by Bella Rose
“Do they?” It was odd, but Kirill could barely muster a passing sexual interest in the woman. Still, she could certainly be useful. He leaned down, letting his lips barely brush the shell of her ear. “And what is your name?”
“Cat.”
“Does this kitty cat like to dance?” He grabbed the hand that was quickly trying to unfasten the buttons on his shirt and twirled her around until she gave a breathless laugh.
“Yes! I love to dance!” She began shaking her rounded backside so hard that her breasts nearly tumbled out of her dress. “Dance with me!”
Kirill smiled, though probably not for the reason that Cat thought. “I would love to.”
He led his little minx out onto the floor. It was easy to get lost in the moment. He put aside the question of who had stolen the contract out from under him and Jacob. He forgot about Susan. He focused on the woman rubbing herself sinuously up and down his body to the rhythm of the music.
Kirill spun his partner and held her firmly against his body. At this point he was dancing and nothing more. His body moved with hers, each note becoming a moment in time that could not touch him.
Eventually he heard the whispers around them. People were remarking on the Orlovs’ bad boy. He was considered something of a rebel and prided himself on never being predictable.
“Aren’t you going to kiss me?” Cat gazed up at him with big eyes. She rubbed the front of her body up the length of his, letting her breasts barely brush his chest.
Kirill happened to glance over just in time to catch Susan’s eye. The livid expression on her face was both confusing and gratifying. It also decided him on the kiss.
“I suppose I might want to kiss the pussy cat,” he told his dance partner.
She giggled, the insipid sound grating on his nerves. Still, he slipped his arms around her tiny frame and lowered his mouth to hers. She tasted of rum and cigarettes. It was a strangely unpleasant combination that convinced him he did not want to add his tongue to the mix.
SUSAN WAS SO angry she thought she might actually burst a blood vessel in her brain. Kirill was kissing that little tramp! Kissing her!
“What is your problem?” Oksana demanded. Her friend leaned over the bar to order two drinks.
“Just ginger ale for me,” Susan said quickly. “I need to stay sober before I do something stupid.”
“Like what?” Oksana followed Susan’s gaze toward her brother. “Why do you care what Kirill does? My brother is the man whore of the Orlov organization. You know that!”
“It’s just so rude! I mean, he’s rude, you know?”
“Which is why you’re with Vlad and not Kirill.” Oksana tipped back her martini. “Guys like Kirill fuck anything that will stand still for long enough. You’re so much better than that. Apparently that tramp is not.”
“Let’s dance.”
Susan stalked out onto the floor and began twisting and twirling her body to the music. So Kirill thought he preferred a scrawny girl with no breasts, hips, or butt? Fine. Susan would remind him why he liked her curves.
“Look at you go, girl!” Oksana crowed.
The two friends laughed and danced together. Oksana could turn her body practically inside out as she moved to the music. Men always looked at her with her long legs and generous breasts. But tonight Susan was holding nothing back.
Several men approached Susan and Oksana. The men would duck in close, perhaps grind against one of the women, and then back off. In turn, Susan and Oksana would spin and twirl either toward or away from their impromptu partners. It was almost an odd sort of mating dance. The ritual of dance mingled with the brush of bodies to create an environment where men and women chose to pair up or leave alone.
Oksana seemed to have found a partner she particularly liked. They were well suited, tall, blonde, and beautiful. And when Oksana wiggled her fingers at Susan to indicate that she had every intention of heading out of the club for a bit of a romp with her new friend, Susan wasn’t surprised.
Finding herself alone, Susan’s desire to dance fizzled out. She left the dance floor and returned to her ginger ale. Seconds later she saw Kirill leave the dance floor with his bimbo tucked under one arm. The thought of him fucking the little wench burned like acid. Still, there was really nothing that Susan could do. She didn’t want him. He wasn’t for her. So he needed to be for someone else. That’s what players were, after all.
“I’m surprised to see you here alone.”
The familiar male voice grated on Susan’s nerves. She should have gotten up and walked away, but she was almost a little too eager to give Kirill a piece of her mind.
KIRILL COULD PRACTICALLY see the steam coming out of Susan’s ears. It amused him to think she was upset to see him with another woman since she had been seeing another man.
“I see you’ve found your conquest for the night.” Susan gestured to Cat. “I hope you checked to see if she’s had all her shots.”
Beside him, Kirill sensed Cat’s curiosity about this other woman.
Cat tugged his arm. “I thought we came to get a drink. Why do we need to talk to this bitch?”
“Classy,” Susan said with a snort. “Was that her entire vocabulary in one shot?”
“Hey!” Cat sounded indignant. “Did she just call me stupid?”
“Sweetie, you’re with him.” Susan pointed to Kirill. “It’s pretty certain that you’re stupid.”
“Are you kidding?” Cat looked dumbfounded. “This is Kirill! He’s got ties to the Orlovs.”
Susan leaned around Kirill’s back as though she were letting Cat in on a very big secret. “Sweetie, that’s just what he tells girls so he can get laid.”
“What?” Cat was instantly confused. She looked up at Kirill. “Is she crazy?”
“Completely,” Kirill agreed with a chuckle. “Careful, she might bite you. I think she’s rabid.”
“What?” Cat looked truly alarmed. “We should go. I want to dance some more anyway, Kirill.” She grabbed his hand in both of hers and began bodily dragging him back toward the dance floor.
Susan wiggled her fingers in a sarcastic wave goodbye. “Enjoy your dance, Kirill. And you’re probably the one who should be worrying about rabies.”
Kirill allowed himself to be dragged back out to the dance floor, but in reality he was really done. He moved his body to the music, while his mind was somewhere else entirely. Then Cat threw her arms around his neck and jumped up so that he had to catch her or risk losing his neck. She wrapped her legs around his waist and began kissing him with enthusiasm.
He lazily explored her mouth, finding the experience strangely hollow. He had her ass in his hands, and all he could think about was how much he missed Susan’s roundness. Cat’s butt was bony, and her hips jutted out as though she needed to put on a few pounds.
“I want to fuck you right here,” she moaned, throwing her head back and letting her long hair dangle down her back. “You should take me right here on the dance floor. I know you’ve done that before. I’ve heard the rumors.”
Kirill hated that Oksana and Susan were right, but some of these rumors were getting a little out of hand. He wondered if people honestly believed that he had had sex on this dance floor, or if it was just a bit of urban legend come back to bite him in the ass.
“Honey, I think that might land us both in jail.” He pried Cat’s legs off his waist and swung her around before putting her back on the floor.
“Then we can break out of jail!” Cat’s eyes glowed with excitement.
SUSAN COULD NOT decide what pissed her off more. She was either mad that this lithe young woman with legs a mile long was climbing all over Kirill. Or Susan was pissed that he was letting it happen. Hell. He was a man. He was probably enjoying it!
Unable to look at the spectacle they were creating for one more minute, she snatched up her clutch and left the club. She had barely made it out the door before someone grabbed her arm.
&
nbsp; “Where are you going?” Kirill demanded.
She whirled on him. “I’m sorry, did I deprive you of your audience or something?”
“Where’s good old Vlad?” The derision in his voice cut her to the quick.
Susan stiffened and continued walking as though Kirill had never stopped her. Unfortunately, that just gave him another opportunity to grab her arm. The touch was electric. She tried and failed not to shiver at the contact.
“I asked where Vlad is.” Kirill’s tone was deadly. “Any man who lets his woman wander around after dark without an escort is worse than useless.”
“He’s not useless.” She rounded on him angrily. “He’s working. You know, that thing you do when you have a regular job? One that doesn’t make you some mafia family’s bitch?”
His lip curled in disdain. “Is that truly what you think of me?”
“Some days I don’t know what to think,” she said honestly. “It isn’t like you’re all that forthcoming. And I don’t even know why we’re having this conversation. We’re done. Remember? I don’t care what you do. You don’t care what I do. We screwed around and that was it.”
“And yet it bothers the hell out of you to see me with someone else,” he said firmly.
The self-satisfaction on his face made her angry enough that she stomped her foot and balled up her fists as though she were actually going to let loose and throw a punch. “Of course you would pay attention to that, but I’m just supposed to forget about your insane behavior about Vlad. Like I’m jealous and you’re not.”
“I’m not jealous,” he said quickly. “Vlad is just a boring loser and I think you can do better.”
“I want a boring loser! I want a man who’s so different from you that he’s not even in the same solar system. Do you understand? You are not my type, Kirill. At all. Ever. I should not even be having this conversation with you. That is how wrong for me you are.”
Her tirade didn’t even seem to faze him. Some of the other people coming and going from the club were starting to take note, however. Susan flinched beneath their stares. What if someone reported back to Oksana that she was having what amounted to a lover’s quarrel with Kirill?
“So emphatic,” Kirill murmured. “One might think you were attached to me yourself.”
“Oh whatever.” Susan drew back her arm and smacked him hard across the face.
The blow was as unexpected to him as it was to her. She had never done anything like that before in her life.
He barely flinched, though.
Unconsciously lifting her fingers to his face, she whispered to him, “I’m so sorry.”
Then she turned and fled.
Chapter Ten
Susan stared at the face in the mirror and tried to figure out why it felt as though she were losing her mind. She had never before in her life been prone to physical violence. Kirill just made her so mad!
There was a pounding on her door. She might have known he wouldn’t let that incident slide without at least making some comment or observation. For once, Susan wasn’t feeling as though she should back down. Perhaps this was what the phrase “spoiling for a fight” meant.
“What?” She yanked the door open and glared at the man standing on her porch. Belatedly she realized that the pounding had been on the front door and not the kitchen’s back door. Unfortunately, she was facing off with the wrong man. “Oh! Vlad? I’m so sorry.”
“Susan, are you all right?” Vlad looked as if he wanted to come in, but he never actually crossed the threshold.
“I’m fine, thank you, Vlad.” Susan knew this was what she should want in a man. “You’re so courteous. I really appreciate that about you.”
“I just feel as though there’s something you’re not telling me that I should really know.” He frowned. “I was working late tonight, and it occurred to me that it was time I could have been spending with you. I’m sorry about that. I want to be available to you so that if you do have things you need to tell me, you can feel free to do that.”
Oh boy, Susan had one whopper of a secret, but she really couldn’t share that with Vlad. Although before too long it would become obvious. It wasn’t as if she could hide the fact that she was pregnant forever.
“Susan?”
“Yeah, Susan.” Another rougher male voice cut in. “It seems as though you’re keeping a secret lately.” Kirill came sauntering through the house, having no doubt let himself in through her kitchen door.
“Who invited you?” Susan snapped. “Seriously? Do you ever knock?”
“Would you answer?”
“Maybe.” She glared at him. “What? Are you afraid to take a chance that I might just leave you standing out there like a loser?”
Vlad looked between Susan and Kirill. She saw the moment the realization of their association slowly began to dawn on him.
Then Vlad looked to Susan. “I think I understand what you’ve not been saying.”
“It’s not like that,” Susan said quickly. She made a vague gesture toward Kirill. “Kirill and I aren’t a couple or anything.”
Vlad’s eyebrows shot up. It didn’t help that Kirill started laughing.
Susan realized what she had just implied. She made a frustrated noise and slugged Kirill in the gut. He barely flinched.
Vlad pursed his lips. “I think it might be best if you and I take a little break until you’re sure what you want in a relationship, Susan.”
“Vlad…” She started the sentence but couldn’t really find the rest of it. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s really no problem.” Vlad nodded pleasantly to both of them. “Have a nice night.”
Susan watched him walk away and felt an odd sort of relief. Vlad was exactly what she should have wanted in a man. But for some reason she could not identify, he just didn’t appeal to her in that way.
Kirill snorted. “That guy always was spineless.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She rounded on him.
Kirill’s expression suggested he thought the answer should be obvious. “Come on! If he really wanted you, he should have been willing to fight for you.”
“That’s barbaric.”
“I’m speaking in general terms here. You don’t have to take it literally.” He waved his hand to indicate Vlad. “If that little weakling challenged me to a physical fight, I would decapitate him in seconds. But that doesn’t meant his first response should’ve been to walk away and just let you decide what you want. What does that say for how he feels about the situation? Shouldn’t he have been angry? I mean, I’m angry, for fuck’s sake, and I’m not even your significant other!”
“You’re angry about what?” She left him in her front room and headed back to the kitchen. She needed to do something in order to distract her from this asinine conversation.
Unfortunately, Kirill followed right behind her. “I don’t know why I’m angry. I just know that it pisses me off to see you with Vlad. All right?”
“If I didn’t know better, I would say that you’re jealous.” She pulled ingredients from her cupboard and began throwing things into a bowl.
“I don’t get jealous.” He leaned against the doorjamb and folded his arms belligerently over his chest. “That would be a huge handicap in my line of work.”
“What do you really do, anyway?” It occurred to Susan that she had never asked. “I’ve heard rumors, of course. And now I’m realizing that I’ve never actually tried to substantiate them. I’ve just sort of repeated them to you.”
“At me, actually.” His smile suggested he hadn’t minded in the least. “I work for the Orlov family. That much is true.”
“Oksana says you think you do.”
“Oksana is a judgmental bitch who can’t stand the idea that I might possibly be cooler than she is.” He grimaced. “And yes, I did just make that juvenile statement.”
“So what do you do?” She began stirring the brownie batter.
> He moved to swipe a bit of batter with his index finger, and she swatted him with her spatula. He jumped and put his offended finger in his mouth.
“I’m an assassin.” He spoke the words around the finger still crammed in his mouth.
“Wait.” She yanked his finger out of his mouth. “Did you just say that you’re an assassin?”
KIRILL COULD NOT quite decide if Susan was handling this news well, or if she was about to lose her mind. She began waving the spatula in the air and muttering to herself.
Finally, she flung the utensil in the bowl of batter and reached into a cabinet to retrieve a pan. He had never seen a woman bake like this before. It was shockingly domestic, and for some reason he found it incredibly sexy.
“So,” Susan began speaking as she poured the batter into the pan. “You’re telling me that you actually kill people for a living. Like murder them?”
“I wouldn’t call it murder.” He shrugged. “Generally they have to be pretty bad characters in order to be put on my hit list. It isn’t like they’re Boy Scouts or anything. They’ve run afoul of the Orlovs in some way. Either they refuse to pay a debt, or they’ve committed some sort of crime against the family. They’re usually extremely unsavory individuals.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to justify what you do right now?” She raised an eyebrow.
Kirill opened his mouth to answer, and then realized that he was doing exactly that. “Damn.”
“You kill people for a living.” She wasn’t talking to him now. She was talking to herself. “He murders people. That’s what he does for a job. That so figures! I’m having a fucking baby with some guy who works as a hit man.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He held up his hands. “Who said anything about a baby?”
“I did!” She flung up her hands right before she picked up the brownie pan and put it inside the oven with unnecessary force. “Because it’s true!”