by India Kells
“Sorry about that Deva. Just wanted to tell you that Hector just left and I’m closing. You ready to leave?”
“Almost done here. But I was considering using the treadmill. Would it be okay?”
The big ginger-haired man grinned. “Sure! Go ahead, just be sure to finish before the sun goes down. Or take a cab if you do stay too late. Promise me that, or I change the alarm code.”
“Don’t worry. The doors will be locked, and I’ll do as you say. Cross my heart.”
Satisfied with her promise, Rusty winked at her and left. When Deva got out of her treatment room, the gym was dimly lit, but the cage was in darkness. Satisfied to be alone, she changed quickly, pulled her hair into a ponytail and grabbed her mp3 player. It had been a long day, and she didn’t feel like pushing iron, opting instead for a run. Her arms and shoulders were too tired anyway. Setting the music to a hypnotic electronic beat, she started the treadmill at a slow pace, slowly accelerating to a comfortable, long-distance rhythm. As her body warmed up, her breathing labored, and a mist covered her skin; her mind finally calmed down.
The last few weeks had been uneventful, as she relayed the same information to Gabrielle day after day. As expected, Deva fell into a routine quickly. Coming to the gym early, as the guys were warming up, she had the time to complete their files with the latest treatments, injuries and intended results. Rusty was adamant about having a detailed assessment of each of his fighters and being used to such records, Deva didn’t skimp on the details. So far, she had seen and treated all the fighters, except one. Aleksei. The Russian kept to himself, and she hadn’t found a way of approaching him without sounding stupid or suspicious. And Rusty didn’t require him to take an appointment with her for an assessment like the others. He trained, a lot. Always one of the first to arrive, and one of the last to go. Deva had to admit that she admired his stamina; the man pushed himself beyond reasonable limits, and she had only seen that type of physical endurance with high-level athletes. But what for? She had seen the fight schedule Rusty posted in his office, and his name wasn’t there like the others. Did he only come here to train? Unlikely, as Rusty didn’t seem to need the money to have extras and had little spare time. Had he been coerced to take Aleksei? Another possibility. It would be more proof that he was probably linked to the Russian mob. As so many fighters from different syndicates trained here, it wasn’t surprising that the Bratva required one of their own in here too.
Her muscles started to burn as she jogged, but Deva kept going. The whole situation was frustrating. She thought it would be so easy to figure the man out, and after their very first encounter, Deva thought he would continue to tease or threaten her for his own amusement. Being friendly would have a been the perfect way to approach him. But on the contrary, the man was closed off, and barely looked at her when he was there. However, when he did, Deva felt cold and hot all at the same time. The fighter didn’t remind her of the men who surrounded her father, far from it. What he exuded was even more lethal. A contained danger, calculating when to strike, making him the most dangerous man she had ever seen. All her skills and all her knowledge of the underworld wouldn’t be enough, and as she suspected, she would have to risk a little bit more to make him trust her.
The air stirred a little, and as the hair on the back of her neck prickled, Deva knew she wasn’t alone anymore.
Chapter 6
It seemed that survival instinct never died. As she pushed the stop button on her machine and shut down her mp3 player, only silence surrounded her, but she wasn’t fooled. For the last two weeks, Deva had trained at night after work and never felt discomfort or unease. The reason she felt it now meant she was about to become a prey and damn it if she would ever be that again.
Forcing herself to get her breathing under control, she looked around both for the threat, and anything she could use as a weapon. When she left her father and his crew, she had taken extensive self-defense training with Beatrice and her husband, helping to get her footing back, and she hadn’t ceased training ever since.
As she moved silently across the mat, she took one of the bamboo sticks used for agility training. It wouldn’t inflict much damage, but she knew how to use it and where to hit to inflict enough pain to distract whoever was lurking inside the gym. It may not be enough against a firearm, but she felt more secure with something in her hand.
The greater space of the gym was empty, and there was no light in any of the offices, except in her workspace where she had left one of her ambient lamps on. Deva hesitated before entering. It was a dead end, and if there were indeed an intruder in the gym, she would be trapped. But her phone was in her bag, and she needed it.
“You can come in. I won’t eat you up unless you want me to.”
Deva didn’t recognize the voice but detected the Russian accent. Aleksei. Leaving the stick outside the door, just in case, she let out a steadying exhale before entering the room. The Russian fighter, still in a fitted black t-shirt and black tech pants, was sitting on her massage table, a fucking grin on his gorgeous, rugged face. His liquid silver eyes danced with mischief. His tattooed arms flexed as he gripped the table’s edge, drawing attention to his body.
“Hell, Voronov! Why are you trying to scare me?”
And the cad simply smiled, lifting his hands in capitulation. “I didn’t want to scare you, Deva. But I had left my phone in the locker room and just came back to get it.”
“The front door was locked.”
“It’s only a lock, Deva. Something that can be opened easily by someone with skills don’t you think?”
The way he said her name, lingering with a deep rumble, heat pooled between her legs. Deva hated her reaction to him as much as she understood it. Sometimes the body had ways of making its needs known.
“And this is not the locker room. You are in my personal space, sitting on my work table.”
“Da. I see you have excellent eyes. And when I returned, and you were still here, I thought it was the perfect moment to ask you for a... treatment.”
Deva knew better and crossed her arms. “I’m off the clock, and I don’t offer the ‘services’ you are clearly asking me for.
Something flashed in his fascinating eyes before his face closed off. “I know what you do here, and I’m not looking for a whore. I have no interest in that. I’ve never paid for sex in my life.”
And Deva was convinced it was true. With his muscled body and the charisma around him like a magnet, there was no way a sane woman would say no to him.
“So, what do you need, Mr. Voronov?”
His stance calmed at her question, and a smile returned to his lips. “Please, call me Aleksei. I decided to jog back here, but I started to feel a slight pain above the right knee. At first, I thought it would calm down once my body had warmed up, but instead, it increased.”
Was it an elaborate lie or the truth? Even if she had her suspicions, the therapist in her decided to check it out. She crouched in front of him and started to unfasten the side of the pants from the ankle up to two snaps above the right knee. There again, was more ink. Crouching in front of him, she started to run her fingers on each side of the joint, pressing to detect anything unusual. “Does that hurt?”
“No.” And he wasn’t lying; his breathing was deep and slow.
As a comparative, she unfastened his left leg and ran her fingers against the joint. Aleksei remained still as a statue, only answering her questions with a yes or no. When she returned and touched just below his right knee, she felt him tense in anticipation. “Does that hurt?”
“No.” And she had guessed right. Gently, she let her fingertips glide over his knee, feather-light. Continuing her examination, she didn’t detect any edema or inflammation, but some tension. A few inches past the problematic area, she pressed harder on the thigh muscle, and the man jerked.
“Did it hurt?” Same question, but this time he hesitated.
“It’s a kind of ache, but there’s no pain.”
&n
bsp; As she suspected, she got back on her feet. “Lie down.”
“I don’t need to lie down for you to treat a knee pain.”
Crossing her arms, Deva looked at the man who was annoying her, and more. “Your knee is okay so far, but the tension in the thigh muscle is pulling too much on it. If you don’t relieve some of the tension, it can impact your tendons and then provoke knee pain. It seems to be a common type of pain for you fighters, along with shoulders and lower back pain. With you sitting like that, it doesn’t give me proper access.”
“Access?” Aleksei arched a brow as if he didn’t understand the sentence.
“Do you want me to help you? Because I’m too tired to play games. If you don’t, I’ll close up here and go take a shower at home and eat.” She knew she had an opening, the first and maybe only one, and by playing hard, she may lose it. However, acting out of character would be a dead giveaway.
The man’s eyes darkened into a storm of gray clouds, his jaw tight as he debated.
“And if I don’t trust you. You’ll have the upper hand, with me lying on my back.”
“I won’t threaten your virtue, fighter. And it’s a question of trust, isn’t it? What if I have a blade in my boot or poison in my massage oil?”
His jaw tightened more, and he swallowed before relaxing again and shifting to sit and then lie on his back, his eyes never leaving hers. “Do your worst.”
It was a strange sensation to have a man under her hands that she knew was dangerous and represented everything she despised, and yet, she still trusted him despite his power and strength. He may be docile at the moment, but he could turn on her suddenly. Deva fed on his power, giving her the edge, she needed to continue, steadying her in the process.
Without a word, ignoring his focus on her, she started removing his running shoes and socks, one foot, then the other. Then, Deva grabbed a sling with her oil bottle as well as two other containers and moved to Aleksei’s side. Without waiting for his permission, she finished opening his pants, one side, and then, the other. And as she suspected, he had running boxer briefs underneath. She folded the top half of the pants and put it on the small side bench. And as the black brief ran on the longer side over the leg, she pushed it up some more. His hips shifted slightly, but she didn’t dare look up at his face. Deva was glad that the heat rising to her face could be cleverly hidden by her recent run and the dim ambient lights. Her skin had always been pale, color rising quickly to her cheeks, revealing her emotions too much.
Ignoring her own restlessness, she pumped oil into her hands, warming it a bit before gliding her palms against the adorned expanse of skin and muscle. Adding pressure ever so slowly, she contoured the tense muscle repeatedly, following it onto the knee. Satisfied with its reaction, Deva worked on the upper part of the thigh, inching higher and higher, even working her fingers underneath the leg of the boxer briefs. Aleksei inhaled sharply but didn’t comment. It wasn’t necessary; his body gave her all the proof she needed; his cock pushing hard against the dark fabric of his underwear. Her professionalism winced at what she was about to do, but she was very curious about how much she could push her luck. After all, Gabrielle, Lazarus, and Beatrice wanted her to establish a relationship with the man. Here was an opportunity to be friendly, and their connection was burning too hot to be on the friendly side. Only one option remained.
“Remove your underwear.”
It was pure pleasure for Deva to see him blink. It was obvious he hadn’t been stunned often but Aleksei recovered quickly as his wicked grin reappeared with a vengeance. So, it seemed he hadn’t expected his appointment to be completely professional.
“Well, I see you have changed your mind.”
“Not at all, your thigh muscle is connected to your hip, and I need access, your briefs are in the way. If you are shy, Mr. Voronov, let me get you a sheet to cover yourself up. I must have a small one perfect for you somewhere.”
When she sidestepped as if to go and get one, a strong hand closed around her wrist. Turning back to him, Aleksei’s eyes were on her, heat replacing sarcasm. Letting go of her, and never breaking eye contact, he swiftly removed and tossed away his t-shirt and boxers, offering an unencumbered view of his naked form.
There he was, gloriously naked, a woman’s wet dream, well, hers at least. And he was a big man. His cock hardened under her stare, bobbing toward his abs, darkening as she detailed its texture and veins. And she wasn’t the only one affected. Aleksei was breathing harder, his body tensing, showing his ripped, quivering muscles on display. What she admired almost as much as his cock, was the level of restraint. He could have reached for her, pulled at her clothing, but he didn’t. He lay there, rigid, staring.
Deva let her eyes drag over him, detailing his ink and his skin, until she reached his eyes, a gray so dark now, the same color of the clouds just before the first cracks of lightning. Mechanically, her hands returned to his knee, and she heard him hiss and speak words she didn’t understand.
Back to the task at hand, she focused on the muscle, repeating the same pattern as before, but with longer strokes toward his lower belly and hip. As her hands teased close to the junction of his thighs, he parted them slowly, offering a clear view of his sack. A silent plea she would ignore for now, as she did her own ache between her legs. When her hand splayed on his hip, he bowed slightly, and it took everything in her to ask him if he was in pain. But in the end, she couldn’t resist.
“Da, I’m in pain. But not where you are touching me.”
Breathless, Deva continued her massage. Forcing groans from him, the pressure of her fingers working on his tense muscle. As the touch was less sensual, she saw his member deflating a bit. It took a while for her to be satisfied with her work, and was glad to see a mist covering his delectable skin. At least, she wasn’t the only one who had to work for it.
“On your left side, please.”
Without a word he complied, and in this position, she could leisurely ogle his admirable backside. Her hands worked tirelessly on his lower back, hip and lower abdomen until the problematic muscle softened, and something rather rigid touched her wrist. Did she dare to touch him now? Or not?
Oiling her hands once more, Deva bypassed finesse and grabbed his throbbing member in her warm, slippery hand.
The sound coming from Aleksei made her clit throb in desperation, so much so that she squeezed her thighs together hard, trying to alleviate the intensity of the sensation. Leaning her mound against the table, she rocked, seeking pressure, as her hand fisted him, exploring the texture of his skin, the tremors and trembling, the increased pumping of blood. She didn’t increase the pressure or pace, simply stroking him at the same time she pressed against the table, her other hand keeping her upright.
Aleksei didn’t touch her, his hands closed into tight fists, his eyelids drooping as pleasure took over his body. When she twisted her wrist, his hands gripped the table, his breath wheezing through his clenched teeth. Seeing him at her mercy, Deva reveled in her domination until the fighter on her table seized her hand and changed the tempo. His grip on her hand tightened, and he made her accelerate until Deva thought the movement must have caused some pain. He released her and closed his eyes, silently ordering her to continue at the same strength and speed.
“God woman, I knew you would be talented with that type of service.”
Lust vanished in a matter of seconds at his words. For an instant, she had lost control and had been reminded why she should never allow it with this kind of man.
Deva opened her fingers at what must have been seconds before his release. The most painful moment in her opinion. Bereft, Aleksei looked at her as if lost and confused. Wiping her hand with a towel, she turned and threw it at his crotch with force. With anger burning clean her desire, she grabbed her bag and clothes and turned just before going out the door.
“You just can’t shut the fuck up, can you? That being the case, I’ll let you finish by yourself. Clean up after yourself.”
Chapter 7
A few days passed, and Deva was surprised not to see Aleksei back at the gym. No way what happened between them would have kept him away from training. And it worried her. Not that she cared about the asshole, but she knew that she should have played the compliant little girl and finished jerking him off, thus creating a kind of bond with him. But he had pushed the wrong button, and she couldn’t help her reaction. This complicated the entire situation.
And with all the work she had to do, her appointments, the treatments, Deva was reeling with how her mission of getting Aleksei’s trust was spiraling out of control.
Rubbing her eyes at her conundrum, she scanned the men training in the gym. Hard at work a few hours before her arrival, she wondered how she had successfully made friends with many of them, and yet fucked up so completely, and totally, with the Russian. Damn lust. It played tricks with her logical mind and made her screw up. In the worst sense of the word.
In the ring, she saw the newcomer from that morning. Rusty had told him about his new recruit. The man was a sight for lonely women’s eyes. Tall with golden-blond hair, just long enough to run your fingers into, he was a Viking warrior from another era and had fallen into this gym. Her boss had told her to be careful with him, he was going through a rough patch, had just left the army. Or was it the Navy? She never could tell. But as he moved in the ring with Hector, she had no doubt that he would be successful in his newfound passion. And if he wanted, he could go into modeling, or be a movie star, or a porn star from what she could guess at under his loose gym trunks. With that body and that face, he could do anything. But one. Even as she was admiring this amazing, mouth-drooling male specimen, the warrior god didn’t stir anything inside her. Damn shame, as he looked like a good guy too. Very unlike the mean, tattooed, and sexy as hell son of a bitch that she’d had her hands on not so long ago.