Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

beside Aleksandr. “I tried to warn him. I did everything I could think of to keep him out of this. He’s a stubborn son of a bitch.”
    “I know you can save him. I’ll help. My sisters will help. And we’ll throw up a cloak of protection between you and the police so you can slip away.” She squared her shoulders. “I know you care about him. Save his life.”
    “You’ll owe me. All of you will owe me. When I come back asking, I’ll expect you to aid me.”
    Abigail nodded, unsure if she was making a deal with the devil, but uncaring. All that mattered was that Aleksandr live.

Chapter 20
    ALEKSANDR heard Abigail’s voice calling to him. The door slammed downstairs. She called out a second time. He loved the sound of her voice calling out his name. There was such a note of eagerness, of joy, that warmed him.
    There was always that moment on waking when he still believed he was in Russia, or somewhere in a bleak hotel, alone, without her. He still had nightmares of Abigail being slapped around and worse in Ignatev’s interrogation room and he woke with sweat pouring out of him and her name echoing through the room.
    He pressed his hand to his heart and stared out over the railing of the balcony to her beloved ocean. He had always been at home in the city with the crush of people, its strange beauty of light and buildings and the underbelly of deceit and crime. Her ocean soothed him and brought him peace. He suspected it was because he couldn’t separate her love and need of the ocean, such an integral part of her personality, from Abigail.
    “Where are you, Sasha?” There was a breathy catch in her voice.
    He smiled at the note, that small sign of caring. “Out here, on the deck.” She had moved in with him to take care of him once he was allowed out of the hospital and, although he was renting the beach house on a very temporary basis, Abigail made it feel like a home.
    She raced through the open sliding glass door to his side. “You aren’t supposed to be wandering around.” She tried to sound severe but couldn’t hide her relief at finding him settled in a chair.

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    “I wanted to look at the ocean.” He laced his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his mouth to kiss the ring there. “I think the sound puts me to sleep. I dozed off like a two-year-old.”
    “You’ll get your strength back. I know it’s difficult for you to be patient. Libby says you’re gaining ground every day.”
    “What about you?” He pushed her tank top up to examine the raw scars on her stomach. “What does she say about you?”
    Abigail leaned over to brush a kiss over his lips. “I’m fine. I told you I was perfectly fine. The stab wounds were shallow. I can have all the babies you want us to have. All two of them.”
    “At least seven. Elle’s little girls have to have someone to play with.” His hands caught at her waist and drew her forward so he could press small kisses against each shiny purplish mark marring her skin.
    “When I saw him going for you, I swear, Abbey, I never thought I could feel such rage or such fear.” It had given him the necessary strength to slam his mortally wounded body so hard into Ignatev’s, allowing him to kill the man. “I still don’t know how you managed to get me out of the ocean.”
    “I wasn’t going to lose you again.” She said it matter-of-factly, cradling his head in her arms while he pressed another kiss into her intriguing belly button.
    His grip tightened on her and he shifted her until she was standing wedged between his thighs. “Did Prakenskii really save my life?”
    “You’ve asked me that three times. Without his help, you would have died right there. He shot the second man to keep him off of me and then he worked on you. He has all the gifts, no doubt about it, just as Elle does. He carries all the genetic code necessary to pass on each of the gifts to another generation.
    I wish we knew more about his background.” She stepped closer to him, leaning into him because his tongue was doing a little dance along her belly button, teasing at the small gemstone there and making a foray lower.
    Aleksandr unzipped her slacks, sliding them over the curve of her hip, down her thighs to her calves. She obligingly stepped out of her shoes and kicked the slacks aside. “Take off your top.”
    Abigail didn’t hesitate, drawing the clingy material over her head and