The Prince's Gamble

by Caridad Piñeiro

  Both Jim and Kathleen waved him off, but he poured himself some. The slow sips might help to wash down the dinner sure to stick in his throat from the tension in his gut. Tension which wasn’t all about Kathleen.

  That unsettled sense still remained, and by now it had grown to one of impending doom—although maybe that was to be expected. After all, in a little over an hour, Petrov’s associate would be calling with instructions.

  They sat down for the meal and one of his wait staff immediately pushed a cart close to the table. With a flourish, he expertly prepared a Caesar dressing.

  With another theatric move, the chef spilled the dressing onto the salad and tossed it. He followed by plating it into bowls which had been chilling over ice.

  Once everyone was served, Alexander jabbed at the salad and ate a few forkfuls, but the food was tasteless in the wake of his concern.

  Kathleen also ate a few mouthfuls, but then spent the next minutes pushing the salad around on the plate.

  He snapped his fork down. “Is it not to your liking? I can have him prepare another serving for you.”

  “It’s fine. It’s just that I would rather choose my own meals, thank you.”

  So they were back to that polite hostility again. It irked him. Even if he could understand the reason behind it.

  His security chief’s nose was almost buried in his meal, valiantly trying to ignore the strained conversation. Since Jim was almost done with his salad, Alexander waved over his majordomo.

  Ben stood beside Kathleen and said, “We have a choice of three items for tonight’s meal.” He then rattled off the selections Alexander had suggested while chagrin flooded Kathleen’s face.

  “The filet would be wonderful. Medium. Thank you,” she responded.

  “And you, Chief Reynolds?” the majordomo continued.

  Jim likewise ordered the filet mignon. Though anything served to him was likely to be as tasteless as the salad, Alexander ordered the same.

  As his majordomo stepped away to place the orders, his staff cleared away the salad plates, provided steak knives, and then offered servings of frosty lemon ice to clear their palates.

  Again there was nothing but the jangle and clatter of cutlery in the otherwise silent room.

  The rest of the meal progressed in similar fashion. While Alexander forced himself to finish the perfectly prepared steak and the assorted side dishes his majordomo selected as accompaniments, at times the food almost choked him as the appointed hour grew ever closer.

  They all skipped dessert, but ordered coffee and tea. With the samovar to one side of the room prepped and the tea steeping, he asked the staff to give them some privacy.

  After they cleared the room, Alexander rose and placed the cell phone on the table.

  “Are your people ready?” He walked to the samovar and poured two cups of tea as Kathleen answered.

  “We’re ready to trace any call that comes in and are recording all the conversations. Do you remember what we discussed earlier?”

  “I let them make the offer if at all possible. As for a face-to-face, I try to push for meeting in a public location.”

  Kathleen had no sooner nodded when the cell phone rang. It was well ahead of the seven o’clock deadline.

  She texted a message to confirm her team was ready and was relieved to receive an acknowledgment that they were already tracing the call and recording the conversation. With that, she sat back to listen.

  “You’re early,” Alexander replied when he recognized the voice from that afternoon.

  “We want our money tonight. Unmarked hundreds, non-sequential,” the man commanded in Russian, each word violently curt.

  “What’s in it for me?” Alexander pressed in English, wanting Kathleen to be able to follow and advise him.

  “The same cut Petrov was getting.”

  “What kind of cut is that?”

  A smoke-rough laugh erupted across the line. “Eager aren’t you? Twenty percent.”

  Alexander glanced toward Kathleen. She motioned for him to slow down and mouthed, “We’re still tracing.”

  He took a deep breath. “I’m eager because I need the money, comrade. Running the casino is quite expensive. Speaking of which, I suppose Petrov was bearing the cost of the escorts?” Even then that would leave Nicolai quite a nice chunk of change, considering the rates he had been paying the women.

  “Yes,” the man answered before plowing on. “Do you know the condemned buildings on Wellington by the wetlands?”

  Alexander hesitated, both because he was unsure of the location and because he wanted to give the FBI team additional time for the trace. “Not really. Are those the boarded-up warehouses near the airport?” he asked as Kathleen gave him a sign that they had a successful trace.

  “Those are the ones. Be behind the second building at the back delivery entrance. Midnight.”

  The line went dead.

  He flipped the cell phone closed and laid it on the table. “You have a location?”

  “The Camden waterfront. We’ve got it narrowed to a fairly small area. It’s close to where he made the earlier call. We’ll coordinate a door-to-door search during the money drop tonight.”

  “Let me make the drop, boss,” Jim piped in, his craggy brow furrowed with worry.

  Alexander shook his head. “If they don’t see me, alone as they ordered, they may bolt. Then we’ll never know if they have Vanessa.”

  Kathleen jumped in, concern alive in her otherwise closed off features. “It’s going to be risky. Maybe you should consider Jim’s offer.”

  “We both know I’m the best, maybe the only, candidate to do the drop,” he countered evenly.

  A reluctant dip of her head was followed by a more determined look in Jim’s direction. “Since the prince seems set on doing this, do you have any additional suggestions for his defense?”

  Jim ran a hand across his buzz cut hair and blew out a disgusted breath. “They’ll be sure to pat him down so a gun is out of the question.”

  Kathleen blinked at that. She thought about Alexander being defenseless in the hands of a man like Stravinski, and remembered the old fears he’d have to overcome to do this. A weird sensation, like that of someone squeezing her heart, grabbed hold of her.

  She shoved away from the table and strode to the windows, staring out at the darkening sky for a moment before she turned and faced the two men again.

  “We need something small the prince can use to create a distraction in the event things go south.”

  “I’ve got some pen-sized mace dispensers downstairs. I bought them for my daughter, but she refused to take them since they’re, let’s just say, not necessarily legal,” Jim said.

  “That may be just the thing. Can you get them so we can try one out?” Kathleen asked.

  Jim wasted not a moment to depart, leaving the two of them staring at each other uneasily. Alexander took a breath as if to speak, but then exhaled roughly and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. He remained there for long moments, his back to her, maddening her with his silence.

  Striding to his side, she placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head up to examine his features, reflected in the glass of the windows. They were much like they had been the first time she saw him. Controlled. Distant. Unyielding.

  She balled her hands, fighting the urge to touch him. To soothe the anxiety that she sensed lay beneath that stony façade. But she restrained herself, although the rope she used to rein in her emotions was stretched taut. It was because of her that he was doing this. It was because of her he was at risk, and it didn’t sit too well inside her heart that the one thing he had asked of her, she had denied him.

  “We’re supposed to meet my boss in your security area at ten to prepare you.”

  Yet more silence greeted her, pushing her restraint to the limit. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

  “I noticed you were back to calling me ‘the prince.’ Since you want to keep this purely professional,
I saw no need for any further discussion.”

  His words snapped the control keeping her in check. “God damn you.”

  “There, there, Special Agent Martinez. Such language is uncalled for.”

  She got right in his face, her body nearly flush to his, as she prepared to tell him just how wrong he was about what she was feeling. The door to the dining room swung open and Jim entered, but jerked to a stop at the sight of them plastered against one another.

  “It’s not what you think,” she said even as Jim advanced and laid a handful of items on the dining room table.

  “Actually, I think it is. I’ll be back later, boss. Much later.”

  He rushed from the room and Kathleen stepped back, but Alexander snagged her arm.

  “Let me go,” she said, and when he didn’t release her she wiggled in his arms to try and break free. He maintained his grasp on her.

  She knew Alexander had never been one to manhandle a woman, but he seemed to be getting immense satisfaction from her pique at his restraint of her. “Say pretty please.”

  Her eyes shot wide open. “Pretty please? Really? Is that the best you can do?”

  He pondered it for a moment before bending and leaning in as if to kiss her. “Pretty please, Sasha. Say it, Kat. Say my name.” Part plea, part demand.

  Did it tug at his heart the way it did at hers?

  “Don’t make this any harder than it already is, Alexander.”

  “Sasha. Say it, Kat,” he repeated. “If things go wrong tonight, I want to have the memory of you saying my name.”

  She stopped struggling and inclined her chin until his warm breath, slightly rough , spilled against her lips. “Why are you doing this?”

  He wrapped his other arm around her buttocks, imprisoning her against him. Shuffling with her toward the table, he kept on going until she was pressed against the edge and had no way of escaping him.

  “Why do you think, Kat?”

  The threat of tears blurred her vision. Her voice quavered as she said, “Please don’t go tonight. Don’t do this just for me, Sasha. Not for my badge. It’s not worth it.”

  His expression twisted at the love she couldn’t stop from filling her voice. But he kept his emotions to himself to avoid being hurt once more by her.

  “I’m doing this for us.” He leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes peering into hers in a kaleidoscope of blue.

  She sucked in a hesitant breath. The scent of him, clean and masculine, filled the spaces in her senses that had not already been captured by the feel of him against her, so powerfully strong. So irresistible, because no matter how much she tried to fight it, she could not deny what was deep in her heart.

  She nuzzled his nose with hers and her lips brushed the edge of his mouth. “I love you, Sasha. I know I shouldn’t—”

  His eyes flared with surprise, then undisguised pleasure as he smiled broadly. But that emotion evaporated quickly, replaced by worry as he tightened his arms around her. “I love you also, Ko’shechka maja. But don’t think about the bad right now. After this is over, we’ll work things out. Together we’ll work things out. ”

  He took her mouth with a kiss filled with such tenderness it was impossible not to be carried away by his hope and love. She answered his kiss, opening her mouth to him. Pressing her body to his and inviting him to do more.

  With unexpected swiftness, he swept her into his arms and strode with her out of the dining room and down the hall to his suite. Somehow he dug his keycard out of his pocket and swiped it to open the door.

  Shoving it closed with a foot, he hurried with her until they reached his bedroom. In the center of the room was a king-sized bed covered in midnight-colored satin.

  He strode to the side of the bed and let her slip down his body to stand before him. Cupping her cheeks, he said, “I feel like I’ve waited forever for this, Kat.”

  She smiled and turned her face to kiss his palm. “Me, too, Sasha. I want you to stay safe tonight. I need you to stay safe.”

  “I will. I don’t want to risk what we have together. What we can have in the future.” He threaded his hands into the silky strands of her hair and tilted her head back as he bent to take her lips in a hungry kiss.

  Kathleen freed herself to him, not wanting to waste a second because she knew tomorrow was promised to no one. Much like Alexander had gambled on her love, she had to take the risk and give him her heart. Offer all of herself without reservation.

  Without breaking from the wonder of his kiss, she eased her hands beneath his jacket and urged it off his shoulders. Then she went to work on the buttons of his shirt, ripping open the last few with a tug that tore fabric in her haste to be with him.

  That earned a chuckle from him as he finally broke away from her lips. “Impatient?” He shrugged off his ruined shirt.

  “I don’t want to wait another second to be with you.”

  He grinned, and that boyish dimple teased her as he quickly went to work on his pants. “Let me not delay you then.” He shucked off his briefs and trousers in one elegant move and then removed his shoes and socks.

  He was already erect, his long, thick width jutting toward her. As she skimmed her fingers along him, he laid his hand on hers to still her caress. “Not yet, Kat. I’m not sure I can hold off, I’m so ready for you.”

  She raised her other hand and urged him to sit on the edge of the bed. Despite his admonishment, she stroked him yet again, dragging a groan from him.

  As she eased off her jacket, he helped her remove her shoulder harness, then shifted his hands beneath her cashmere sweater to pull it over her head.

  Moments later she kicked away the rest of her clothes, revealing herself to him fully.

  “So beautiful,” he said, and laid his hands on the curve of her hips to drag her near. A heartbeat later, he closed his mouth over her nipple while caressing her other breast with his fingers.

  She sighed as pleasure rippled through her. She clasped the back of his head with one hand, dropped the other to the head of his erection which twitched with his desire.

  Easing one knee onto the mattress, she urged him to the center of the bed. When he lay flat against the immense surface, she straddled his hips and in one smooth move, sank down onto him.

  And finally felt whole.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Alexander filled Kathleen completely, right down to his body and soul. But with that reality came another. Fear. Bone deep fear that in a few hours he could lose her forever. Could lose everything…

  “Shhhh. Whatever you’re thinking about, don’t,” she murmured.

  He snaked a hand upward to curl around her neck and draw her down against him. “I know. Just think about now.” He rolled, trapping her beneath him. Surrounding her with the feel of him.

  As he shifted his hips to draw out of her, she dug her fingers into his shoulders and urged him to stillness. “Not yet, Sasha. Not yet. I need to keep you with me, inside me, for as long as possible.”

  He groaned and surged deeper into her, understanding the emotions racing through her eyes because he was feeling them as well. If he could, he would stay with her like this forever, in this moment where perfection was theirs. He bent his head and kissed her again. Danced his lips along hers to memorize the shape of them. The taste, so sweet and fresh, and the heat of her tongue slipping past his lips.

  The puckered tips of her breasts rubbed against his chest, and she raised her knees, cradling his hips with her thighs. The movement welcomed him deeper to her warm, slick depths and he shuddered, almost overwhelmed.

  She sighed and raised her hands to his shoulders, met his gaze. Words unnecessary. He moved then, beginning the rhythm to bring them both satisfaction. Driving into her, each thrust dragging them ever closer as she shifted her hands across his shoulders and down to his buttocks. Exhorted him with her cries of pleasure and the gift of his name spilling from her lips as her release crashed over her.

  “Sasha.”

  He st
illed then, savoring the pull of her muscles drawing him in. Holding himself back from his own release to allow her a moment of breath before he plunged forward again. Harder. Faster. Ripping her from her first climax into another.

  She moaned, and her nails bit into his shoulders as she arched her back, lost in the passion. His release punched into his gut, driving the breath from his lungs. He held himself deep in her, spilling his seed into her womb.

  His body shook from the force of his release. She gentled him, running her hands along his shoulders and down his arms. She invited him to lay upon her as passion ebbed and their heartbeats and breaths slowed back to normal.

  Even as he stayed intimately buried, his body softening, his resolve strengthened.

  They would survive this night and be better for it. Their love more determined. Then he allowed himself the pleasure of her arms until, finally, they gazed at each other, swamped by emotion, and reluctantly stirred.

  It was time to go.

  …

  Alexander listened intently as ADIC Roberts explained where the FBI agents would be situated, in the wetlands which ran along the back of the building, and laid out the locations where additional backup units would be stationed, as well. He gave the details of the door-to-door search that would begin along the Camden waterfront at the locations pinpointed from the earlier phone calls.

  It all seemed very well planned.

  But that sense of unease that had dogged him all day had returned with full force. He wrestled it back. Petrov’s contacts wanted their money. Surely they would not do anything to jeopardize the transfer. At least not at first. Alexander worried about what they might do once he had turned over the cash, if they didn’t believe he wanted to step into Petrov’s shoes.

  “What should I do after I hand over the money?” He glanced between Kathleen and her boss.

  “You get back in your car and drive away. We’ll move in as soon as you’re clear of the area,” ADIC Roberts advised.

  “And what if the transfer doesn’t go well?”

  Her boss glanced at him uneasily.

  That look said it all.