by Powers, Jade
“Starving. Come on in.”
She was almost done with boxes. Every cupboard in the kitchen was open and the room smelled like dish soap and pine.
There was a small wooden table in the dining area with three chairs. Minka opened the cupboards with a smile, “Got the dishes unpacked just in time.”
It was a quiet afternoon. They settled down to eat. Minka felt at ease with Sven as they spent more time together. When the day ended, he asked her out again, and Minka said yes without hesitation.
For the next month, Minka and Sven saw each other at least once a weekend. On their fifth date they played laser tag in one of the big brick buildings near downtown.
Minka couldn’t take her eyes off Sven.
Standing in new jeans and one of those form-fitting long-sleeved t-shirts, Sven looked hot. His shirt clung to his body in all the right places, highlighting his strengths—broad shoulders and great pecs. If he had any weaknesses, Minka didn’t see them, not with that awesome shirt and his stellar physique. She was going to start sweating just from the view.
Was this love?
Too soon to tell, but Sven was good-looking. And polite. And funny. Minka couldn’t imagine how she had ever settled for Joe when there were men like Sven in the world.
Sven and Minka joked and played, laughing as they ran back and forth across the laser tag range. Her hair fell out of its pony tail, giving her an attractive wind-swept look. After a few games, Sven asked, “Would you like to come to my apartment after we stop to eat?”
Minka hesitated for a moment. She knew what the question really meant. They had shared a kiss on their last date, one single great kiss. Her heart still fluttered when she imagined it.
Smiling shyly, she said, “I would love that.”
With dinner over, Minka and Sven walked the stairs to his third story apartment.
He unlocked the door.
“Would you like some sparkling juice, water, or coffee?” Sven asked, holding open the door for Minka.
“No, thank you.”
Sven invited her to the couch. The last time Sven had made the first move. Now, he seemed to be waiting for Minka. Finally, she leaned over, kissing him softly on the lips.
He cradled her head in his hand. He gently teased her mouth with his tongue, slowly inviting her to play. The kiss moved from sweet to hungry, with Minka eagerly drawing Sven closer.
He tasted like caramel and chocolate, the turtle sundae they had eaten for dessert. She felt a deep longing for Sven that electrified her body. Minka couldn’t get close enough.
Sven rubbed his hand down her arm, his fingers sliding down the fabric of her blouse and warming her to her toes. He let his palm settle on her forearm as he leaned closer to her ear. In a husky whisper, he asked, “Do you want more?”
Minka expelled the breath she was holding. “Yes.”
Those warm fingers found her breast, touching her through the silk fabric until a slow fire rose in her depths. Sven touched her with reverence, a caress that surprised her with its gentleness. His fingers slid slowly up to the first button of her blouse. One by one he unfastened the buttons, his fingers teasing her skin until she squirmed like jelly.
When her blouse flapped open, he slid his hand inside her shirt, squeezing her nipple. Minka awoke inside, her body aching for Sven to do more. She grabbed the edges of his t-shirt, pushing it up. In one move, he tore the t-shirt from his body.
Together, they were hands and movement and wanting and longing. Minka wasn’t used to a man’s touch arousing her. Sven moved to unbutton her jeans, and Minka helped, thinking that he was going to take her then.
But Sven was a cunning lover. He wouldn’t be satisfied without Minka’s release. He caressed her until her whole body vibrated. She exploded. Minka gasped, “Now. Now.”
Sven’s body covered hers with silky heat. He slid inside her, his penis hard and ready. He thrust again and again. Minka urged him until the fire burst, and then it was over. With sweat glistening off his skin, Sven held out a hand to Minka. His smile was brilliant when he said, “The couch worked out great. Would you like to come to bed?”
Minka’s emotions cascaded with such force that she couldn’t speak. She nodded.
“Shower first?” Sven prodded.
They showered together. Minka couldn’t stop smiling. Sven made love to her. It was so different from anything she had felt before. Sven’s touch made her beautiful. In the shower they touched and teased and kissed and caressed. Minka washed Sven’s hair and then turned around, letting him lather hers.
That night, Minka fell asleep with Sven’s arms around her. For the first time in a long time, she felt secure.
“Breakfast in bed?” Sven’s gaze captured Minka. When he looked at her, it was as if his eyes caressed her, too. Minka loved that about him.
“Breakfast at the table, and I’ll help?” Minka countered.
The apartment kitchen was tiny. Refrigerator, small counter, sink, and dishwasher on one side. Cupboards, stove, and more cupboards on the other. Barely enough room for two people, and yet they worked well in that tiny space.
Yet again, it was impossible to escape the lack of personal photos, mementos, things that gave a room character. While Sven chopped onions and peppers for an omelet, Minka found the toaster and a loaf of bread stored in the refrigerator. She held off on the toast. It would take a bit for the onions to cook down.
“Why don’t you have any photos hanging?” Minka asked.
Sven carefully slid the onions into the pan on the stove, satisfied with the sudden sizzling sound they made. He shrugged, “I move around a lot. My dad passed a year ago. Mom the year before that. Anything I hung up would just hurt.”
“Will you be staying in Spokane long?” Minka asked. She couldn’t believe how important the answer had become. She wanted so badly for him to say that as long as she was in Spokane, he would be there with her.
He seemed to know what she needed. Sven’s answer was slow and careful. “I’m here to sort out a problem at work. This isn’t my normal base of operations.”
“You sound like you’re in the military,” Minka joked. Her smile died when she saw a flicker of pain cross Sven’s features.
“Six years. I work security for a private contractor now.” Sven told as much of the truth as he dared. The real truth? He worked for Drake and his company, Advanced Innovative Technologies, the forefront of technical and biological militarization. Not so much the flying advances—they left that to the airplane manufacturers, but computer to human interfaces, mechanized spying devices, biological weapons, those were exactly the kind of thing AIT was researching.
Minka leaned against the counter, her hair mussed and pretty. After years of abuse, she had no idea of her own beauty. Sven wanted to reassure her that he would stay, but in a few weeks or a few months, whenever Drake had figured out the leak in Spokane, Sven would be called somewhere else, and then somewhere else again.
There was hope, but if he said it aloud, it became real. He said, “I promised my boss another year. I keep my promises. It may mean leaving Spokane for New York or Miami in the months ahead. The corporation has seven locations. I usually work out of New York, the city not the state.”
Catching the slight distaste in his tone, Minka jumped on it, “But you hate New York.”
“Damn right I do. The place is vertical. Give me a few acres in Montana and a pair of dogs. Space to call my own.”
All of the answers Minka needed were right there in this conversation. The flash of insight brought pain. Sven had no intention of settling in Spokane. Not that Minka did either, but she was just a short-term distraction to him. That was the problem with sleeping with a guy she didn’t know. Not that she had a ton of experience with men. Sven was only her second.
Testing the waters she said, “I’ve thought of leaving Spokane.”
She didn’t give the obvious reason. The last thing she wanted to do was remind Sven of the baggage she brought into a relations
hip. They’d been having so much fun, despite the occasional glance over her shoulder when a car like Joe’s parked too close to Sven’s.
Sven didn’t answer. She would want him to say, Come to Montana with me.
Too soon. They barely knew each other. Things inevitably would fall apart.
Minka felt the silence like a shroud. She said quietly, “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last month. I don’t want to ruin it with maybes. I’d trade one month with you over a lifetime with anyone else, but if this is a fling, I need to know it now.”
It was like watching a train wreck from your safe viewpoint in the bridge above the tracks. Both Sven and Minka could see it coming, could see the end of a relationship that had taken them by surprise.
Sven cleared his throat and turned back to his onions. He didn’t look at her when he spoke. He said, “I haven’t had much luck with women. I don’t know where this is going, but I like you. This month has been the best I’ve had in years.”
“But?” Minka flinched from her own question. This was where Joe would have shoved her against the counter with a hand to her throat.
“I had a fiancée once. Every morning, she saw me put on my gun. It eventually got to her. She said I could choose my life at AIT or her.”
Minka’s heart hurt. She’d only known Sven a month but it felt like forever. She didn’t want to sound like a puppy, agreeing to everything out of fear of losing him. Choosing her words carefully she said, “If you walk into danger on a daily basis, I think it would bother me, too. To worry like that.”
“What about the weapon?”
“It makes me scared for you,” Minka said. She didn’t know how to get this conversation back to safe ground, but at the moment it felt as if their whole thing together, whatever it might be, hung on the words of the past hour and the words coming now.
“You know this is not a small-town situation. I’m a security specialist in a corporation that deals with military secrets. If I shoot this gun, it won’t be a deer that I shoot. It’ll be a person. Can you deal with that?” Sven asked. He didn’t even know if he could handle it. He asked even knowing how utterly unfair the question. No one knew until it slapped them in the face. A person could lose their mind after thinking they were the toughest guy on the team.
Sven turned back to his onions, to the safety of watching a skillet rather than face the rejection that was surely coming. Minka could see his fear of rejection in the tension near his shoulders, the way his neck muscles tightened.
She rested her palm on his shoulder, holding it there to see what he would do. Minka was still skittish. She might be for years. When she felt him relax a little, she slid her arms around him, hugging him from the back. She said, “I don’t know you well. Not yet. But it seems to me that you’re one of the good guys. Did I read you right?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s something you need to find out,” Minka said, withdrawing from the embrace. She certainly could pick them, as evidenced by Joe. If Sven couldn’t decide whether he was good or not, Minka wouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Not yet.
“I’m trying to be honest with you,” Sven said. He opened the carton of eggs and one by one broke them into a bowl, a controlled action. This man was in control of his emotions, if nothing else.
“I appreciate that,” Minka said. She felt so hollow inside, scoured clean of hope. This was the first crack, the first indication that things were wrong. She didn’t want to give up. She didn’t want to unlock her door every evening and wonder if Sven was sitting at his computer, aware of her presence on the other side of the door. She said, “So we are in agreement. We don’t know where this is going. We don’t know if we’re suited. You might move at any time. Your job is dangerous. My life has dangers of its own. For my part, I like you. I want to keep dating and see where it leads. How about you?”
Sven was whipping those eggs with a mighty speed. He put the bowl aside and turned to face her, “You mean that?”
He looked so surprised. Minka couldn’t help but grin. There was something endearing about that doubt. He was as stressed by the whole thing as she was. With a smile she said, “I always try to say what I mean.”
The warmth of their embrace thawed the frozen shards of pain in each of their hearts, but the doubt lingered.
Chapter 10
WEDNESDAY NIGHT, SVEN joined Minka for her third self-defense class. He was tons of fun until it came to the point of training. Then he got serious. Deadly serious.
“Higher. Strike harder. You need to make it hurt.” As Minka’s partner, Sven nagged and cajoled until Minka wanted to scream.
She said, “I can’t do it all at once. If some guy comes at me with a gun, I’ll be lucky if I don’t faint.”
“You’re tougher than that. Minka, you need to be ready.” Sven’s life was spent preparing for the moment when someone bigger and stronger wanted to kill him. Fortunately, he was pretty damn tall and strong enough for most comers.
Minka threw up her hands, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Your strikes wouldn’t hurt an earthworm.” Sven pressed his lips together and demonstrated the move again.
The first two lessons Sven and Minka had stayed in the back, kept to themselves, nodded at a few people. They mostly showed up on time and left before anyone could start a conversation because Minka didn’t want to stay and chat.
On this particular day, the instructor came over. He said, “I can see you’ve got a lot of skill.”
Sven nodded once. He wasn’t overly enthusiastic about discussing his past with a fitness guru. He said, “Somewhat.”
The instructor said, “Fear will kill a person. Freeze up at the wrong time or hide behind a blanket that bullets will penetrate. It’s logical and yet it happens every day. You worry that kind of thing will happen to your wife?”
Wife?
They weren’t wearing rings. Sven thought back to the sessions. Maybe he was treating her like a spouse. He said, “Yes. That is exactly what I’m worried about. We’re still dating, though. Not married.”
“What are you afraid of?” he asked Minka. After what Sven just said, it almost sounded like a segue as to why they weren’t married.
“No matter how many moves I have, if someone is stronger than me, I am still at a disadvantage. It’s all well and good to have a two-hundred pound guy show a girl how to defend herself, but when I’m alone, I’ll only have me.” Minka knew that when it came to self-defense, she was at the back of the class. In every other course, an F was just an indication that she hadn’t learned the material. In self-defense class, the F could mean the end of her life, because she was too slow, too scared, too quiet to stop someone from hurting her.
“Which is why the first advice in self-defense is always to run.” The instructor smiled.
That smile annoyed Minka worse than Sven and his nagging.
The instructor turned to Sven, “We’re evenly matched, and you seem to know your way around the martial arts. Would you like to spar? Show Minka the possibilities. The class would benefit from watching a real session.” This was an invitation to Sven.
“Of course,” Sven politely agreed, wondering if this was the instructor’s punishment for pushing Minka.
It turned out the instructor was good. He and Sven circled, each making various moves and counters. The instructor ran through a litany of advice to the new students while they sparred. Sven was grateful that the instructor hadn’t pulled him out to show off by trouncing him. Sven didn’t play well as someone else’s chew toy. He would have fought back if the instructor had turned rough in demonstration.
By the end of the session, Sven and the instructor shook hands. The teacher said, “Thanks. It helps if the students can see how it looks in fast motion.”
Walking out Minka said, “You were fantastic. I didn’t know you could fight like that.”
“Part of the job.” Sven said. He knew how to shoot, how to clean a weapon, karate, defense moves, an
d more. He didn’t know what to do about this relationship with Minka. He was getting close to her...and that wasn’t good.
TOM DREADED WEDNESDAY morning. At least Sven had been staying off-job most of the time. He couldn’t stand the thought that his actions would in any way reflect badly on Sven. It was hard enough betraying Drake and the friends he’d gathered at the Spokane branch of AIT in the last couple of years.
His instructions were clear. He slid his badge into the reader. The door to the foyer unlocked. With a sigh, he carried his lunch into the break room and shoved it into the fridge. It was seven-thirty in the morning, and he was a half-hour early. His guilt was already in overdrive. Lee would arrive at eight. Then show time.
Lee walked in at seven-forty, twenty minutes early. He tossed his lunch in the refrigerator and said, “Mornin’ Tom.”
“Mornin’ Lee. Thanks for coming in early with me.”
“No problem,” Lee scanned the refrigerator for a second before digging into the bottom for a coke. He was a cokaholic. Every morning first thing, he bolted one down.
“Are you ready to go in?” Tom asked. He wore his gray button-up shirt, as if dressing in shadowy colors would hide what he had to do.
Security in the lab required two personnel with the technical research level of security to be present at the same time. For Tom to turn off the sphere’s tracking device, he had to get past Lee and the cameras. Ready or not, at ten o’clock, he was to infiltrate the sphere’s tracking device and disable it. He had until eleven. If he didn’t do it by then, the kidnappers would kill his son.
“Yep. I want to take an hour for lunch. Do you mind?” Lee asked. Tom could swear that it was Lee with a guilty conscience the way Lee fiddled with his sleeves. He wouldn’t look at him. Tom was glad because he was suffering from his own brand of guilt and confusion.
The lab was clean. Usually Tom appreciated the cleanliness of his colleagues, but today he wished for a bit of a mess to hide his actions. Either way, if he didn’t disable the tracking on the sphere, Bryce would be dead. The thought crossed Tom’s mind that the kidnappers might have already killed his son. He quashed the idea. He had to believe that Bryce would be okay.
