   She thought of her brother, freshly laid only a mile away in the family cemetery. 

“That’s what the guns are for,” Gabriel said, not at all worried about her warnings. “Look, I know this is your first war, but it’s not mine.  In my industry, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t have to consider
getting killed
.  But as you can see, I can handle myself.”

“Lucky for you,” Valeriya said, waltzing past him.  His arrogance irritated her, mostly because she believed that he was more than ready for anything that happened.  “You better eat well.  We have a long day in front of us, rich boy.  If you are going with me, you are going to work.”

Gabriel grabbed her arm.  “Hey.”

She quickly snatched away. “Why do you keep man handling me?” Looking him up and down, she frowned.  “What right do you have to touch me?” 

He laughed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Valeriya, I don’t want to play any games with you.  I think last night proved that we are both pretty honest people.”   Invading her private space as he stepped closer to her, he touched her face with his chilly fingers. “I want to get in your good graces.”

“For this account, yes, I know,” she said, face unreadable.  But inside, she was melting and angry at herself for the physical effect he had on her. 

“No, not just for the account,” he answered.  “I want to get in your good graces, because I like you.  So let’s cut the act. You tell me what I have to do and I’ll do it.”

She stepped closer to him and slinked a hand up his chest, feeling those muscles that she so long to have wrapped around her. “For the start, work hard and stop having other people do the work for you.” Turning around, she led out of the door. “Now, let’s go. We’re running behind.”

***

Hearing that Medlov and his man servant were going on the drops that Valeriya was making today, he opted out.  There were other things to get in order and other distribution points in the area.  He would do them all alone if he had to, but he would not be in the same room with that man unless it was absolutely necessary.  Besides, with Valeriya out of the way, he was finally able to talk to one person in particular without her prying.

After the teams working today had left, he headed upstairs to the third floor, making sure to stop at random stops to act busy and check to make sure that he wasn’t being followed.  When he arrived at the meeting room on the third floor, like had been suggested to him last night at the dinner by a concerned party, he knocked and let himself in.  

“We have to make this quick,” Olek said, walking in and locking the door behind him.

“Did anyone see you come up here?” Faddei asked, coffee mug in hand.  He ushered Olek to the table in the back of the dark room with only a small battery operated light to illuminate the space.