Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal Book 2) (8 page)

With his arm around Violet, and Maya walking just ahead of them, Kaz walked them to the car.

Violet’s head snapped up at the sound of screeching tires coming from outside of the townhouse. The shower upstairs didn’t turn off as the front door was opened and then slammed shut, a familiar voice ringing out.

“Maya!”

On the loveseat in the corner, Maya pushed up from her seat just as Kolya stormed into the living room, his gaze sharp, dark, and a little … crazy, even.

Wild might have been more appropriate.

Violet wasn’t quite sure she had ever seen someone look so out of their fucking mind while at the same time, managing to maintain an outward composure.

She wondered what kind of man Kolya was in his mind to have that sort of control.

The second his gaze landed on Maya, Kolya softened a bit in his stance, but barely. He didn’t even pass Violet a look as he said, “Go.”

Maya gave Violet a small smile. “It’s all right. He doesn’t have manners, but he meant to say please, too.”

Violet put her hand up, waving it all off as she got up from the couch and strolled past Kolya, making her way toward the kitchen. He didn’t look at her as she passed, either. He was far too focused on his wife, not that Violet minded.

She hesitated in her steps when the voices echoed from back in the living room.

“Why lie?” Kolya asked.

“Because look at how you reacted, Kolya.”

“Because you lied.”

“Wrong,” Maya said.

“No, I’m right. I reacted the same way I would have.”

“I was fine.”

“You were—”

“
Fine
, Kolya.” Maya sighed loudly. “I was doing exactly what I needed. I had it under control, and you would have gotten there in plenty of time.”

“I saw the marks on the back of your bumper. You’re placating me—he is already dead. It’s pointless to lie in the hopes of keeping me from going back to the bastard driving. He is
dead
.”

Violet swallowed hard, ignoring the sliver of ice crawling up her spine.

“You always do this, Kolya. You go crazy, and there’s no calming you—no helping you. You would have gotten there in plenty of time.”

“I did,” Kolya replied. “And look how it turned out, no?”

Violet decided to keep walking, but the conversation continued behind her. She could still hear them talking even as she opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine.

Drinking might calm her nerves, but who could say.

“There’s no switch for you, Kolya,” Maya continued.

Violet caught sight of Kaz coming to stand in the kitchen entryway. Shirtless, with just a pair of cotton sleep pants on and his hair still damp, he watched her with his arms crossed as she searched for a wine glass.

Kaz acted like there wasn’t a private conversation going on—she figured he probably had a better idea of what was going on than she did.

“No switch,” Maya continued, “where I’m concerned.”

“There is,” Kolya shot back. “You are the fucking switch. I shut off—that’s it. When someone hits that switch, I have no care. You know this,
dushka
.”

“But—”

“Because you are,” Kolya interrupted quieter. “My
dushka
—my soul, Maya. I turn off. I’m not sorry for that.”

Eventually, the conversation died down, and Violet heard footsteps a second before Kaz glanced over his shoulder with a frown and a nod. Shortly after that, the front door closed.

The silence practically echoed as Violet lifted a full glass of wine to her lips.

“Eventful day,” she mumbled around the rim.

Heady, red wine covered her tongue, but it didn’t help the anxiety.

“I know,” Kaz murmured. “But everything turned out fine—the message that was sent ended up being a massive failure on your father’s part.”

“But he’ll try again.”

Kaz’s jaw ticked. “Likely.”

Or maybe Vasily would.

Violet chose not to ask.

“Do we leave now?” she asked.

“Run, you mean?”

“Do we?”

Kaz pushed away from the entryway and strolled farther into the kitchen. “We didn’t run in the first place. I never intended to hide where we were.”

Huh.

“This was only a matter of time,” he added.

“They came a little too close, Kaz.”

He came to stand behind her, placing his palms flat on the island counter on either side of her body. For a long while, he just stayed there, letting her sip her wine while he said nothing.

Violet hadn’t realized it, but she’d needed that. As simple as it was, it calmed her as nothing else could. He calmed her.

“Don’t take it personally if Maya stays away for a bit,” Kaz said, his words whispering along the back of her neck as his lips brushed her skin.

“Why?”

She found it was easier to talk if she focused on his words and not the heat traveling through her blood.

“Because Kolya is … well, he’s a little insane where Maya is concerned,” Kaz explained. “It’s better to just let him do what he needs to do to get back to his normal, nasty self.”

“All right.”

“You’re taking this all well, hmm?”

Violet took another sip of wine, unsure of what he wanted her to say. “It scared me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“But the thought of being dragged back to my father scared me a hell of a lot more. I’m not a possession, but he thinks that I am.”

“You’re not going back to him.”

Violet let out a soft breath. “Don’t make promises, Kaz. At least not ones we don’t know if you can keep.”

“I’ll keep this promise—even if it kills me,
krasivaya
.”

Kaz watched as Violet brushed by him, but instead of heading up to their bedroom, she went to the living room. One delicate hand held the wine glass, but his gaze had strayed down from it to the curve of her hip, swaying just enough to get his attention every time.

His thoughts should have been on Vasily or even Alberto since he had been bold enough to send his men in Boykov territory, but the second his gaze strayed to the bare skin of her midsection where her shirt didn’t quite cover, he didn’t want to think of anything else but her.

Pushing off the wall, Kaz crossed the floor in a few long strides, catching her around the waist before she could sit. Instead, he drew her down over the top of him, her legs on either side of him. Plucking the glass from her hand, he set it on the floor beside them.

“Kaz—”

It still baffled him sometimes … the way he felt when his name fell from her lips. Maybe because, even when it was innocent, he could still hear the way she moaned it when he was fucking her.

He lived for that sound, and though it had only been days, he already missed the sound of it.

Before she could finish whatever she thought to say, his fingers had drifted from her waist until they spanned out over her throat.

And there it was …

That slight hitch in her breath as he pressed just a bit harder. The way her lips parted …

Outside their bedroom, she was fragile to him, someone he wanted to protect, but here, when he had her beneath his hands, he wanted to see how much she could take before she broke.

Pulling her toward him, he didn’t kiss her lips but ran his lips along her jaw, feeling her skin heat up as he bit at the cord in her neck. She arched into him, but he held her exactly how he wanted, dragging the straps of her top and bra off her shoulder and pushing the material down until he could get her breast in his hand, her nipple between his fingers as he squeezed.

A sharp, needy sound tore from her, her hips grinding further into his erection. He could practically feel how hot her pussy was beneath those shorts she wore, and he was dangerously close to ripping the fucking things off just so he could get in there, but he reined it in, contented with the process.

Releasing his hold on her, he drew back just far enough to drag the shirt over her head and unsnap her bra. His hands full, he didn’t hesitate to kiss her now. Even as he drew her bottom lip into his mouth, pulling at it, the answering whine made his dick ache.

One hand curled around her neck to keep her in place as his other pushed its way into her panties and down to her begging, slippery flesh.

Fuck, she was already shaking, and he hadn’t even touched her properly. How easy it would be to get her off right then …

“Do you want to come,
krasivaya
?” He asked the question against her mouth, her lips parting with a gasp. She was trying to concentrate, he knew, seeking out his fingers to give her more, but he didn’t give in. Not yet. “I need an answer.”

Violet nodded, but as quickly as she did, she answered him with a quick
yes
, knowing his rule on needing to hear her.

“Then do something for me, hmm?”

“Anything …”

“Get on your knees.”

There was no hesitation on her part, no questioning glances as she merely pulled free of him and slowly moved to her knees between his, looking up at him expectantly.

He fucking loved that look on her face.

She knew what he wanted without him having to ask.

Shoving his pants to his ankles, Kaz fisted his cock, nodding for her to put her mouth on it. And when she wrapped her lips around of it, taking more of his length into her mouth, his head fell back, his hand drifting to curl in her hair.

At first, he guided her movements, pushing her mouth down slowly then pulling her up, making a moan vibrate his cock with how rough he handled her. There was never a need to instruct her on how best to suck him because the moment he growled, “
Take my cock
,” she did just that.

His entire body was vibrating with the need to come, but more than that was the need to hear her scream.

Yanking her off his cock, he was pulling her back over him in the next second. Her breath left her in a rush, but her need was as great as his was as he grabbed the base of his cock and lined it up with her slit. But even as he felt like he was about to split apart if he didn’t get inside her, she didn’t do what he wanted.

No, she dragged it over her pussy, smearing her juices all over his cock, and just when he thought he was about to go mindless, she finally sank down on him achingly slow, her head falling back as she did.

Her pussy felt like a fucking vise around him, so fucking tight it felt like the first time all over again.

He gave her a moment, letting her get used to his size before he had his hands curled around the curve of her hips, but he didn’t move yet.

“Look at me.”

Her eyes opened, the pupils blown, even as she did as he asked, her hands going to his shoulders, her nails digging in. That pouty bottom lip of hers was red and inviting, and had it not been between those teeth of hers, it would have been between his.

“
Kaz
,” she whispered his name like a promise even as she moved her hips, dragging her pussy up and down his cock.