Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal Book 2) (19 page)

Her hips bucked into his touch. Her eyes squeezed shut. Getting her off was like a fucking drug, a need that rode him desperately, but he wasn’t finished with her yet.

“
Yes
, I can be patient.”

“And once I finally learned to be patient,” he said moving right along with his story, as though he hadn’t had to drag an answer out of her. “I was rewarded.”

Finally, he let his fingers slip under the lace, cursing low as he sought her out. He was always fucking amazed at how good she felt, but even better once he was inside her. Her pussy gripped him so fucking tightly that need shot through him.

Her small hands gripped his shoulders, nails digging into his skin as he fucked her with his fingers, dragging her higher with each stroke, but he wasn’t ready for her to come yet.

Pulling his fingers free, he moved his hand back up, pressing his thumb against her clit, but didn’t move it, even as she tried to twist her hips to do it for him.

“These stars mean I’m in control. Look at me.” Only when her eyes were on him, his own need reflected in their green depths, did he add, “That means when I give you a command, you obey.”

“
Kaz …
”

“Get on your knees.” She rushed to obey, looking up at him with wide eyes and expectation. “Take me out.”

Dainty fingers tugged at his belt, practically ripping it open with her need to get his pants undone. When she had his cock in her hands, she didn’t hesitate to put her mouth on him.

His head fell back as she swallowed his cock, sucking him hard and fast. Hand fisted in her hair, he guided her movements, quick on the up slide, slower as he pushed her back down, feeling the muscles in her throat contract around his cock.

Her mouth could make him forget himself—made him feel like he could focus on nothing other than the pleasure she was giving him. She just always looked so fucking into it.

“
That’s it
. Take my cock.”

And he wanted nothing more than to enjoy the sight of her just like that, but they didn’t have much time. And if he was going to come, he was coming inside her. Dragging her mouth off him, he pulled her up by her hair, releasing his hold once she was on her feet. With his hands now at her waist, he lifted her, her legs going around his waist.

He was too far gone to focus on anything other than the feel of her wet slit against his cock. Fisting his cock, he rubbed the head against her clit, thrilling in the moans spilling from her. He meant to keep her there and tease her a little more, but as he drew back, he hadn’t been able to fight sinking into her as deep as he could.

Violet’s answering moan made heat crawl down his spine. “Shh. You don’t want them to hear, yes? Be quiet.”

He didn’t cover her mouth, not when he could watch her struggle to contain the noises she desperately wanted to make, even to the point she was biting her lip. But even as he slammed into her, knowing that he didn’t want an audience, he couldn’t help goading her, pressing closer still as he thrust as deep as he could.

“Is that what you want, Violet?” he asked in her ear. “You want them to hear you taking my cock?”

His words were enough to make her go tight around him, a curse escaping him as he slapped his hand over her mouth, just as a keen whine came clawing out of her. But even as she came around him, he didn’t stop, pounding harder still, prolonging it.

It just was not enough.

Never enough.

Tilting his hips to find a better angle, he lost himself in the squeeze of feminine muscles and muffled, broken moans. And as she tightened around him once more, the need he had been pushing back came rushing to the forefront.

“
Fuck
, Violet! Take my—”

But he didn’t get to finish his command before his balls were tightening and she was milking him dry, taking everything he had to give and more.

Coming back to earth, he carefully pulled out of her, rearranging his pants. It would take him a matter of moments to pull himself together, but she stood before him looking like she’d just been fucked.

He still smiled.

Violet bowed her back off the bed, her fingers weaving tighter into Kaz’s hair as his hands pushed her thighs open even more. The ache it caused in her muscles was nothing compared to those jolts of pleasure coloring her vision with every flick of the broad side of his tongue against her clit.

Every single morning since their wedding a few days before, he’d woken her up this way.

Head between her thighs. Tongue on her clit. Fingers in her pussy.

Goading her.

Demanding her.

Promising
her.

Violet had already decided that she liked it.

She liked it a whole lot.

Kaz had a way with his mouth. He was cocksure and arrogant on his good days, but when he really put that mouth of his to use?

On
her
?

Fuck. Yeah.

Violet sucked in a deep, hard breath as the familiar heat started to pool in her stomach and her muscles clenched all over. A low keening whine clawed its way from her throat, giving away just how close she was to shattering.

And then his tongue left her clit, only for his mouth to replace it and the slightest nip of his teeth as he sucked against the throbbing nub.

Just like that, Violet was
gone
.

“
Kaz
!”

He didn’t even back down as she shook and shouted her way through the orgasm. No, he kept sucking her, and then his tongue was back, turning her sensitivity up a notch or two with fast, brutal jabs that left her gasping for breath.

When he finally
did
stop, Violet’s throat was dry, and her fingers trembled in his hair.

Kaz looked up at her, cocking a single brow and laying his scruffy cheek on her inner thigh. He gave her a sinful smirk that said he enjoyed this—maybe a little too much.

Still, Violet sighed.

Happy.

Blissed.

Content.

Yeah, she didn’t mind doing this for the rest of her life.

“Oh, my
God
—love that,” she mumbled.

Kaz chuckled. “I’d make you get on your knees and return the favor, but …”

He trailed off with a nod toward the clock on the bedside table. Violet scowled, silently refusing to move. Why should she move when he’d done this to her?

She was perfectly happy right where she—

“You’re going to be late for your appointment, and you’ve got a meeting with admissions at the college at twelve. Get up,” Kaz said.

Violet turned her scowl on him. “But I don’t want to move.”

She let her fingers wander down the side of his face, stroking his jaw before skipping over his neck. Kaz only offered her a smile, and then he was pushing up from the bed and away from her.

It was impossible to ignore the bulge in his boxer-briefs, but he’d already turned his back to her as he headed for the bathroom.

Clearly, he was not going to indulge her this morning.

Just as he disappeared into the bathroom, he turned back around, leveling her with a grin and a wink. “Next time, it’ll be a bucket of ice water instead of my tongue. Get up, Violet.”

“Ass,” she uttered under her breath, sure he wouldn’t hear when he turned back to the bathroom.

“But it’s a nice one.”

Fuck
.

Violet was not a morning person, and she didn’t pretend to be. Kaz, on the other hand, would wake up if the floorboard creaked, and he didn’t look worse for wear if he’d only slept a couple of hours.

She took her sweet-ass time crawling out of bed, slipping into the shower just as Kaz stepped out with another one of his smug smiles, and then getting ready for the day. By the time she was ready to leave the apartment, he’d been in his office and on the phone for a good hour.

Standing in the doorway of the office, Violet shifted her bag on her shoulder, waiting for Kaz to end his call. It was hard to tell if it was business or personal, given he spoke in Russian, and his features betrayed nothing.

“I’m heading out,” she told him as he hung up the call.

Kaz nodded, but his attention was on the screen of his laptop as he ran a finger over the mouse pad. “Don’t wander the streets, yes?”

Violet’s brow furrowed. “It’d be easier if I just walked from the clinic to the admissions office. It’s not that far to the college. Like five blocks. It’ll take me longer to find a damn parking spot.”

“Violet,” he said, gazing turning on her.

That was it—that was all he said.

Just her name.

And with that alone, she knew better than to argue because it wasn’t something he was going to debate.

“Not that it matters,” Kaz added, going back to the laptop, “but I do have someone keeping an eye on you while you’re out, for reference.”

Violet’s eyes narrowed. “Really?”

“Safer.”

“So someone is babysitting me? Who?”

Kaz shrugged. “Someone—you won’t see him unless he needs you to. It’s non-negotiable,
krasivaya
.”

“When will I not have a babysitter?”

He stilled at the desk, eyes cutting to her again in a blink. “Never.”

Well …

What in the hell could she say about that?

It wasn’t even ten in the morning, and Kaz was already over the fucking day.

Five minutes into his conversation with Boris, he found that the politics of being the boss would be what he hated most. It wasn’t as simple as going to a warehouse in the middle of the night and breaking their nose to get them to cooperate.

Now he was expected to
talk
.

Not even a full two months into his position and he was already over it.

Once Violet was out the door, Kaz put the phone on speaker, tossing the device on his desk. Boris was still droning on as Kaz grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on. Back in his office, his gaze shot to his phone as another call popped up.

It was a number he didn’t recognize, but nevertheless … “I have another call.” Clicking over before the other man could respond, he answered, “Kaz.”

“I hear congratulations are in order.”

Vasily.

Kaz had given considerable thought to the day he finally crossed paths with his father. The tables had turned, after all, and with the
Bratva
at his back, he’d been ready for that day to come. After all, Kaz was no longer the one with a target on his back.

It would have been simple.

But as he heard his father’s amused voice over the line, he didn’t feel that sense of calm he thought he would.

His skin was crawling.

“You’re a dead man,” Kaz said even as he walked out of his office, going over to the window to look down at the street.

The car he had ordered to take her to her appointment was still idling at the curb, meaning Violet had yet to make it downstairs, but one glance at his watch told him that she should have already made it downstairs by now.

Wait …

Hadn’t she said something as she was leaving?

“Have I taught you nothing, Kazimir?” Vasily asked, sounding like he was walking, the wind blowing. “You never leave a problem unsolved.”

Going back to his office, he snatched a drawer open in his desk, grabbing the gun he had stashed. Not bothering with a shirt or shoes, he headed out the door.

“Don’t worry,” Kaz said to Vasily as he jerked his head at his man down the hall to get his attention. “You won’t be a problem for long, Vasily.”

Vasily’s laughter echoed even as Kaz pulled the phone away from his ear, staring the other man down. “Where’s Violet?”

Recognizing that something was wrong, the man frowned, looking at the service elevator. “She went down to the garage to grab something from the car before she was coming back in so she could leave, she said.”

Why the fuck—

Even as he brought the phone back to his ear, Kaz remembered then what she had been trying to tell him as she was leaving.

It was with that thought that Kaz knew he fucked up.

Vasily’s voice grabbed his attention again. “I’ve always hated this car of yours. What did you tell me after defying my order not to purchase it, hmm? You would do as you wanted. Perhaps it’s time I teach you a lesson in humility. It’s long overdue.”

With that, Vasily hung up the call.

Taking off for the stairs, Kaz practically flew down them in his haste to get downstairs. Having heard the name he had used, the soldier rushing to catch up was already making a call, sounding an alarm for nearly every
Vor
in the nearby vicinity.

Blood rushing in his ears …

His heart racing …

Kaz exploded out of the building, his gaze shooting to where he’d parked his car. The door hung open, and the alarm blared so loud it was like fucking nails on a chalkboard.

“
Kazimir
!”

She never called him that, not even when she was mad. To her, he was always Kaz or whatever pet name she was calling him at the moment.

But the sound of her screaming out his name with raw fear in her voice made his stomach drop to his feet, even as he spun in the direction of her voice.

A man wearing all black, two of them in fact, were wrestling her toward an idling, black van, practically dragging her across the cement, her nails leaving score marks as she fought for purchase. Her eyes were wide and frightened, tears spilling from them, and the sight of it set his blood on fire.

His gun aimed at the man, Kaz fired off shots even as he took off across the parking lot.

Kaz had never felt terror—not that all-consuming emotion that made him feel like he was going to fucking die just from the rapid pace of his heart—but he felt it then.

They were almost to the car …

He had a few dozen feet …

Fuck
.

Fuck.

Fuck
.

One of the men grunted as a bullet slammed into his chest, sending him back a few steps, but he wasn’t the one Kaz fucking wanted. The other dragging Violet had never loosened his hold or faltered in step as the shots started going off.

And he was now at the van.

“
No
!”

But it was too late. Violet’s screams echoed around the garage until the panel door slid closed. The sound of tires squealing became impossibly loud.

Kaz was still running, refusing to slow until the van disappeared around the corner. There was no way he could catch them on foot—
his fucking car
.

Sprinting back, he didn’t remember until he was at his car that Violet had his keys. Her purse was on the ground, its contents scattered everywhere. Dropping down to his knees, he looked everywhere in a desperate attempt to find them, even as he counted the few seconds head start they had on him.

“Boss—”

“Where are my fucking keys? Find my fucking keys!” But when he couldn’t find them fast enough, Kaz was back on his feet, the blood rushing in his ears nearly blocking out everything around him.

That terror fled as rage consumed him. Spinning to grab the soldier at his back by the shirt collar, he jerked him closer. “I don’t care who you have to kill, but I want her back. Tear this fucking city apart.”

Shoving him away, Kaz hadn’t realized they were no longer alone. Rus was there, but even he took a step back in the face of Kaz’s rage. “We’ll get her back.”

“You don’t know that shit,” Kaz fired back. “He would mail her back in fucking
pieces
if he thought it would break me.”

“He won’t.”

He was about to lose his fucking mind. “What the fu—”

“
Zatknis’,
Kazimir,” Rus snapped. “If he were going to kill her, he would have done it here—right here where you would have seen it. He
took
her. At the very least, you have time. If he called you beforehand, he'd call you again just to fuck with you. Now, reel your shit in.”

“Gallucci.”

“What?”

Kaz thought of the man instantly. The two could have easily conspired this whole fucking thing, and that meant Alberto would know where she was.

“Call Alfie,” Kaz commanded after taking a breath, starting back for his apartment, ignoring the sirens he could already hear in the distance.

Rus frowned. “For what purpose?”

Ejecting the clip, Kaz counted the bullets—or bullet, as it were—before sliding it back into place. “It’s time to pick a side.”

Her screams echoed in his ears the most.

That blood-curdling yell that made his skin feel like it was crawling. Even hours later, it still made him anxious to the point he couldn’t sit still.

Vasily had yet to call, nor did he answer the number he had called from before, but that did lead a little more credence to what Rus was trying to tell him. His father knew enough about keeping his hands clean, so if he were really planning to kill her, the phone would be turned off.

But at the moment, Kaz didn’t care for a reason.

He didn’t want there to be
if
s and
when
s, he wanted an answer right fucking then, and if no one spoke quickly enough, he would get the answers himself.

Rus was driving, looking over every so often. Even his lips were moving, probably words of encouragement—or at least ones meant to calm him—but Kaz couldn’t hear anything, even when he looked and could see him speaking.

It was as if everything had gone dark around him.

He had lost his sun.

But he would get her back if it was the last fucking thing he did.

And it was for her that he would level the fucking city, starting with an impromptu meeting with his new father-in-law.

“... and don’t do anything fucking stupid, Kaz,” Rus said, his voice filtering back in as they arrived at a restaurant in a part of the city where money bought silence and most people turned the other eye.

It wasn’t a restaurant he often frequented—mainly because the Albanian syndicate that called this place home made it quite clear they weren’t willing to do business with outsiders. But it was, however, one of Alfie’s favorite meeting places.

“I’m not going to do anything stupid,” Kaz said as he shoved the door open and climbed out, his finger wrapped around the trigger of a pump action shotgun. “Nothing fucking stupid at all.”

“Remember, you kill one of the Albanians, you earn a blood debt—and you know how they are about that shit.”

Kaz did know. He just didn’t care.

His men were already waiting for him, all ready for what he would do next. Shotgun resting on his shoulder, the doors were opened for Kaz as he walked in the narrow shop, all eyes turning to him.

No one moved, nor did they speak as Kaz and the others came in—they had already been warned. A man standing near the back staircase nodded his head in its direction, a silent message that the men he was here for were upstairs.

“I’m not sure how that would be profitable for me, Mr. Shelby.”

Kaz could hear the muffled voice as he cleared the landing, heading for the office at the end of the hall. A few of Alberto’s men were standing outside the door. The moment they saw Kaz coming, they were reaching for their guns, but they saw very quickly that they were outnumbered.

“I care fuck all whether it’s profitable for
you
, mate. It’s the better business deal.”

Alberto didn’t get a chance to respond to Alfie’s words, not when Kaz reared back and sent his foot flying against the door. The wood splintered as it shot open, slamming back against the wall and startling the three men seated—all except Alfie. He merely sat back.

Pointing his gun at Alberto, Kaz’s aim didn’t falter. “Get up.”

Alberto grew red in the face, his anger apparent as he swung his gaze around to Alfie. But if he thought a glare was enough to move the Brit, he was mistaken. “Bad luck, mate.”

“This isn’t—”

Shifting his aim just slightly, Kaz pulled the trigger, firing a round into the potted plant just behind Alberto. The vase exploded, sending bits of pottery and dirt flying everywhere. “The next one is in your knee, old man.
Move.
”

This time, Alberto stood, though he kept his hands at his sides as opposed to raised high like his son’s were in the seat next to him.
Appearances
, Kaz thought. Even if he did feel fear, he was man enough not to show it.