The Curvy Road *On Hold* See Profile for Info

6: Tonight, I Would Pretend

Luka’s POV:

Leaving Raylan at the hospital was harder than it should have been, even with the promise of seeing her in a few short hours. I still needed to amend the contract. So I hoped that the simple task would help keep my sanity while I waited to send for her. The thought of having her to myself tonight was unbearably sweet. The racing of my heart as my palms became slick, made me feel like a hormonal teenager. Not something I had experienced before.

In my younger years I had always gotten what I wanted without hesitation. Girls followed me around hoping for the prospect of warming my bed for the night. Many had been disappointed when I rejected them, it wasn’t for lack of being uninterested. It was simply because I couldn’t stomach the thought of having sex with someone who had spread her legs the night before for one –or more- of my men.

Though, Raylan was right –I was more experienced than her- it wasn’t quite the number she (or anyone) would assume. I had had my fair share of affairs but I never bounced from woman to woman. I would do all I could to keep each one, but in the end, each had found comfort in the arms -and bed- of another.

I gave up hope of ever finding one to have to myself, to love, long ago. Then Raylan came into my life. The way she walked into her interview, head held low –shy, she didn’t look at me like the other women had. Lust filled gazes and flirtatious innuendos. No, not my Raylan, she came in with an air of professionalism. Though she was shy, she held my attention while she spoke. Her tiny hands flying through the air as she talked about her college years, her interest in the company, her family.

The moment she talked about her father and his business ventures, I could see a sadness over take her shining orbs. He had changed and made a life for his family here in the states, but something was wrong, she didn’t elaborate more. Just the few details and a swift change in the subject. For nearly two and a half years I hadn’t known of her sister. It wasn’t until Dean came into the office one morning shuddering at the fact he had been touched –inappropriately- by a barely legal child.

A child I was now trying to make sure lived a long and healthy life. The thought of Raylan’s heart break from losing her sister, was enough to have me calling numerous specialist, researching Blake’s condition, and making sure to have the best staff on call for any of her needs. I would give up the company and travel into the depths of the farthest jungle if she thought it would help Blake. I wasn’t sure there was anything I wouldn’t do for Raylan. With that idea, I pulled my mobile and called the one person I could always count on.

“I need your help. Meet me at my place in an hour?”

I snapped, my Russian accent coming off thicker than normal since I was using my native tongue, before I flipped my phone shut. I didn’t mean to sound so short but I really didn’t want to have the inevitable conversation on the phone. Besides, I knew once I told her how I had finally secured Raylan to me, she was going to kick my ass. She had known of my feelings for Ray for the last two years and tried her hardest to get me to make a move, a proper one, so I knew I was threading a thin needle with this whole contract business.

“What is so important, you had to call me over here?”

My aunt came rushing in with a panicked and flustered look about her. She had been my anchor after losing my mother. The move to America had been her idea. A way to leave my past and start new, make something of myself that we could be proud of. Not the person who was contented to back alley drug deals, beatings, and the occasional pull of a trigger. Pulling out of my darken thoughts I looked to my aunt to see her staring with a look of pure exasperation on her features.