Thinking of Sonia, wearing his shirt, knees drawn to her chest, telling him she feared for his life—renewed his will to live.
“Tell me it’s not true, that my best friend wouldn’t make such a fucking dumb mistake over a woman and we’ll clear your name together,” Sergei finally said.
Dimitri said nothing for a few seconds. Sergei took that as confirmation and let out a curse.
“Fuck. You would risk your place in the Family for one woman? Tell me, Dimi, is she worth the price?”
Dimitri didn’t hesitate. A smile ghosted his lips. “If I could rewind time, I’d make sure Vlad died screaming his lungs out.”
Sergei let out a disgusted snort. “Everyone knew Vlad was a pig, everyone except the boss maybe, but what you did, there’s no coming back from that.”
“Maybe.” All Dimitri saw in his head was Sonia at the dining table, the way her entire face lit up when she talked about teaching kids.
He faced his job with grim purpose, decided to utilize the skills he possessed to his advantage because he had nothing else. Fuck and kill. How could one man sustain himself on those two things for the rest of his life? His fathers and brothers certainly did, and look where they ended up.
“Why did you call me here?” Sergei finally asked.
He noticed the shadows under Sergei’s eyes, the way Sergei’s scarred lips pressed together tightly. Sergei’s gun was in his shoulder holster, hidden under his grey suit jacket. One quick draw and they would turn this quiet diner into a shoot-out.
“You haven’t killed me in cold blood yet,” Dimitri remarked.
“You’ve given me a hard choice to make, Dimi.” Sergei clutched at his coffee cup so hard Dimitri was certain the ceramic would shatter, spilling hot coffee everywhere.
“Did they send you to take me out?”
“I refused. They recruited Aleksander and Konstantin.”
His blood grew cold at the mention of the two other contract killers the Family kept on hand. Sergei and he were one of the best. Aleks and Konstantin were in the same league, except in some ways they were worse.
Clean and efficient kills were Sergei’s and Dimitri’s signature. Those two didn’t mind getting their hands dirty. The four of them got together for the rare job. Twice a year they gathered to drink, sharing nothing but space. Speaking wasn’t required. They recognized each other for what they were—predators in human skin, monsters with little conscience.
It was time to take a risk. This was no longer a game, knowing the other two killers were involved in the hunt. One, Dimitri could handle, but two? Sonia and he didn’t stand a fucking chance.
“I need you to help me gather more information on Vlad’s activities,” Dimitri began. “Over the months, I’ve been keeping track of concrete evidence. I didn’t know why.”
“What are you planning to do? Gather evidence? We aren’t the police, Dimi.” Sergei let out a harsh laugh. “You should know better. You cut your teeth in this trade from the moment you could hold a gun.”
“I need to try,” Dimitri said impatiently. “Sergei, you don’t understand. Someday, you will.”
“This girl, what’s so special about her?” Sergei finally asked.
If Sergei refused to help, then they were doomed. Dimitri trusted no one else to have his back.
“Sonia reminds me of life.” Dimitri combed his fingers through his hair in frustration. “It feels like all I’ve been doing is drowning in darkness. She’s oxygen.”
Sergei laughed at his face. Dimitri clenched his fists, killing the impulse to knock all the teeth out of Sergei’s handsome face.
“I have no one else to go to, Sergei. Everyone else will go for their gun the moment I turn my back. Aleks and Kon will do the same, except they’ll take their sweet time to torture answers out of me, but I don’t have any.”
At Sergei’s silence, Dimitri continued. “There’s no hidden motivation. I hated how Vlad looked at her, so I ended that miserable pig’s life. End of story. But I need to make this right for her.”
Sergei sobered up, finished his coffee and grunted. When his friend pushed his hand into his inner jacket, Dimitri tensed. Sergei only pulled out a flask and downed that in one gulp, too. Swiping the back of his hand over his mouth, Sergei finally let out a heavy sigh.
“I will help you. Vlad’s associates are in charge of cleaning up his mess. Vasily’s going to visit Vlad’s territory in a few days, to investigate.”
Hope sparked inside Dimitri, small, like a flickering candle, but it was enough. Sonia didn’t belong in his world. He would do his damn best to return her to the life she loved.
“Set up a meeting. I want him to know I’m ready to talk to him face-to-face, not hide in the shadows,” Dimitri said.
“You’re heading to certain death. What about your woman then?” Sergei glanced at his vibrating phone on the table, then shifted his gaze to Dimitri. “We need to cut this short.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Who is watching your back?”
“My cousin Misha, but our position is compromised.” Sergei rose to his feet, and Dimitri didn’t argue. Now wasn’t the time to second-guess Sergei.
Slapping a twenty on the table, Dimitri hurried after Sergei, hand resting on the handle of his revolver.
Sergei pushed the diner door opened. “Down,” he hissed at Dimitri.
He ducked in time to feel a bullet whizz past his head. No sound. The bastards must be using silencers. Dimitri took cover from behind the nearby Porsche parked to his left. Sergei did the same with the nearest vehicle. Dimitri grabbed his revolver and clicked the safety off. Passersby who noticed him and Sergei crouching behind the cars with their guns out, hurried on.
Risking a glance, Dimitri studied the apartment building across the street. Sunlight glinted off the scope of a rifle. Behind that was a figure dressed entirely in black, no shred of color on him except the ragged scarf around his neck. Aleks.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
“Dimitri, go for your car,” Sergei told him. “Aleks would have alerted the others by now. Linger here any longer, more Family members will arrive or the cops.”
“I’ll contact you again.” Dimitri craned his neck to his Impala.
Adrenaline spiked through his system. Now or never. Dimitri broke into a sprint, gun by his leg.
Five steps. Three. Dimitri fished out his car keys. Something slashed at the sleeve of his jacket, tearing through fabric. A bullet graze. He yanked the car door open and got in.
The engine came to life. He stepped on the accelerator just as the passenger window to his right shattered. Glass flew everywhere, cut into his skin, but otherwise, he was unharmed. He steered the car out of the road, praying none of Aleks’s bullets would hit his tires.
Another bullet made a dent on the side of his car. Fuck, his poor baby. Sneaking a glance, he saw Sergei standing with his feet apart, gun raised, then Sergei stumbling. A red mark blossomed on his right shoulder. Dimitri began to maneuver his car backwards, but a rider in a motorcycle swerved in front of Dimitri. That must be Misha.
“What the fuck are you waiting for? Go,” Sergei yelled at him, mounting the bike.
Dimitri drove, heart racing. Fuck. There went his last resort. Sergei had gotten shot on his account, and if Aleks told Vasily what happened, Dimitri had just dragged his best friend to hell with him.
He cursed on the way out of the city. Dimitri double, triple checked to make sure no one was following him. He pushed away thoughts of violence against Aleks, and tried to see the big picture.
Something about the shoot-out felt wrong. Why weren’t any Family members chasing him?
Keeping a hand on the wheel, Dimitri touched the graze on his shoulder. Pieces of glass bit into his skin, so he swiped them away. Aside from the tiny cuts on his face and neck and the shoulder, Dimitri was relatively unharmed.
A professional like Aleks wouldn’t make a mistake like that. Hell, among the four of them, Aleks was the best sniper.
Then again, Vlad wasn’t the most liked member of the Family and Dimitri was respected for his skills. Perhaps he was still valuable to Vasily as an asset.
“What the fuck is going on?” he muttered.
He stored away the information in the back of his head. Right now, he needed to focus on getting back on Sonia. For good measure, he drove circles in case someone was tailing him. By the time he returned to the cabin in the woods, the sun was setting.
Dimitri killed the engine at the dirt-paved driveway. What if Sonia wasn’t home at all and she’d taken his grandfather’s bike after all? Why would she bother waiting for him? He offered her a way out. Any sensible person would run out on the killer who held them captive.
Except she was there, sitting on the porch steps.
His heart lurched in his chest as he stumbled out of the car. Her hand flew to her mouth. Sonia rose to her feet, eyes worried as she ran up to him.
Did he look that bad?
She punched his shoulder. Dimitri grunted, hardly feeling a thing, but it surprised him nonetheless. Tears welled in her eyes. Oh fuck. He couldn’t handle it when she cried.
She lashed out again, but he grabbed her wrists.
“I thought you died, you were gone for so long,” she said with accusing eyes. “You didn’t even leave a number or anything.”
Fuck, but seeing the concern in her strange eyes and her trembling lip stirred his dick back to life. He tugged her close. Sonia didn’t protest, merely slumped against him and rested her head against his chest.
“Bastard,” she whispered, but there was no heat or anger in his voice.
“I needed to make sure no one was on my tail,” he told her, lifting her chin. Fuck, but she smelled good, of his soap and something distinctively Sonia.
Dimitri plundered her lips, just to make sure she was real, that he’d returned to her in one piece. Not pieces. Well, he doubted she would appreciate the joke.
She leaned in closer, responding, opening her lips wider so he could push his tongue down her throat. With her pressed so close to him, he could feel her nipples rubbing against his shirt despite the obstruction of clothing. If he pushed his hand down her bottoms, would he find her panties wet with need?
He knew where this was going, but unlike yesterday, showing restraint was no longer an option, not when she wanted the same thing, too.
Dimitri released her wrists and mouth to find her panting.
Sonia recovered. Her fingers shook when she touched the tiny cuts on his face. Biting down on her bottom lip, she finally saw his shoulder.
“It’s just a graze,” he told her, but hell, he didn’t mind her fussing over him. He’d never experienced that before.
“I’ll get the first-aid kit, just to make sure,” she said, parting from his embrace. When he didn’t move instantly, she frowned at him. Her mouth still looked slightly swollen from his kiss. “What are you waiting for?”
Sonia closed her slender fingers his and began pulling him inside. It didn’t escape him that only yesterday, he had been the one urging her to go inside his den.
Dimitri didn’t deserve this woman. If things went as planned, their names would no longer be on the Ivanov Family’s hit list. She could return to her normal life, find some boring and nice guy to marry.
Except he wouldn’t let the last part happen. Dimitri wouldn’t stop her from doing what she loved, but letting another man touch her was out of the question.
Possessiveness flared inside him. Might be borderline obsession, but he didn’t care.
Despite everything Dimitri had gone through today and the shit he needed to think through, he wore his first smile for the day.
Chapter Ten
“Sit down,” Sonia instructed, pointing to the edge of his bed. Still, she was somewhat unable to believe Dimitri sat and said nothing.
Unnerved by his stare, she ran to the bathroom and grabbed the first-aid kit under the sink.
Sonia had spent the entire day worrying. To prevent her anxiety from eating her inside-out, she’d explored the cabin instead. The result? She knew where everything was.
“Pull off your shirt,” she said once she returned.
Dimitri peeled off his top, which didn’t help the situation. She tore her eyes from his rock-hard torso and gave his body a scrutinizing look. Huh. He really did tell her the truth. Apart from the graze on his shoulder and tiny cuts on his neck and face, he was unharmed.
Sonia disinfected the shoulder wound, bandaged it up and took care of the tiny cuts on his face.
“You’re pretty good at this,” he remarked, grabbing her wrist.
Her pulse spiked, as it always did when he touched her.
“The kids at my school always get into cuts and scrapes. Once, a kid climbed a tree when none of us teachers were looking and broke his elbow.” She didn’t know why she told him that, why talking to him felt so easy.
When he settled his big hands on her and settled her on his lap, she didn’t protest. Dimitri rested his hands on the curve of her ass, keeping her balanced.
“Wrap your arms around my neck,” he ordered.
Relieved his dominant side naturally took over, she obeyed.
He rested his head between her breasts, breathing hard. “I couldn’t focus during the entire meeting. All I thought about was you, waiting for me.”
“Waiting sucks.” She sounded immature to her ears, but part of her was still mad he’d left her here all alone. Oh, Sonia understood the dangers. He’d gotten hurt, but he was a pro. Still, it was cruel of him to wear that cocky smile on his lips.
She stared into those intense gray eyes, aware of his hand pressing her closer, until she could feel the bulge in his jeans against her stomach. Could he feel her hardening tits, against his chest?
It hurt to breathe, and her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest any moment. Only for him.
“You told me you don’t take the unwilling,” she whispered, half excited, half terrified to go on. But Sonia would never get her chance again. “I’m ready, and I know you want me.”
Dimitri nuzzled her breasts, planting kisses on the fabric, until he closed his mouth over one of her tits, which poked out from her shirt. The wet heat of him breached the shirt, her bra, and her back arched up.
“Tease,” she whispered.
He playfully bit down. As she let out a soft moan, her nails dug into his shoulders. She craved to be out of their clothes, so they could touch skin-to-skin. Stupid shirts and sweats. Sonia wished she could have worn something more provocative, but the feral hunger in Dimitri’s face told her it didn’t matter.
Dimitri didn’t care about lingerie, about what she wore. From the moment they’d met, he knew what he wanted. Not merely her body, the greedy bastard wanted to own her heart, too.
Dimitri found her right nipple and did the same thing, biting down hard, leaving her aching for more. Keeping one hand on the curve of her back, his other slipped past the band of the sweats. He trailed fingers down her plain cotton panties, barely touching her, teasing her, before he plunged two fingers under the fabric to feel her soaking pussy lips.
Pulling his fingers away, he showed her arousal.
“Look at that. Have you been hot and bothered for me all day?” he asked. His tongue darted out and, to her utter shock, licked her cum off his fingers. A groan rumbled out of him. “Fuck, Sonia. So sweet, better than I fucking imagined.”
Dimitri nipped at her ear and whispered, “Tell me, have you been a good girl for me, or did you touch yourself while I was gone?”
Sonia’s heart thudded. “I had to distract myself.”
Dimitri raised an eyebrow, grabbed the hem of her shirt, and she raised her arms so he could peel it off. “These need to go,” he said, tugging at the waistband of the sweats. “Stand up.”
Stumbling to her feet, she obeyed. She never thought taking off her bottoms could feel this erotic. The look he sent her way, up and down—felt like a thousand burning touches.
Di
mitri hadn’t even started, and he already made her entire body strung up with nerves, with heightened anticipation.
“Bra and panties, too. I want no obstruction between us,” Dimitri said.
Blushing furiously, she unclasped her bra, unveiling her heavy breasts. Growing up, she’d been ashamed of them, prayed they’d get smaller with every diet.
In the end, she’d stopped caring about losing weight or the size of her breasts. Every guy she met had suggestions on how to improve herself, all but Dimitri, who looked at her like she was perfect.
Dimitri growled. “I can’t wait to see those tits bounce while I fuck you senseless.”
The words raised goosebumps on her arms. How would he take her? On his lap perhaps? God. She didn’t know, didn’t care. All she could see was Dimitri plunging his dick inside her untouched pussy, going where no man had ever gone before.
“Panties next.”
“Not yet. I’ve shown you mine, let me see yours.” God, who was this woman, making demands out of a man like Dimitri?
In a single violent jerk Dimitri yanked down the zipper of his jeans, revealing his impressive cock. He began stroking the glistening head. She swallowed. Clearly, this man was aroused just by the sight of her stripping down.
“Now your turn,” he said.
Hooking her fingers into the band, she slid them down her thighs. Sonia expected to feel self-conscious, except Dimitri growled low in his throat, like a beast eager to rut her.
“Come here, baby girl.”
Drawn by the indescribable magnetism between them, she mounted his lap again. Trembles ran up and down her body. Equal parts excited and scared, she tentatively wrapped her arms around his neck. He cupped the mounds of her ass again, pressing her forward until his dick kissed the curve of her stomach.
“So big,” she whispered, trailing one finger down the hard expense of his chest.
“Stroke me,” he said against her ear, taking her fingers and closing them over his shaft.
Sonia explored him from crown to balls, amazed he felt like silken skin over heated steel.
“More.”
The command made her eager to obey. With each rumble of approval from Dimitri’s chest, she was encouraged. Her own pussy was getting unbelievable wet, aroused by the sight of the huge predator she sat on. She discovered the right amount of pressure and began stroking him faster.
The Hitman's Obsession Page 5
