by Katie Knight
“Wow. I’m sorry that happened to you.” Demetri frowned and finished off his first glass of champagne, then poured himself a second. “You deserve a man who appreciates all you have to offer.”
“Hmm.” The string quartet switched to a lovely rendition of Always on My Mind, one of her favorite songs, and she suddenly didn’t want to talk about her past anymore. She set her glass down and stood, extending a hand toward Demetri. “Let’s dance.”
“Uh…” He blinked up at her a moment and for a second she worried he’d refuse. Then he tossed back the rest of his drink, pushed to his feet and took her hand, his skin warm against hers. He gave her a little bow again, kissing the back of her hand this time, his dark eyes sparkling with mirth. “Your wish is my command, Diana. I’m here to make your night unforgettable.”
Maybe it was the champagne. Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was the fact that nothing about this night seemed real. Whatever it was, Diana felt more than ready to put his words to the test.
Two
The evening got better the longer it went on, in Demetri’s estimation. The champagne flowed, along with the conversation and the food. Dinner was a cut above what he was used to—filet mignon and lobster and chocolate souffles for dessert. Even the dancing improved, after that first awkward turn around the floor. In fact, they were back at it again, once they’d finished their dessert and their second bottle of champagne, rocking slowly to the melody of In Your Eyes.
“I had fun tonight,” Diana said, her arms locked around his neck and her body brushing against his each time they turned a quarter step. He heard the surprise in her voice and narrowed his gaze on her playfully. She laughed. “No, I didn’t expect to.” She frowned. “Not that you’re not a great guy. You are. Hot and sexy and funny and smart and…”
She seemed to realize what she’d said about the same time he did and her spine stiffened beneath his hands. He rubbed her back absently, hoping to dispel the tension. He didn’t like Diana all stressed out and knotted up. He much preferred her all soft and sweet and sinking into him like marshmallows on hot chocolate. Oh yeah. He could definitely imagine her melting into him, all warm and wet and…
His brain snagged on those erotic images and stopped short.
Whoa there, big fella.
This was Peter’s little sister. He shouldn’t be thinking about her like that. Except… he was. His body tightened without his consent and his pulse tripled. She was gorgeous, all smooth skin and lethal curves. And her smile, a bit sad and sexy at the same time, nearly did him in. Whoever Brad the asshole was, he hadn’t deserved her. The only thing he’d done right was leaving her so she could be done with him. Diana deserved a man who appreciated her, who showered her with praise, who gave her every wonderful thing in the world.
A man like me.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Demetri shook off the unwanted thoughts. He didn’t do relationships. He didn’t want entanglements. All those ever got you was heartache and pain. Take his parents. They’d been the perfect couple, until the day his dad had died in a senseless random shooting, leaving his poor mom to cope on her own. She hadn’t been able to handle it and had killed herself months later, leaving six-year-old Demetri on his own. No. Love was bad news. Period. Amen. No thank you.
But what about a fling? A one-night stand?
The suggestion floated out of his brain, surprising the crap out of him. Where the hell had that come from? More importantly, was it really an option? Demetri wasn’t a prude. Hell, casual encounters were what had sustained him for years. But the fact this was his best friend’s little sister demanded some kind of responsibility on his part.
“Hey,” Diana said, running her fingers through the hair at his nape and making him shudder. He’d been without a woman for months. That had to be why his response to her was so strong. Because the alternative was that their chemistry together was on fire and he’d be a fool not to explore that, at least for tonight, right? She moved closer, her sweet scent surrounding him and throwing his already muddled thoughts into further chaos. “Why so serious?”
He smiled then, or at least he tried to, but given her confused look, maybe he’d done something different. Honestly, he couldn’t seem to stop staring at her lips now, wondering what she might taste like, wondering how her kisses would feel on his mouth, his neck, lower still…
The music ended and she took his hand, leading him off the dance floor and back to their table, where she grabbed her purse then tugged him toward the exit.
“Where are we going?” he asked, his tongue thick from the booze. Usually he handled his liquor better than that, but champagne wasn’t his typical drink of choice, kicking in slower than he was accustomed to, so he’d probably downed more of it than he should. Whatever the reason, he was feeling no pain, and from the dreamy, heated look Diana gave him over her shoulder when they reached the lobby, neither was she. One thing was certain, they were in no state to drive.
As if reading his mind, Diana pulled her cell phone out of her purse and grinned. “Let me get us an Uber.”
He watched while she pulled up the app and ordered the car, then held the door for her again as they walked outside to the curb to wait. The cool night air helped sober him a bit, enough to realize what was happening here. Yearning and want stormed through his blood, but he forced himself to think rationally.
Well, as rationally as a guy drunk on champagne could.
Diana stood with her arms crossed against the breeze and he slipped off his tux jacket to wrap around her shoulders, then kept his arm there just because it felt so damned good to touch her.
“Listen,” he said, his words rougher than he intended. “About tonight. Us…”
“Don’t. Please.” She sniffled and his stomach nosedived to his toes. Was she crying? God, he never meant to make her cry. “If you’re going to turn me down, do it now, so I can go home and nurse my wounds alone. I mean, I understand if you don’t want me. Brad said no one would because I’m such a loser and—”
Demetri turned her to face him and kissed her before he could think better of it. She gasped and he took advantage, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth. She tasted of sweet wine and sinful promise and he wanted her more in that moment than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. Right or wrong, good or bad, this was happening because stopping wasn’t an option. Not anymore.
When they pulled back, they were both breathless and wide-eyed. The Uber pulled up and Demetri opened the car door, his gaze never leaving Diana’s. “Get in.”
One-night stands were not her thing, but man oh man, Diana could get used to this. Having gorgeous Demetri Lewis all to herself for the entire evening was heady stuff indeed. Of course, the alcohol she’d consumed didn’t hurt either.
They bundled out of the Uber in front of her apartment building and hurried inside, his arm a warm, reassuring weight against her lower back. Thankfully, the lobby was empty, and they waited in silence for the elevator, wicked desire pulsing between them like the steady beat of a heart.
Ding!
The doors opened and they stepped aboard. Diana pushed the button for her floor, then stared straight ahead, afraid that if she made the wrong move or said the wrong thing, this might all be over before it started. And tonight, she needed this—needed him, needed the way he made her feel appreciated, desired—more than she needed her next breath.
Demetri stood behind her, his heat notching the molten want in her core higher. He kept fiddling with his tie and for the first time, she wondered if he was as nervous as she was. He’d always seemed larger than life to her, the steady strong protector who always got the job done. The forbidden guy she’d dreamed about, but never thought she’d actually get to have. He was literally the stuff of fantasies, and she had no idea if those fantasies were even realistic. Sex with Brad… Well, it wasn’t the stuff dreams were made of, especially toward the end. When every word out of his mouth had been to run her down and make her feel bad about herself…
“Uh, Diana, if you changed your mind and don’t—” he started to say and she turned fast, placing her fingers over his mouth to stop him.
“No. Shhh.” Embolden by the champagne in her bloodstream and the secret nature of their tryst, she rose on tiptoe and kissed him again, digging her nails into his short dark hair as she lifted one leg and wrapped it around his waist. Given the slit in the front of her dress, the position left her totally exposed, but Diana didn’t care. Tonight, she wanted to feel beautiful and wanton and completely wicked. As she pressed closer and felt the hard length of Demetri’s erection pressed against her, it was obvious he needed this as much as she did. She pulled back slightly and looked up at him as she began to loosen his black bowtie. “You are so hot. I can’t wait to get you naked in my bed.”
Playing the aggressor felt good, all the more because it was completely out of character for her. She’d never taken the lead with Brad. He’d called it unladylike and slutty. But if the way Demetri growled low in his throat as she opened the buttons of his shirt and scored her nails down his chest was any indication, he loved it.
“Diana,” he groaned, his hands tightening on her waist, holding her closer, tighter against him as he ground his hips into her. “I want you too, but maybe we should wait. We both had a lot to drink tonight and I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret later. Maybe this isn’t really what you—”
His words ignited a wildfire of anger and assertiveness inside her. Never, ever again would she allow someone to tell her what she wanted or how she should feel. Cutting him off with a growl, she yanked his shirt open to trail kisses down his neck to his chest, stopping to tease his nipples while she reached a hand lower to stroke his hard cock through his pants. A glance to the side revealed their reflection in the mirror. Her leg around him, his hand on her ass, both of them flushed and panting and ready for more. Whatever it was driving her tonight, she couldn’t get enough.
The elevator dinged again and the doors opened. She took his hand and hauled him out of the elevator and down the short hall to her apartment. Time blurred as she unlocked her door, then pulled him inside before locking it after them. In the darkness they came together again, a mass of groping hands and hungry lips as they fumbled their way toward her bedroom. Together, they quickly pulled off the rest of their clothes then fell onto the bed. It was quick and dirty and the best sex Diana had ever had in her life.
Demetri kissed and licked every square inch of her before entering her in one long stroke. She arched beneath him, her body slowly adjusting to his size before he started moving within her. A warning bell went off in the back of her mind. They were forgetting something, but she couldn’t worry about that now. Not with him moving over her, moving within her, making her feel wanted and wonderful and all the things she’d craved for so long.
All too soon, they both teetered on the brink of ecstasy and Demetri nuzzled the sensitive spot where her jaw met her neck. His deep voice was rough with tension. “Are you close?”
“Yes,” she said, breathless as she dug her nails into his shoulders. “So close. Don’t stop. Please.”
“Never,” he moaned into the skin of her throat, his thrusts growing faster and deeper. “Let go for me, sweetheart.”
“Oh God!” The air caught in her lungs as her orgasm washed over her, dragging her under as the world exploded in a million iridescent shards. “Yes, Demetri. Yes!”
“Yes!” he echoed, driving into her once, twice, before reaching his own release, his body stiffening above her and his head thrown back as he moaned aloud.
Finally, they drifted back down to earth and Demetri pulled her close, her head resting on his chest, his heart a steady thrum beneath her ear. As he stroked her hair and she traced lazy patterns on his pecs with her fingers, all seemed right with the world. Until she remembered—they hadn’t used a condom.
She knew she ought to be concerned about that, but her head felt fuzzy and her thoughts sluggish. Surely one night wouldn’t get her pregnant. Nah. The universe wouldn’t be that cruel, right? Diana tried to think back over her last cycle, but her eyes felt so heavy and the sound of Demetri’s breath evening out into the patterns of sleep soon had her following, pure contentment wiping all anxiety away.
Three
Four months later…
Demetri couldn’t believe how quickly everything had fallen apart. Just a month ago, he’d come home after his last mission, looking forward to some R&R. He’d thought he’d catch up on the shows he’d missed on TV, maybe go out with friends, party, have fun. Instead, he was driving like a maniac down a rural highway in the middle of nowhere, trying to reach the last person he’d ever thought he’d see again.
Of course, his last mission hadn’t gone to plan either. In fact, it had gone straight to fucking hell. And now trouble had invaded his civilian life. Dammit. This shouldn’t be happening.
A roadside sign proclaimed the speed limit here was fifty miles per hour, but Demetri didn’t slow. There wasn’t time. In fact, he jammed the accelerator of the jeep he was driving straight to the floor. The engine revved and the speedometer hit ninety.
Shit. Just shit.
Lives of people he knew, people he cared for, were on the line. He’d already lost too many people close to him. His parents. His SEAL team mates, when their mission went off the rails. There had been too much senseless death. Too much loss.
His chest squeezed tight with anxiety. Bad enough their mission had gone south and the team had taken losses. Heavy losses. Four men dead, four more badly injured. Demetri had been lucky to get out—uninjured but not unscathed. He carried scars from that awful night in Syria on the inside, where they haunted his dreams. The screams, the coppery scent of blood, the fear and the anger and the pain of knowing there was nothing he could do to save his comrades.
He'd thought that was the worst of it. He’d been wrong.
He swerved around a corner and onto a gravel road, then checked his GPS again. The last time he’d seen Diana Addison, she’d lived in the city, in a flashy apartment building. Now, apparently, she’d moved to the country. Dust clouded around the jeep as he sped forward, desperate to reach her before…
After he’d gotten home, there’d been letters. Threats. A whole stack of them. All with no postmark, all in the same snarled handwriting. All with the same message—the failure of the mission was his fault and the letters’ writer would make him pay by going after the people Demetri cared for.
At first he’d thought it was some kind of sick joke. He wasn’t to blame for the disastrous end of their mission—no one was. They couldn’t have known their mission would be ambushed by ISIS rebels, there was no way he could’ve planned any of that. Nor would he ever.
But then his aunt, the person who’d taken him in and raised him after the deaths of his parents, had started receiving threats in the mail and over the phone. Demetri had thought he’d lived his life avoiding attachments, but it turned out he hadn’t after all. Once he’d gotten his aunt moved to a new, safe location, he’d discovered his first squad leader in the SEALs had been targeted too. The stubborn old cuss had refused to go into hiding, believing he could face any trouble head on. He’d agreed to go to the police but hadn’t gotten much help. There wasn’t enough to go on. People sent crazy things sometimes. Unless an act of violence actually occurred, they couldn’t do anything.
That act of violence had happened two days ago. His squad leader turned up dead in an alley, with a single bullet wound to the back of the head, execution-style. Shocked didn’t begin to cover how Demetri felt. Pissed, paranoid, and protective as hell of those people he had left was a start.
Up ahead, an older white farmhouse sat off the side of the road. It was the only structure in sight, amidst acres and acres of farm fields. Diana’s new place. He fisted the steering wheel tight and glanced over into the passenger seat where the latest threatening letter sat. This one was about Diana. There’d been pictures too, of her inside her house, her tending to h
er garden, her looking far too vulnerable for Demetri’s liking.
He slowed and turned into the long drive leading up to her place. It was pretty. Simple, but pretty, just like her. Distant memories of them that night flashed into his head—the two of them together in her bed, the feel of her in his arms, around him as she’d come apart in his arms, her soft cries of pleasure—before he shoved them aside. Now wasn’t the time or the place.
Danger lurked in the air and zinged alongside the adrenaline in his blood. He parked the jeep, grabbed the envelope off the passenger seat, then got out, the firearm holstered at his waist a reassuring weight against his side as he slowly walked toward her home. He’d tried calling her, but the old cell number he had didn’t work. As he approached, he scanned the area, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. His pulse pounded loudly, drowning out the chirping birds and the creak of the old swing as one end of the porch.
Her brother Peter was still deep undercover in a black ops mission in Afghanistan, so it fell to Demetri to protect her. But even if Peter, and a whole squad of SEALs, and a fire-breathing dragon had been guarding her doorstep, he still would have come. It was his fault she was in danger and he would protect her. With his life, if necessary. He halted at the front door and did another scan of the property behind him. It looked like something off a postcard—white house, white picket fence, colourful pansies in the window boxes. It wasn’t huge, but it looked well cared for and well-loved. A rocking chair moved slowly in the breeze.
That he recognized, from the photos the crazy person had sent. His instincts went on high alert and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He rested one hand on the butt of his gun and knocked on the door with the other. The sooner he got this done, the better off they’d all be.
