Chapter 27

Viktor

Iwoke up in the dark, wondering for a moment where I was and then remembered I was in Emma’s uncle’s penthouse. And Emma was sleeping peacefully next to me.

Before meeting Emma, I wasn’t inclined to spend the evening with a woman, I’d had my share of one night stands over the years and had a few short relationships. But everything was always on my terms, the woman would never visit my house, if anything our assignation would be at a hotel room and afterward she would leave, satisfied. Perhaps this was a rather empty way to live, but for most of my adult life it had served me well. While there are no rules to say that a pakhan cannot have a family, relationships and close ties often resulted in weakness—and weakness was something a man of my standing could not afford to show.

However, for the past month and a half I had drifted into an easy companionship with this woman, and having her lie beside me at night, close where I could protect her, seemed to be the most natural thing in the world. Earlier, Emma had said she loved me, words spoken in the height of passion were often untrue. But also, when one’s defenses are down, can be the time where one can be the most open and honest. Normally hearing a woman say that she loved me caused fear to surge through my body, I was not about love or softness. I had sex, I fucked. I did not make love.

In the time I had known Emma I was finding myself becoming more fascinated with her, and truth be told, I wondered what I would do once I had enacted my revenge upon her uncle. I couldn’t let her go, that I was certain of. While initially I might have crudely decided to seduce her, to get her on side, after two days when it became clear that her uncle was leaving her to her fate, I realized that I had no use for her in my plan for vengeance. But now, weeks later it appeared that we were true allies.

I felt her warm body shift against mine, and my cock stiffened automatically. She must have felt the hardness against her perfect ass because she moaned and snuggled closer to me. Before I knew what I was doing my lips were on the nape of her neck.

“Viktor?” her voice sounded sleep muddled, but curious.

“Did I wake you?” I asked, in full knowledge that I had hoped she would wake. I found that I couldn’t get enough of this beautiful, intelligent, resourceful woman. I had truly met my match. I moved my hand down and cupped her ass, kneading the soft flesh and she moaned in response, before turning around to face me, the movement caused the blankets to shift around my cock and my hips rocked in response.

We were now facing one another, the dim moonlight reflecting on her pale skin, her dark eyes languid in the soft glow. I hissed as her hand found my shaft and her fingers stroked me, their heat causing a jolt of electricity straight to my balls.

“Go back to sleep,” I whispered.

“Do I seem like a woman who wants to sleep?” she laughed gently, as her fingers tightened around me, I felt her hot breath on my neck as her tongue slowly licked its way up, tasting the sensitive skin at the edge of my beard. Fuck, what was this woman doing to me? I couldn’t get enough of her. I was supposed to be the seducer in this scenario, yet here she was, lighting all sorts of fires.

Two could play at this game, I thought as I captured her hand and put it to my mouth and pressed my lips against it, then traced patterns on her palm with my tongue. Small licks and circling, so she’d know exactly where I wanted my mouth to be.

“How wet are you?”

“Very,” she answered.

“Let me be the judge of that,” I teased, as I started kissing my way down her body. Capturing first one nipple and then the next, pulling and sucking them to hard peaks as she moaned beneath me. My tongue paused over her belly button then I started licking downwards. I could feel the heat of her body against me. I stopped and rubbed my mouth over her slit and was rewarded with a gasp.

With one hand cupping her ass, I slid a finger along her slit and parted her lips. “Look how wet you are for me.” Coating myself in her juices I slipped a finger inside her, moving slowly, coaxing, then I slipped it out and brought it to my lips. “You taste so good, Emma.”

Her hips shifted exposing her delicious pussy to me, glistening and soaked. I gently sucked her clit which resulted in another low moan. I could feel my cock heavy and hard, precum beading on the tip, the urge to be inside her was overwhelming.

“Want you, “Emma sighed huskily as she pulled me closer.

I reached over to the nightstand and quickly pulled out a condom. Rolling it down my length I notched my cock at her entrance. I’d always prided myself on my ability to fuck for hours, but somewhere I realized that what we were doing tonight wasn’t fucking. Emma might have said the words, but I was making love to her. I’d tried to deny it to myself, but the feelings that she was bringing to the surface were something I’d not experienced before. I wanted to be with this woman, I wanted to protect her, I wanted to nurture her, I wanted to grow old with her and where once thoughts such as this would have made me want to run in the opposite direction, now I could only run toward her.

And I realized I had been wrong, love doesn’t make you weak, instead love could give you strength you didn’t realize you had.

“You know, when I first met you all I could think about was how you’d feel underneath me,” I whispered throatily. “About being inside you and fucking you all night long.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but the words kept coming as I slowly entered her. “I’m addicted to you, Emma, it’s like you’ve seen who I am, and you accept it all. The good, and the bad.”

“I can’t get enough of you, either, Viktor.” She wrapped her arms around me, and I could feel her nails digging into my shoulders as she pulled me closer. Her pussy was tight around my cock, gripping me as I filled her with every inch. “I wish we could stay like this forever and forget about the world.”

“I want you to be my world,” I said.

Her hips rocked against me, and her lips brushed my neck. “I meant what I said earlier,” she whispered. I detected the note of caution in her voice.

I paused, my cock completely sheathed in her dripping wet pussy. My balls tight ready for release, I shifted my hips a fraction and was rewarded with a moan.

“I love it when you do that,” I whispered back. Then brushed my lips against the warm skin of her neck, “I love you.”

“Are we moving too fast?” she asked, again there was hesitation in her voice.

“Maybe yes, maybe no. But I think we’ve both been through enough to know what we want out of life. I’ve never met anyone like you.”

After that there were no more words, I started moving inside her, feeling the heat of her pussy gripping me tight as I thrusted deep. I dropped my hand down between us, pressing my thumb against her clit and letting the rhythm of our bodies dictate the strokes I gave her. Her body instantly reacted to my demand, her pussy tightening around me as if she was stroking my cock, and her entire body started to tremble as we clung to each other, gasping for breath.

“God, yes.” She raised her hips to meet mine, moaning as she got closer. I was holding my own release back, but seeing her like this, caught in the moment and filled with desire was testing all my powers of control, it was like sensory overload.

She was coming undone, so caught up in the moment. Little moans and breathy gasps escaping her lips.

“Come for me, Emma,” I breathed against her neck, as I thrusted deep into her, my fingers rubbing her clit.

That was all it took to send her over the edge, the noises she made as she came, her whole body convulsing around me, her fingers digging into my skin as she cried out in pleasure, erased what little control I had left. I felt my balls tightening and my cock swelling even thicker as I cried out unable to hold off my release any longer. I came with her, inside her, and through my pleasure I could hear her calling my name.

***

Six hours after Emma told me her plan, I was in an excellent mood. Not simply because of Emma’s contribution, of course, or my time with her, nor our late-night confessions of love. Of course, all of that put a spring in my step, but on top of that, it looked like her plan had worked.

It was raining again outside, odd, warm rain that had just started, and had the greasy smell from the smog and street still carried on it. I drove toward Santa Monica, my body relaxed but my mind was racing.

“Tell me what we’ve got, I’m on my way,” I told Alexei over speakerphone as I drove. I had to struggle not to rush, to remember that Californians turned into idiots whenever there were hazardous road conditions, to remember to keep my wits about me.

But right now, both sides of my nature were at their strongest, full of happiness and hope on the one hand, and triumphant and blood-hungry on the other.

Alexei’s voice was low, steady, and full of anger and excitement. “It’s Sergei my damn server guy. He wasn’t even on the list of guys who used to be friends with Igor. If I hadn’t thought to look at whose daughter he’s married to, I wouldn’t even have tested him.”

“Who’s his father-in-law?”

“Maksim.”

I let out an incredulous laugh. “Fuck. Good catch! So, he sent the message?”

“Yes. Igor now thinks we’re arranging a sensitive meeting with one of the cartels in a week. If Sergei doesn’t know where he is, one of the guys we grab when he sends them in to ruin it will.” He laughed bitterly. “I swear to God, I want to kick that fucker’s ass myself right now.”

“Hold on just a little longer for me, Alexei,” I soothed him, but understood every ounce of his vitriol. “Any signs of potential accomplices? I want to see how far this goes.”

“Not yet, but we should probably still interrogate him. You know, just in case.”

“Yes, just in case.” I’m going to kick Sergei’s ass up between his teeth, and I am going to thoroughly enjoy it.

It didn’t take me long to get there, even though I passed even more accidents on the way. Santa Monica sat under a blanket of mist, raindrops falling through it to splash on my windshield. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the building or the lot around it. I pulled into a parking space up close to the building, pocketed my phone, and focused on keeping my cool as I got out.

I still reached under my jacket and unsnapped the keeper on my shoulder holster before walking inside.

Everyone was working as usual. A few of his programmers and data guys looked up as I walked in, blinking in mild confusion or curiosity. I walked past them, looking around for Alexei.

No puppy tonight. He probably left her home in case there was trouble. That was convenient. I didn’t want anything innocent to get caught up in what I planned to do to this man.

Alexei came out to meet me, and I saw him reach under his own leather jacket and heard the snap of his keeper. He jerked his chin toward a cubicle in the corner, next to the server room. I nodded, and walked over there while he trailed after me.

Sergei was, supposedly, a brilliant and talented computer man. He was the sort that I would have considered an asset, had he not betrayed us all. But now that he had, he was one hundred percent a liability. And Alexei, baby face, soft heart and all, knew what we did with liabilities.

Sergei lounged at his desk, his back turned partly to us, light from his three screens reflecting off his glasses. He was watching scrolling columns of numbers, some kind of search. I took my eyes off his work and focused on the man. “Sergei.”

He jumped slightly and knocked his mouse off the edge of the desk, then retrieved it and set it back down. “Boss! Didn’t know you’d be dropping by tonight.”

“This wasn’t a planned visit. Unfortunately, it was necessary. Come with us, please.”

He turned and blinked up at me. The bluish-tinted lenses of his glasses made his pale face look almost creepy. “Sir?”

“Come with us into the back office.” My voice stayed low, calm—but all business.

We stared at each other.

He suddenly tried to make a break for it, lunging past me on his way out of the cubicle. Alexei and I both grabbed an arm and he jerked to a stop, struggling frantically as a trapped mouse.

“None of that, now, you’re being disruptive,” I said, still appearing the picture of calm as we frog marched him toward the back office. “Try to keep your voice down.”

He wasn’t yelling words, exactly, just little, panicked explosions of sound that only got louder as we reached the door and dragged him inside. Then we tossed him into a chair, and I pulled out my gun, flicking off the safety. “Shut up.”

His mouth closed at once.

“Good. Now. I think you can guess why I called you into this meeting. But in case you’re as stupid as you are dishonorable, we caught you red handed. We know you are passing information to Igor.”

He stared up at me in terror as Alexei frisked him, tossed aside a pathetically low-caliber revolver, and handcuffed him to the bolted-down chair he was in. “What are you going to do to me?”

“That depends on how cooperative you are,” I said, putting on a smile that I would never have shown in Emma’s presence.