by Lauren Smith
This was one of the things he loved about her. Whenever they talked it was a genuine conversation, not just small talk. They listened to each other. Kenzie wasn’t picturing her next shopping spree or wondering if her makeup looked okay. She had depth—she was real. She loved dinosaurs, just like him. They passionately argued about the conclusions of various new discoveries, conversed about the latest academic papers, and he enjoyed every minute of it. Being with her wasn’t like being with the women at the Gilded Cuff. Those women were there for sexual release and physical satisfaction. Sometimes he went for hours without saying a word to his partners. With Kenzie he felt he could talk for hours or sit in silence without awkwardness. It was nice.
Kenzie lowered her voice. “So what’s your plan for when we reach Moscow?”
“I have a friend, Lev Abramov. He’s a professor of paleontology at Moscow State University. If there’s anything going on in the fossil world on that continent, he will know about it. He’ll most likely have classes during the day, so we could take in some of the sights. Hans will take care of reconnaissance on Vadym. We need to find out who he is and anything else we can about him.”
Royce sipped the last of his scotch as Kenzie finished her rum and Coke. He waved the flight attendant over to collect the empty glasses. The cabin lights dimmed overhead, and a yawn escaped Kenzie’s lips.
“You’ve barely had any sleep,” he reminded her. “Not deep sleep, anyway. Why don’t you rest? Use my shoulder if you need to.” He shifted his body closer. His inner Dom growled in approval. She nodded, her eyes drooping a little as she leaned her head against him and settled into sleep. When it came time, he would have their chairs reclined into beds and make sure that she slept comfortably.
One of her hands came up and curled around his biceps, holding him close like she would a favorite stuffed animal. Her dark lashes fanned across her cheeks as she closed her eyes and sighed, soft and sweet, like a dream of flowers and sunshine. She deserved such dreams.
Royce settled into his seat. Moments later, he too was falling asleep. The feminine scent of Kenzie and the feel of her body tucked against him were a dream he wished he deserved, a dream he would cling to as the god Morpheus dragged him into the darkness of sleep.
Hans Brummer opened one eye and smiled as he saw the grad student cuddle up to her professor. Royce acted tough, and hell, he was tough, but he wasn’t much older than Kenzie.
Kids today. They think they control themselves.
It was obvious to any fool that Royce was captivated by Kenzie. Hans was no stranger to Royce’s lifestyle or the type of women he met at the Gilded Cuff. He’d seen more than his share of that following Emery Lockwood around for the last decade in the shadows of the Cuff, watching over him.
BDSM required trust. But Hans knew that Royce had not yet learned to trust himself, and until he did he would never be truly happy, but Kenzie had made him open up. That made Hans nervous. Love could be dangerous. If he loved someone, they could be used against him, and that could get him hurt. He hadn’t wanted Kenzie to come, but he knew Royce. Once his mind was set, there was no changing it.
Hans peered out the window of the plane, watching the clouds far below turn turbulent and stormy.
Moscow was a strange mix of the past and present. Kenzie stared at the sights from inside the private cab that took them from the airport to the hotel. The famous multicolored onion domes of Saint Basil’s Cathedral shimmered in the distance, accented like a castle in a foggy world, backlit by snowy skies. The streets were full of tourists and locals bustling along the icy streets, coats clutched tight with woolen scarves blowing in the wind.
Beside her, Royce leaned back in the cab, seemingly at ease, his gaze distant. He’d been silent for much of the long flight, and she was afraid that spending most the time cuddled against him asleep had been a mistake. What if he was regretting letting her come? What if he didn’t want her here? That led to worse questions.
What if he doesn’t want me at all?
When they’d been together in the shower, he’d come so close to kissing and then after he punished her, he’d said things that had given her hope. Not that she should hope. They couldn’t go down that road together, not when it could destroy their careers.
She tried to start a conversation. “So…where are we staying?”
“The Lotte.” Royce pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and focused on the screen, ignoring her.
Right. So he didn’t want to talk. “Hans, what’s the hotel like? Have you been there?”
“Once. Pretty good. They have an underground pool.” He offered her a smile from where he sat in the front seat next to their driver.
“A pool?” She’d packed a swimsuit, thinking she might use a hotel pool if she had the chance. Swimming was one of the few ways she could truly find peace in the world around her.
I doubt we’ll have time for swimming, though.
“Here we are,” Hans said as the cab came to a stop.
Kenzie climbed out and gasped up at the glittering pair of buildings that formed the hotel. One was tall and the other short and wide. The words “Lotte Hotel” glowed in white over the shorter building.
Hans and Royce carried their bags into the lobby, where a bellhop rolled up with a cart and loaded the luggage onto it. Kenzie stuck close to Royce and Hans, following them deep into the lobby. The floors were a pale cream with alternating diamond patterns leading past lavishly decorated lounge areas. Crystal-encrusted chandeliers guided guests toward the check-in desk, illuminating the path on the floor. Everything around Kenzie was clean and glittering, with subtle hints of gold in the design. It was stunning.
“Man, I can’t wait until dinner,” Hans grumbled as they reached the front desk.
“Dinner?” Kenzie asked.
Hans patted his stomach. “The Lotte has a couple of good restaurants, with menus prepared by a Michelin-starred chef. Not too bad, eh?”
“Michelin?” She’d never eaten at a restaurant of such renown before.
“Yeah.” Hans grinned and sighed dramatically.
Royce checked in, while Kenzie and Hans hung back. “Hans, is he mad about me coming with you?” she finally asked, dreading the answer.
Hans’s smile faded. “It’s not that he doesn’t want you here. This shit is dangerous. If it was up to me, you’d be in a safehouse stateside. I think the only reason he let you come is he’s worried that there’s no real safe place right now, except maybe by his side. Until he’s made certain that you’re safe, he’s going to be grumpy about it.”
“Great, a grumpy professor. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before, especially when it’s time to grade finals.”
“Well, I imagine angry, dangerous Russian mobsters are a bit worse than grading finals.”
Finished at the desk, Royce came over holding a trio of room keys. He handed the first to Hans.
“You the suite connected to us.” Hans nodded and plucked his card from Royce’s hand.
“Us?” Kenzie’s voice came out breathless, and she inwardly cursed.
“There’s no way you’re staying alone anywhere in the city. You’re out of your depth here. Human trafficking is big in this part of the world. You would be like fucking catnip to the sick fucks who steal women off the street.”
Kenzie’s mood deflated. So she would be sharing a room with him, but only because she was being protected. She took her keycard from Royce.
Be glad it’s not about sex. Sleeping with him ends your career before it even starts. Remember?
Royce led them to an elevator bay, and they got off on the fifteenth floor. Kenzie sagged with relief against the wall as Royce activated the door with his key. Despite sleeping on the flight, she was suddenly dead tired and was worried she couldn’t make it another step.
“Our luggage will be here soon. Why don’t you rest for a bit?” Royce opened the door after a cursory check that the room was empty, and then he let her join him. As the lights came on, her jaw drop
ped. There was a massive king-size bed with a dark wood frame and a dozen fancy pillows resting on top. A tall wall between the bed and the sitting room had two couches and a large dining table that could seat at least six people. Kenzie headed for the window, her feet dragging a little, but she really wanted to check out the view. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, taking in the seemingly unending skyline of Moscow.
Wow, I really am in Russia.
Royce’s voice drew her focus to him. “I’ll take a shower first, if you prefer to crash.” He put their luggage on a set of racks and slid off his leather motorcycle jacket. He tossed the coat onto the bed and headed for the distant bathroom near the door of the massive suite.
Kenzie eased down on the bed, listening for the sounds of Royce in the bathroom, the door closing, the running of the taps, and finally the shower. Then, after waiting a few minutes, Kenzie inched her fingers along the bed to grasp the leather jacket. She pulled it up to her nose, inhaling Royce’s masculine scent that clung to the leather.
The emotional roller coaster of the last couple days seemed to suddenly form a pit in her stomach that soon filled with a black leaden knot. She had been attacked, chased, shot at, and almost killed. She’d explored Royce’s private life, feeling like an intruder as she was exposed to his secrets, and the dark desires he had that mirrored her own. When he’d spanked her on the billiard table, something had changed. She couldn’t go back, whatever she wanted to believe. The truth was that he’d owned part of her in that moment, and she had wanted him to.
If she ever had sex with him, it would obliterate her completely. He was a living, breathing force of nature, and she felt suddenly very small and foolish that she could even exist on the same level as him.
Kenzie laid his coat back down on the bed and stretched herself out near the headboard. She closed her eyes, but sleep was slow to come. The faces of the men who’d attacked her were there waiting for her, as was the light glinting off the barrel of the gun.
She jolted awake at the sound of distant voices. The door to the connecting suite was almost shut, but not quite. Kenzie slipped off the bed and approached the crack in the door, straining to hear the voices.
Hans’s deep voice rumbled. “Are you sure about bringing the kid? We could still put her on plane and send her with Fenn to Colorado. That ranch is hard to find, even for the Russian Mafia.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” said Royce. “We can’t risk getting anyone else hurt. She’s my problem, and I’m the one who should be responsible for her.” His words cut through Kenzie’s heart like a knife.
I’m a problem. A burden. She wasn’t here to help; she was here so he could keep an eye on her. Tears burned at her eyes. She hated when someone made her feel insignificant and childish, especially when that person was someone she respected and admired like Royce. How stupid she’d been to think she would be able to help him somehow. Instead, she’d thrown a fit like a child and demanded that he take her along. Now she knew why he’d agreed.
Kenzie almost opened the door, but confronting Royce would do no good. What was she doing here? She wasn’t trained to fight or shoot a gun. It wasn’t like she knew more about dinosaurs than Royce. She’d never even been to a dig site outside of the US. What was she even doing here? Maybe he was right. Maybe this was a mistake.
She walked over to her bag on the luggage rack and started to pack. She was zipping it up when Royce opened the connecting door and came back into their room.
He froze when he saw her standing there with her backpack. “Kenzie, what’s going on?”
“I…I’m going home. I’m just in the way and—”
Royce’s face darkened, and he strode over to her, putting one hand flat on her suitcase.
“You’re not going home. You’re staying here.”
“I’m only going to get in the way. You’ll be splitting your time between Vadym and looking after me. I’m a problem.” She threw his words back at him, feeling foolish, but she wanted him to know she’d heard what he said.
He cupped her chin, holding her still. Her body trembled in fear and excitement at the way his gaze burned through her. “You are problem, and I do have to look after you. Do you want me to say why? Because once I do, there’s no going back. There’s no happy endings with white picket fences. You get the truth from me. The hard fucking truth.”
Her nerves skittered through her. She’d never seen him like this before—no, wait, she had when he’d been standing over the man who tried to kill her. This was the Royce who was capable of anything. He was fierce, he was frightening, and yet he didn’t scare her.
She knew asking for the truth would be a mistake, but she had to know. “Why?”
“Because the moment you walked into my office that first day, I wanted to do bad things to you. I wanted to make you moan and scream. I wanted to take you into my world and own you like no one else can. But if we did…”
“It would ruin our careers,” Kenzie finished.
“But that doesn’t change how you make me feel. How I feel about you. What I want to do to you.”
His fingers moved from her chin down her throat in a featherlight caress. She held very still, spellbound by his words. He wanted not only to be with her, but to possess her. And as bad as it was to admit it, she wanted that too.
“So now you get it,” he growled softly. “Those pretty brown eyes are wide with fear and I hate that, but you wanted the truth. You’ve been to my club, you’ve seen what I need from a woman. I’m a Dom. When a woman I want is in danger, I break all the rules. That’s why I let you come to Moscow.”
His fingers curled around her throat in a gentle hold. “Because whether or not we both want to admit it, you’re mine. Even if I can’t have you the way I want, I’ll take whatever I can get, even if I can only see you in my office every day and do nothing else.” His eyes burned into her, flooding her with an arousal so hot she almost forgot to breathe. She wanted to be his more than was wise.
“You done scaring her?” Hans asked, standing in the doorway that joined their rooms. “We’ve got a weapons deal to worry about.” He looked a bit like an intimidating overprotective father. If Kenzie hadn’t been shaken by Royce’s words, she would’ve laughed.
Royce backed away from her. “Stay in the room until we get back. Don’t open the door for anyone but us, do you understand?”
“You really think it’s that dangerous?” She’d been hoping to go down to the pool and have a quick swim before dinner.
“It could be. We can’t take any chances.” Royce looked to her bags and then back at her. “Go ahead and unpack. Give us half an hour, then order room service. We should be back before it arrives.”
“What about the Michelin star restaurant?”
“Not tonight, I’m afraid. Not until we know what we’re dealing with here. I’ve got some friends in the city, and I need them to tell me what kind of shitstorm we’re facing with Vadym.”
Kenzie made a show of sitting on the edge of the bed. “Okay. I’ll stay here.”
Royce nodded in approval. “We’ll be back soon.” For a moment she thought he might come over and kiss her, but instead he turned away, following Hans into the hallway.
Kenzie waited for a good fifteen minutes and then got up from the bed to find her swimsuit. She was going to swim.
I’m not as helpless as he likes to think. With two older brothers in the family and an overprotective dad, she had gotten good at slipping away unnoticed. There were certain skills little sisters had to hone in order to do what they wanted—otherwise, they never did anything.
She found her suit and goggles, changed, and grabbed a towel. She would be done with her swim before Royce got back. And he would be none the wiser.
8
“So, are we going to talk about it?” Hans asked as he and Royce climbed in the back of their hired SUV.
Royce leaned back, resting his head on the headrest as he stared straight ahead. “Talk about what?” Hans had the most
amazing way of making him feel like he was a ten-year-old boy and not a man of thirty-three.
“About the fact that you basically told your grad student you want to fuck her brains out. Are you fraternizing with students now?”
“No. There’s a fuck ton of paperwork involved, for one thing. And I would have to stop working with her. If it’s handled wrong, it could damage the academic integrity of any research we did together.”
“Jesus. Why didn’t you send her somewhere safe if she’s such a temptation to you?” Hans asked. “She would have been fine at Fenn’s ranch in Colorado.”
Royce watched the streets of Moscow blur as their driver sped up when the street cleared. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d told Kenzie the truth. As a Dom, he had a natural urge to protect his sub. It was hard to fight that kind of pull.
“It’s my own fault. I was sure she wasn’t going to agree to my terms.”
Hans shook his head. “You wouldn’t have given her terms at all unless part of you wanted her to say yes. You should have just told her to stay, end of story.”
“Well, it’s too late for that now. I can’t have her out of my sight. Not until this is over.”
“Fine, so we find out about these bastards, who they are, what they want from you, and then we take them out. With most enemies you could find a way to convince them to leave you alone, but mobsters don’t think like that. It’s you or them. No other choice.” Hans’s succinct solution made Royce grin. It was why he’d made such a good bodyguard for Emery all these years.
“Who are we meeting with for the…equipment?” Royce asked more quietly in case their driver was listening. Even though Moscow was a heavily populated city, he didn’t want to make the mistake of assuming that the Russian mob didn’t have eyes and ears everywhere, even hired cabdrivers.