The Agreement (Darkest Lies Trilogy Book 1)

by Bethany-Kris

  With hands thrust deep into the pockets of his slacks, he had his head tilted to the side as he studied her. Waiting for her reply.

  Karine was surprised to find she had to remind herself to actually speak. “Well, if one of us is the spy, it has to be you.”

  His smile grew wider, clearly amused at her answer, and he took a few steps towards her. Careful steps, she noticed. And with the way he kept his head cocked to the side like that, she thought he seemed ... wary of himself.

  Or maybe her.

  What was she going to do?

  Bite him?

  “You look like you don’t know what to do with yourself,” he noted.

  Karine swallowed hard, replying only, “I rarely do.”

  He inched closer still.

  She eyed him up and down, wondering what he might do when he finally reached her. A part of her welcomed the idea—good or bad. At this point, what did Karine really have to fucking lose?

  Then, he said, “You’re getting wet, babe.”

  The endearment came easily.

  Slipped out fast, too.

  And yet, the wave of emotions that crashed into Karine told the truth. She absorbed the impact of his concern wrapped in a pretty package all too well. It made her body ache with desire—for a man who looked at her like he did right then, and cared. Urgency followed fast behind, ready to remind her of reality. It was the panic that really clawed at her, though.

  Deep.

  And entirely unforgiving.

  The same desperate need to escape that had sent her running from the party slammed into her all over again. Before Karine understood the implications of her actions, she lunged at him.

  Roman worked at lightning speed to catch her. She fell on his chest as his muscular arms wrapped around her like a cage, the hardness of his lines somehow feeling soft to her the tighter he held her. For a second, everything was ... quiet.

  Different.

  Better.

  She didn’t care what he thought of her—the spectacle she made of herself was just one of many that made up her life. It was the fact that this man was the one person who showed up in her sheltered circle that offered her something no one else did. An opportunity she could use. Tonight, she just needed to forget. He might well be able to help her do exactly that.

  But that wasn’t even the strangest part. Rain continued to drizzle, the warm droplets sliding over Karine’s eyelashes and falling on her cheeks. He stared at her with a look that said he expected this—her in his arms, that was.

  How?

  Their gazes met, his holding hers strong even though a voice in the back of her mind hissed for her to look away. She didn’t really want to. There was something enthralling about the way he watched her, how his stare swept down to her mouth when her tongue peeked out to lick away the raindrops from her lips, and then jumped back up to her eyes when she blinked away the droplets from her lashes.

  He drank her in.

  Held her safe.

  And she craved that.

  More than he knew.

  “You’re incredibly ... beautiful, Karine,” he murmured, the edge to his voice making her shiver when he added quickly, “I wanted to say something else, but it didn’t feel like enough. Hot wasn’t enough. Beautiful isn’t that impressive, but it’s better. More fitting.”

  She blinked again, still silent.

  Not because she didn’t want to speak, though. Oh, She did. Karine just didn’t know what to say.

  Usually, a compliment like that would make her self-conscious. Maybe because she had never believed it, not if it came from a man. For one, there weren’t very many men who were in a position to say that to her in the first place. Not unless they wanted to answer for it, too. It was yet another reminder that Roman wasn’t quite the same as the men who surrounded her constantly. Something made him different, and she almost wanted to know what. And perhaps even why.

  So, Karine, on the flipside of the same coin, left her surprised by her own body’s reaction to Roman, she also wasn’t shocked at all. She was accustomed to curling away, to feeling frightened and small in the view of others. Not with him. Instead, there was something about the way that he looked at her—it made her hold her head up higher, and stare back unashamed. She straightened her shoulders, daring him to keep looking.

  She liked it.

  And his words.

  Returning the compliment to him in kind would be too much. Karine didn’t know how to formulate the words needed to thank him, let alone the ones to say how she perceived him. Either way, the fact that she didn’t pull away, and instead let her fingertips dance over the broadness of his chest, seemed to be enough for him because he leaned into her.

  Impossibly closer.

  Just like she wanted him.

  Their hips grazed, and she pushed herself further into him, his grip on her loosening just enough to let her swing lightly in his arms. That didn’t last long before he pinned her close to himself again, engulfing her in the warmth of his body. She got a whiff of his scent when his hand came up to catch her under her jaw, tipping her head back to make her gaze stay locked on his.

  Leather. Pine. And something sweet along the edges. She could taste him on the tip of her tongue, and while his fingers pressed into her jaw firmly enough to make her breath catch, it was the scent of him soaking into her senses that kept her still and calm.

  Unafraid.

  “Are you playing a game with me?” he asked.

  The question was a fair one.

  She had to admit it.

  Still, she told him, “No.”

  A girl like her ...

  What games could she play?

  Roman arched one dark brow. “I’m not sure if I should believe you.”

  “So, don’t.”

  Seemed simple enough to her.

  What did it matter?

  Easier said than done, she knew. Just standing there with his hands on her was enough to get Roman in a lot of trouble. He’d already taken one risk with her tonight, and Karine was feeling bold enough to push for two.

  Maybe her stare urged him on.

  Or her silence.

  Whatever it was, Roman’s throat jumped with a swallow before he said, “Tell me what you want, Karine. I need to know what you want here.”

  His words came out in heady whispers, right there, dark at her ear penetrating her oh, so deep whiles knots tightened in her gut. An intense desire washed over her; something she had never experienced before.

  There was a lot she couldn’t pretend to understand about men. She wouldn’t even begin to try. There were a few things, however, that she could never forget, either. Men were supposed to be feared. Men hurt her. They took away everything and made her feel small and inferior. There hadn’t been one man in her life who didn’t take the time in one way or another to remind her that she was insignificant, and unwanted.

  But not this man.

  He asked her what she wanted. Karine wasn’t sure if he did that because of who her father was, or something else. Whatever the reason, it was the first time she had been given a real choice.

  “Karine,” he pressed, voice softer than time.

  It was that softness he offered her—again without her prompting—that urged her to answer him back. To find those words. The ones that she hadn’t really known how to use.

  “Would you kiss me?” she asked, but he didn’t move. More words slipped out before she became too scared to say the truth. “I wonder what you taste like—your kiss on mine. Do you want to taste me, too?”

  Even in the darkness with nothing but a streetlight at the far end of the alley—illuminating their faces dimly—she could see the way he reveled at that, pleasure lighting up in his eyes in the smirk of his tempting mouth. Maybe at the frankness of her words, or how she said them ... either way, it was clear he liked it.

  His hand traveled up the side of her body until his palm found her left breast hard over the damp material of her dress. Under the trimmed, dar
k thickness of his beard, she enjoyed the way his jaw clenched, like he could barely control himself. She knew he was hard—the ridged length of his cock pushed into her thigh as they remained close together.

  “Well?” she asked again. “Do you?”

  The rumbling hum that answered her back was delicious. It started a fire inside her body that she hadn’t expected. But then he had to go ahead and speak, too.

  That only made it worse.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? I’ve wanted to taste you from the second you came out of that swimming pool.”

  Oh?

  Good.

  Karine let her hands travel down, too. Her mouth fell open hungrily as her hand wedged between them until she had cupped his crotch. Brazenly, she stroked him through his pants when he squeezed her breast even harder. His thumb found her nipple through the dress, erect and sensitive to his touch.

  Karine loved it—that sensation.

  The way he was careful when he touched her, like she was a piece of art worthy of being worshipped and cherished, but still held her tight enough that it could hurt if he wanted it to. She threw her head back a bit, delighting in his touch, and the way the rain fell on her face now. His free hand traveled to her ass, grasping hard and strong. Making her suck in a hissed breath when his hands flexed against her body.

  All the while, she stroked him more.

  Harder.

  Then that hand at her throat reached for her nape, guiding her head back so she faced him fully again.

  “I know better than this,” he groaned.

  She might have laughed. If only because he said it like he was mad at the world about the situation he found himself in with her. But she didn’t believe he was mad at all, and it wasn’t very funny.

  Mostly because he wasn’t wrong.

  She knew better, too.

  Then, he dipped down to take a kiss, their mouths met with lips already opened for the taste they’d both wanted, and Karine was sure she was going to explode into a million pieces.

  Or maybe her heart would. The organ certainly raced like it might, the thundering beats slamming into her ribcage one after another as Roman’s tongue tangled with hers. Every swipe of his lips over hers urged Karine to kiss back, wanting more. He pulled the breath out of her lungs with his kiss, but goddammit, she didn’t mind.

  She was right, too—there had been something sweet about the man, and she found it in the way his bruising kiss teased and lulled her into a slower rhythm. How he explored her mouth with every dart of his tongue and hint of his teeth grazing her lower lip.

  The kiss turned into gentle sweeps of their mouths until both were pulling back for air. She would have gone back for more the second her lungs ached with fresh air, but his next words sent her spinning in a whole new way.

  “Your mouth isn’t the only thing I want to taste,” he told her.

  Roman shoved a hand between her thighs, and managed to push her dress up higher at the same time. Or it could have been the fact she widened her stance for him to do it. His fingers found the dampness and warmth seeping through the lace of her panties, two of them rubbing hard against her until she moved back against his hand for more. Her body sought what it wanted from him, the sparks of lust dancing over her skin with dangerous intent.

  Only the rain kept her from sizzling into a plume of smoke because the fire inside of Karine raged hotter than ever. Devastatingly so. She’d never wanted a man.

  Not like she wanted this one.

  She stroked him back, too, feeling his thick cock throb hard inside his pants when she angled her rocking body into his to let him feel more of her. Pushed against the brick wall behind her, Karine couldn’t take her eyes off Roman when he lifted her leg up, and his palm cupped her knee. That mouth of his came back for more, his tongue thrusting beyond her parted lips to slam into her own while his cock pushed in between her thighs.

  She loved how he encompassed her—how he surrounded her with his size and strength. His presence loomed over hers, and yet he couldn’t look away. Or maybe he just didn’t want to. She wasn’t diminished in front of him ... not at all.

  Karine was all he seemed to see.

  In a way, that was terrifying.

  Even if she did want it.

  “What else do you want to taste?” she asked, breathless.

  She shouldn’t ask, or want to know. Karine still did, and there wasn’t a single part of her that regretted it at the moment, either.

  Roman’s fingers ghosted over her swollen clit through the flimsy fabric of her panties, doing nothing to offer a semblance of a barrier between them. “I think you know exactly what, babe.”

  God, yes.

  Her pleased sighs even came out raspy as he touched her everywhere. From the hand between her thighs to the one working her body higher. He traced the curve of her neck before he tugged at her earlobe with his teeth, and then those lips of his trailed down the slick skin of her trembling jaw.

  What were they even doing like this?

  She didn’t know, but ... she wanted more. She wanted to give him everything he liked, anything he might think to ask her for in that second, she’d happily hand it over. However he wanted it, too. Even if that meant spreading her legs for him in a dark, dirty alley on the night of her engagement dinner.

  Really, she wasn’t thinking about Dima, or her father. Or anything else except the man touching her, for that matter. Even if that meant she was stupid to do so. All he had to do was say the words for Karine to agree, but Roman held back.

  He hesitated, and she saw it.

  Felt it, too.

  “Is it because of my father?” she whispered.

  His jaw worked hard, tensing over and over while his hands stilled on her body before he finally replied, “Partly.”

  He didn’t want to overstep—but the boundaries were already fading into the distance, right? That was long gone, now.

  Although, Karine wasn’t about to forget the fact that just seconds earlier, Roman touched her like he wasn’t afraid of having to answer for it. She willed that boldness from earlier to come back—that piece of herself that wasn’t afraid to ask him to taste her, touch her. If she asked now, would he fuck her, too?

  She decided she would just say it, whether he said one thing and did another, but the sound of the door squeaking open to her side stopped Karine’s words right in their tracks. The restaurant’s emergency exit door.

  Something snapped in her, dragging her back to a horrifying reality, and she forgot all about the courage building inside her. Roman came to the same conclusion she did, his reaction mirroring hers when Karine pulled away from him, and he didn’t stop her.

  “Karine, are you out here?” came the call from the opened doorway.

  It was Masha. The older woman stood silhouetted by the shadows at the door, peering into the darkness because she probably couldn’t see more than a couple of feet beyond her position.

  Luckily.

  Roman had slipped off to the side, further hidden in the shadows. She hoped Masha couldn’t see him when she stepped up quickly towards her nanny whose gaze affixed to her emerging figure through the darkness.

  Masha’s brows furrowed—a mixture of worried and annoyance stared back. “What are you doing?”

  The woman didn’t even attempt to hide the way she looked her over, taking in every imperfection she could manage. Karine brought her fingers up to her face, reminding herself how her makeup and hair was likely ruined. So was her dress, now.

  She almost apologized for her state.

  Almost.

  Karine couldn’t find it in herself to care, though. Not after ... everything else. She was still riding a high of her own making—as precarious as it was.

  “Sorry, I lost track of time ... and the rain,” she tried to say, the excuse already forming on the tip of her tongue.

  Masha’s eyes grew narrower. “Just get inside—go to the bathrooms where you were supposed to be. I brought a bag of things in case we n
eeded it. So we can fix all this. It’s nothing to worry about. Go on, now.”

  Karine tried to smile, and at least appear grateful as she walked past in a hurry. She didn’t dare look back for Roman, hoping he would have enough good sense to remain where he couldn’t be seen until Masha had followed her inside.

  She slipped beyond Masha in the open exit door, and once again, the sounds of the celebrations inside hit her. Apparently, that was what she needed to kill the high vibrating inside of her like the wings of a hummingbird.

  Just like that.

  It all vanished into thin air.

  But it wasn’t that simple, and just because the feeling was gone didn’t mean her memories were. A shudder ran down Karine’s spine as hot tears stung the backs of her eyelids. The kiss might be over, and it would likely never happen again, but she could still feel it.

  And Roman.

  If only that meant something.

  Except it couldn’t.

  FOURTEEN

  “She is spoken for.”

  Roman stiffened where he stood in the darkness, positive the woman couldn’t see him. But that meant nothing if she still knew he was there. And as it seemed, she did.

  Fuck.

  “Sir,” she added, quieter.

  And fast.

  Like she wanted him to know she understood her place against him, and for a second, it took him by surprise. There was a difference between respecting someone’s place, and making one know it.

  The first statement would have been enough of a warning, but the second actually made him pause. Leaning forward a bit, and moving enough of a step to be seen in the shadows, the woman who had spoken to him—bold enough to warn him to stay away—also called him sir and wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  He hadn’t bothered to get close enough to any man in Chicago that he’d been invited into one’s home where a wife, daughter, mother or otherwise might be present. None except Maxim, and the few women he’d seen draped over the arms of men at parties and business meetings.

  Docile women.