by Katie Reus
The moment he made contact, she moaned his name.
“Declan.” She slid her fingers through his hair, holding onto his scalp as if she was afraid he’d leave.
Not happening. The reality of this was a hell of a lot better than dreams. When he flicked his tongue over her clit again, her fingers tightened, her moans growing louder.
Right then he was thankful for the sound-dampening insulation in this place. Finding a rhythm, he teased and stroked her with his tongue. Though he wanted to drag this out longer, he was desperate to be inside her, to feel her sheath wrapped around his cock. He slid two fingers inside her, knowing she needed the extra stimulation.
Moving in and out slowly, he slid his fingers along her inner walls, savoring the way she clenched around him tighter and tighter.
Nika knew she shouldn’t be surprised by how fast Declan got her worked up, not after their shared dreams. But still, it was a shock to her senses to be so close to climax already.
His tongue was pure heaven as he stroked against her sensitive bundle of nerves. It bordered on pain, but was just pleasure right now, the way he flicked against her with the right amount of pressure.
The way he’d learned her body so quickly stunned her. She arched her hips against each stroke, her inner walls gripping him tightly.
When he sucked on her clit, she lost it, her orgasm slamming through her like a sharp punch to all her nerve endings. Pleasure shot through her and she forced herself to let go of his head. Clutching the sheets beneath her, she rode out the waves of her climax.
As they spiraled through her, it was too much and not enough at the same time. “Inside me.” It was a miracle she was able to rasp out those two words at all. Her brain was in pleasure overload but as he sat up and stripped off his jeans, she watched the man she’d come to think of as being so precise and economic with his movements actually tremble.
It was subtle, but through heavy-lidded eyes she saw his hands shake as he stripped of his jeans. When he pulled up a condom from his discarded pants she was glad one of them was thinking clearly.
Pushing up, she went to reach for the packet, but he was faster, ripping it open and rolling it over the most gorgeous cock she’d ever seen.
“Next time.” The words were a sexy growl from an even sexier mouth.
She wanted to ride him, to feel all that strength pulsing beneath her, but the most primitive part of her brain knew that this first time, he was going to be on top. A man like Declan was dominant to his core.
The knowledge sent a shiver through her. Later she’d feel him under her. Now she wanted to experience every inch of this sexy man. Right now it was as if nothing else existed. She could pretend that for a little while anyway.
His mouth covered hers as his body did the same. As she wrapped her legs around his waist, his cock nudged her entrance. Thick and long, he pushed into her slickness. On instinct she arched into him, taking every inch of him.
Her abdomen clenched as he thrust hard once, filling her completely. Surprising her, he didn’t start thrusting, but remained still inside her as he continued kissing her.
She could kiss the sexy man for hours, be consumed by the taste and feel of him.
“Move, damn it,” she gasped. She was aware the demand sounded a lot like begging. She was beyond caring. She needed more, more, more.
He made this sexy, growling sound, but didn’t say anything as he started thrusting. Caging her head in with his forearms, he stared down at her, pinning her with his dark gaze as he sank into her over and over.
There was something painfully intimate about the way he watched her. Even if she wanted to tear her gaze away, it would have been impossible. She was completely ensnared.
One of his hands claimed her breast, almost lazily, definitely possessively, as his thrusts grew erratic. She knew he was close and knew it wouldn’t take much for her to climax again either.
Reaching between their bodies, she tweaked her already over-sensitive clit and just like that, fell into another orgasm. “Declan.” It was all she could say.
His name on her lips seemed to push him over the edge. Or maybe he was finally able to let go of his control.
“Mine,” he growled, claiming her mouth again as he found his own release.
She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but their climaxes seemed to go on forever. The pleasure spiraled through every inch of her until he stopped driving into her with that franticness.
That raw desire quickly slid into something else as his kisses grew sweeter. He slid one of those big hands through her curly hair, holding her with a surprising gentleness until finally he pulled back an inch. But he didn’t draw away completely.
Instead he laid his forehead against hers, his breath warm against her face. “Can I stay with you tonight?”
She ran her hands down his muscular back, loving the feel of his strength beneath her fingertips. “Oh yeah.” Because they weren’t done. Not by a long shot. There was no way this thing between them would ever work out long term so she was going to squeeze every ounce of pleasure from this experience that she could.
Deep down she knew she’d never meet another man like Declan and she wanted to remember this always.
Chapter 18
Nika’s body tingled and sang with electrifying energy. She knew what was coming and forced herself to open her eyes. Sitting up in bed, she glanced next to her. Declan was a blur, as if he were part of a fuzzy photograph, but at least he was there and that comforted her. Her own body was curled up next to him and while it freaked her out a little, there wasn’t a thing she could do about what was going to happen. Even though she’d wanted to deny what happened the other night, when that little girl had visited her, she’d known bone-deep what was to come. The visits were about to start again.
She hadn’t talked to an actual spirit in a couple years, but she could feel it straight to her core that all that was about to change. In dreams when she communicated with spirits, she could still see the living, but it wasn’t their world. She was on a different plane right now, in between the worlds. She saw the living as if through a distorted looking glass.
Sometimes the dead dragged her to other places, but more often than not, they just visited her wherever she happened to be. Usually her bedroom.
A little girl dressed in a pink, frilly nightgown with a cartoon character Nika didn’t recognize finally appeared at the foot of the huge bed. And she was holding a tattered teddy bear. Blonde corkscrew curls surrounded the girl’s soft, round face. She couldn’t be more than ten. It was the same girl as before. She looked afraid.
Nika spoke first to ease the little girl’s fears. “Hi, I’m Nika.”
“I’m Selina.” The tiny voice penetrated the still air and she clutched her bear tighter to her chest.
“Why are you here?” Nika asked.
“They told me you could help me.”
“Who did?”
“The other children.”
Nika’s heart stuttered. “I don’t understand. What other children?”
“They told me you’re finally listening and that you’d help me.”
Okay, not exactly an answer. Nika focused on what she did know. “You’re obviously afraid of something. Do you want to tell me what it is?” Because the truth was, she might not like talking to the dead, but she couldn’t deny helping a kid.
Her small shoulders lifted. “The dark.”
“Whatever hurt you can’t do anything else to you.” More often than not, the spirits understood that, but kids were still kids no matter what form they were in. It broke her heart that some children couldn’t find that closure they needed to move on from this plane.
“I know, but I’m still afraid.”
The vise around Nika’s heart tightened and twisted. The child was so young, she should have no problem finding peace. Unless she’d been the victim of a violent crime. Nika really hated this part. “How can I help you?”
“I just want my mommy to sto
p crying. I want her to be happy again.”
“Who’s your mommy?”
The little girl’s eyebrows knitted together tightly. “She’s mommy…but daddy calls her Anne.”
“What’s your last name?”
“Reynolds.”
Nika made a mental note, but the girl continued. “They keep fighting all the time. I need mommy to know it wasn’t her fault. I was playing hide and seek with my teddy bear. I knew I wasn’t supposed to leave her…”
Selina was fading slowly, but it was fast enough that panic took root inside Nika. It took so much energy for spirits to visit her in her dreams and it might be a while until she saw her again. If she even saw her at all. She couldn’t wait that long to help.
“How did you die?”
“I drowned. We were camping and I was playing hide and seek. I fell down a hole near a funny looking tree. I tried shouting for help, but it was dark and wet…”
And then she was gone.
Nika blinked as the bedroom came into focus.
Declan propped up on one elbow staring at her with concern. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I uh…just had a dream. Sort of.”
“What was it?”
“It’s not important,” she muttered, not wanting to bother him with it.
He splayed a comforting hand over her bare stomach. “Tell me.”
She scooted closer to him, liking the intimate way he touched her. It felt right, natural. Talking about this was harder than her other gifts, but maybe it would be good to share it with him. He seemed to know more than her about all this stuff. “A little girl came to me. She was very young, probably under ten. She told me she fell down some kind of hole on a camping trip with her parents and drowned. She wants her mom to stop crying.”
His entire body went rigid, his hand tightening against her skin the slightest fraction. “Are you telling me you talked to a spirit?”
She stiffened at his tone. It wasn’t as if she asked the dead to talk to her. “Yeah.”
“Is this the first time it’s happened?”
“No. Why?”
His jaw clenched but he answered. “You didn’t mention it before. You said you had visions of people and places, but you didn’t say anything about talking to dead people.”
Nika sat up and tugged the sheet to her chest, needing an extra barrier. She didn’t understand why he seemed so upset. “It’s not like I was hiding it from you. I just told you.”
“I know…”
“But what?”
“That’s a big thing to keep from me.” There was something in his tone that raked against her senses.
Now he was starting to make her mad. “I’ve told you more about myself than I’ve told any man before. I haven’t talked to a spirit in years so excuse me if I didn’t think about it before. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.” It wasn’t like he was so damn forthcoming about his own gifts. She knew he was a dream walker but that was about it. And she hadn’t pushed him on it out of respect.
When he didn’t respond, she shoved the sheet away and swung her legs off the bed. Before her feet touched the ground, his arm snaked around her waist and he had her pinned on her back underneath him.
“I’m sorry.” His deep voice enveloped her, sending little tremors of awareness rolling through her body.
“You’re kind of being a jerk.” She wiggled underneath him, trying to put space between them.
“I know and I’m sorry.” He still didn’t budge.
She knew if she truly wanted him off of her, he’d move. “You don’t sound very apologetic.”
“Well I am,” he murmured, his gaze dipping to her mouth. She recognized that look.
When she felt his erection beginning to swell against her lower abdomen, she pushed at his chest. “You better not think—”
His mouth curved into a half-smile, definitely unapologetic now. “I don’t think anything. I just can’t help this reaction when I’m touching you. Now what’s the girl’s name?”
She paused. “What?”
“The girl from your dream.”
“Oh…uh, Selina Reynolds. Why?”
“I’ll see if I can find out some more information. If what the spirit said is true, then there’s probably a missing persons report filed on her.”
“Oh, God, I didn’t even think about that…Thank you.” She’d just been hoping she could help the girl pass over, but it would be better if she could help the parents find peace somehow.
“Is there anything else that might be helpful?”
“She said she fell down a hole near a funny looking tree.”
He watched her quietly for a long moment, his expression almost thoughtful. “The last woman I was involved with lied to me. She was special, like you, and she…almost got me killed because of her lies.”
Guilt detonated inside her. She wasn’t doing anything that could get him killed. And yeah, if she was getting technical she wasn’t lying to him. She wasn’t being straightforward either. Ugh. “Did you work together?” she asked.
He nodded, his warm breath feathering over her shoulder as he dropped a light kiss there.
“What happened?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he cupped one of her breasts and teasingly rubbed her nipple before dipping his head to her other breast. When he gently pressed down with his teeth, she shoved all her questions to the side. If he didn’t want to talk about his past that was fine with her. She didn’t want to talk about hers either.
Chapter 19
Yasha unsnapped the wrist wraps of his boxing gloves and tossed them onto his workout bench. His chest and arms were sore, but at sixty-five, he had to keep in shape. He knew better than most that there would always be those younger and stronger trying to make a name for themselves. Killing him would immediately give someone street credibility.
He should know. Decades ago he’d done the same thing. After years of working as a thug for minimum pay, he’d taken out the entire Belov family, established himself, then eventually moved to the United States.
The land of the free, indeed. As a criminal, he had more rights in the States than as an upstanding citizen in Moscow. Not that he’d ever been an upstanding citizen.
The door to his private gym opened. Out of habit, he glanced up and reached for his weapon, though he already knew no one but Dima would bother him during his workout.
“You done for the morning, boss?” Dima asked as he handed him a towel.
“Yes. Is my appointment still a go?”
Dima nodded as he glanced at his watch. “He should be calling in half an hour.”
“Good.”
“What about…the other stuff?”
“Good as well. I’m going to change the meeting place.”
Dima’s expression barely changed but Yasha could tell he was surprised. “Why?”
He opened the door and nodded at Dima. “Walk with me. A source tells me some high ranking members of the FBI and DEA are in town.”
Now Dima frowned. “For you?”
“Hard to tell. It could be unrelated.” As far as he knew, no one had a clue what his plans were, but he wasn’t going to take the chance. Not with a deal this big on the table.
“I’ll keep my ear to the ground too. I was going to put this on your desk, but I got the results back regarding the Lazarev brothers’ deaths.” He held out a thin manila file.
Yasha bit back his annoyance. He had to shower and prepare for his call. He didn’t have time to read something that probably didn’t matter anyway. “What does it say?”
“They died of heart attacks.”
Yasha paused in the hallway. “All of them?”
“Yes. It is strange. They each had unnaturally dilated pupils and according to reports, two of them were acting odd before they died.”
“That part is not so strange.” All of the brothers had been involved in drugs. One of the many reasons Yasha had cut ties with them years ago. It was one thing to sell drugs, but using one�
�s own product was bad business. Any addiction was a weakness.
“Maybe, but I found something else strange. I was looking into the Brennan sisters as you asked. On the surface, everything about them looks normal. They were raised in London by an uncle but moved to New York when the oldest was twenty for her modeling career.”
“What’s strange about that?”
“Other than the fact that I can’t find much information on their uncle—nothing. Just a name, but no property holdings or bank accounts. At least not under his name. It’s as if he’s a ghost. However, I was looking into their travel patterns and they were in Frankfurt, Cairo, and Nassau when each Lazarev brother died. At the exact dates for each death. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it otherwise, but I was researching them at the same time.”
Wasn’t that just interesting. “You’re certain?”
“I cross-referenced their flight logs. It could be a coincidence, but…”
Yasha took the folder from Dima as the other man held open his office door. “This is good work. Make sure you confirm with my son that we’re having dinner with them tonight.”
“You’re sure you still want to go?”
“I definitely want to meet these women.” He shut the door behind Dima and opened the file. If the women had been in only one city, he might have been able to write it off as coincidence, but all three? Impossible.
It wasn’t such a strange concept that a government agency would use a beautiful woman as a means to an end. Hell, the KGB had done the same thing and he was positive the FSB was still doing it too. If the women did work for the government, he guessed this was the CIA’s doing. One way or another, he was going to find out who the sisters were working for and what the hell they wanted with his son. Then, he would kill them.
* * *
Declan stared at Nika’s still form. It was impossible to tear his gaze away. She looked so peaceful. Unlike when she was awake. She seemed…worried all the time. Like something was constantly weighing on her mind. When her sister had been taken he understood, but he saw it now and he’d seen it even before Alena had been kidnapped.
