by Bella Rose
“Just that little dopehead who we used to see hanging out at Ivan Popov’s arcade,” Joe muttered.
“Dopehead?” Alexandra swallowed as a sudden shot of adrenaline hit her bloodstream.
Joe could only be talking about Jacob. She and Ivan had known Jacob since high school. Since Yuri’s arrest, Jacob had gone to ground as far as she knew. At least he hadn’t been responding to her texts. If he was working for Vitaly, he was in a position to tattle on Alexandra. Jacob was completely unpredictable when it came to sharing information. He knew how to take care of number one better than anyone else she knew. If he felt threatened, he might be inclined to use what he knew about Alexandra to get himself out of a tight spot.
“Yeah.” Joe frowned at her. “Do you know who I’m talking about? We used to believe that he was making runs, but we could never actually catch him doing anything.”
“Maybe he really was making runs,” Greta suggested. “Since Yuri’s not there anymore, he just hired himself out to the next guy who came in.”
“Do you have any info on his identity or anything?” Alexandra asked, knowing already that he didn’t. Joe would have been shouting it from the rafters if he had.
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s make that the focus of this week.” She glanced at the others sitting at the table. “I need you guys to go through transcripts of the testimony and see if anyone has mentioned this dopehead. Let’s see if we can place him within the organization. Shall we? And, Joe, you stick with him and find out what he’s up to.”
“And what about you?” Greta asked.
Alexandra picked up her donut and prepared to shove the whole thing in her mouth to avoid talking, yet she knew that would be an exercise in futility. “I’ll be doing the same thing.”
Actually, Alexandra would be doing the opposite. Jacob was a cockroach. If she could count on anything, it was knowing that he would he hard as hell to catch. Once they did, he would sing. Still, he was good at playing hard to find, especially if he discovered the FBI was looking for him.
In the meantime, Alexandra was going to take the bull by the horns. She needed to find Vitaly, and somehow convince him to give himself away to her. It would not be an easy task, but she was confident that she could figure out a way to get past his defenses. Ivan’s suggestion came immediately to mind. She was a woman. He was a man. She knew how to work that to her advantage, even though she knew she’d be playing with fire.
***
“Are you kidding me right now?” Vitaly looked at Uday and wondered if the guy could tell how completely pissed off he was. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, boss.” Uday shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s like they know what we’re doing before we do.”
“Then perhaps we have a mole,” Vitaly mused. “Send Jacob to me, please.”
“The runner?” Uday’s brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Because your father used to believe he had contacts in the Bureau. That’s why.” Vitaly frowned. “And I want to know if he’s still talking to them.”
“Got it.” Uday disappeared.
Vitaly walked to the windows and stared out at the carefully manicured yard between this house and the next. He liked living in Maximov’s house. It was spacious and luxurious. It wasn’t actually Vitaly’s, and yet nobody would take it from him because he was a boss within the Russian organization. As with most legal-savvy professional criminals, Yuri Maximov had protected his property and legitimate businesses from federal seizure through a complex network of corporations and trusts. Now Vitaly was reaping the benefits, once again the beneficiary of someone else’s foresight.
“You wanted to see me?” Jacob minced into the office, his gaze glued to the floor.
The shifty little character with the paunchy belly, stringy hair, and almost rodent-like personality had been one of Yuri’s most trusted associates, despite his suspected connections to the FBI. Vitaly hadn’t understood why until Jacob had come to him asking for work. Since then, Vitaly had realized the little man was worth his weight in gold.
“Good morning, Jacob.” Vitaly kept his tone pleasant. “I wanted to ask you about the agent responsible for having Yuri Maximov arrested.”
Jacob’s gaze abruptly lifted to meet Vitaly’s. His surprise was evident. “Alex?” He shifted from foot to foot, looking very uncomfortable. “Why?”
Alex. That was more information than Vitaly had been able to gain to date. Still, pushing Jacob was never wise. He resolved to be casual. “Because we seem to have a mole tattling on us to the feds and I wanted to know what you know.” Vitaly gestured to one of the big comfy chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat and let’s chat, shall we?”
“Uh,” Jacob hedged. He was actually looking at the door as if he was trying to decide if he could make an escape or not. Then he seemed to deflate a little. He slumped into one of the chairs and set his dirty knapsack between his feet. “What do you want to know?”
“Are you still communicating with this Alex person?” Vitaly made an effort to avoid sounding accusatory. That wouldn’t get him anywhere with this man.
“No. I’m not.” Jacob scratched his greasy head and then examined his dirty nails. “When Alex made the decision to take Yuri down, the thought was that it would cripple this branch of the organization.” Jacob hazarded a glance up at Vitaly. “Since you just picked up the reins and moved things right along, I decided I would wait and see how things went before I…”
“Picked a side?” Vitaly guessed.
Jacob’s eyes glinted. “I never pick sides.”
“Obviously.”
“So Alex has this friend Ivan who owns a bunch of arcades,” Jacob said carefully.
“Ivan.” Vitaly could not have been more surprised. “Ivan Popov?”
“Yeah.” Jacob gave a terse nod. “When Yuri went to jail, Ivan told Alex and me that the three of us needed to lay low because it’d be safer like that. You know?” Jacob made a little frown. “Except I know for a fact that Alex and Ivan still keep in touch. They’ve been meeting at this little bistro over in the old neighborhood since we were kids. You know?”
“I didn’t know,” Vitaly murmured. “And you’re not included in these meetings?”
“Nope.” Jacob actually looked miffed. “Ivan told me he’d get me a real job at one of the arcades so I wouldn’t have to do this stuff”—Jacob made a vague gesture to indicate Vitaly’s office—“except I didn’t want to do that.”
“Why not?”
Jacob looked dumbfounded. “You think I want to go back to some minimum-wage job working forty hours a week and paying taxes?” Jacob shook his head emphatically. “Hell no. I’m not that stupid. I make plenty of cash under the table doing this work. I’m good at it. I don’t answer to nobody really, as long as I keep my word, and I’m not paying some stupid government tax money that they go and waste.” Jacob was now sitting straight up and gazing right at Vitaly. He was more animated than Vitaly had ever seen him before. “I’m telling you, the government says I’m wasting my money on drugs or alcohol or something, but then they just go and take it from me and turn around and do the same thing! It ain’t fair!”
Vitaly had to stifle a laugh. Apparently Jacob was completely on an antiestablishment bandwagon. There was no way he was ratting out Vitaly to the feds. Except Alex was an old acquaintance that might still command his loyalty. “So you wouldn’t give this Alex person information on my network if you were asked for it?”
“No.” The little man shook his head so hard he nearly fell out of the chair. “When I was working with Alex before, I was doing it because Ivan said we should. He said Alex was just trying to keep the neighborhood cleaned up.”
“Ah.” Vitaly leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers before him. “I see. So, hypothetically, if I wanted to give some misinformation to the feds I could have you do this for me?”
Jacob’s beady little eyes glittered with the sort of intelligence Vitaly would have
never attributed to this sloppy-looking individual. Vitaly had always known that Yuri had a talent for finding good intel sources and smart associations. Now he realized that Yuri had been far more astute than even Vitaly had given him credit for.
The corner of Jacob’s mouth twisted into the parody of a smile. “What did you have in mind?”
“I’m not entirely certain yet. I still need to figure out who the mole is. Can you possibly look into that? Don’t poke too hard. I don’t want you to expose yourself.” Vitaly smiled, feeling better than he had in months. “But when the time comes, I think we’re going to send Agent Alex’s team on a little excursion over to the O’Learys’ territory.”
“They run the streets right next to yours,” Jacob mused. “That could be lucrative.”
“Exactly,” Vitaly agreed. “And you can expect a bonus, Jacob. I appreciate the loyalty and the honesty.”
“Thanks, boss.” Jacob stood up and Vitaly watched any hint of intelligence or cunning recede until there was nothing left but a paunchy, dirty little man with greasy hair and beady eyes. It was absolutely fascinating.
Chapter Four
Alexandra strutted her way up the sidewalk in front of Club 360 and gave the bouncer at the door a sultry smile. “Can I please get by? I’m meeting someone inside.”
There were at least seventy people on the sidewalk waiting to get in. She heard some catcalls and half a dozen nasty comments as the doorman blinked at her twice before standing aside and letting her by.
“Thank you.” Alexandra winked at the bouncer. She knew full well that it was the cut of her dress that had gotten her in and not her charm. Of course, that was better than pulling out her badge.
She let her hips do the talking as she headed up to the bar. It had taken her an entire afternoon to find the perfect dress at a nearby boutique. It was a flirty shade of pink that wasn’t too feminine, and it was short. In fact, she was pretty sure that if she bent over in her silver stilettos, she was going to show her ass to the whole club. That was why she’d bought the matching thong panties. And the back of the dress dipped enticingly close to the base of her spine. The dress was held together only by a few scraps of fabric all attached to a nice silver ring that sat right beneath her shoulder blades. She looked hot. And that was enough.
A guy settled on a barstool right beside her. “Hey, baby, can I buy you a drink?”
“I don’t know,” Alexandra said with a flirty grin. “What’s it going to cost me?”
“A dance?”
“Hmm.” She put her finger to her lips. She was supposed to be working. Vitaly came to this club at least three times a week. She just hoped he was there tonight. “I suppose I could afford one teeny-tiny dance.”
The guy motioned to a man behind the bar. Alexandra smiled up at the cute bartender. “I’ll have a cosmopolitan.”
“Coming right up.” The man reached for a glass and started mixing her drink.
“So,” her new companion began, “I’ve never seen you here. Are you new in town?”
“Nope, just thought I needed a change of scenery.” Alexandra wasn’t about to tell him that she only went out when she was working a case that required her to.
The bartender set a drink in front of her. Alexandra nodded her thanks and then tipped it back. She cleared the cocktail in three swallows. A warm, floaty feeling made her feel calmer and maybe even a little reckless. She was going to find that Vitaly bastard and trap him with her wiles. That was her plan.
“Ready for that dance?” her companion wanted to know.
Alexandra held out her hand, smiling when he took it. “Hell yes!”
He led her to the floor and she tried to keep her balance in the throng of people while scanning the crowd for Vitaly. She didn’t see him anywhere. Of course, the place was packed, but he should have been visible with his entourage or whatever. Right?
The man she was supposed to be dancing with found a spot and started gyrating to the beat. Alexandra couldn’t help but laugh a little at his wild movements. Still, he looked like everyone else out there. She didn’t dance often, so she felt a little awkward lifting her hands in the air and wiggling her backside to the rhythm.
The thumping of the beat was so loud it drowned out everything else. Alexandra felt a little lightheaded. She still couldn’t find Vitaly anywhere. Abruptly turning away from her companion, she made her way back to the bar. She needed an anchor in a world that seemed to be spinning.
“Another drink?” the bartender asked.
She nodded and threw some cash on the bar. He mixed her drink and she sipped it slowly this time. Again and again she raked her gaze over the crowd as she looked for Vitaly. It didn’t look as though he was coming.
“Would you like to dance?”
She turned and saw another man. This one looked a little less like a bar predator and more like a guy out with friends. There were two other couples standing with him. They all looked about three sheets to the wind.
Alexandra shrugged. “Why not?”
Vitaly was not going to suddenly drop out of the sky at her feet. And if he wasn’t there, she might as well have a little bit of fun since she never went out. So she followed her new date onto the floor.
This was more fun. A bigger group meant they had more space from surrounding couples. The other ladies seemed exuberant and encouraged Alexandra to dance with them as well as her impromptu date. Soon she was swinging along, shaking her hips and really getting into the mood.
The music had changed. It was still loud, but there was a melody now. It seemed to wind around her senses and drown out everything else. She found herself dancing with the other men in the group. They all swapped out, moved around, and ground on each other as if there was nothing but the rhythm of the dance.
Alexandra closed her eyes and just let go for a moment. She spun in a circle and then put her hands on her hips and began to swing her hips in a wide circle. The motion was soon joined by a set of male hands. She didn’t mind. The men had been polite so far. And if they got handsy she could probably lay them out with one punch.
Her new partner moved in close behind her. He smelled incredible. She got a hint of sandalwood and male sweat. It actually turned her on. She swung her hands up and felt his palms settle on her sides, over her ribs. A shot of heat lanced through her body as his fingertips brushed the undersides of her breasts. He began moving her with the music. He guided her in the dance, always staying behind her and keeping them bound close together.
A tingle began somewhere in her middle and then spread out all across her skin. There was something so incredibly erotic about being held by a stranger. The warmth of his touch slipped up and down her sides. He took hold of her hips again and moved in close enough that she could feel his erection pressing against her bottom. She gave a little gasp and abruptly turned around.
***
Vitaly had never felt this sort of instant attraction to any woman, let alone one he’d stumbled upon on a dance floor. Her body was all curves and hard muscle. He felt her breasts jiggle against his fingers and longed to cup their fullness in his hands.
He knew he startled her when he pressed his hard cock up against her delectable ass, but he hadn’t been able to resist. Then she turned around and he found himself looking into the most incredible set of gray eyes he’d ever seen. It was like taking a punch to the gut.
“My name is Vitaly,” he drawled, trying not to seem as rattled as he felt. “You dance like a goddess.”
“Hello, Vitaly.” She took a step back, putting distance between them.
He found he didn’t like that at all. Bracketing her hips in his hands, he pulled her back to him. There would be no more talking. He just wanted to dance. Wrapping his arms around her sexy body, he put his hands on her ass and started to move against her.
It was a dance, and yet he might as well have been pushing his cock deep inside her warm pussy. He nudged his thigh between her legs and felt the heat of her crotch against him. There was
a hitch in her breath and he saw her pupils dilate with arousal. Her hands settled on his shoulders and she let herself fall back. She reclined over his arm and Vitaly swung her side to side as he watched the neckline of her dress dip so low over her breasts that he could see the barest hint of her pale pink areola exposed.
She wasn’t wearing a bra. His mouth watered and he nearly lost the battle for control of his desire. He wanted to pull her dress lower and take her nipple between his teeth. He wanted to feel her fingers in his hair as he sucked her breast until she begged him for more.
Instead, he had to be content with laying his palm flat on her chest. He used his fingers to tease the delicate flesh. She trembled beneath his touch. He continued to let her sway over his arm. She began to ride his leg, her hips gyrating to the beat of the music as the erotic moment completely overtook her.
He felt the dampness of her crotch on his thigh. She was getting wet. He could even smell her. Forcing himself to back off, he released her and spun her in his grip until her back was flush to his front. She was utterly imprisoned within his embrace.
Vitaly kissed her neck. He tasted her skin with his tongue and found it salty yet sweet. Then he put his hands flat on her belly and began to slide them lower.
They were still moving to the music. He rubbed his cock against her backside even as he began inching her short skirt up her thighs. He wanted underneath it. He wanted to touch the softness of the skin on her hips.
She made no protest when his fingers connected with her bare skin. He curled his hands over her hips and drew her harder against him. He was all but fucking her now. Each thrust of his cock against her backside was accompanied by a hard thumping beat of the music. She quested backwards, encouraging him as she lifted her hands and locked them behind his neck. The position stretched her full length against him. Had he wanted to, he could have buried his cock inside her right there in the club and she would have only begged him for more.
Never had another woman responded to him the way this stranger did. Vitaly was enthralled. He wanted her so badly he was willing to put aside the very real reasons why this was a bad choice. Strangers posed an incredible amount of risk on a man who was operating on the wrong side of the law. Yet he couldn’t seem to bring himself to care.
