Lean On Me

I rolled onto my side and stared at the open bedroom door. Instead of the usual pale blue

glow of the LED nightlights in the hallway and along the stairs, I spotted a brighter pop of light
reflected on the walls. Straining to hear, I picked up the sound of Dimitri’s voice coming from
downstairs. I glanced at the clock, saw the late hour and inwardly groaned.

With a heavy sigh, I pushed into a sitting position and swung my legs over the side of the

bed. I had finally made it out of my first trimester of pregnancy, and while the nausea seemed to
be abating, I still experienced waves of dizziness when I moved too quickly from a seated or
sleeping position.

When I was sure I wouldn’t go wobbly in the knees, I searched the floor for the

nightgown Dimitri had hastily whipped free from my body only a few hours earlier. Though he
was quite fond of watching me prance around the house stark naked, I didn’t think this was a
conversation I wanted to have in the nude.

I left the bedroom and went in search of my soon-to-be husband. Down in the living

room, I glanced at the boxes of wedding favors Vivian had helped me put together. We had less
than a week until our big day but I wasn’t too stressed about it. With Erin running the show and
Lena and Vivian on backup, they had the situation fully under control.

I’d never been more grateful to have such good friends in my corner. After that awful

attack on Lena and Yuri by one of their bodyguards and a crazed employee, Dimitri had been so
badly shaken. He had trusted Jake and hand-picked him to guard his best friend. Since that
horrible day, Dimitri had been on edge and so guilt-ridden.

As if Jake’s personal betrayal wasn’t bad enough, the professional betrayal against

Dimitri couldn’t have come at a worse time. The private security company he was about to
launch with Yuri’s help had taken a major hit and developed quite a black eye. There had been a
couple of days following the attack on Lena and Yuri when Dimitri had seriously considered
throwing in the towel and sticking to providing security for night clubs, concerts and other
Houston hotspots.

I’d managed to keep him from completely melting down—but it hadn’t been easy. Lena

had put together one hell of a plan to get the company back on track, but it required a total
rebranding and a number of new measures to reassure potential clients that something like this
would never happen again. Dimitri had been working non-stop, and I was really starting to worry
about him.

Always on alert, Dimitri stepped into the arched doorway between the living room and

kitchen before I even came into view. Gesturing to the Bluetooth headset clipped to his ear, he
shot me an apologetic look and held out his hand. I happily clasped his big paw and let him tug
me into his embrace. His hot, hard chest felt so good. Sometimes I couldn’t believe this
ridiculously sexy beast of a man was all mine.

“No, no, Lev, I agree. I think we should approach Ivan. His gym is—”
Dimitri stopped abruptly and listened to what Lev had to say. The former Israeli

commando and counter-terrorism expert was an old colleague of Dimitri’s from his many years
in the spec-ops community. He had recently agreed to come onboard as the head of training and
selection for the personal protection side of Dimitri's security business.

I didn't dare ask how much Lev had demanded as a salary. I had a feeling it was an

amount that would make me faint.

But he was worth it. Lev added the kind of experience that extremely wealthy and

government clients wanted. Like Dimitri, his network of contacts spanned multiple contents.
Together, they had persuaded a number of elite operators to move into private sector work.

Once the newly renamed Lone Star Group launched, it was going to be a success. I

absolutely believed that. But getting Dimitri to believe it? That was the real problem.

"Yes, I know Jack Connolly's gym. It's a sticky situation for me. Ivan is a friend and I

prefer to do business with people I know." Dimitri paused. His lips twitched in that way I'd come
to recognize as a sign of aggravation. "No, I understand your point. It's…cleaner."

I had a feeling Lev had just brought up Ivan's dark past. Though Ivan had totally

reformed himself, he couldn't shake the stain of his entanglement with the Russian mob.

"Sure. We can talk in the morning. When does your flight arrive? All right. I'll pick you

up and we'll do breakfast. Great. Yeah."

Dimitri ended the call and tossed his phone and headset onto the counter. His brawny

arms tightened around me as he leaned down and nuzzled my cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to
wake you."

"It's fine." Loving the gentle way he showed me such affection, I rubbed his chest. "Is

there a problem?"

"No." He pressed a tender kiss to the top of my head. "Lev is waiting for his flight back

to Houston. He wanted to discuss putting together a training program for the guards. He's
extremely focused on physical and mental fitness."

"Considering the types of environments these men will have to work in, it's

understandable."

"Absolutely," he agreed. "The problem is that he knows Jack Connolly—Kelly's older

brother—and he wants to sign a contract for our guys to use their gym. Jack is a Krav Maga
instructor and he has a couple of hand-to-hand combat instructors already on his payroll. It's an
ideal place—"

"But you're worried it's going to hurt Ivan's feelings if you kick a big contract to someone

else?"

"Yes." He exhaled roughly. "Ivan won't say a word about it to me or anyone else but I'll

know." He ran a hand down his handsome face. "At the same time, I can't argue with Lev's point
about using the best facility for our needs. There's also no way to deny that Ivan's past and some
of his current clientele are less than savory."

"He does still train Sergei and a couple of other bare-knuckle fighters," I added quietly.

After the mess with Jake, new clients were going to want to scope out every single connection
Dimitri's company had. Guards who trained side-by-side with some of Nikolai's enforcers? It
wouldn't look good. "What does your gut tell you?"

"My gut tells me that I made a mistake relying on instinct when it came to Jake. I nearly

got my best friend killed. I'm not about to make a mistake like that again." He squeezed me a
little tighter. "I hired Lev because he's the best at what he does. I have to trust that he knows
what he's doing here—even if it upsets the balance of my friendship with Ivan."

"Look," I leaned back so I could peer into his eyes, "Ivan is a very practical guy. He'll

understand as long as you're up front with him."

Dimitri hummed and traced my collarbone. "You're right, but that doesn't make it any

easier." His big hand settled along the curve of my belly in a protective gesture. "You should go
back to bed. You need some rest."

I covered his hand. "You need to rest, Dimitri."

His lips settled into an irritated line. "I was in Spetsnaz for years, Benny. I don't need as

much sleep to function well."

"You were Spetsnaz," I countered a bit testily. "Now you're a businessman—and you're

about to be a father."

Dimitri ripped his hand away from my belly. "Do you think I don't know that?"
I reeled back with surprise and hurt at his unexpected and uncharacteristic outburst.

Before I could even react, Dimitri's face fell. As if disgusted with himself, he pivoted on his heel
and faced the refrigerator. I stared at the broad expanse of his back and the beautifully colored
phoenix tattooed there. He rubbed his face between his hands and seemed to be trying to get his
thoughts together.

Stress and guilt radiated from him in waves. He reached out and ran his finger along the

blurry edge of an ultrasound photo. "I didn't mean that in the way it sounded. Please don't ever
think that I'm not thrilled about this baby or us becoming a real family. You and the baby are the
best things that have ever happened to me."

"I know." Aching for Dimitri, I placed a hand against his back. He relaxed under my

touch so I dotted soft kisses across his skin. "Please talk to me."

He turned slowly and cupped my face. His thumbs brushed my cheeks. "I just want

everything to be perfect for you and the baby. I want to give you both everything you deserve."

My heart melted. "Dimitri, we already have everything we need."
"Not everything," he countered. "We're about to put your house on the market so Johnny

isn't tied up in it." He gestured around us. "And then what? We need a place to live and it has to
have a big backyard because babies need space to play and grow. And our vehicles? The
backseat in my truck isn't nearly big enough for a car seat. Then there's your car. I don't think it's
safe. Have you seen the crash rating on that thing?"

I hadn't but it was obvious he'd been spending a lot of time online researching things like

this. For someone who was always so calm, he seemed to be edging toward paranoia when it
came to the baby. "So we'll buy a new house and we'll upgrade our vehicles—"

"And that costs money, Benny."
"I'm quite aware that realtors and car dealerships don't simply hand them out for free."
He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. "I've got a lot of my cash tied up in the

expansion. What if it goes bust?" He blanched. "What if I have another Jake moment? Yuri didn't
sue me but other clients will."

"That's why you have insurance." I massaged his biceps and tried to get him to calm

down before he had a stroke or something.

"Now you sound like Yuri."
"Good. Yuri is a self-made billionaire, Dimitri. He knows what he's talking about when it

comes to these things. He believes in you enough to go in as your partner."

"But what if I’m wrong? What if I really am in over my head?"
"You've never made a bad business decision, Dimitri. You started Front Door on almost

nothing and created something amazing. Think about how much money you made in time shares.
Even after the investment in Lone Star, there is more than enough in your mutual funds and CDs
to allow us to live comfortably for years. The bakery is doing so much better in the new location.
We'll be solidly in the black by the end of the year."

"And until then? We have so many big expenses coming in the next few months."
I decided he needed to hear exactly what I was thinking. "Dimitri, money and big houses

and nice cars—it's just stuff. What we have—our love—that's the most amazing thing in the

world." I dragged his hand back down to my belly. "Our baby just needs our love. Everything
else? It doesn't matter."

He studied my face, almost as if trying to gauge my sincerity. Whatever he saw in my

expression seemed to ease the tension from his face. Bending down, he touched his forehead to
mine. "I just keep thinking about how miserable I was a child. I never want our baby to know the
hell I knew. I never want her to be hungry or cold or afraid. I want her to have everything she
needs and everything she wants."

I couldn't help but smile at the way he referred to the baby as a girl. He so adamantly

believed he was right about the gender. Nothing I could say would deter him. Our upcoming
ultrasound would reveal whether his instincts were true.

Caressing his jaw, I said, "She is going to have such a good life, Dimitri. She's only going

to know love and warmth and happiness with us."

"I hope so," he softly replied.
"You can't keep all this stuff bottled up inside you." I tapped his chest to make my point.

"You always remind me that we're partners in this relationship. That means we have to share
everything, right?"

"Yes," he said a bit reluctantly. "But I worry about piling stress onto your shoulders when

you're pregnant. It's not healthy."

"It stresses me out more to watch you silently freaking out over everything. I don't like

being shut out, Dimitri. It hurts."

Duly chastened, he nodded. "I didn’t mean to hurt you."
"I know you didn't."
"It's hard for me," he finally admitted. "I want to be strong for you and the baby. I want to

take care of everything."

"You are strong, Dimitri, and you do take care of so much. That doesn't mean you can't

lean on me every now and then. You've done so much to support me. Let me support you."

He ran his thumb along my lower lip. "You do support me, Benny. You believe in me

and in everything I want us to build together. I wish I could find the words to explain how that
makes me feel."

"I feel the same way about you. When I nearly lost everything, you were there for me." I

placed my hand above his heart. "Now it's my turn to be there for you." I slid my hand to the
back of his neck and tugged him down for a gentle kiss. "Promise me that you'll find a way to
take some time for yourself before the wedding. You need a break, Dimitri, even if it's only for a
few hours."

He looked like he wanted to argue with me but didn't. "I'll try."
I figured that was the best I was going to get from him this late at night. Grasping his

hand, I pulled him away from the kitchen. "Let's go back to bed."

He resisted my tugging. "You go. I'll be up in a few minutes. I need to call Lev."
I wanted to ask him if he'd listened to anything I had just said but decided that it wasn't

worth the argument. Feeling a bit disappointed, I simply nodded and quietly left the kitchen.
Upstairs, I slipped back into bed and found a comfortable spot facing away from the bedroom
door.

Sometime later, Dimitri finally joined me. When he tried to roll me onto my back, I

resisted his efforts. I wasn't angry with him but I wasn't thrilled at the way he had gone right
back to work after our talk. He must have sensed my displeasure because he began to nuzzle my
neck in that way I found irresistibly exciting.

"Dimitri." I tried to use a warning tone but it came out on a breathy sigh instead. He

cupped my breast and coaxed my nipple to a hard peak that pressed against my nightshirt.
Refusing to be seduced when I was annoyed with him, I rolled my shoulder and knocked away
his hand. "You have to get up early to pick up Lev, remember?"

"I'm not picking him up after all." His seeking hand found its way under my nightgown.

He stroked my skin and persuaded me to part my thighs. "I decided to take your advice. It's your
day off so there's no reason either of us needs to get out of bed before noon tomorrow."

"Well…" I bit back a needful groan as Dimitri's skillful fingers began to torment me in

the way I liked most. "I guess I could put off some of the errands I planned to run."

He chuckled softly and nipped at the curve of my throat. "I thought you might see things

my way."

Even though we had made love only a few hours earlier, I began to throb with desire. I

didn't protest when Dimitri stripped away my gown. Arching into his warm embrace, I delighted
in the feel of his naked heat pressed up against my bare skin. His sinful mouth teased my super-
sensitive breasts while his strong hands roamed my curves.

Grasping my waist, he hauled me on top of him. I giggled as his hands ran along my

ticklish sides. "Dimitri! What are you doing?"

"What does it feel like I’m doing?" He guided my hips into just the right position before

thrusting up into me. "I think the second round should be lady's choice, don't you?"

Smiling, I swiveled my hips and found the perfect rhythm. "Why do I get the feeling

lady's choice is actually your favorite?"

He laughed and gave my bottom a playful swat. "Convince me to call off work more

often, Benny."

As I began to ride him in a way that made us both groan, I had a sneaking suspicion there

wasn't going to be much sleeping-in done at all…