Taking a deep drag off of his cigarette, he mused.
“I’ve also had a number of conversations with my personal adviser who’s as connected to the Russian mafia as anyone in the world, without being a part of it. He confirms Vlad’s findings.”
Rafe made a point of looking at everyone except Nicki. While several of the men, Grayson and Caleb, and, of course, Katya, knew her true identity and the other men may have guessed, he didn’t discuss it. He also hadn’t told anyone, including Grayson, of his misgivings. Yuri was holding something back. The term Volkov resonated with him. But whatever information he had, he wasn’t sharing with Rafe. That reticence alone made what he knew significant.
“Look everyone, it’s 0400. I need you back here no later than 0700. Grab a couple of hours sleep. Tomorrow, I mean today, is going to be long and grueling.”
Nicki looked up to see Rafe looking at her for the first time in the meeting. His next words shocked her.
“When we reconvene, Nicki, we’re going to start with the e-mail you sent to Caleb outlining your findings. You’re onto something, as I knew you would be. I want the team to chew on your report and see if we can amplify it.”
Nicki shot Caleb a scathing glance and he had the decency to blush. She should have known that he would run to Rafe, tattle on her, the same way her father had. How was she stupid enough to think that anyone would keep secrets from Rafe? Even when she expressly asked them to.
As the men filed out, Caleb sidled up to her. “You know I’m in love with you don’t you, hotstuff?”
“Right. It’s just that you love him more,” she sneered with a dismissive glare at Rafe, not caring if he overheard.
Caleb laughed and winked at Rafe.
“It’s not that, sugar cheeks. It’s just that as scary as you are, I ain’t never seen you cut off a man’s dick, shove it in his mouth and choke him to death.”
Nicki gasped and looked up to see Rafe smiling at them both.
“And he has?”
“Draw your own conclusions, hotstuff.” Caleb pulled her up close and kissed her on the cheek. He lowered his voice. “By the way, I’m glad you didn’t go through with your plan. I hated the thought of chasing you all the way to Idaho.”
Nicki shook her head in disgust. So much for her secret plan. What did she expect? Then again, they were the best investigative team on the planet. But she knew if she’d been able to put her plan in action, she had a better chance of beating them at their game than anyone else could. If she hadn’t wanted to be caught, that is.
Chapter 16
“Nicki, I’d like to speak to you for a moment.”
Rafe’s voice sent a shiver up her spine. She disentangled herself from Caleb’s grip and turned to see Rafe approaching. Rafe caught hold of her arm and gave Caleb a poorly-disguised “get the hell out of here” nod.
Caleb grinned and gave him a mock salute. Then he reached down and smacked a resounding kiss on Nicki’s cheek. Ducking out of the way, he sauntered to the door.
“See you later, kids. Be good.”
Rafe muttered, “Someday that smartass is going to push me too far.”
“And then what?” Nicki asked with a cheeky grin.
Rafe’s lip curled up at the corner.
“Why then, I’ll have to do to him what I did to you. Take him out to the sparring ring and show him I can kick his ass as easily as I could kick yours.”
Nicki reared up and jerked out of his grip, glaring at him. Before she could respond, Rafe chuckled.
“Settle down, Princess. I’m teasing you. Besides,” he said with a conspiratorial wink, “as I recall, while I didn’t kick your ass, I spanked it. And if memory serves me, you seemed to like it.”
Nicki was infuriated, but before she could get away, he pulled her up next to him and whispered in her ear.
“Relax, baby. And let’s get the hell out of here so that we can talk without someone interrupting us. We can go to my office.”
Nicki took a deep breath, trying to quell her anger. Dammit, was she always going to feel at a disadvantage with him? And how did he know that when he spanked her butt, she’d felt the same kind of quivering sensations that had thrown her into a frenzy in his office. It was all too confusing. For a moment, she wondered if she should just head to her own room, put some distance between them.
He seemed to sense her uncertainty because he put his arm around her and nuzzled against her ear.
“It’s okay, baby. I’ll stop teasing you. At least for the moment.”
She looked up at him and couldn’t help but smile. He was grinning at her and there was a softness, a tenderness in his expression that she hadn’t seen before. She nodded when he quirked a brow and motioned to the door.
At that moment Danny came in. He stepped back when he saw them and didn’t hide his surprise.
“Uh, sorry, Rafe, Nicki. I didn’t realize…I mean, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Rafe dropped his arm from around her shoulders.
“What is it, Danny? Can it wait until the morning meeting? Nicki and I were just going to go over her findings.”
Danny looked from one to the other of them and flushed.
“Damn, I wish it could, Rafe. But I just got a text from Vlad. Said he tried to reach you and that you should give him a call as soon as possible.”
“Hell, why not. It’s the middle of the afternoon where he is, instead of four in the morning,” Rafe grumbled.
“Okay. Thanks Danny, I’ll call him now. And, Nicki, please wait for me in my office. I don’t think it’s locked but just in case.” He handed her a key.
Nicki grabbed the key and made a dash for the door. She wasn’t surprised that Danny was confused seeing her and Rafe together. Just yesterday Rafe had hauled her out to the sparring ring in front of the whole team. And while she doubted Caleb would betray her confidence to anyone other than Rafe, or maybe Grayson, it made her nervous.
She unlocked the office door and walked in. A rush of emotion engulfed her. For a moment she thought she might cry. Everything felt uncertain. She looked longingly at the sofa where she and Rafe ended up—before Grayson’s sudden appearance broke them apart. Staring at the sofa, remembering Rafe’s hands, his titillating words, his mouth on her breasts, Nicki wished she could turn back the clock to those frantic moments when they were tearing at each other’s clothes. Rafe had been as wild as she was, eager to make love to her. She corrected herself; he was determined to have sex with her. But there was no question: Rafe had wanted her as much she wanted him. As desperately. Now she wasn’t sure. Would he change his mind? Think better of it? Pull back the way he did before? As her indecision began to rise, she heard him behind her. She sucked in a deep breath when he walked in. He gave her a brief smile then closed the door behind him and locked it. Her heart leapt at the implication but her excitement was short-lived.
He walked past her to his desk, and rifled in the drawer coming out with another cigarette case. He sunk in his chair and motioned to her to sit cross from him.
She watched him light up and take several deep drags. He looked troubled, distracted. She assumed it was due to his conversation with Vlad. Or at least she hoped so.
“Is everything okay?”
Rafe looked surprised at the question, then nodded. Tugging at the back of his neck trying to relieve the tightness, his answer was tinged with irony.
“Yes, as okay as it can be when we have three girls and probably a hell of a lot more being held by some Russian mafia pretender.”
“Is that what you think, Rafe? That Volkov is a fiction? That someone is trying to mimic the Russian mob?”
Rafe gave a harsh laugh.
“For his sake, he better hope not. But there’s a connection there that I am missing. As I said earlier, it just doesn’t add up, Nicki.”
Nicki hesitated. She was certain her father was the man Rafe had referred to as his personal advisor. His casual reference to the Russian mob in relationship to her father st
artled her. It underscored how much she didn’t know about her own father, or about the man she was falling in love with.
She decided to press him. She was a member of the team after all.
“Has my father been able to help make the connection?”
Rafe frowned and didn’t answer for a moment. Then he shrugged as if it wasn’t important.
“Not as much as I had hoped.”
His refusal to confide in her stung. She’d always known that her father had a special relationship with Rafe, but it wasn’t until she joined ISA that she understood how close they were. She now knew that Rafe talked with her father as often as she did. And that their relationship was personal as well as professional. There was no question that her father loved her as deeply as a parent could love a child. She was the center of his life. But, the closer she and Rafe became it was clear that he and her father knew things about each other that neither had shared with her. And it was unlikely they ever would.
For the first time, Nicki felt a twinge of jealousy. As close as she and her father were, she’d never really been able to break through his shell of pained secrecy. That Rafe had built a similar barrier around himself—and that he also refused to let her penetrate—hurt Nicki deeply… and at a base level made her angry. While she was certain that both Rafe and her father were honestly trying to protect her, the conclusion she drew from their secrecy was that they didn’t trust her to see the men they truly were—that they saw her as a girl they had to protect rather than an adult woman who could take care of herself.
Rafe was staring vacantly, the crease between his knitted brows was deep. He was clearly distracted. Nicki felt lost, left out. The clumsy silence between them was a far cry from the wild sex scene just a few hours before. It reminded her how fleeting, how uncertain her relationship with Rafe was. She grimaced. If you could call what they had a relationship. Not wanting to further expose her ragged heart to more pain, she stood up and clung to the back of her chair for support.
“You’re exhausted, Rafe. And…I…I’m tired as well. I….”
He looked up at her, startled as though just now aware of her presence. His reaction cut her like a knife. She moved quickly to the door. She couldn’t get away fast enough. She longed to be in her room far away from this hurtful man. Too late she remembered he’d locked the door. She jerked on the handle and groaned in frustration.
Rafe was already out of his chair when she let out a frustrated cry. He pulled her into his arms. When she resisted, he held her tighter.
Tipping her chin up, he forced her to look at him.
“Damn, Nicki. I’m sorry. You’re right. I am exhausted and frustrated as hell that I still haven’t figured out who Volkov is. But Princess, I didn’t ask you here to discuss business.”
Seeing the uncertainty and pain in her eyes, he felt a pang of guilt. Why did he tell her to meet him? Why couldn’t he for once have left well enough alone? But he knew why. It wasn’t a mystery. He couldn’t be within ten feet of her without wanting her. Wanting her closer. Hell, wanting to be inside of her. But it was more than sheer carnal lust. Feeling her soft curvy body and smelling that musky fragrance that went straight to his errant prick, the image of her on the edge of the sofa flooded him. And yeah, he did know why he needed her here, why he had to know what he dreaded knowing.
He held her close, stroking her back, running his hands over her bottom, marveling at her perfect ass. He murmured soft words until he felt her begin to relax, begin to move in closer, melding herself to him.
Within minutes, they both were panting for air, his gasps as heated as hers. He snagged a deeper breath then nuzzled against her ear.
“I have to ask you something, Princess. Something I’ve been wondering about.”
She looked up at him, wariness filling her eyes.
“What? What do you want to know?”
He forced himself to smile, to reassure her. To act as though his question weren’t critically important.
He nipped at her ear and smiled when she trembled in response.
“Remember when you told me about your Boomslang snake? The tattoo, not the necklace your father gave you?”
She ducked down and buried her face against his chest, the heat of her cheeks scorching him through his shirt.
She nodded, then whispered.
“I almost forgot. I’m sorry. I should have warned you. I didn’t think about it at the time.”
He choked out a nonchalant laugh.
“Yeah, Princess. A warning was in order. I damn near had a heart attack.”
She jerked up with a questioning frown then blushed a deeper pink.
“You…you didn’t like it?”
“Like it? Damn, Princess, since I saw it I’ve been trying to remember when I’ve ever seen a more erotic sight.”
She peeked up at him shyly, then meeting his eyes she gave him a saucy smile.
“I’m glad you liked it. I…I love it. It makes me feel special.”
“Yeah, Princess. But ‘special’ is a bit of an understatement. How about the single sexiest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen in my life?”
He held her tight against him fighting the urge to kiss her, then scoffed at his duplicity. Kiss her was the last thing he wanted to do. No, dammit, what he wanted to do was toss her on his desk, rip off her pants, spread her legs, and get a hell of a lot more acquainted with that damn snake.
He forced himself to ask the question that had tormented him for the last three hours.
His voice sounded hoarse, strange to his own ears.
“You told me, Princess, that no man had ever seen your tattoo.”
She frowned then looked down and whispered. “Um, no. You are the first.”
He choked back a dismayed groan then dug a deeper hole.
“That kinda begs another question, Princess. Does that mean you are a virgin?”
He held her tighter when she tried to pull away. He swallowed hard and said a silent prayer which wasn’t easy given that long ago he had stopped believing in a god of any kind.
Nicki wriggled out of his tight hold, putting a couple of inches between them.
She scoffed, assuming an aggrieved tone.
“Really, Rafe. I’m twenty-six years old, for God’s sake. What do you take me for? Some innocent know nothing? Besides that is a very personal question. Frankly, it is none of your business.”
Rafe managed to keep his voice about a hundred degrees cooler than he felt.
“Wrong on both counts, Princess. I didn’t ask how old you are. I’ve seen your god dammed birth certificate. And given what we almost did in this very room a few hours ago, whether or not you are a virgin is most certainly my business.”
At his stern response, confusion and fear warred across her face. Then true to form, she tossed her head, a dismissive gesture.
“I didn’t realize you didn’t ‘do’ virgins, Mr. Boudin. I understood that you did anything and everything.”
Ignoring her combative response, he said, “I guess that answers my question, Nicki.”
At her pained expression, he softened his tone. “And yeah, Nicki. It does make a difference. A big difference to me.”
She breathed in deep. “Well, I…do… I mean I have…”
He frowned refusing to let himself hope.
“You have what?”
“I do have a vibrator.”
He stared at her then barked out a huge roaring guffaw. Ignoring her startled reaction, he convulsed with one peal of laughter after another.
After a long moment, he managed to control himself. Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, he grinned at her.
“How big?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“How big is the vibrator?”
A glimmer of understanding shadowed her face.
She tossed him a haughty glare and snapped, “Why? What does that matter?”
He shook his head, trying hard to keep from grinning.
“It
matters, Princess. It matters a whole hell of a lot.”
Chapter 17
Nicki stood at the podium in the front of the darkened room. Methodically she clicked from one slide to the next, stopping to explain the significance of each. At least in the beginning, the men were quiet, respectfully waiting for her conclusions. When she finished, Grayson threw her an admiring glance.
“I’ve got to ask. What was deciding clue, the breakthrough.”
“To be honest, it’s a girl thing. The shoes.”
Caleb spoke for the group.
“What the hell, what shoes?”
Nicki exchanged a knowing look with Katya.
“Do you want to tell him, Katya?”
Katya smiled. “Well, I’ve never had a pair of Jimmy Choo’s in my life, but like every woman, I’ve lusted after them. But I think it was more the fact that they all wore the same three designer shoes that made the connection for me. But I have to admit, until Nicki walked me through the whole presentation I didn’t get it. She is simply brilliant.”
“Here, here!” Caleb shouted and the rest of the men murmured in response.
Rafe nodded and took a long drag off his cigarette.
“Humor me, Nicki. Go through it again, summarize. And then let’s figure out how we’re going to put all your instincts to work.”
Nicki had avoided Rafe since he walked her to her room a scant three hours before. She wanted to be angry with him, wanted to be furious that he found her “virgin” state hilarious. After a long hot shower, though, she admitted to herself what was really troubling—that he was turned off by her inexperience. Remembering her dumb remark about the vibrator, she flushed. What had made her say something so infantile? As though a man like Rafe would be impressed that she used a sex toy. Once again, with a silly remark she’d confirmed that she “wasn’t the kind of woman Rafe fucked.”
He did try to make it up to her. Taking advantage of his mirth, she’d made it to the office door, unlocked it and was half way to her room when he caught up with her. She had to admit he was kind, almost sweet. He apologized for laughing at her. Insisted that he wasn’t making fun of her, just that he’d been taken back by her Boomslang snake.
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