by K. C. Crowne
The cabin was quiet, which was both comforting and alarming. The place was rustic, a lot less done up than some of the cabins I’d seen decorated and advertised around town. Houses with a hunting-cabin feel were all the rage these days. But this… it seemed like someone actually chose to live like this without even basic luxuries. No stove, no heat except the fireplace, minimum furniture. Luckily, I’d seen a bathroom with a toilet and hoped for running water.
I got up slowly and explored. Definitely a bachelor pad, not one hint of a feminine touch anywhere. Nothing of real beauty… until I walked to the grand window.
Holy shit.
The view took my breath away.
This cabin, wherever it was, was surrounded by large, evergreen trees. Sunlight seeped through the canopy of leaves and fell in a dappled pattern on the forest floor. The cabin rested against the mountain and looked out over an endless valley from below.
Picturesque was the word that came to mind, although I’d never seen beauty like this before. Raw, unrefined nature. Like a fairy tale, I mused.
I heard footsteps and my heart skipped a beat. Fear tingled beneath my skin, and I stepped away from the front door. When the large wooden door opened, I gaped at the colossus who stepped through it. The tall man had to dip his head to get through the door, and when he stood in the little room, his presence swelled until it pushed into all four corners.
He had a sexy, rugged look about him. His beard was thick, although his hair was shorter but casual, as if it had grown out of whatever cut he used to wear it in and he left it that way. It curled around his ears, but it wasn’t long enough for anything else. He had tattoos across his neck that disappeared into his shirt. He had a scar across his left cheek, deep and angry, which gave him a fierce look, something almost scary. But he wasn’t scary. No, his scar did nothing to detract from what God had intended when he’d created this Adonis.
In one word, he was delicious. And he looked dangerous…
“Who are you?”
“I live here,” he answered blandly, his accent thick, his voice deep.
“That doesn’t really tell me anything,” I replied, my voice stern.
He grunted and shrugged as he plopped a dead bird on the table and headed for the kitchen. He looked like he belonged in this setting of the wild woods. But I gagged as I stared at the poor being he’d just plopped on the table like it had never lived.
Was I dreaming? Maybe I was still asleep and whatever had knocked me out was still working its magic on my mind. I glanced at him again. He appeared to be at least six foot six of pure muscle with a chiselled, masculine jawline that made me want to stare at him. Despite the fact that I knew he’d killed the creature, butterflies danced in my belly. My eyes grew wide, hungry when he walked back into the room. I glanced at his face, and his eyes drew me. Dark, brooding eyes. Fierce when they locked on me. I felt like we were the only humans in this world.
I swallowed hard and suddenly felt a sense of intimidation. Were we alone in this cabin? How did he find me and then bring me back here? I felt exposed.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked again, sounding more confident than I felt. “And how did I get here?”
His eyes sparkled with amusement. He lifted his hand toward his scar but stopped himself as if he was set on not being self-conscious about it. Curious.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
God, when he spoke, the sound of his voice tugged at something deep inside me. His voice was like velvet, sliding over my skin. Deep, baritone. Delicious. And he spoke with an accent I could only guess to be Russian. God, it sounded dangerous. Like those big bodyguards in movies. Or the leaders of some scary mob that did horrible things to people who crossed them.
I shivered. This couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be one of those… he was just a man.
In a cabin.
In the middle of the woods.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, my fear translating into anger.
He chuckled, and the sound rumbled in his chest. He walked to the little table in the corner, a knife in his hand as if he planned to butcher the creature, a turkey, I thought, right there in the cabin. I curled away in horror.
“Did you… kill that?”
He looked at the bird as if only noticing it and nodded. “You must eat.”
“There’s no way I’m eating an animal you just killed. You did just kill it, right?” I asked, aghast at the sight.
He only crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me with an amused smile. “Who do you work for?”
“What?” Why was he answering my questions with questions?
“You are here for who?” His accent, the way he expressed himself, made me swoon.
This guy was interrogating me, and I couldn’t help but think that he sounded hella sexy talking to me like that. Of course, he was Russian. There was something about his rugged appearance that made me want…
Oh please woman! You’ve never been with a man like him. You wouldn’t know the first thing to do with him.
“How about I tell you a little about me?” I said, hoping to break the ice and distract myself from his physique. “I work for an insurance company, for the time being, and I live with my mother, who’s probably looking for me.” I hoped my hint that I would be missed would keep him from killing me in the middle of nowhere, though I didn’t get a serial killer vibe from him. Just an I want to fuck him vibe, which I needed to ignore.
When he didn’t respond, I stated rather harshly, “I don’t appreciate being kept here against my will.”
He looked confused. “Against your will?”
“Stop doing that!” I cried, afraid and frustrated. “You either ignore me completely or answer my question with a question.”
He shrugged nonchalantly and didn’t speak.
Practically growling, I grumbled, “Why the hell am I wearing a t-shirt? Did you undress me?”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “You were bleeding. Would you rather I let you die slowly?”
“And you thought you needed to take off my clothes without my consent?”
He frowned. “I’ll take note. Next time, I let you bleed out. Saves me the trouble.” He turned his back on me, laid the knife next to the bird, and returned to the kitchen to make coffee. As if I didn’t matter, as if I wasn’t there.
“Listen to me you...man.” I spat the words, marching to him, my fear evaporating because he was being an asshole. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t get to ask me questions and not answer mine. Who are you, and where the hell am I?”
I was right behind him when he spun around, so close he was almost against me, so close, a sigh would press us together. He stared down at me with an expression on his face that pulled me up short.
Fire burned in his eyes, and his lips were slightly parted. His eyes slid down my body, and with it came a heat I hadn’t expected. My nipples hardened and my core tightened. I was instantly wet. Hot and wet, and all I could think about was this guy pushing me against the wall and kissing me, hands roaming my body, eating me whole.
I swallowed hard. “Who are you?” I whispered.
He lifted a hand, moving slowly as if he didn’t want to scare me. Carefully, he hooked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “Insurance company?”
I nodded, the anger gone, replaced by something much more urgent.
“Viktor.” The way his name rolled off his tongue sounded exotic. Viktor. I liked it. “And you are?”
“Angela.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “Angel.”
“Angela,” I corrected.
“Malen kiy.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, frowning.
His eyes lingered on my lips, and God help me, I wanted him to kiss me. When his fingers slid onto my cheeks, electricity ran through my body. My breath caught in my throat and my body was on fire. A small moan escaped my lips, and I blushed at my reaction.
&nbs
p; Instead of laughing at me or backing away, the heat in his eyes only grew. He lowered his face to me, and I tilted mine up, something magnetic drawing me to him. I knew nothing about him, but this attraction was impossible to fight.
He caught himself, visibly straightened, and turned away from me.
I swallowed hard and felt like an idiot. What the hell was I doing? This man was a stranger. A stranger who had undressed me! And he looked like some kind of wild man, if I had to be honest. He looked like I wanted him to… No, I told myself. Girls like me didn’t end up with sexy wild men in forgotten cabins. Girls like me didn’t kiss strangers. And girls like me sure as shit didn’t stand in nothing but a t-shirt and lacy underwear.
This had to be a dream.
“Someone will be looking for me,” I announced, suddenly thinking about my boss. Ryan would want to know where I was. He needed something from me, something… I couldn’t remember what I’d been looking into for him. My last case. Soon, I would leave this place behind for good. Well, not this place. But Grizzly Falls. The only place I’d ever called home. “My mom will be worried, and my boss knows where I am.”
He glanced at me but again didn’t speak. Then he turned away and headed to the table to deal with the bird.
I cleared my throat. “Is there some way I can call my mom or my boss?”
Viktor shook his head. “There’s no signal here.”
“Not even outside?”
Viktor gestured to the side of the cabin where there were no windows. “There is only rock. It blocks the signal.”
I didn’t like that description. I wanted to try. I had to call in to work and let them know I was still around. At least until my contract was up. And I needed to call my mom. She would be worried about me. I didn’t want her to think I’d left, just like he had. I didn’t want her to think there was anything in me that could be like my dad.
I walked to the door and opened it, stepping out of the cabin. I realized it was raining, a drizzle so fine I hadn’t heard it. I stepped back inside the door but didn’t close it. The air was so fresh and crisp here. I could taste it on my tongue, clean, pure. I felt Viktor’s eyes on me, watching me so intently while he was busy with the bird, plucking feathers.
I watched him for a moment, nausea creeping up on me. I felt dizzy. “I think I need to lie down.”
Viktor looked up, concerned. “Are you hurting?”
I nodded, pressing my fingers to my temples. “My head is killing me. I think I need…” My knees buckled.
Faster than humanly possible, it only took one long stride to bring Viktor to my side, and a thick, strong arm curled around me. He pulled me against him, and despite the throbbing in my head, my body responded to him. But darkness crept into the edge of my vision.
“Come,” Viktor said, leading me back to the bed and helping me lie down. “Just rest now. I will cook.”
I closed my eyes. I hoped when I woke up again, this would all have been a bad dream. I would be at home and everything would be normal.
Except, if that happened, Viktor wouldn’t be there.
Before I could decide how I felt about that, I slipped into a deep sleep.
Viktor
Let her rest. She’ll need it.
She was in my territory, and I made the rules here. The fact was I didn’t trust her, so as far as I was concerned, she was an outsider.
With Angela around, though, I couldn’t think straight. It was like my brain took a trip to stupid-town and my body took over. My cock throbbed painfully in my pants, even though she’d fallen asleep again. My seed was begging for release. She was just around the corner, sleeping on my bed. In my clothes that barely covered her sexy curves.
Fuck me.
Her scent would be all over those sheets by the time I slept in them. And then it would be over. I groaned at the thought, tugging at my belt. My cock was thick and hard, pressed against my leg, held in by my tight jeans. I wanted to march into that room and rip her panties off with my teeth.
When I’d changed her out of the torn clothes, her lace panties had been enough to bring a grown man to his knees. But those thoughts were exactly the reason I needed to get a hold of myself. It had been three years since I’d touched a woman, put my cock somewhere prolific. It didn’t usually bother me.
Today, it did.
I shook my head, trying to get the thought of Angela and her naked curves out of my head.
This bird needed plucking…and I was talking about the dead one lying lifeless in my living room. Preparing the pheasant would be quick and easy. I didn’t have the means to cook it the way it should be cooked – roasting it with cider and bacon was a winner. But cooking it outside over a fire worked just as well.
Perhaps not quite fit for a woman of Angela’s caliber, but then again, it wasn’t up to me to be her damn personal chef.
She’d get fed and that was all to it.
Where the fuck did she come from? The question reverberated in my head over and over. She shouldn’t be up here. It wasn’t tourist season yet. And even if it were, my cabin was far removed from wherever the hell the tourists wanted to explore - just as I carefully designed it. The only way to find my cabin was if I gave specific directions.
I didn’t get the feeling she knew who I was. When she laid her eyes on me, she’d looked me up and down like she’d never seen a motherfucker as big as me. And I’m certain she never had.
I had enough self-awareness to know I came across as a mean and intimidating force, especially with this scar. Fuck, when I wanted to look like a killer, this face was everything. But now that I didn’t want to be a killer anymore… I couldn’t trade faces any more than I could trade lives.
Just because she hadn’t seen my ugly mug before didn’t mean she didn’t know who I was. It only meant I was probably a hell of a lot more spectacular in person than in a photo.
I made a fire outside in the pit I’d dug and lined with rocks. I cooked the pheasant until the meat was golden brown and glistening with its own juices. More questions about how Angela ended up here came to mind. From parking her truck randomly in the middle of the forest and ending up in my bed.
Had Maksim sent her? I just couldn’t believe it, but I couldn’t discard it either. I huffed out a laugh. Was it all a plan? I scoffed. Pretty stupid plan. She was half my size, and I was a highly skilled killer. It didn’t add up.
I wasn’t a paranoid man. I knew how to cover my tracks. I had no problem doing whatever the hell I had to do to see another day. My new leaf was all about walking away from the noise from the past, but if Angela had been planted, if she had come to find me, well, that new life was going to be fucked.
As if thinking his name, I remembered the last full conversation I’d had with the man who was my enemy.
“Viktor, you’re up,” Maksim said, coming to me and banging his fist against my bedroom door. I rolled out of the cot, grabbing my gun from underneath my pillow in the same movement. I checked the clip, cracked my neck, and yanked open the door.
“What’s the mark?” I asked.
“Anton Lebedev,” Maksim answered.
“I thought Ukhov had him.”
“Ukhov missed.”
I knew what that meant. If Ukhov missed a mark, he became a mark. Maksim didn’t take shit from anyone. If you didn’t do the job right, he blew your fucking brains out, no questions asked. Wasn’t how to run a business, he always said. If you start accepting excuses, you build your house on a foundation of fucknuts and fools.
Now I was the backup.
“I know you’ll handle this.”
I nodded. It was an easy mission. I had to take out the guy from a rooftop. He followed a set routine: he went to dinner with his wife and twin girls every Friday night and spent Saturday evenings at the titty lounge with the boys. That was his first mistake. Routines killed you.
“Viktor,” Maksim said when I headed out, the case with the rifle under my arm. “Don’t miss.”
“I won’t.”<
br />
“Good. I’d hate to have to take care of you, too.”
Could I kill her if I had to? Anyone else, my answer would be an easy yes. But her? Those eyes pierced my soul, as if she knew my business inside and out. If she did, she would run in the other direction. Who could look twice at a man who had taken so many lives, ripped so many families apart? I was barely able to look at myself anymore. I couldn’t imagine what someone like her might think of me.
As if she could read the thoughts consumed by her, the beauty awoke from her slumber. She appeared suddenly, like a vision. Her long slender legs were bare. The vision of her exposed skin far too enticing to look away.
I wanted her. I’d never wanted someone so badly. It was alarming - considering I had no idea if she could be trusted.
I wanted those legs wrapped around my waist. Holding her close, my cock plunging deep into her until she moaned. I wanted to feel her nails dig into my back and the sounds of her pure voice in screaming in ecstasy.
She looked in all directions as she walked towards me. “You’re cooking out here?”
“Welcome to my cabin. Not exactly a 5-star resort. I don’t have a lot of heat inside, but I manage.”
She nodded as she reached me. She still wore the t-shirt, and she had pulled one of my winter jackets around her shoulders. She was so small, she drowned in it. In her seated position, it hung almost to her knees.
I didn’t like how much of her it covered up.
“Who are you?” I asked bluntly when she sat down on one of the bigger rocks nearby.
She rubbed her hands together, drinking in a bit of the warmth from the fire. She didn’t seem surprised by my question. “Angela Becker,” she said. “I told you that already.”
I shook my head. “Don’t fuck with me.” It came out harsher than I meant it.
Her eyes widened, though not with fear. Defense. “Excuse me?”
“If you’re here to find me, you might as well give up now.”