Eagle elite volume ii, p.52
Eagle Elite Volume II, page 52
“Yeah,” I croaked. “I think I do.”
He caressed my arm and then frowned as he leaned down and examined the marks Jac’s nails had made in my skin, along with the blood I still hadn’t washed off.
“What is this?” His cold voice left me filled with dread.
I tried to jerk away. “Nothing.”
“Maya,” he growled. “Who the hell dared to lay a hand on you?” His voice was furious as his eyes flashed with rage. “Tell me. Now.”
“Jac,” I said in a wobbly voice. “It’s like she just… snapped in the car, she kind of th-threatened me and then wouldn’t let me go… I think maybe she’s over worked or something because she’s been acting weird all night… and at first she was so nice, I just—”
Nikolai interrupted me with a kiss, his mouth pressed so hard against mine that I fell back against the couch cushions, his warm body was both searing to the touch yet comforting in an odd way. When we broke apart for air, he cupped my chin forcing me to look him directly in the eyes. “I’ll take care of Jac. Just do me a favor… don’t allow yourself to be alone with her. Insanity runs in the family.”
“You know her family?”
Nikolai hesitated than stated in such a quiet whisper I almost didn’t hear him. “I am her family.”
He looked away then moved to sit back so our bodies weren’t touching anymore. “I’m her grandson.”
A nervous laugh welled in my throat, but I suppressed it. “Didn’t see that plot twist.” I usually made light of a very scary situation with joking. I really needed to stop doing that. “So, she must be very protective of you.”
He frowned, staring off into the distance. “She doesn’t give a damn about me.” His laugh was hollow. “She cares about… tradition.”
“I’m not following.”
“Every man and woman in our family has had the same occupation for as long as I can remember… my father broke tradition forcing my grandmother to take up the family…” He sighed deeply. “…business. I followed in my father’s footsteps, not hers. She’s been pressuring me to do otherwise.”
I handed him the wine bottle. “You probably need more of this.”
“Probably.” He pushed it away. “But I’d rather drink from you.”
“You want me to pour wine in my mouth so you can drink from me?” I teased.
He laughed, an actual laugh that echoed off the walls and ceiling only to wrap itself so tightly around me that I knew, I’d never be free of it, free of the feeling I had whenever he was near.
His laughter faded as his eyes darkened and met mine. “I want to drink you.” He leaned forward, and his tongue slid against my neck. “Taste you…” His lips brushed a kiss across my jaw. “And not have any of the taste dulled by wine or anything so common as food or drink. I want your uniqueness to drown my senses and I want it right now.”
Thrills rushed through me. “Demanding.” It was the only answer I could give as he started pulling my white shirt over my head. Once my arms were free, he shrugged and then kept stripping me. I didn’t protest, because I didn’t want to. I just wanted him.
And the more I had of him, it was like the more I needed.
I popped my knuckles as a memory of white flashed before my eyes only to be replaced with dark brown eyes. “Let me taste you.”
“Now you ask?” I groaned. “When you’ve been doing nothing but telling for the past few hours?”
“Pain I give… pleasure I seek,” he answered. “Will you let me touch you, Maya? Will you allow it? Please say yes, I don’t think I could survive with no.”
“Yes.” I moved for him just as he reached for me. “Yes.” Our mouths met. Yes, yes, yes.
“Let me pleasure you,” Nikolai whispered. “Let me see you, all of you, in the light, against the white.”
I did as he asked, stripping free of the rest of my clothes.
Nikolai slid from the couch, moving to his knees, then grabbed my thighs, pried them apart and whispered, “And now, I worship at your feet.”
“Blasphemy.”
“Not at all.” His eyes locked reverently on mine. “Blasphemy is replacing God… I’m simply honoring His most perfect creation in the only way I know how.”
“With pleasure?”
“Always… pleasure I seek.”
I froze.
So, did he.
His mouth opened and then closed.
But instead of questioning him, or allowing myself to put two and two together, I closed my eyes and said. “What are you waiting for?”
“Oh Maya, it seems like I’ve been waiting years and years.”
The last cognitive thought I had before his mouth was on me was the familiarity of his smooth movements.
And how being with him, felt like coming home.
As if I’d run away and gotten lost.
He’d given me a map.
And I’d found my way back.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
You have to learn to walk before you can run. –Russian Proverb
Nikolai
She fell asleep in my arms… I tried not to fixate on the way her forehead furrowed while she dreamt, just like I tried not to feel guilty over the fact that her entire existence with me was a lie.
A giant test.
It all led back to keeping her safe.
I glanced around the white room.
So similar to the one she’d been placed in after she’d been kidnapped.
Similar to all the rooms Petrov used.
Right along with the sick bastard’s white masks that he forced people to wear whenever they entered his parties.
His men never realized they were getting taken to me because they always assumed the masks meant that they were going to another orgy. Instead, the car would always take a detour to one of the many apartments.
My fixation wasn’t with blood, like she’d guessed.
I absolutely hated white anything. Hated it with such a fiery passion that it took me years of conditioning myself not to puke every time I walked into a modern office with white fixtures, or modern apartments. I’d had to surround myself with it so I would stop reacting.
Petrov enjoyed watching the blood… he chose the white, not me. He loved to see how much he could make people suffer. And bleed.
And he always kept cameras trained on me when I did my work.
Except for one time.
One time, he made an exception.
He shouldn’t have.
But I refused to work otherwise.
It was my gift to her. The only one I’d been able to give.
She moaned in her sleep, I knew the dreams that haunted her at night, and I was powerless to stop them.
With a sigh, I checked my phone.
Jac
Taken care of.
Nikolai
Thank you.
Jac
It’s my job. Our job.
Nikolai
Any word on the girl you claim escaped when you let her in the clinic?
I knew Jac was lying, she’d had blood on her hands, the very same hands that had touched Maya. My grandmother was finally snapping. I added that to the list of things I could blame myself for.
Jac
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Nikolai
Going to bed.
Jac
Is she with you?
Nikolai
Goodnight, Jac.
She didn’t respond. If I didn’t do something, rein her in, she was going to do something stupid, or end up getting herself hurt.
After being gone for so long I didn’t think it wise to suddenly take another extended vacation to either kill my own family member or toss her to the wolves. I wouldn’t be so callous, but I would take away her memories enough to settle her in a nice retirement home… she deserved peace. At least I could give it to her the right way.
The nightmares of my family’s past had haunted her for far too long, the sins, she alone carried on her shoulders, it wasn’t her responsibility, not anymore. It was mine.
One that would sure as hell end with me.
I lifted Maya into my arms and carried her into the bedroom, laying her across the down comforter, wanting so badly to tell her the truth but drowning in the fear of what that would mean for both of us.
Her father only agreed to our terms as long as I could prove the false memories had stayed intact.
I was supposed to report to him after a year.
What the hell was I going to say now? She remembers, but it’s okay because I’m watching her?
“No loose ends,” he’d stated over and over again.
The only answer was to find the last two houses in Seattle and burn them to the ground. Ending my research was a small price to pay to save her life… if the houses were gone, then she would no longer be a threat.
Because locked away in that mind of hers… was the key to her father’s undoing… a girl seeing what she should have never seen.
“Bury it,” he’d demanded. “I don’t care how. Just bury it, or she dies.”
“She’s your daughter!” I yelled, already entranced with the girl I’d seen but a handful of times at her father’s side. I protected her, it was part of my job, and now he was asking me to go back on my oath.
“She knows too much!” he spat. “Either you kill her, or you make her forget…”
“She’s too young,” I argued. “To alter her memories at this age… to replace them, I’d have to create real trauma, real memories to cover up the others, don’t you see? Her brain is too strong, she isn’t one of your foot soldiers. She could die!”
“I don’t care if you have to wipe her entire damn memory, just make her forget. I pay you to make people forget.”
She was blindfolded, tied to one of the metal chairs in the white room, bleeding profusely. If I didn’t stop the bleeding, she would be too weak to go through the process.
“Damn it, Petrov, she’s sixteen. Just bribe her with a new car.” I paced the room, my knife clutched in my hand. I should have never said yes to him, should have never allowed myself to be bribed. Then again, had I not, Maya would have been dead. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about her. She was an abomination to him, born out of wedlock between his wife and an Italian Mafioso.
“No.” Her father uttered a Russian curse. “She is a liability. Make it go away, or she dies, and her death will be on your hands.”
I had no choice.
“Fine,” I whispered. “But I work alone, leave me.”
Petrov hesitated briefly.
I crossed my arms. “No cameras. The last thing you need is for this to come back to you.”
She whimpered, her head falling forward. Shit, she was going to lose consciousness soon. What the hell had he done to her? The doctor in me screamed in outrage, the monster rubbed his hands together.
Petrov strode to the door and unplugged the camera next to it. With a final warning gaze, he stepped through the opening and shut the door behind him, blanketing us in darkness.
I reached for the white mask, hands trembling, then very slowly tied it around my head.
I apologized to her, in my head of course, and I swore that someday I would save her. Just not now. I prayed that she’d understand, that one day she’d thank me.
I expected Maya to pass out. She was only sixteen, beautiful, but so young. She lifted her chin as if to say, do your worst! And I had to respect her in that moment. Sweetheart, I would do my worst, and then, when she swore fealty… I’d do my best work, and save her life.
I stopped staring at her sleeping form, and backed up against the dresser, one of the white masks fell onto the floor.
I’d put simple triggers everywhere in the apartment and nothing… we’d made love a few times… and still nothing extraordinary other than Maya remembering her childhood friend.
Maybe, just maybe I was better than I’d originally thought.
I clung to that thought as I lifted the mask to my face and stared at her one last time, as the monster she had no clue she’d invited into her bed—into her heart.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
A fool’s tongue runs before his feet. –Russian Proverb
Maya
I was so warm. I cuddled back into strong arms and let out a happy sigh. Nikolai kissed my temple, I turned on my side.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his eyes glassy, like he hadn’t slept all night.
“What’s wrong?” I started to get up.
He opened his mouth to speak then shook his head. “We have to get back to work today… and I’m going to have a hell of a time keeping my hands off you.”
I laughed, burrowing my face in his firm chest. “I gotta admit, I’ve always loved the whole forbidden office romance thing… Want me to pin up my hair with a pencil and wear some thigh-highs?”
He growled, covering my mouth with his, then pushed me back against the pillows. “We’re going to be late.”
“Look at you… so punctual,” I teased, loving that he was finally letting his guard down with me, actually smiling, making me believe that even if he was in deep professionally with my father, he would do absolutely nothing to hurt me.
“Why does punctual sound so erotic coming from that wicked mouth of yours?” He nipped my lower lip then deepened the kiss, tossing the covers in a whoosh from my naked body while trying to strip himself of the wrinkly clothes he’d fallen asleep in.
Within minutes the barrier of clothes was gone, and he was lifting me up into his arms and carrying me into the shower. I let out a screech. “I thought we were going to have a lazy morning? What happened to having sex?”
“Whoever said sex always had to be in a bed?” came his answer just before he quite literally tossed me into the shower, then pinned me against the wall and shoved his tongue into my mouth.
It. Was. Everything.
He knew when to be aggressive, when to be soft, and I needed aggressive this morning after the episode with Jac.
With ease he lifted me into the air, pushing my back against the cold tile wall, then plunged into me.
“Whoa.” I nearly slid down as the force of his thrusts had me seeing stars.
“This…” He captured my mouth again and again, matching his movements effortlessly, making me lose my mind, all sense of feeling. “I want this from you… every day… I want… you… I just…” He stopped talking, allowing his body to move in mine.
It was perfect.
He was perfect.
I was so close, my hands greedily trying to grab at anything I could to get more leverage when I finally found my release and accidently said out loud, “I love you.”
It was impossible to see his face as I slid down the front of his wet body, I expected him to freak out.
“Good.” He kissed my mouth softly, then exhaled as if he was relieved. “Because I’ve loved you for a very long time.”
“What?”
“We should get ready.” He pulled away from me, then slapped my butt playfully. “Don’t want your boss to fire you.”
“Nikolai, shouldn’t we talk—”
“We will.” He cut me off. “Just not now… but soon.” His words said he was happy, his body language didn’t match them; his movements were stiff, and then he let out another sigh as he showered the rest of the soap off his body.
What just happened?
Things got weirder as the day progressed. Nikolai, when he was in my office, was edgy, short, and then apologetic. I kept telling him it was fine, but something told me it was my fault, if I hadn’t blurted out those three words.
“Idiot,” I muttered to myself. I say I love you to the first guy I sleep with? Maybe my father had been right about keeping all guys away from me, at least Nikolai hadn’t faced some sort of crazy accident because he’d shared my bed.
I could only imagine what my father would do if he knew Nikolai and I were involved, considering the contract specifically warned against it.
Speaking of the contract… was that void now? Was I still a prisoner? Did it matter? Would I stay if he ripped it up? I swallowed over a lump in my throat. Yes. I would stay. Because I did love him. I couldn’t explain it, but it was like a part of me was tied to him. It was a scary thought, one that no matter how many times I tried to justify it, I couldn’t. It was a feeling, deep in my soul, a feeling of rightness.
“Try harder!” Nikolai barked into the phone. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he glanced from me back to the window. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Maybe it’s not in Seattle.” He gave a curt nod. “I know what your information says but we need…” An impatient sigh ended in a pithy curse. “Fine.”
“Everything okay?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t bite my head off for asking. “Are… you okay?”
“No.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows, the Seattle cityscape was blanketed in rays of sunlight, bursting through the clouds. “I’m not.”
“You can talk to me.” I stood and slowly made my way over to him. “You know that, right?”
“That’s just it…” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I can’t… I really can’t.”
“But—”
“Maya.” Nikolai turned. “I wish I could. Believe me.”
I stared down at the ground, nervously popping my knuckles as he rocked back and forth on his heels.
The movement, so familiar… hypnotic.
Back and forth, back and forth.
I popped my knuckles again.
Nikolai grabbed my hands firmly. “What’s going on?”
“Your shoes…” I felt my vision blurring. “Not your shoes. Sorry, just the way you’re standing.”
Realization crossed his features, though I have no clue why. I looked back down at his shoes. I couldn’t help it.
Slowly, Nikolai raised his hand to my face. I thought he was going to feel my forehead, maybe I was getting sick?
Instead, he covered my eyes with his hand, making it so my only choice was to look down, at the movement of his shoes as they rocked back and forth across the floor.
