Give Me More by Jenika Snow

“What’s up?”
    It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Alexa with telling her what she’d done with Sergei last night, or that she was ashamed.
    Zoey didn’t want her sister looking at her with that worry, with that intensity because she’d been in a situation with a very bad man.
    And Sergei is a bad man. But not to me.
    And then the expression on Alexa’s face told Zoey her sister knew exactly what had gone down.
    “Please, Zoey, tell me you didn’t have Sergei here last night?”
    Zoey felt her face heat as she thought about what they’d done. Her lips tingled at the remembrance of how much attention he’d paid to them. Involuntarily she touched her mouth, still feeling his mouth on hers.
    “How far did it go?”
    When Zoey didn’t answer Alexa exhaled.
    “By the way your face is red, and the silence, I’d say pretty damn far.”
    Zoey exhaled and put her head in her hands. “I’m crazy, right?” she asked, but was mainly talking to herself. And then she felt her sister touch her arm. Zoey looked up, feeling her heart in her throat, not because she as ashamed of what she felt for Sergei, but because the more time that passed the more she wanted him.
    The more this felt right.
    “You have to feel pretty strongly if you let him in your life.”
    Zoey gave her sister a smile. “It just kind of crept up, Alexa, and it scares me.”
    Alexa gave her arm a squeeze.
    “They are dangerous men, Sergei and Yvgeny. Hell, all the men that are in that circle are very dangerous. They make that asshole Rick look like he’s a Girl Scout.”
    Yeah, she was getting that, too.
    “I know it’s crazy, and I know I should be afraid of him, but I’m not.” She wanted to ask Alexa about how she felt for Yvgeny, but she’d gotten the impression it was a really sore subject.
    “I know how you feel, and I know it’s hard to walk away.” Alexa shook her head. “I wouldn’t ask you to, because I would have no right to.”
    I guess that’s as close to what she had with Yvgeny as I’m going to get.
    “But,” her sister said, taking her hand back. “They are dangerous, but they will protect their own, and anyone under their care with their last breath.” Alexa smiled. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
    Zoey was happy, and that was saying a lot given the worry she’d held onto for so long. Even if she worried about her past, she realized when she was with Sergei that was just a lingering thought, a distant memory.
    It was nice, but was that really reality?
    ****
    Alexa watched her sister sitting at the table, her thoughts clear on her face, the conversation they’d just had playing through Alexa’s mind. She tried to busy herself with putting the groceries away, a task she did because she wanted to take care of her sister, even doing something as small as buying some milk and eggs.
    But the truth was Alexa couldn’t say anything against what Zoey had with Sergei, not really. She’d been in a sexual relationship with Yvgeny.
    Can I even call it a relationship?
    No, she couldn’t. It was two people fucking, and that’s exactly how it had been with Yvgeny. The sex had been raw, untamed … uninhibited. It had been everything she’d craved, everything she’d yearned for. But then again it had been that way because she’d been in love with Yvgeny for longer than she even cared to admit.
    Shit, she needed to let Zoey live her life. She’d been through hell and back, and that fucker had done a number on her. If she was happy, even if it was in the arms of a man that killed, a man that everyone was afraid of, then she had to step back. The Bratva were dangerous, but they were also protective. She didn’t know if things were different in other parts of the world with the organization, but she knew the men that were in her life.
    I know the man I love, and how he is toward the ones he holds dear.
    If Sergei was anything like Yvgeny, she was glad he’d come into her sister’s life. Zoey needed someone strong