“Well, come on. You may as well get it over with,” I give the go ahead, expecting a quick peck on the lips. A timid smooch, perhaps. “The faster the better.”
When he doesn’t lunge for me, my stomach drops. His gray-blue eyes swallow me whole as his arms enclose me to his electrifying heat. The observing crowd around us suddenly hushes. My heart skids as he lowers his head. It’s wrong, but I want to kiss him so fucking bad. To maul his mouth. To shove him against the wall and jump his bones. His influence over me is monumentally shattering.
“I never want to make anything fast that has to do with kissing you,” he whispers into my ear. His soft whiskers caress my cheek, making me long for more.
“Oh?” I breathe, his mouth inches from mine.
His index finger traces down my jaw. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you later.”
Goosebumps shiver down my backbone. The fucking man is Lucifer disguised as a Russian prince charming. He could’ve told me he bought the moon, and I wouldn’t doubt him. His promise isn’t one to be taken lightly. I’m well aware of what he’ll do to me. My body craves it even as my blood races in expectancy.
Demetri possessively frames my face in his massive hands, demanding my sole attention. “I’ll take it as a yes, then,” he interprets, placing his lips on mine.
Resistance is futile when it comes to Demetri or Dylan or whatever the fuck he wants me to call him. When a man sends you into bundles of adrenaline with one caress, you call him whatever the hell he wants.
Without recourse, I give in under his touch and catch his lips between mine. He tastes too good to ignore, but pulls back after I return the kiss. As badly as I want to get out of Alena’s grip, I don’t want to escape his.
“Good, good. You’re married,” Alena croons with joy as my lips tingle from Demetri’s touch.
She shakes her finger at me and directs, “Now, be a good wife. Demetri has done much for you and our cause.”
Alena sighs with a giant smile on her face. Patting us both on the cheek, she finalizes, “On to work.”
An indescribable exchange occurs between Demetri and my mother. The mere sight of it causes my hands to sweat.
Without further ado, the brazen queen whisks to the door with two of her goons at her side. It’s no wonder she could stay dead for so long. She has enough amiable men at her disposal to do anything. I bet she sleeps with them too. I shake my head at the gross thought.
“Your father would be so proud,” she remarks at the doorway.
“You’re kidding, right? Pops would’ve hated this.” I scan the room with my hand and turn oceanic blue icicles to her. “All of it.”
Alena pauses her movements and presses her lips together. “Your biological father, Mishka, not your American father.”
My mouth drops open at her subtle bombshell. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Instead of answering, she sashays from the room.
Turning to Demetri, I try not to let my mind swimming in hormones get the better of me. All I know of my childhood was proven to be a lie by her casual sentence. My entire life was built on that foundation and now I don’t know what the hell is going on with my tattered reason to live. I guess the information I obtained through my torture victims wasn’t false. Sorry, guys.
“I should’ve known. It makes sense. All of it, now that I think about it.” I eye Demetri. “Did you know?”
His eyes swivel to his black boots. “Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me because?”
“Because it’s not my information to share. That’s why.”
Accepting it as the only answer I’ll wrench out of him, I bob my head. I need to focus on something before my brain implodes. I can’t think about the lying manifestations at present. My thoughts need to focus on Eddie and how the hell I’m going to help him.
I scratch at my bandage. “Now what?”
My husband rakes his fingers through his hair and lets out a sigh. “Now, we concentrate on Alena’s plan.” He takes a step away, but I yank him back.
“And what plan is it? What’s my role?” I ask loudly and the room clears. It’s shocking how no one wants to watch newlyweds bicker.
Once all bodies, save ours, leave, Demetri leans his back to the wall and studies me. “I can’t tell you much. All you need to know is Alena needs you.”
“And why am I important?”
“Because of your ex-boyfriend,” he obliges with a curl of his lip.
“Goddammit, which one? Can you tell me straight out, husband?” I grind out the word like venom.
Demetri’s cheek twitches. “Eddie.”
“What good is my connection now? Obviously, I’m married to you.” I hold up my ringless hand. “Yippee. I don’t see Eddie forgiving this or you annulling our nuptials.”
My mother is as stupid as cruel. Eddie won’t want me once he finds out about the aquatic marriage ceremony.
I pace, trying to figure a possible motive. “Eddie is FBI which makes him a potential pawn in a government scheme.” I toss Demetri a glare to see if I’m getting warm.
A hazardous idea creeps into my mind when I meet my husband of less than five minutes. His eyes are remorseful. I shake my head in disbelief.
“No. My mother isn’t that crazy.” The more I think about a reason why Eddie is essential to Alena, I can’t accept it. “That’s insane. She’s insane to think I will agree to it!”
“It’s necessary.”
“The fuck it is. Where is he? Where’s Eddie?”
Demetri folds his arms over his chest. “He’s safe, though in a comatose state.” He nods to a door. “In the room next to ours.”
My eyes are wild at this information. “Are you mind-fucking me right now?”
I stomp to the door, but it’s locked from the other side. “Let me in!” They’re drugging my tender Eddie like a lab rat and it’s my fault. “Dammit, Demetri, open the fucking door!”
“You know I can’t.” He follows me to my spot and halts my hand as it jiggles the doorknob. Twirling me around, he captures me between his body and the door. “Not yet.”
If I wasn’t pissed, I would love this set-up. “Why not?”
His lips part and he lets out a haggled breath. “Because you need to be pregnant first.”
My eyes bug until I think they’re going to pop out of their sockets. “I’m sorry, what? Why?” I shoot him a vile glance. “By you?”
I scoot away from him. It makes sense to plant me in Eddie’s life as a double agent, but a baby doesn’t make any sense. “No!”
“As kind as you are.” He pushes me against the door and I hate myself for loving his gruff nature. “It’s Alena’s plan. You’re going to get the skhodka into the U.S. government.”
His hands trace my body. “With a little help from Eddie.” His eyes drift over my lips. “And a lot of help from me.”
“Shit.” It falls into place for me. A skhodka heir in the U.S. government. It’s Atlantis.
My breath hitches when his fingers unsnap my jeans button. “You can’t be serious.”
“Mishka, there are only two things I know to be true,” he begins. “The first is I’m irrational when it comes to you.” His hands travel up my shirt. “And the second is if I don’t do what Alena says, I’m as dead as you.”
My mind hums on the insinuation. If we’re trapped, we can somehow escape. “What if we fight back or run away?” I suggest as he discards my shirt to the floor.
“You know it won’t work,” he whispers to my neck. “You saw what happened when you tried.”
Chills trace my torso as his breath drifts down the swells of my body. “My mother won’t kill me.”
He yanks my jeans to my ankles, taking my pastel pink underwear with them. I shiver when he hovers in front of me. He was a god in the sack the first time, which only makes me quake in lust.
“Even so, she’ll kill what you love.” Standing to his full height, he grazes my body with his eyes. “Who you love.” He pushes b
ack my hair and plants a kiss to my neck. “And I’m rather fond of living.”
“I don’t—” I argue, but he crushes my lips under his. The hate I hold for him crumbles as his tongue invades mine. My subtle moan turns me on more, but I can’t help it. Demetri is too perfectly wrong for me.
Cupping my ass, he hoists me off the floor and wrecks me to the door. Damn, but the pain encourages me to kiss him deeper. I give in to the weakness he creates and wrap my legs around his waist. His hands excruciatingly explore my throbbing breasts. When he pinches my buds, I nip his lip.
I’m not sure how his pants dissolved, and I really don’t give a shit. All I know is every molecule of my being wants him. Whether he’s Dylan or Demetri or even my husband, I need him like the air I breathe.
“What were you saying?” he asks, breaking from my lips.
My hungry eyes take in his ruffled hair and swollen nose. Damn, he’s gorgeous even after I punch him. “I said, ‘I don’t lov—” My words are cut off again by Demetri’s lips. He savagely kisses me then pulls back, leaving me hazed.
I won’t give in. He doesn’t deserve it. “I don’t love yo—” He roughly yanks my lips to his, sucking on my lower lip. With his hardened body pressing to my groin, I moan when he teases me.
“I know you do,” he implies, keeping his eyes locked with mine while he toys with my swollen clit. “You know you do.” He inserts a finger inside me, and my body rocks to him. “Do you want to hear how I know?”
I can’t manage a response. How can I when I’m too busy maintaining my breathing?
His eyes trace my body and he clasps my breast with his free hand. “It’s this. You may try to hate me, but when it’s just you and I.” His voice trails off. “You can’t fake our connection.”
A second finger is plunged into me, and I lick my lips. “He doesn’t do this to you.” Demetri’s breath mingles with mine. “He can’t move you with a single touch.”
I want to disagree, but he captures my bud in his mouth. My back arches and my knees shake as both his hand and tongue decimate me. Of course, I love him, but he doesn’t deserve my confession. Demetri’s fingers slide over my clit rapidly.
“Fuuck!” I moan, begging for more.
“Say it, and I’ll give it all to you,” he pledges, unlatching from my taut breast.
I can’t unravel. He stops before I have the chance. Not until I succumb to the words I long to speak.
Meeting his glossy eyes, I study his determined face. He’ll bring me to the edge of ecstasy then pull back until I concede. As if I have a choice. Between the torture in my heart and my head, I open my mouth and speak the Russian words in a hushed tone. “I fucking love you, okay?”
At the last syllable, Demetri lunges himself into my soaking core. Gasping at the intrusion, I readily accept him.
“I know,” he responds with a cocky grin before kissing me.
I can’t speak if I want to. Between the vibrations between my legs and the orgasmic way he obliterates my brains with his lips, all I can think about is him. That’s pretty fucked up. Particularly because Eddie’s on the other side of the door Demetri’s fucking me against.
The door squeals beneath his willful thrusts. My eyes roll into my head the longer he consumes me. If I must abide by Alena’s whims, my salvation is Demetri. Even if only for a short amount of time. I don’t plan on being here long.
Chapter Twenty
“And that’s the story of how I met your father.”
Gasps erupt in the small room, and I smirk. Oh, calm down. I didn’t go into the grizzly and erotic details. I’m not a monster. Most days.
“Quit telling the children your horrid stories, Mishka,” a voice chides from the door.
I look at the horde of youngsters. “All right, I lied. That story isn’t about your father,” I explain with a reassuring pat on each of their heads. This time, sighs ripple through the group.
“Mishka, come help me,” the voice nags. God, she’s fucking annoying.
I grumble in Russian and roll my eyes. As I stand, one question meets my ears. “What happened to the other man?”
“And what of the baby?” another pipes in.
“Don’t forget about the secret plan,” a small lad adds.
Fondly caressing the children with my eyes, I wink at the youngest. “You heard babushka, I need to help.”
“Please?” A brown-eyed beauty asks, her face in a stupendous pout.
Kneeling, I force an answer, “I’ll finish the story some other time. Go play.”
The girl shrugs then rubs my stomach. “Fine, but if this is the baby from the story, you better tell me.”
I nod and struggle to stand. Protectively holding my swollen torso, I offer her a smile. “I will after the babe is born.”
The children scamper off, laughing as they clear the room. Padding to the window, I review the accumulating snow outside before I lower my gaze to the bump slowly growing on me. This look isn’t my best, but I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.
“Don’t worry, love bug, you’ll be safe once I kill Alena Vald.”
To Be Continued…
Thank you for reading this Crooked Cat novel. If you have enjoyed it, we and the author would be grateful for a review. Thank you.
Find other thrilling reads at www.crookedcatbooks.com!
Assassin by Day Page 27