“I love you, Cassandra,” he breathed into her mouth.
“I know.” There was a mellow quality to her voice as she spreads her legs wide, cradling him between them and nesting his throbbing cock at her wet folds. A groan rumbled through his chest as his firm head touched her hot slit. Trevor stared into her eyes and whispered, “I want you so much.”
Cassandra’s heavy-lidded eyes glistened with moisture as she held his gaze. “You have me. Love me, Trevor.”
As those words passed her lips, she thrust her pelvis upward, sheathing his cock, and instinctively his hips pushed forward, driving deep inside her. They both moaned in pleasure at the joining of their bodies and began moving against each other in a give-and-take of love and deep devotion. Supporting his weight on their clasped hands and his knees, Trevor slowly withdrew almost fully before driving swiftly back inside her wet core again and again until her moans grew ragged.
“Harder!” her raspy and broken voice begged. Trevor used his knees to push her thighs wider apart and slid one of his hands down between them, reaching for her sensitive nub. His touch sent electric tendrils through her body, making her tremble, and he felt the first quakes of her approaching release.
“Touch me,” she moaned again. He increased the rhythm of his thrusts as he pressed his thumb on her clit, rubbing it in the alternating circular and side-to-side motions he knew she loved. Her breathing became ragged and loud and she bucked underneath him. Releasing her hands, he caged her as he leaned down and sucked her pebbled dusky nipple deep in his mouth.
Cassandra’s fingers combed through and grabbed handfuls of his hair, holding his head to her breasts. He took his time nibbling and sucking on each as he drove his cock in and out of her hot wet channel in a slow cadence, engulfing himself in the heat of her and the sweet taste of her skin.
Her body arched toward him and he took her offering hungrily, pulling more of her breast into his mouth, kneading the other gently with his fingers. “Oh, Trevor!” Her sigh was a slow exhale of breath urging him to continue his ministrations.
Light rhythmic squeezes around Trevor’s shaft alerted him that she was spiraling faster toward release, and he felt a need to take her higher—make her scream his name, say she was his. That she would always be his.
“Wrap your legs around me, Cassie,” he urged her. She locked her ankles against the small of his back, pressing him closer each time he thrust into her. Their bodies collided and ground incessantly as he plunged into her heat. “Cassandra—” Her name flowed from his lips with reverence as he increased the speed of his pumps, and soon they were both lost in each other, lost in pleasuring each other to the fullest. Grinding and writhing, rubbing and touching the other in places they’d learned would bring them closer to their mutual release.
Her inner muscles exploded in spasms around him and her breath came in long surrendering moans. “Ah….”
Her body tensed and a twinge pricked his lower back. They were both so close. Her name left his lips in a victorious yell as they set each other ablaze. “Cassandra! God!”
“Yes! Trevor!” Her sheath squeezed him repeatedly, massaging, and milking him until, spent, he collapsed on her. He lay his head beside hers, face tucked at the sweet curve of her neck, chests heaving at the exertion, hearts beating a mile a minute.
After a few moments, Cassandra’s humor bubbled against his ear. He lifted his head to face her and found a pair of mischievous eyes staring back at him. “What?”
“Little Red Riding Hood? Really!?”
He laughed out loud and mimicked the voice again, “But, grandmother, what a dreadful big mouth you have! The better to eat you with…”
Her laughter rippled through the air. “God, you’re insane and I love you.”
Trevor rolled to the side and cradled her tight against him, brushing her brow with his lips. Her breathing grew shallow as she began drifting into sleep. “I love you, too, Cassie,” he repeated her words softly as she slid a leg between his and wrapped an arm over his chest.
Chapter Twenty
Bruised Ego
TREVOR’S GLANCE CUT TO CASSANDRA. She held the steaming cup of coffee between her hands as if it were an anchor. He could tell by the shadows in her eyes and the blank stare directed at her laptop’s darkened screen that her thoughts were in turmoil.
His adventure the night before had left his body achy and stiff. He felt as if he’d been passed through the wringer and spit out to dry. Earlier that morning he had assessed the damage to his back in the small bathroom mirror. The bruise sustained in the fall was taking on an ugly hue—a dark purple brand, rectangular in shape, taking a place of honor right smack between his shoulder blades. He grimaced at the thought of what Cassandra would say when she finally set eyes on it.
Since they had gotten up and jumped into work, she had avoided his gaze and all conversation. That was the first time since the day they’d met that Cassandra had been truly angry with him. The last months had been a rollercoaster of activity and adventure. They had gotten themselves into hot water before, but that last brush with the unexpected had shaken her badly and he couldn’t pinpoint why.
The silence was killing him. He missed the laughter and camaraderie they shared. Unable to handle the silence any longer, Trevor turned to face her and blatantly stared at her until she closed her eyes to avoid his gaze.
“You scared me last night,” she murmured.
“I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry if I did.” Trevor tried to rationalize. “You do know that what we’re doing has risks. I can’t guarantee I won’t be harmed in the process. Neither of us can. You always knew that. Have you changed your mind? Do you want us to go home?”
The bitter taste of uncertainty filled his mouth and he wondered how he would move forward if she decided she’d had enough of his personal quest. A fist squeezed his heart at the thought of the choices he would have to make. As much as he was driven to find out what happened to his parents, he wasn’t willing to proceed with his search for answers if it meant destroying his relationship with Cassandra.
“Why would you think I’d want to quit over something so asinine? I’d never quit looking for them, Trevor. Neither will you.” She paused and he exhaled the breath he’d unknowingly held. “It’s something you need so you can move on…we can move on.” His wife was a wise and perceptive woman, even when angry. At that moment, he thanked the fates again for all the events that had put her in his life.
“To be honest, I think I was more frustrated than scared, sitting here, hands tied and unable to back you up. That daredevil sitting on your shoulder has become a permanent fixture.” She shook her head and a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “It scares the shit out of me sometimes. We’re still working blind here, Trev. We don’t have a solid handle on the routine at the mansion.” She turned to look at him at last and held his gaze. “And you were up there. What if someone had driven up to the gate or left on foot from the property? What if you had fallen inside? Damn it, Trevor. You would have been dog meat for sure. No pun intended,” she blurted out.
Understanding her reasons didn’t make it any easier for Trevor to take them. “I’ll be putting my neck on the line again soon…are you sure you can handle that?” he asked her directly. No point in using half-truths or soften the reality that was to come.
“I’ll be fine,” she responded with a deep sigh. “I get the risks. I’ve lived those risks long before meeting you, and knew the risks when I finally accepted the fact that you were going to be a permanent part of my life. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give you shit for stupid antics like the one on the gate.”
Her tone and the look in her eyes clearly indicated she wouldn’t be forgetting his little stunt any time soon, and would definitely find ways to remind him of that— every chance she got. “Please tell me you won’t retaliate with another workout. Please, please don’t turn me into Chuck Norris.”
Cassandra stared at him with a blank expression on her face an
d, after a moment, shook her head and burst out laughing. Her humor quickly faded to a grim slash of lips and she booted her computer. “Nah. I called Bob instead. Once we finish this assignment, we’re heading to the States. You’ve been enrolled in Bob’s buddies’ Navy Seal Boot Camp for Geeks. His motto is, ‘We’ll knock the geek out of ‘em and some sense in.’”
It was Trevor’s turn to stare at her. Bob’s Navy Seal buddies were forces to be reckoned with, as Trevor had discovered upon their return from Paris. They were take-no-prisoner kind of guys. First-person shooter games were most likely modeled after those guys’ MO. “What the hell, Cassie? You did what?!”
Cassandra ignored his question with a shrug and switched gears on him. “What do we have from the cameras?”
Trevor grimaced. “You’d better be joking.” The glitter in her eyes gave him his answer and his heart settled in his chest. The tragedy of his early death had been averted.
Glad she was ready to get back into work, he filled her in. “We have several files from last night. Why don’t we go through them?”
“Sounds like a plan,” she answered, a trace of laughter still lingering in her voice.
Over the course of the next several hours, they combed the footage they’d collected. The activity from the cameras showed several so-called employees entering and leaving the mansion. Running the data from the feeds through facial recognition programs and pairing it with trivial information, such as license plates, helped them identify some of them.
Trevor pulled up George’s latest email reporting the activity from Mikhailov’s phone conversations. He sent back a reply, attaching the information they had compiled and screen captures from the surveillance videos with instructions to initiate some extra tapping on the new players.
George should be able to cross-reference the new names and their phone numbers with any previously recorded incoming or outgoing conversations sourced from the tapped phones in the mansion and from known associates of Mikhailov’s. Their hunt had grown into more than just a little game of hide-and-seek.
Chapter Twenty-One
Salted Bread
IT HAD BEEN FIVE DAYS since the cameras had been set, and they were finally getting the big picture of Mikhailov’s operation. Cassandra came up for air and rubbed her eyes. Reading through the new transcripts was a tedious but necessary evil. She glanced at the clock and couldn’t believe how time had flown. “Trev. Kostas should be here any minute.”
Almost as if on cue, the intercom buzzed. Cassandra pushed away from the table and, as she moved past Trevor, brushed her hands across his shoulders. “That should be him.”
Cassandra hit the button on the intercom on the wall by the door. “Yes?”
“Cassandra Bauer?”
“Yes?” she responded cautiously.
“It’s me, Kostas.”
“Kostas! Right on time. Come on up.” She buzzed him in.
When a knock sounded, Cassandra opened the door and came face to face with none other than the Russian her father had fondly spoken of when she was younger. Although he was about the same age as Robert, Boris looked older than she expected, with his salt-and-pepper receding hairline and slightly heavier physique.
“Cassandra! You were expecting me, no?”
“Kostas, welcome. Please come in.” She fully opened the door and Kostas walked in with a big smile on his face and a large bag dangling from his hand.
“Cassie! Daughter of my good friend Robert. I am so pleased to meet you at last.” He glanced sideways as Trevor joined them at the door. “Ah, this must be your husband.”
He gave them both bear hugs and handed the bag to Cassandra. Taking it, she was surprised at how heavy it was. Peering inside, she found two of the largest round loaves of bread she’d ever seen. She shot Kostas a questioning look and a flash of humor lit his eyes. “You’re wondering about the bread?”
She opened the bag wider so Trevor could see them.
“It is a Russian folk custom, honoring the emperor and empress when they would pay a visit to a village.” Kostas smiled and continued, “During their visit, the merchants and gentry of the area would present their guest with a round loaf of bread piled with salt as a sign of hospitality. We also give this gift to a new couple to wish that they always have the necessities of life, and as a housewarming gift to wish that their pantry will always be full. So you see, my gift, how do you say in America? Kills two birds with one stone? Housewarming, and, since you are newlyweds…well, you see.”
Pulling the round loaves from the bag and setting them on the table, Cassandra urged Trevor to test the weight of one of the loaves and suppressed a giggle at the surprised look on his face.
Trevor cleared his throat and glanced at Kostas. “How dense is your bread? Should I be afraid?”
Kostas’s eyes took on a sly gleam and a mischievous grin spread across his face. “Ah, this is a good question,” he countered in heavily accented English as he reached for one of the loaves, pulled out a pocket knife, and carefully proceeded to cut into it.
Intrigued by his actions, Trevor and Cassandra moved closer. Suddenly Trevor burst out in a deep belly laugh, his twinkling eyes shot her way. “Oh yeah, Cassie. Definitely be afraid.”
“What the hell are you guys going on about?” Her gaze bounced from one man to the other. “The guns are in the bread? No freaking way,” she quipped, joining in the laughter as Trevor scooped the two standard issue P-443 Grach handguns from the cavity. “Damn. I was kind of looking forward to eating that bread,” she added, crestfallen.
Kostas’s grin grew even wider and he gave Cassandra a hug. “Your father said you would appreciate the gesture. I cannot wait to let him know how well it worked.”
“Oh man, we will never hear the end of that one for sure,” she laughed, releasing him. “You must stay awhile. Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea?” She tossed him a saucy grin. “Vodka?”
“Just a cup of tea for me, Cassandra,” Kostas guffawed.
She glanced to Trevor. “I’ll have the same, a ghrá.”
Trevor led Kostas to their sitting area while Cassandra left the two to their devices and headed for the kitchen.
Trevor leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He casually studied Kostas, trying to read him before broaching the subject regarding the little employment opportunity he had in mind.
Kostas broke the silence first. “So, how do you like St. Petersburg?” The question hung in the air for just a brief moment before he added, “Not that you are here to see the many beautiful sights it has to offer.”
“What makes you think that?” Trevor was wary of the comment.
Kostas relaxed back in the chair. The vibe Trevor caught from him was more of a viper ready to strike at any moment.
“Not many tourists call for the type of delivery you did unless they were here for something other than pleasure.”
Trevor took stock of Kostas. Weighing his options and finding no other, he prompted, “I have a little issue that I think you might be able to help me with.”
Kostas smiled. “I will do my best to help. Anything for Robert’s daughter and her husband. Robert is like family to me.”
Trevor’s eyes narrowed speculatively. He wished Cassandra was there to observe Kostas’s facial expressions. “I need connections…or to appear to have connections so I can get inside a very secure place here in St. Petersburg.”
Kostas’s smile grew wider. “There is secure. And there is secure,” he teased. “I know a lot of people. What is this place of yours?”
Trevor flashed a smile at his implication but treaded with caution, watching him carefully. “What if I were to ask you to find me a way inside Vladimir Mikhailov’s mansion?”
Kostas’s smile faded instantly and the glint in his eyes transitioned to one of disbelief. “Did you say Vladimir Mikhailov? You are joking, yes?”
“Not joking.” Trevor considered what to tell him. Honesty was the only way to go. “I need access to
his servers. I’ve tried to infiltrate them from outside but I can’t. The only way is from the inside.”
All color bled from Kostas’s face, leaving behind a pallid mask. “You know what you ask is a dangerous proposition.” His tone was serious and the smile of minutes ago, a lost memory.
Trevor nodded. “I’m well aware of the risks. But it’s something important to me…to us. No other way around it. I need to complete this job.”
There was a pensive shimmer in the shadow of Boris’s eyes as he studied Trevor. “What exactly is this job you speak of?” he asked as his eyes narrowed, boring into him as if trying to ascertain what his and Cassandra’s real purpose in Russia was.
“Mikhailov has something in his possession. Something he stole from my employer.” Trevor wasn’t going to disclose the details regarding the job nor the personal reasons behind it. “All I can tell you is that I need to destroy Mikhailov’s servers.”
A cold, hard, calculating look filled Kostas’s eyes, now narrowed to slits. “Does Robert know why you are here?”
Cassandra returned from the kitchen at that moment, carrying a tray holding the tea and cups. “No, he doesn’t. We would like to keep it that way,” she said as she set it on the coffee table.
A thick silence engulfed the room as they studied each other. Kostas leaned forward in his chair. “You already have something in mind, I’m thinking?”
“Yes, indeed.” Kostas waited patiently for Trevor to continue. “We know Mikhailov employs hackers. He might be in need of a skilled one.” Trevor paused, allowing Kostas to absorb the full impact of the request. Kostas was as sharp as he appeared and didn’t miss the boat.
“You really want me to throw you into the shark tank,” he chuckled in disbelief.
Trevor nodded and glanced briefly to Cassandra as she moved to his side and rested her hand on his shoulder in support and solidarity. “I won’t go into detail as to why, but I need to do this. I would like you to trust me when I say it’s important. Can you help us?”
To Russia With Love (Countermeasure Series) Page 20