Papa hesitated. “Oleg can be quite fierce. But we want you to be comfortable, honey. So, who would you prefer, then?”
I thought of Adrik, the mysterious man on the porch who made my heart thump and my breath hitch with his delicious masculinity. Who’d captured my attention from the moment I’d first seen him across the yard several years ago. Something about Adrik intrigued me. I didn’t know him, but I wanted to. And this might give me the chance.
I thought of Timofey, the huge, fun-loving guy who was courteous and respectful and always made me smile.
And I thought no further.
“I want Adrik and Timofey.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Adrik
“He’s back.” Artem’s voice came through my earpiece.
Tim and I exchanged a glance.
“Who?” I asked into my mic.
“That weirdo who was peering through the gate earlier. Now he’s howling and barking at the moon like a crazy fucker. I don’t think he’s all there in the head. Oh! Wait. He just scurried off, but it looks like he dropped something by the gate.”
“We’ll go check it out.” I nodded at Tim and hurried down the steps, eager to catch the dude and find out who he was. We hadn’t noticed the guy returning because we’d been so enamored by Annika’s presence on the front porch—or, at least,Ihad.
Iknewbetter than to let distractions get in the way of my job. What the fuck waswrongwith me?
The rest of the family had gone inside about fifteen minutes ago. But my head had been so full of thoughts about Annika that I’d missed the guy returning.
Disgusted with myself, I strode across the yard for the gate with Timofey, pausing as we reached it.
Tim punched in the code.
The gate opened and we cautiously glanced around.
“To your left, Adrik,” Artem’s voice instructed in my ear. “On the ground.”
I turned, spying a cellphone lying at the base of a large Mexican fan palm.
Dropped by accident? Or intentionally left behind?
Tim and I exchanged a glance. It might contain personal information about the trespasser. Or it could be a bomb or some other harmful device.
“Don’t touch it yet,” Artem said over the communication device. “Boss is sending a dog to check for explosives.”
Moments later, Stepan strode through the gate with one of the guard dogs.
Tim and I waited while Stepan directed the animal to smell the phone for explosives. Keeping a wary eye on the beast and trying not to lose my shit, I stepped back, waiting for the all-clear.
After a moment, the animal lost interest in the phone. Clearly, there was nothing dangerous on it. If the dogs detected something, they would promptly sit.
“It’s clean,” Stephan announced, turning with the dog, and heading back inside.
I relaxed once the animal was gone, waiting for my next instructions.
“Bring the phone in here,” Artem said over the communication device. “Boss wants to check it out.”
Pulling a glove out of my pocket, I carefully picked up the phone, and we went back inside the property.
We met Artem in the security room, and found thePakhan, Pavel Popov, and his brother, Alexei (Annika and Efrem’s father), waiting with him. Efrem was also there.