“How the hell did they find us?”
“No idea.”
Morgan executed another turn, more abrupt than the last, and the vehicle was right behind them.
“Yeah, we got trouble,” he reported.
“Okay,” she replied, not sounding particularly worried. “Hold on tight. It’s going to get intense.”
Just as she twisted the throttle to speed up, a tanned arm extended from the passenger window and the man opened fire. Alex instinctively hunched down as Morgan took a hard turn, and he leaned into it, hoping not to overbalance. When they came back up, the bike shot forward as it picked up speed, causing the houses and businesses to blur as they rode past.
Alex did a quick glance over his shoulder and swore. “They’re still there.” He gritted his teeth, hoping the next shot wasn’t going to blow out the back of his skull.
“I’m just warming up.”
The Cherokee kept on their tail, but was having trouble executing the sharp turns Morgan made as she led their pursuers in tight circles. When it lagged behind, she ran across an empty parking lot, down an alley, and onto Paris Road. There, she opened up the bike, flying past cars at top speed.
Alex wondered how long it would be before a cop spotted them, which might make their pursuers back off—or they’d just ice the officer and keep coming after them.
“Let me know when you can’t see them,” she said in his ear.
After a gut-clenching zoom around a minivan, Morgan cut back in, the van’s horn letting them know that the driver thought she was a jerk. She took the bike to its top speed, chewing up another half mile.
“Now!” he announced.
“Hold on!” He tightened his grip as Morgan rapidly decelerated. Spraying gravel, she cut right, barreling into a business parking lot. They finally came to a stop behind the building near a semi-truck.
Removing his helmet, Alex hopped off the bike. Sprinting back toward the road, he peered around the side of the business, his heart beating so hard it was difficult to catch his breath. The SUV flew past them, and he watched as it vanished in the distance.
“Yes!” he shouted. “You lost them!”
Morgan’s helmet was off, and it hung on a handlebar, her hair glistening in the sun, her face as sweaty as his. He trotted back, grabbed her and spun her around. Then he kissed her.
“You are awesome!” he said, giddy. “How did you learn to ride like that?”
“Motocross. I got pretty good at it.”
Alex reluctantly let her go. He unzipped his jacket and swore he felt steam rising off his skin. She did the same, and he couldn’t help but notice her T-shirt molded against her breasts.
“Jesus, lady, that was one helluva ride,” he said. He clapped a hand over his heart. “I think I’m in love. Marry me.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She pushed damp hair off her face. “We’ll hang here for a while, then head back south. If we’re lucky, they won’t be waiting for us.” She sucked in a deep breath. “You get a plate number?”
“No, sorry.” His phone rang from deep inside a pocket. He pulled it out, not recognizing the number.
“Parkin.”
“Dobriy den, Sasha.”
Well, I’ll be damned. “Good afternoon to you, Grigori. Thank you for calling me.”
Morgan’s eyebrow rose at the caller’s identity.
“I trust you are well,” the Russian said.
“Right now, yes. A few minutes ago, not so much. A couple dudes tried to kill me.”
There was a lengthy pause. “That was not my uncle’s doing.”
“Good to hear it.”
Another pause. “What is it you wish to speak to me about?” the Russian asked.
“We have a big problem. A large shipment of cocaine has arrived in the city, and some of it is cut with strychnine. The bodies are just going to keep piling up unless we locate that load and confiscate it.”
“I have heard this too. Why does this concern me?”
“You’re getting out of prison very soon.”
“Da.”
“Well, the poisoned dope is killing at least ten people a day. That many dead will ensure that the feds have no choice but to carpet bomb all your uncle’s businesses, taking everyone down in the process. You included, my friend, because you are his nephew. It won’t matter if you’re just getting out of the joint or not. You’ll be collateral damage.”
“Why would you care what happens to me?”
“Because you kept me alive, Grigori. You know what would have happened if you hadn’t stepped in: I’d have been dead or fair game for every pervert inside those walls. You kept me safe all those years. Now I’m returning the favor, while trying to prevent more innocent people from dying.” Alex sucked in a breath, feeling sweat trickle down his back. “I don’t want those souls haunting me for the rest of my life, however long that might be. I don’t think you do either.”
He heard the scratch of whiskers as the prisoner rubbed a hand across his face. “I am not in a position to help, Sasha. I am truly sorry. I have been warned that if I become involved, someone I care about will die.”
Ruslan?
Alex knew it would be demeaning to beg. “Then all I can say is watch your back, my friend. We both know Anya is cleaning house, and you’re standing in her way.”
There was a deeper sigh now. “Anya is insane. Anyone else’s child, and she would have been sent to an asylum. Or put down like a rabid dog. Yet my uncle adores her.”
“He may, but she’s not going to stop until both of you are dead. Please, be careful. I count you as too much of a friend to lose you, even if we are on opposite sides of the law.”
“I am honored by that, but I still cannot help you, at least not yet. Go with God, Sasha.”
“And you as well, Grigori.”
Alex ended the call, staring into the distance, then shook his head.
“At least you tried,” Morgan said, lightly touching his sleeve.
He shrugged, then tucked the phone away. “We best get on the road so we’re at the camp before dark.”
Morgan gave a pensive nod, put her gear back on, and climbed back on the bike, deep in thought. He joined her, all thoughts of bantering with her gone now. Not with the resignation he’d heard in Grigori’s voice.
At that moment a Russian proverb came to mind, one Mikhail had taught him. Eto surovoy zimy, kogda odin volk s’yedayet druguyu.
It’s a hard winter when one wolf eats another.
*~*~*
Alex hadn’t lied when he’d said the camp was in the back end of nowhere. A rough, shell-covered road, about a half-mile long, led to the structure from the main road. Morgan didn’t know this part of rural Louisiana that well, but she guessed they were somewhere near Bayou Lery, which was south of the lake of the same name.
From the outside, the camp looked ramshackle, a victim of one too many tropical storms. As Alex retrieved the key from under a rotten log near the porch, she rolled the motorbike out of sight from the driveway. Not that she expected to have any company—there’d been no sign of anyone following them since they’d ditched the SUV.
Alex’s friendship with Grigori Danshov should have troubled her, but it didn’t. Grigori wasn’t like his uncle; he’d always worked on the periphery of Buryshkin’s crime empire, and had been sent to prison only because of a money-laundering scheme gone bad.
It was Alex’s admission that he owed his life to Grigori that had touched her. It was never easy for a guy to say things like that, especially to another man.
“Got the key,” he said, holding it up. “Damned weird place to hide it, but I guess most people won’t go digging around in the mud for it.”
Morgan followed him up onto the porch and waited as he opened the door and deactivated the alarm.
“He’s changed some things,” Alex observed, turning on lights as he moved through the camp. “It’s even nicer now.” He flicked on the window air conditioner to suck up some of the mustiness, and the th
ing rattled to life.
Morgan found she liked the place. The décor was masculine, in browns and blacks. A small television sat in the corner, opposite a long sofa. A table and a pair of chairs sat under a louvered window near a galley kitchen. In the rear of the camp was a bathroom and a bedroom with a queen bed. Just perfect for a single guy or a couple.
Couple?
She looked back at the sofa and realized it wasn’t a sleeper.
Alex noticed. “Don’t freak. I’m not going to ravage you. Actually, I was rather hoping it’d be the other way around.”
Morgan turned to find him close, so close that she could smell his scent, an earthy, masculine one that called to the woman deep within her. It reminded her of how long it’d been since she’d been in a man’s arms as he made love to her.
“We’re safe here,” Alex said, gently touching her cheek. “The closest house is a quarter mile away. You can scream my name as much as you want, and no one but me will hear.”
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. The question in his eyes was as stark as the need raging through her body.
“You sure?”
He nodded. “But I warn you, the first time is going to be hot and furious. No way can I go slow. After that . . . ”
Without thinking, she reached out to touch the tape on his bandage, where it had peeled up on one edge. He caught her hand. Kissed it like it was pure gold.
I want this. I want him, mission be damned.
He must have seen the look in her eyes. His lips tipped up into a masculine grin. “Game on?”
“Game on.”
Rational thought vanished. They stumbled back against the nearest wall, him up against her, the heat rising from their bodies.
“You’re all I want,” he rasped, his voice husky with need.
“Prove it.”
Alex’s eyes widened at the challenge, and then his lips were on hers. His tongue ran over her lips, urging them to part, and then it sought entrance. His hands roamed, as if they couldn’t decide where to start first.
When Alex finally pulled back, he lightly tugged on her lip with his teeth. Morgan couldn’t stop the moan as his hand found its way under her damp T-shirt. He stripped off the garment and tossed it aside, then hooked his thumbs under the straps of her bra and flipped them off her shoulders, pulling the cups down.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured as he palmed her right breast, rolling the nipple between his fingers.
Morgan sent her own hands on a safari, tracing the taut skin under his shirt, then sliding down the back of his jeans. She carefully dug her nails into his firm butt, and now it was his turn to groan.
“Damn, lady.” Alex pulled her hands free and trapped them above her on the wall with one of his. His feral gaze made her body respond, and she tried to twist out of his hold, eager for more than he was offering.
“Too slow,” she said.
“We’ll get there. Just let me play. Right now, you’re mine. All mine.”
He placed his lips on her right nipple and lightly tugged on it with his teeth.
“Alex . . . ”
When he finished with the one nipple, he favored the other, and she found herself falling into sensations she’d long believed forgotten. After his hand deftly unbuttoned the top of her jeans, he pushed them down. When he set her hands free, she shucked them off, after kicking off her shoes. Her bra went next, landing somewhere near the couch.
She stood before him wearing only her panties.
He slid a hand in the top of them, caressing her flat stomach. “Red lace. And a thong too. God, woman, you are killing me.”
“Strip for me,” she urged.
He gave her a bad-boy smile and pulled off the T-shirt, revealing those gorgeous six-pack abs. Then his shoes and jeans were off, leaving her to study the man and his pair of briefs. She ran a finger down the impressive bulge.
“I might be able to do something about that.”
Then she fell on her knees in front of him and smiled.
Alex sucked in a sharp breath, sweat beading on his forehead. God, he wanted her, but not like this. At least not the first time. This had to be for both of them.
“No, not that way,” he said, taking hold of her hands and easing her to her feet. He kissed her, long and deep, and then they were stumbling across the room, finally landing on the couch with her underneath him.
He reached down and pulled off her panties, then began to stroke her nub. She immediately arched into him, seeking more.
“You want me,” he said. “Say it.”
She moaned.
“Say it!”
“I . . . want . . . you.”
“About damned time.” Alex trailed kisses down to the closest breast and feasted on it as he eased two fingers inside her. She moved against his hand, wet and eager.
“Go on, Morgan, fly. Just fly,” he said.
As her body shook beneath him, her cries signaled that she’d found her wings and taken to the sky. When she regained her ability to breathe, he found her watching him, eyes sparkling.
“That’s the first of many,” he said, smiling. Then he remembered the condoms in his wallet, the ones he’d “borrowed” from the safe house. “Ah, hold on, I’ll be right back.”
She caught hold of him. “I’m covered.”
“Then I’m about to go to heaven. You be sure to come with me, baby.”
He began to enter her, inch by magnificent inch.
When he was fully seated deep inside her, Morgan refused to make it easy on him, tightening and releasing those glorious muscles around his length.
“Oh, God, that feels good,” she said, clutching his hips, pulling him in deeper.
“You’re killing me,” he said, panting. Alex clenched his teeth and began to move, slowly at first.
Their eyes met as his rhythm increased.
“I want to hear you scream my name. Can you do that?”
Her ability to speak was gone, and all she could do was nod. He touched her face, kissing her deeply, then took her arms and pinned them over her head again, trapping them with one of his own. She wrapped her legs around him now, pulling him deeper inside. His control vanished as his thrusts grew deeper, more intense. Then he arched forward, seeking that spot that would drive her over the edge.
The world blew apart in brilliant colors as Morgan cried out, shaking her head back and forth, deep inside her own orgasm. With a final bellow, Alex came long and hard, emptying himself inside her.
Alex let go of her hands and sank down onto her sweat-dampened body. She was panting, trying to catch her breath, still pulsing around him.
“Jesus God,” he moaned. He took her mouth with his, sucking and tasting and claiming. Then he leaned back, his arms shaking and sweat rolling down his face.
“Did you call my name like you were supposed to?” he asked.
“I can’t remember,” she said. “But that’s only two orgasms, Parkin. You owe me a lot more,” she huffed, still trying to catch her breath.
He broke out in a laugh, one that came from deep in his belly. She joined him, her eyes shining, face full of joy. This was the real Morgan, the one she kept hidden away. And he’d revealed her to the world.
She reached up and gently wiped sweat off his cheek. In that simple gesture, he knew that if this had been any other time, any other situation, he might well have fallen in love with this woman.
“Shower?” she asked. “We’re pretty sweaty.”
He grinned. “Sure. I happen to know that this shower is big enough for two. You still game?”
A wicked smile played across her face. “Of course.”
*~*~*
The shower ended much like the time on the couch. Then they were on the bed. In no time, he had her moaning, crying out, begging.
“Come for me, baby. Come hard. Do it!” he called out.
She threw her head back and let go, screaming his name as his own orgasm flung him off the cliff once again.
His woman was on fire. He felt like a god.
His woman . . . That made him pause as he rolled on his back. Since when had he started thinking she was only his? Because that kind of thinking had gotten him trapped once before. He didn’t dare go that way again.
Or did he?
Morgan laid her head on his sweaty chest. “We need another shower,” she said.
“Ah, let’s . . . give it a while. I . . . need to . . . recharge.”
Morgan laughed, rising on an elbow. “Really? Now you’re tired? What happened to the horny ex-con routine?”
“Going from nothing to flat-out is tiring, woman.”
She slumped back down onto his chest. “That’s the truth.” She yawned, then rolled on her back. “Why’d you wait for me when you had girls throwing themselves at you?”
He looked at her. “You like chocolate, right?” She nodded. “Okay, let’s say that your doctor tells you that you can’t have chocolate for six years. So you don’t. Not one damned bite. But when that ends, the first piece you eat, would you go for some cheap store brand, or find the most exquisite, expensive kind there is?”
She blinked at him. “I’d go for the fancy stuff.”
“Exactly. I could have had a couple of girls at the bar, or Natalya. Even Anya, if I were into pain. Problem was, none of them were you.”
She gave him a half frown. “It’s more than that. You couldn’t resist a challenge. I told you ‘no,’ so you were eager to prove me wrong.”
She’d read him right. “Partly. Mostly it was because you are a beautiful, desirable woman who I knew would rock my world.”
Morgan seemed surprised at that. “And did I?”
“Oh hell yes. Rocked it like a nine-point-eight earthquake.”
She shifted, uncomfortable now. “We should talk about the situation.”
For an instant, he thought she meant the situation between them, but then he knew she was stepping back from what had just happened. Probably getting too intense. Still, while they’d been going at it, people were dying from the poisoned dope. They did need to get back to business.
“I know Crispin wants us out of sight, but I want to go back into the city tomorrow,” he said. “I have a couple more informants I can try. We can make another run at Natalya. Maybe you could persuade her to help us.”
Cat's Paw (Veritas Book 1) Page 22
