by Bella Rose
Feliks put his hand over his heart. “I swear to behave myself at all times. Although I’m not entirely certain how I might vouch for my status as a non axe murderer.”
Wren chuckled. “Which is exactly what a murderer would say.”
“I know.” Feliks gave her a long-suffering sigh. “There is simply no way to assure you of my good intentions.”
“I think she’s actually more worried about my intentions,” Annika told him with a laugh.
“You’re incorrigible,” Wren scolded. “You better call me first thing tomorrow morning. No. Actually, you’d better call me late tonight. Understand?”
“Yes, mama.”
Wren left the bar and Annika behind. Feliks watched her friend go with an almost sad expression on his handsome face.
“She means what she says about calling her,” Annika told him.
The ghost of a smile touched his features. “Then she’s a good friend.”
“Would you like a drink?” Annika waved to the bartender.
“I think that’s my line.”
“Pardon me for stealing it then.”
Feliks leaned back against the bar, resting his elbows on the smooth mahogany surface. “I’m actually thinking I might like to get out of here.”
“Really?”
“What’s my next line?” he asked, leaning in close and whispering the words right next to her ear.
Excitement and arousal twined their way through Annika’s veins. This was exactly what she’d been looking for tonight. “Why don’t you come back to my place?”
“Perfect,” he breathed. “I was just going to suggest that myself.”
Chapter Two
Annika couldn’t help but think that she might be making the biggest mistake of her life. Unfortunately, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Feliks was a warm presence behind her in the narrow hallway leading to her apartment. There was nothing menacing about the feel of this man, though. She was confident that if he’d harbored ill intentions of some kind, her instincts would have warned her somehow. She was the daughter of Vadir Polzin. If anyone could spot ill will, it should have been her.
Her key stuck in the lock. She gave it the requisite jiggle, and the old door popped open. She led Feliks into the dim interior of her tiny studio apartment. The space somehow seemed to shrink with him in it.
“Nice,” he murmured. His dark gaze travelled toward the futon she slept on. “I especially appreciate the easy accessibility of the bed.”
Annika felt a blush heat her cheeks. “I’m not the greatest housekeeper.”
“I intend to mess it up anyway. Don’t you?” He shrugged.
The laugh bubbled up and once started, she couldn’t seem to stop giggling. She felt ridiculous, but she was excited and nervous, and somehow all the emotional turmoil had resulted in a complete giggle breakdown.
Feliks smiled. Then he wrapped his muscular arms around her body and silenced her with one long, deep kiss. She quit laughing and sank into the warmth of contact with this incredibly sexy man.
He smelled amazing. Like mint and sandalwood and man. She twined her arms about his neck and let her fingers play with the hair at his nape. It was silky soft. She slipped her fingers through the dark strands and scored his scalp lightly with her nails. He responded by sliding his tongue across the seam of her lips. She gave a little gasp, and he took advantage by pushing his way inside.
Liquid heat pooled in Annika’s belly. She was on fire. Everything below her waist melted, and she pressed herself as close to his hard body as she could. Lifting her leg, she let her calf slide along his. It occurred to her that she really wanted to get rid of her jeans. She wanted to feel this man skin to skin.
She let her hands slide from his neck to his chest. She found the edges of his coat and pushed them over his shoulders. He never stopped kissing her. The contact grew hungry, desperate almost. He let go of her long enough to remove his coat. It pooled on the floor with a soft swish and a slightly louder thunk that sounded oddly incongruent.
She didn’t have long to think about his coat. Feliks grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and dragged it over her head. He threw it aside and put his lips to the joint of her neck and shoulder. She groaned and threw her head back. The rippling sensation of his kisses made her wet with desire. She squirmed with need.
Annika was dying to get a look at this man’s hard chest. She hastily pulled his T-shirt out of his pants and stood on tiptoe to get rid of it. The cotton got stuck on his head and he chuckled, reaching up to pull it off. The motion left her with a full view of the hard body that had lurked beneath the black cotton. He was utter male perfection, and for now he was her playground.
He reached behind her back and unfastened her bra. Her breasts spilled into the open. Her nipples hardened in the cool air of the apartment. Then Feliks cupped each breast in his hands and lowered his mouth to the warm flesh. He kissed and fondled her until Annika thought she might die of pleasure. She stabbed her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer. She wanted to be very close. She needed this.
She let her fingers dance over his chest. She loved over every dip and groove of the hard muscles she discovered there. The sheer power of him was so exciting! The tips of her fingers brushed the light dusting of hair at his waistband before dipping lower.
He groaned as she unfastened his pants. Foreplay was all good and fine, but Annika longed to feel the length of his cock with her hands. She slipped a hand beneath his waistband and banded her thumb and index finger around the base of his thick shaft. His hips jerked, and she realized just how hard he really was.
“I want you,” he whispered. “Can I fuck you, Annika?”
She moaned, the sound wanton and completely transparent. “Please.”
Feliks scooped Annika right off her feet. He hungrily devoured her lips as he carried her the short distance to her bed. A quick swipe of his hand and the pile of clothes occupying the middle of the bed hit the floor. Then he set her down and gave her a long, heated look of desire.
“Those jeans have got to go,” he growled.
She twirled her finger at him, feeling sassy. “Yours first.”
He held her gaze as he began pushing his pants and boxers down his legs. Annika’s mouth went dry as each inch of his taut flesh was revealed. His legs were thick with muscle and dusted with dark hair. There was a nest of short, coarse hair at the base of his cock. She licked her lips as she visually took in the thickness and length of him.
“A man could get decadent ideas when a woman looks at him that way,” he told her.
“Show me,” she demanded.
HER IMPERIOUS DEMAND sent a shot of pure lust through Feliks’s system. This woman was incredible. He loved women as a rule. They were soft and warm. He loved to get lost in the welcome of their bodies, but his deeper instincts told him that being inside Annika was going to be a singular experience. It was really too bad he had no choice but to end her life.
He toed off his boots and removed what was left of his clothing. Then he slowly reached down and unfastened her jeans. He dragged the denim down her legs. He stopped at her calves, smiling as her eyebrows rose expectantly.
She twirled her feet, laughing when he grabbed her shoes and pulled them off. Feliks tossed them over his shoulder and listened to them hit the wood floor. Then he finished undressing this woman who would be his escape for one night.
“You are exquisite,” he murmured. “I want to kiss every inch of this delectable skin.” Placing his palms on her thighs, he tested the warm resilience of her flesh.
“I’d say yes,” she told him playfully. “But I’m a little too eager to have you fuck me.”
Her words undid him. Feliks growled, putting his knees on either side of her hips and covering her body with his. He kissed her deeply, making love to her with his mouth. He mastered her in this way, feeling her submit to his possession with every fiber of her being.
His skin slid against hers. He felt the heat of her thighs as
she spread them to welcome his cock into her body. The sensitive head of his penis brushed the narrow strip of hair covering her mound. He ground against her, feeling his shaft nestle between her nether lips. She was so incredibly wet for him. It was intoxicating.
She moaned and thrashed beneath him, bucking her hips as if demanding he enter her. He held back. He didn’t want the encounter to be over too quickly. It had been weeks since he’d taken a woman and a decade or more since he had come across one like Annika. It was time to savor the decadence.
He feasted on her breasts, sucking her nipples until her back bowed and she arched up off the bed. Wrapping an arm around her, he held her close as he moved between her legs, reaching down between them to fit the head of his cock to her opening.
Her pussy was tight and smooth. Feliks enjoyed the press of his cock into her sleek body. Then she wrapped her legs around his waist and locked him into place. He laughed as he realized that this woman would never be passive. She ground herself against the root of his erection until he felt her inner muscles hovering on the edge of orgasm.
“Feliks!” she shouted as she came undone.
He marveled at the feel of her body climaxing around him. The silky warmth pushed him perilously close to the edge of control. Taking her hips in his hands, he began pumping furiously into her pussy. He fucked her as hard as he dared, and she met him thrust for thrust every time.
Her nails scored his shoulders, and he reveled in the violence of the moment. He watched her face as every muscle in her body prepared for another peak. Still he thrust deeper. He felt the burn of his own orgasm coiling in the muscles of his ass. Finally he could take no more. With a garbled shout of muddled Russian and English, he poured his seed deep into Annika’s welcoming warmth.
She flung her head back against the bed and screamed her own release as she came again and again around him. He was drunk on the sound of her gasps and cries. It was a moment he would never forget.
Rolling to his side, Feliks collapsed onto the thin mattress and panted as though he were about to pass out.
“Damn,” Annika murmured. “Thank you for that!”
He laughed. Just about the time he thought he might be figuring her out, she would do something else to surprise him. He tugged her close enough to put her head on his chest. The position was oddly satisfying. He wasn’t typically the cuddly sort. Annika was different. There was no weeping or whining, only the afterglow of spectacular sex.
“You need a bigger bed,” he told her with a grunt.
She poked him in the ribs. “No way. Then guys would think they had an invitation to stay over.”
“Oh I see, so this is a calculated move to maintain your independence?” He could appreciate that.
“Totally.”
“You’re an unusual woman, Annika.”
“And you’re the best lay I’ve had in years.”
Feliks wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “Meaning you frequently take men home for no strings attached sex?”
“Aw, are you jealous?”
“No.”
There was a long pause. He could actually feel her thoughts settling into a more serious pattern.
Finally she spoke, and there was no hint of laughter in her tone. “I have occasional one night stands. Yes. But I can say with certainty that being with you is an experience like nothing I’ve ever had before.”
His male pride was assuaged. Although he wasn’t sure why it mattered. In a few minutes he was going to fulfill the contract, and she would no longer have an opinion at all. And yet for some unfathomable reason he cared what she thought of him.
“And I don’t expect I’ll have another one like it,” she added. “You’re one of a kind, Feliks.”
“As are you.”
She gave a big lusty yawn. “Don’t forget to turn the lock on your way out.”
“Are you kicking me out?”
“No, but I’m totally about to go unconscious, so I thought it prudent to make that request.”
He gave her a little squeeze. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
There was no more noise other than the soft, rhythmic sounds of her breathing. Feliks stared down at her in the dim light. He lightly traced the strong features of her face with his fingertips. It was strange to think that he was trying to memorize her, this woman he was never going to see again.
He picked up his clothing and retreated to the bathroom. He dressed quickly. Avoiding the mirror, he delved into the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a case full of hypodermic needles. One injection in the neck and Annika would fall asleep never to wake again.
There was a sudden pounding on the front door. Feliks pressed his back to the wall and put his hand on the 9mm beneath his coat. He heard Annika grumble as she got out of bed.
“Who is it?” she shouted.
Feliks couldn’t hold back a smile. The disgruntled tone of her voice would discourage even the bravest solicitors. He was going to have to wait another half hour or more for her to go back to sleep. First the club had been too crowded, and now her apartment was equally so. This contract was becoming a regular pain in his ass.
“It’s your father, Annika!”
Feliks froze. Vadir Polzin was here? That was rather inconvenient. Annika hadn’t known Feliks, but Vadir most certainly would.
“Go away!” she shouted. “I’m not letting your criminal ass into my apartment. I don’t want to see you.”
Their loud argument was the perfect cover up for Feliks’s escape. He shoved the case of hypos back in his jacket and turned a slow circle in the tiny bathroom. There was a ventilation shaft, but the window was far preferable.
He pulled the shade and flipped the latch. Fortunately, the fire escape was right there as a handy escape route. Feliks opened the window and got a face full of Boston’s cold night air. Then he thrust his foot through the opening and exited the apartment.
Annika and her father were still shouting inside the apartment. Feliks shut the window and walked away. Orlov would have to wait a little longer for satisfaction on this particular contract, but Feliks would finish the job and earn his place on the council. Of that he was certain.
Chapter Three
Five weeks later...
“I don’t care about your stupid businesses!” Annika shouted at her father. “You’re nothing but a crook, and I want you out of my building. Now.”
“Annika, princess,” her father coaxed. “Don’t be silly. I am your papa, yes?”
She slammed a pot down on the stove. She’d intended to cook herself something quick before running off to class. Then her father had shown up and derailed her carefully balanced schedule.
“Yes. You’re my father. But I sometimes think that was a calculated move on your part.”
“How so?” He looked affronted.
She eyed his rail thin appearance and sallow face. Her father often did not appear well, but how could the man be robust when he was constantly running from the authorities and Boston’s Russian mafia?
She turned the stove on and watched the burner flare to life. “You married my American born mother in Moscow just so you could come to the states.”
“Your mother died in Russia! I never came here with her.”
“No. You came with me. Once I was born there was no way the U.S. government could throw you out of their country,” she said bitterly.
He put his palm over his heart. “You wound me with your suspicion.”
“Really? Because I’d bet good money I don’t have that you’re here because you want something from me.”
“I need a message delivered to the FBI.” His tone was so beseeching that there were practically tears dripping off of it.
“Ha!” She cracked an egg into the pan and listened to it sizzle. “So you can’t deliver this missive yourself because you’re wanted by the Feds. Right?”
“This is a message that will clear up a little misunderstanding.”
The s
cent of the cooking egg suddenly turned sour in Annika’s nose. She gagged. Her stomach revolted, and she put her hand hastily over her mouth.
Vadir’s manner turned businesslike. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m going to be sick!”
She pushed past her father and ran to the bathroom. She made it to the toilet just in time. Gripping the porcelain’s edges, she vomited until there was nothing left to come up.
Groping for the handle, she flushed the contents of the toilet and sank to the floor in a heap. As with the last week and a half, she felt better after the brief bouts of violent sickness, though she was still overtired all the time and felt just slightly off.
“Are you all right?” Her father leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms.
“Fine.” She gave him a dirty look. “I’m pretty sure all of this illegal running around you want me to do is making me sick.”
He snorted, choosing to speak in Russian instead of English. “And I’m certain I recall what a woman looks and acts like when she’s in the family way.”
Annika froze. Could the crazy old man be right? She hadn’t even considered such a possibility until he’d mentioned it. Her brain immediately began scanning backwards to search for the last time she’d had her monthly cycle.
“Your expression says it’s a possibility,” he mused. “Who is it that I’ll have to murder for touching my daughter?”
“You don’t get to murder anyone. I’m a grown woman. I make my own choices.”
“Obviously,” he drawled. “But you need to get your ass up off the floor and take my message down to the FBI. Then you can deal with your own problems.”
She struggled to get to her feet, feeling faint and yet angrier than she could remember being in a long time. “I’m in the middle of dealing with personal issues, and you’re still more worried about getting my help with your stupid FBI problems!” She shoved her way past him. “Get out of my apartment and don’t come back. Seriously. I’m so sick of you using me for your shady business dealings. I’m done being your pawn.”
Vadir’s gaze narrowed, and Annika could feel the heat of his anger sizzling over her skin as though it were a physical thing. She didn’t care. She was tired of being part of his illegal dealings. He’d been using her as an accessory to his crimes since she was old enough to smile and look cute. She no longer cared about alienating her father. She wanted her life back.
