Russian Mobster's Secret (5 page)

“Maybe I should just go meet him,” Susan said to the room at large.

The sound of the kitchen door opening drew her back to the moment at hand. Susan wondered what sort of mood Kirill would be in tonight. A month ago he had been forceful. These last few days he had seemed almost melancholy.

“Hey.” He walked into the living room and moved in close behind her. Gently moving her hair out of the way, he pressed his lips to her neck. “Sorry I’m so late.”

She started to ask what had happened and then changed her mind. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.”

There was no more talking. Kirill swung her up into his arms and carried her back to the bedroom. He laid her on the bed and pulled at the tie of her robe. She was naked beneath it, exactly the way he liked her. He put his palms over her ribs and then cupped her breasts.

Lowering his head, Kirill feasted on her nipples until Susan was almost insensible with arousal. Her breasts throbbed as he squeezed and kneaded the warm flesh. When he sucked hard at her right nipple, she stabbed her fingers into his hair to pull him even closer. She loved the way he enjoyed her body. It was as if she were perfect for him, a thought that made her feel as though she could conquer the world.

Then Kirill did something rare. He undressed completely. Susan watched in the dim glow of the hall light as he pulled off his T-shirt and stripped out of his boots, jeans, and socks until he was naked.

“I want to feel your skin next to mine,” he said huskily. “You’re so soft. It feels like heaven.”

Susan moaned in delight as she felt the coarse hair of his legs against her own smooth calves and thighs. She arched her back and pressed herself against him, trying to touch every inch of his hard, muscular body. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his back.

The new position put her on top. Susan felt a shot of surprise. Kirill had never let her be on top before. With her crotch spread over his groin and her knees at his hips, she had an incredible amount of control over her own pleasure. She placed her hands on his chest and gently plucked at his nipples. He inhaled sharply. Reaching up, he cupped her breasts and thumbed her nipples in return.

She wiggled her hips and felt a thrill at the sensation of his hard erection pressing on her pussy. The pressure was delightful. She ground herself against him. Bracing her hands flat on his chest, she flung her head back and let her hair tickle her back as she rolled her hips and rode him.

“Put my cock inside you, Susan,” Kirill urged. “I want to feel you come, and I need to come inside you as well.”

She shifted, lifting her body with her knees. She fumbled between them. Palming his cock, she fit the head of him to her opening. Then she began to lower herself onto his long shaft. The sensation was unlike any she had ever experienced. He stretched her with each tiny increment until the friction building between them made her cry out with the sheer intensity.

“God, you feel good!” he growled. “Fuck me, Susan. Come on. Show me how much you want it.”

It was as though she briefly lost control of herself. Susan began rocking her hips, trying every which way she could think of to increase the friction between them. She came once, the climax taking her by surprise and ripping through her nervous system in a tidal wave so fierce that her movements became jerky and irregular.

Kirill put his hands on her hips to steady her rhythm. She clung to this bit of direction and welcomed his control. She rolled with his movements and lifted her hands above her head. She felt incredibly sexy and wanton. Then her second orgasm began building, and she nearly stopped breathing. The heat pooling at the base of her spine traveled to every nerve ending and made her lightheaded with desire.

“Kirill,” she gasped. “I’m so close. So close.”

His finger probed the place where their bodies were joined. He spread her nether lips and found the place where the hood of her clit was spread against the root of his cock. Gently circling the sensitive nub with his index finger, he gave her exactly the push she needed.

Her climax rose hard and fast, and she cried out until her throat was raw with it. She found the hard plane of his chest with her fingers and scored his skin with her nails. Then he grunted and thrust up hard into her body. She felt the heat of his semen filling her and loved the sheer intimacy of that moment when he belonged to her and nobody else.

KIRILL SHOULD HAVE gotten out of the bed and left, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Susan was splayed across his chest. He could hear her heart beating. Wrapping his arms around her curves, he held her in a way he’d never held another lover.

“I really need to get some sleep,” she murmured. She finished her sentence with a yawn. “You should just stay here. It’s practically morning already anyway.”

“I can’t.” He hadn’t intended for the words to come out so clipped, but they did.

She wriggled out of his arms and rolled off his chest. “Then I suppose you should just go.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“Like what?”

Even in the near darkness he could see the prim set of her mouth.

“You knew from the beginning what this relationship was going to be like.” He wasn’t even sure why he was telling her this. “Don’t pretend now that you’re not okay with it.”

She looked completely taken aback. “Have I given you some indication that I’m not okay with what we’ve got going on here? I knew you were a player. It’s not like I expected a proposal or something, Kirill. You’re putting words in my mouth, and I don’t appreciate it at all.”

She rolled out of the bed and grabbed a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt that had been draped over a chair. The pants were gray with pink spots, and the T-shirt was a little baggy and worn. She looked adorable.

Kirill couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. “That’s not usually what you wear when I’m around.”

“No. It’s not.” She gave him a pointed look. “So maybe the question is why are you still here?”

He sat up but didn’t make a move to leave. “Are you asking me to leave?”

“I don’t even pretend to know what I want right now.” She pursed her lips in obvious frustration. “But I’m starting to think that I
should
ask you to leave. In fact, I think we should be done.”

“Done?” Something in the vicinity of his heart seized at the thought. “So you’re just ready to move on? Is that what I’m to understand?”

She shrugged. “Your sister has been bugging me for weeks to meet this guy she swears is completely perfect for me. I suppose I might as well give him a chance.”

“Why?” He snorted. “He’ll be no match for you in or out of the bedroom.”

“But since there’s more to life than fucking,” she said sarcastically. “Perhaps he’ll meet my needs in other ways.”

“Other ways?” Kirill found he did not like this notion at all.

“Yes. Other ways that you seem completely uninterested in acknowledging.” Susan sighed. “Look, Kirill, I like you. A lot. Being with you is like jumping out of a plane without being entirely sure my parachute is going to open. But I want more out of my life.”

“Things that a lowlife mafia man is incapable of providing, is that it?” He felt incredibly bitter of all sudden. Where had
that
come from?

“Incapable?” She actually laughed. “Try uninterested. You’re not the kind of guy who marries and raises a family. And I’m not going to beat my head against the wall trying to get you to become that man.”

“You’re making a lot of rash assumptions about me.”

She lifted one shoulder, dismissing him out of hand. “I don’t have to make assumptions. This was temporary. We both knew it. Hell, we even agreed not to tell your sister. That doesn’t suggest any sort of long-term relationship. Does it?”

“So you’re ready to settle down all of a sudden?” Kirill got to his feet and tried to find his pants. This was why he never removed his clothing. There was too much time required to get dressed when it was time to be gone.

“I’ve always been ready to settle down, if that’s how you want to put it.” She sighed. “I just needed a fling. Everyone needs a fling now and then.”

“Because of your situation at work,” he guessed. “Man, it pisses me off when Oksana is right. She claims that you need to reject someone in order to feel confident enough in yourself to think you’re worthy of the right guy.”

“That’s a convoluted way to put it,” Susan mused. “But I suppose she’s sort of right.”

“So I’m getting rejected?” He tasted the notion and realized it burned like acid.

“If that’s how you want to look at it.” She crossed her arms, looking as though she really wished he would hurry up and leave. “We have been sleeping together for a little more than a month. That’s a lot longer than I ever expected to hold your interest.”

Coming on the heels of the crappy night Kirill had had
before
he’d come to Susan’s house, this entire situation was not improving his night in the least. “You know what? Fine. You want to play at being a plain boring woman who goes out with the right guy, settles down, gets married, and pops out a few kids? Have fun.”

“Yes.” Her tone was caustic enough to burn. “And I’m sure you’ve got other pussies to chase.”

He pulled his shirt over his head and held his arms out to his sides. “That’s who I am, baby.”

“Oh my God! If you tell me not to hate the player, hate the game, I’m going to punch you in the face.”

“So violent all of a sudden,” he teased.

Even in the dim light he could see the glitter of the fiery temperament that hid behind the meek woman she pretended to be. The truth was in her eyes. “Just go, Kirill. Now. And don’t come back. I’m done being your booty call. And I can assure you that I’m done having you as mine.”

He forced himself to shrug. Shoving his feet into his boots, he turned and walked out of her bedroom. He forced his feet down the now familiar path to her kitchen door. And when he closed that door behind him, he felt the first pangs of regret in a way he would have never anticipated.

Chapter Seven

Susan took deep breaths as she sat at her desk the following morning and attempted to get some work done. Not only was she exhausted from the late hours she had been keeping recently, but she couldn’t seem to shake this ridiculous flu bug she had picked up somewhere. Every time she thought she had kicked the virus, it would come back with a vengeance. Fortunately, it only seemed active first thing in the day. By afternoon she was only tired, not sick.

“There you are.” Roland Porter appeared in the doorway of her office with a huge stack of files in hand. “Jason wants these taken care of by the end of business today.”

He started to set them on her desk, but Susan pegged him with a hard glare. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think Jason gave those to me to take care of. I’m pretty sure he gave them to you.”

“I have a meeting.” Roland made a vague gesture over one shoulder.

Susan wasn’t buying it. Roland thought he could push her around because he had been the one to start the cash cow joke and he thought he had her number. Not anymore.

She pointed her finger at him. “What you’re actually saying is that you have plans for lunch and that you don’t want to do your work. You want to take one of those three hour lunches that waste half your day even though you seem to still get paid for the same amount of hours as the rest of us.”

His mouth fell open. “What has gotten into you?”

“Oh wouldn’t you like to know?” She couldn’t help but smirk. “You know what really pisses me off, Roland?”

“No?”

“Men who are intimidated by a woman with brains. They have to make her feel stupid just to make themselves feel manly and useful. It’s actually pathetic if you think about it.” Susan put out a hand. “You might as well take those files back to your office and change your lunch plans, because your work is not my problem anymore.”

“Uh.” Roland was apparently having issues coming up with a response to her declarative sentence.

“And by the way.” She narrowed her gaze at him. “If I ever hear the phrase ‘cash cow’ around here again, I will tell every woman in this building that I fucked you and that you couldn’t get it up, keep it up, or get off without someone shoving a dildo up your ass.”

“You bitch! You wouldn’t!”

“Oh I would.” She was really starting to feel the empowerment now. “See, I know people like you. You’re the ones who can’t bear to think anyone believes you’re less than a stud muffin. So if you want to maintain that rep, you’ll play by my rules.”

“WHAT IS WITH you today?” Jacob asked, smacking Kirill in the back of the head. “You’re barely focusing. At this rate, you’re going to blow yourself up.”

Kirill put the stock back on his rifle and picked up his semi automatic pistol. He was supposed to be cleaning not only his weapons, but also pretty much the weapons of the entire crew.

Jacob frowned, and Kirill could feel his mentor’s brain working through the strange behavior. “I haven’t seen you act like this in—actually, I’ve never seen you act like this. Tell me. Is it about a woman?”

“I suppose you could say that,” Kirill murmured.

Jacob muttered something in Russian. “I told you. Meet them, fuck them, leave them, but never fall in love with them. It’s just too messy in our line of work.”

“Says the married man.” Kirill gazed at his friend, wondering why Jacob never followed his own advice.

“Didn’t I just say that it’s too messy?” Jacob waved his hand. “Case in point. My wife is a pain in the ass. Always demanding things of my time and complaining when I’m not home at a decent hour. Why do you think I’ve been giving you all the jobs lately?”

Kirill shrugged. “I suppose I thought you felt I was ready.”

“Ha! Like that matters?” Jacob snorted. “Either you are ready and you live, or you are not ready and you die.”

“That’s very encouraging. Thank you.”

“Being an assassin is not an encouraging sort of job.” Jacob sank into a chair beside him. “When you first came to me and asked if I would be your mentor, I didn’t believe you would make much of an assassin. You were hotheaded and notoriously rash. In fact, there were days I thought you might simply start killing whoever pissed you off.”