Prime Target

by Marquita Valentine

  Once more, I press a kiss to the top of her head and begin to speak of my grandfather’s home, of the horses he raises, and the massive hounds that have run the place. Of the food and the rich land that surrounds his estate.

  Despite the easy flow of my words, a sort of dread settles within the pit of my gut. I know, without a doubt, that Everly and I are heading toward death.

  But whose death is the question.

  My half-brother, mine…or worse, Everly’s.

  Chapter Ten

  By the time we land in Paris, Everly is sleeping soundly. She’s curled up around me, her legs tangled in mine.

  Although I know it is futile, I wish for mornings like this.

  This is the hardest part of getting involved with Everly, because now I know the feel and taste of her. I know her. Before, I only knew her scent and smile, not her inner thoughts. Only what she chose to share with me each Wednesday.

  When she is safe, and I leave her, I know what misery awaits. The bleakness and emptiness that will consume my soul without the sunshine she provides.

  I take a sustaining breath, drawing in her scent.

  It’s a pity the room remained shrouded in darkness during our flight, because I would have liked to watch her sleep. I would have enjoyed memorizing the way she looked while dreaming.

  Perhaps she is still dreaming. Perhaps she dreams of me, of our time together, and what happened between us, before we were so rudely interrupted.

  My dick grows hard at the memory of her perfect breasts, her hand stroking me, and her intoxicating kisses. With a grimace, I adjust myself and endure my painfully hard erection.

  In any case, I allowed myself to sleep for a short period of time. It has to be enough for what we’ll face once we’re at my grandfather’s. He is not one to tolerate surprises, not even from a favorite grandson, though he has a taste for beautiful women. The one lying in my arms certainly fits the description, but more than that, she’s beautiful on the inside.

  So, there is a chance that he might allow us to come through the heavily guarded gates and into the house unharmed.

  As I rub my eyes, it hits me. Vladimir—my father—needs to be told as well. Perhaps I should meet with him, before we travel to my grandfather’s. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I send him a text, asking to meet.

  Everly burrows into me, her cold nose pressing into my neck.

  With a thick exhale, I extricate myself, leaving the warmth of her embrace to put on my shoes, and check the cabin. My Glock is secure under my shirt, in the waistband of my trousers, and I feel a modicum of security.

  The main cabin is empty, and the door to the plane wide open for us to disembark to a private lounge for drinks and food, if we so desire.

  The fine hairs on the back of my neck rise, and I carefully pull out my gun.

  “Nikolai,” Viktor says as he walks inside, arms loosely hanging by his sides. “How fortuitous to run into you in Paris.”

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I keep my gun visible. Judging by Viktor’s stance and words, he is here to relay a message, not to be on my side. It is the way of things in our world. “You have information for me?”

  Nodding once, he scans the room. His dark gaze notes the purse Everly left behind. “Where is she?”

  “In bed.” I take a step to the right, fully blocking his view of the hallway that leads to her and refusing to say more.

  “An assassin is quiet in all things, Nikolai. He allows his prey to spill his secrets before he drains him.” My grandfather looks upon me with pride, and then at the body on the floor, blood forming a grotesque halo around the head. “Brilliant work, Kolya.”

  Is Viktor my prey?

  Viktor mutters a curse. “Those who desire your services sent me to check on you. To make sure that Ms. Andrews is with you, and you are agreeable to their terms.”

  Cold dread digs deeper inside of me. “First, I’m taking her to meet Grandfather.”

  “You can’t get out of this. Not even the great Dmitri Romanov can save your half-brother,” Victor assures me.

  Perhaps he can’t. Or he will refuse to do so. But it’s worth a shot to find out if he knows a hit has been placed on his grandson. It’s worth risking everything to get his help, if it means that Everly remains alive.

  I slash a hand through the air. “Blyad. It was the only way I could get her to come.”

  Viktor laughs. “An old-fashioned abduction too good for you?”

  “After we’d been seen by half the city walking around her neighborhood, and then eating in a popular restaurant—yes.”

  Viktor runs a hand along the wood grain on the interior walls of the cabin, his gaze on me. His mouth twists a little. “How is Ms. Andrews feeling?”

  Feeling? Oh, fuck me. The attendant had produced the pills she’d needed a little too quickly, but I had allowed my concern to override my natural distrust.

  “What did you do?” I start for the bedroom, but Viktor catches me by the arm, twisting it behind my back. Sharp pain radiates from my shoulder, as if I’ve been shot once again.

  “I did my job.”

  There’s a pinch in my neck, and I go lax. The room spins. I close my eyes to stop it.

  Viktor’s voice is barely audible as he says, “Now do yours before Ms. Andrews is killed.”

  My body becomes light, insubstantial, like I’m made of air. My cheek connects with the carpet, a jarring surprise. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I force them to focus on Viktor. He’s bent over me, his face impassive.

  “You have two weeks,” he says, straightening.

  My world goes dark.

  *

  I wake up with a start and a sharp intake of air. The room is cold and warm at the same time. Rubbing my eyes, I force them open, startled to find myself in a bedroom. In bed.

  My clothes are missing and my head hurts like a bitch, but I’m otherwise fine.

  However, none of that matters.

  “Everly,” I whisper, grabbing the covers. I have to find her. I have to—

  “What time is it?” a groggy voice asks.

  I freeze, then turn my head. I blink and then blink again. “Everly,” I choke out, and then pounce on her, turning her face this way and that. I search her beautiful face, her pretty eyes, and glowing skin to make sure she’s real.

  You’re not dead. “You can’t be real.” Relief fills me, and I want to kiss her. I want to press her down into the mattress and have my way with her. But I can’t. Instead, I sit back on my legs, scrubbing my face with the heel of my hand.

  A smile curves her lips. “I’m real.” Her gaze flicks down my body, to where I’m straddling her legs, and then back up again. “Nice pajamas.”

  Reaching out, I touch the lace of her bra, and then trail my fingers down her body to the panties that match. She sucks in a breath, her stomach contracting. She’s a vision in pink and white lace. I swallow. Hard. “Very real,” I murmur.

  “Where are we?” she asks, leaning up on her elbows. Her round breasts bounce with the movement. “I don’t really remember that much about last night, once I passed out. I mean, I vaguely remember riding in the car to the hotel and changing into this, but that’s about it.”

  Cursing myself for a fool, I can only send up a prayer of thanks that she’s unharmed.

  “Not that I really care right now, because you’re naked,” Everly says, pulling me out of my head. The tips of her fingers touch my bare thigh.

  She is nearly nude; only the thin barrier of her lingerie separates us.

  “Does my state of undress bother you?”

  Her cheeks turn pink. “Nope.”

  This is insane. I should get out of bed and check our surroundings, find out where the hell we are, and get Everly to safety. Her hand wraps around my cock and I jolt as if she’d struck me with lightning. A groan slips past my lips.

  “Stay in bed with me, Roman,” she says, beginning a leisurely stroke down my shaft. “I feel much better today.”

 
; Get out of bed, you bloody arsehole.

  Instead of leaving, I thrust my hips forward, wanting more. Wanting her to fist me harder. “Love, I—” She runs her tongue over her lips, and I grab her by the shoulders, pulling her to me. “You are playing a dangerous game.”

  Her emerald gaze darkens. “Show me.”

  I push her back down and slowly tug her panties off, placing my hand over her mound of dark curls. Dipping two fingers inside, I stroke her until her eyes close.

  “Open,” I order.

  Her lashes flutter open, and I smile. “You are beautiful.” And alive.

  She runs her gaze over my body. “And you are sexy,” she says. “Who knew you were hiding all this under those suits?”

  I stretch out beside her without interrupting the rhythm of my fingers. “So perfect.” I kiss the swell of the breast closest to me. “Soft.” I run my tongue down the side. Gripping the lace with my teeth, I give it a light tug. Her breast pops free, nipple hardening as it is exposed to the cold air. I cover it with my mouth, sucking and licking while she moans and writhes on the bed.

  “Not like last time,” she says, suddenly sitting up and dislodging my fingers.

  I’m completely taken by surprise by her actions. So taken, that she’s straddling my lap and reaching behind her before I can react. Her bra falls to her elbows. She pulls it off the rest of the way, then throws it behind her.

  As she leans down, her hair creates an intimate curtain. “You are beautiful.” She kisses my lips. “Hard.” She grinds against me, and I reach up to grab her hips. “So perfect.”

  She bites one of my nipples, and I growl. “Careful.”

  Peering through her black lashes at me, her eyes sparkle with mischief. “You like it rough.”

  “Not this time.”

  She frowns and sits up. I scoot back to the headboard and do the same, but instead of a frown, I try to give her a tender look. It’s not an easy thing to do, because, for me, tenderness is an alien emotion.

  Cupping the back of her neck, I bring her to me. “Kiss me, Everly.”

  Obviously confused, she hesitates, but as a man trained in patience, her hesitation doesn’t bother me.

  “Don’t be shy,” I say, trying to coax her closer. “I won’t bite…this time.”

  Lush lips curving into a smile, she lowers her mouth to mine. Her fingers delve into my hair, flexing as she finds purchase there. “Do you have protection?”

  I lean back slightly. I know what I packed, but the whereabouts of said bag—no clue. “Yes, but I have no idea where my bag is at the moment.”

  “It’s okay, my purse is right beside us.” She leans to one side and produces a condom. “I bought this in the airport when you were talking with the pilot.”

  I arch a brow. “Only one?”

  Her cheeks flush pink. “Two boxes.”

  Such a sexy combination of boldness and timidity. “Hopefully, it will be enough.”

  Her eyes widen. “You have the wickedest look on your face right now.”

  “Scared?” I ask as she hands me the condom. I take it out of the package and roll it over my hard length.

  “Excited.” She rises up on her knees. “I’ve been waiting for months to do this with you.”

  I grab my cock and guide it inside of her, grasping it firmly while she sinks down. She wriggles her hips, making a little helpless noise before I take pity on her and grab her hips, while simultaneously thrusting upward. She’s slick, taking me to the hilt.

  Now I’m the one who’s helpless. I’m inside of her, joined in the most intimate of ways. For a moment, all I can do is sit there, my cock throbbing with every pump of my heart.

  “Oh God.” She falls against me, her neck arching as I kiss it. “You’re so deep.”

  “You’re so tight. So fucking tight and hot.” Her inner muscles squeeze around me and suddenly, I’m on the verge of coming. “Move, love. Move, baby. I can’t… I haven’t. Months, solnyshko.”

  “Only me?” she asks. “No one else?”

  She’s not asking if I’m a virgin. “Only you. No one else could come close. I wouldn’t let them. It’s like wanting a fire to light the sky after you’ve witnessed the sunrise.”

  “My Roman,” she breathes.

  “I am yours.” Until my last breath, I am hers.

  She begins to move, her hips undulating in ways that make my eyes water. “That’s it,” I say, encouraging her to go faster.

  Her breasts bounce in my face, and I capture a pert nipple in my mouth, sucking hard. She moves faster upon me, slamming her hips down and making the bed creak.

  But it’s not enough. I want more.

  I roll her to her back, grab her hips and pull them against me. Slowing my thrusts, I stroke her with infinite care and precision. This will last. I will last.

  I cup her face, dusting my thumb over her jaw and then her lips. She looks up at me, eyes shining with…with… I close my eyes, not wanting to know the truth, because this—making love—means something to her. It’s not a means to an end, or merely a pleasurable physical act.

  Everything this woman does is with her entire heart. But I can’t dwell on that. I can’t allow myself to accept that I’m special to her in any way.

  Instead, I concentrate on how she feels beneath me, how she feels around me. She’s an exquisite torment to my soul. I have made her mine. She willingly surrenders to me. Yet, my future…our future is like writing in the sand, blown away by an unseen wind or by a crashing wave.

  A possessive kiss drags me out my head. Everly slants her mouth over mine and flicks her tongue inside. I groan.

  Her thighs tighten, as does the rest of her body. I slip my hand between us and rub her clit hard. She cries out, her body a perfectly erotic arc.

  Scant seconds later, I join her, pouring everything into her, until my head drops to the pillow beside her.

  We lie there, still joined, our hearts beating frantically, but as one. She presses kisses to the side of my neck, like she’d done after making me come before.

  I feel her arms come around me, holding me tight, as if I’m about to leave. We lie there for minutes, perhaps hours, before I can speak again.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” I murmur.

  “Why is that?” she asks as I raise my head. She pushes back the hair that is plastered to my forehead.

  “Bad dream.”

  “You poor thing.” She kisses me softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Not yet, you’re not. I shove the thought away. “How about a shower?”

  “Only if you take one with me. I have got to get my hands on this body.” She sighs lustily. “Roman, you’re like a work of art. You have all the right equipment to make me forget my name.”

  “My body is yours.” When I pull out of her, I notice her slight wince. I feel more than a little satisfied at her expression. I rake my gaze down her curvaceous figure. “But only if yours belong to me.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I’m sure you’ve been with much prettier—”

  I cover her mouth with my hand. “Say ‘yes, Roman’.”

  Mutiny enters her gaze, and she opens her mouth slightly. I think she intends to bite me. Something I’m not opposed to in the least, but right now…

  “Can’t you see how bloody alluring you are? You’re my very own Aphrodite.” Her gaze softens, and I lift my hand away. “Did you not feel how hard you made me? I’m not some green lad with a constant hard-on because my trousers rub me the right way, or because a pretty woman walks by. It takes more than that. You are more than that. Do you understand?”

  She nods and finally says what I want to hear. “Yes, Roman.”

  “Brilliant.” I swing my legs over the bed and stand up, fighting off a touch of vertigo. Jesus. What did Viktor give us?

  “Let’s get in the shower.” I hold out my hand.

  She eyes me for a second, and then she takes it.

  Chapter Eleven

  Emerging from the shower, I to
wel off and gather my clothes, checking my pockets and my black bag sitting on a table by the window before dressing. Everything is as it should be. My weapons, my passports, and my money are all there.

  “Hey there.” Everly’s arms come around my waist.

  I tense, my body ready to fight the unknown.

  “It’s just me,” she says as if reading my mind.

  Turning in her embrace, I lift her chin and press a kiss to her mouth. “Ready to eat?”

  “Starving,” she says against my lips. “You really know how to make a girl work up an appetite.”

  “Consider it a perk.”

  Smiling, she pulls away. “Thank you for asking me to come with you. I was really nervous at first, but this is turning out to be a lot of fun.”

  I raise a brow. “Just fun?”

  She blushes charmingly, as usual. “Erotic fun?”

  “Much better.” Perhaps this is how I can distract her. Keep her mostly in bed for the next two weeks and she’ll never know what’s happening beyond these walls. It’s deceptive and perhaps more than a little underhanded, but I want her in my bed, and I want her safe.

  “After we eat, did you want to go see your grandfather?” she asks.

  Tilting my head, I study her. “Sorry?”

  “Your grandfather—the one who’s sick,” she says slowly. “You said he’d been transferred to a hospital here, because they specialized in what’s ailing him.”

  I did? “Ah, yes, sorry. Making love to you made me forget my reason for being here.”

  Bemused, she shakes her head. “Look, I’m ready whenever you are. But…maybe in the meantime, we could buy more clothes, because I’m wearing my last set of clean ones.”

  “Of course.” I had told her I would buy more clothes for her, since we had to pack in such a hurry to come here. “After we eat, we’ll go straightaway.”

  She releases me and goes to the bathroom to finish getting ready. I watch her as she brushes her hair and dabs lip gloss on with her pinky finger. Just those simple acts make me exhale in pleasure.

  I turn away, knowing I don’t deserve the pleasure she brings me.