Russian Mobster’s Revenge (5 page)

“What?” Sergei threw up his hands and paced in a little circle. “You’re lower than a snake’s belly, Dedov. Giving tips to the FBI in order to take down one of your own brothers? Surely you don’t think the bosses would approve of that?”

“They might frown upon
that
, but I’m certain they would frown more if they discovered you’ve been padding your numbers and lying about your revenue in order to cover up your own incompetence.”

Sergei turned to Emily. “What have you told him?”

“Told him?” Emily was obviously aghast. “What are you talking about? I didn’t have to tell him anything! That’s what landed me in this position in the first place. You know that! I told you.”

“How can I trust anything you say anymore? Now that you’re with him, I’ll never again be sure of your loyalty.”

A sudden wave of darkness had Ivan shooting to his feet. “How dare you accuse Emily like that? After what she’s done for you? All of the things she is
doing
because she cares for your incompetent ass?”

Sergei snarled something in Russian, getting right in Ivan’s face. Ivan knew that Sergei was strong, but he was confident in his own abilities. What he couldn’t stand was the look of horror on Emily’s face. He had his enemy right where he wanted him, and yet he didn’t even want to throw a punch. What was
wrong
with him?

“Please stop,” Emily whispered. “Just stop.”

Ivan moved away from the table and gently helped Emily out of her chair. “Let’s go, Ms. Volkov. There’s no need to listen to his ranting.”

“Sergei,” Emily said softly. “I never wanted you to think badly of me. I hope you’ll try to understand why I did what I did.”

Sergei sent a pointed look to Emily, gesturing to the hand that Ivan had on her elbow. “Perhaps I just can’t understand what you’re doing now.”

Chapter Six

Emily remained silent on the ride back to Ivan’s apartment. She simply didn’t know what to say. The dark night spooled by outside the windows of the car. The lights of the city smeared into one long stream of light that barely penetrated the deep shadows between buildings. It reminded Emily of her situation. She had accepted Ivan’s offer because she had thought it was the right thing to do. Now her intentions were like tiny pinpricks of light lost in the darkness.

“Are you all right?” Ivan murmured once they had been in the car for nearly ten minutes.

“Yes, thank you.”

She saw the muscles in his jaw leap as he ground his teeth. “Did you need to go by your own apartment to pack a bag?”

“Not now.” She swallowed uncomfortably. “I’d like to wait until I’m certain that Sergei will be gone.”

“The two of you are still sharing that old house?” Ivan sounded surprised.

She snorted. “Our parents’ place, yes. You know, your research isn’t quite up to snuff. How is it that you don’t know these things about me?”

“Perhaps it wasn’t you I was researching.” He kept looking over at her and she didn’t know what to make of the surreptitious glances. His expression wasn’t hard or angry. Then he reached over and took her hand. He lifted her fingers to his lips. “I only research an enemy, Emily. And you’ve never been my enemy.”

“And yet you’re determined to use me to get revenge on my brother,” she pointed out. “I’m not naïve enough to believe that’s not part of your intention.”

“That’s still about your brother and not you,” he whispered over the sensitive skin on her hand and she shivered a little.

“Keep telling yourself that,” she whispered back. “Did you really tip off the FBI about my brother’s dealers?”

“Does it matter?” Ivan let go of her hand and put his own back on the steering wheel. They were turning into the parking garage beneath his building now. “Your brother’s men are fools. The careless way they do business is endangering the rest of us. Perhaps it was their own stupidity that put them on the FBI’s radar.”

“Perhaps.” She couldn’t help but think otherwise. “The reason I agreed to your proposition was to keep my brother out of trouble with the bosses and the organization. If your actions just throw him back into the line of fire, I don’t see why I would stay.”

“I don’t know, Emily,” Ivan murmured. “Why
would
you stay?”

“Don’t play games with me, Ivan.” Emily tried to put some resolve into her voice. Ivan pulled into a parking space and she unbuckled her seat belt. She felt lightheaded from the wine she’d drunk, but not so much that she couldn’t see her own danger. “If you’re not going to keep your word, I’ve no reason to stay.”

“I told you what my intentions are, Emily.” Ivan turned toward her. “I’ve never been anything but honest. Your brother put himself above the orphaned boy from Moscow. I only want to show him that he’s a fool.”

Emily tried to reconcile that in her mind, but it was too fuzzy to make sense of anything but the softness of Ivan’s voice as he spoke to her. She rested her head against the back of the seat and tried to evaluate his face. She got distracted from the question of his honesty by the handsome cut of his jaw. He looked different now than he had eight years ago. His face was more chiseled. It fascinated her.

Before she could think better of it, Emily reached out and stroked her fingers over his jawline. He caught her hand, bringing her palm to his lips and kissing it. A burst of awareness shot down her spine. Then Ivan leaned across the center console and cupped her cheek. His thumb brushed her lower lip. Emily realized that her heart was pounding and her breathing had gone ragged. The tension in the car was so thick that she could feel it wrapping around them.

“Emily,” he whispered. “I want to kiss you. May I?”

The soft plea for permission melted any remaining resistance. She lifted her face to his and held her breath as his lips descended to brush against hers. The touch was electric. She moved closer, parting her lips and sighing as his tongue swept inside her mouth. He made love to her with his mouth, the promise of more hovering between them.

In the close confines of the car, she reached up to slip her fingers into his hair. The familiar feel of the silky strands took her back to a time eight years before when she had been so in love with this man.

“Emily,” Ivan murmured. “I want you so badly.”

“It’s not a good idea.” There was no resolve in her protest. Even she knew that.

He kissed her again, the contact rendering her almost senseless with the need for him.

His breath whispered over her skin. “I’ve missed you. There’s never been anyone else like you.”

Those words were exactly what she needed to hear. She had longed to know that he felt the same way. She was not alone in this crazy attraction. Her actions were not in vain. The knowledge ripped away the rest of her barriers. She buried her hands in his hair and drew him closer for another kiss. This time she took charge. She thrust her tongue into his mouth. Moaning and writhing against him, she told him without words what she needed and knew that her pleas would be answered.

***

Ivan had never expected that Emily would give in so easily. He gazed at her with satisfaction. She was naked in the center of his bed. Her expression was bemused, but there was no hesitation as she lifted her hand and beckoned him to go to her.

He climbed onto the bed and settled on his knees. Her breasts rose and fell, her pretty pink nipples tightening beneath his gaze. With each breath she took, the soft flesh shivered. He cupped one round globe in his hand and reveled in the sensation of their pert fullness. Kneading them both in his hands, he thumbed her nipples into tight little points. She arched her back and pushed her breasts into the contact. Her skin grew flushed.

“Ivan.”

He lowered his mouth to her breasts. Licking and sucking each one in turn, he felt his own lust rising until his cock was throbbing between his legs. No woman had ever been so perfect for him. He touched her belly, letting his fingers trace a path to her hipbones and then lower. He tugged at the pale gold hair dusting her mound. She moved restlessly, her legs seeming to fall open in invitation.

“I’m going to touch you,” he told her softly. “I’m going to make you come with my hands. And then I’m going to sink my cock into your pussy and make you come again.”

She shuddered and gasped. “Yes!”

He delved between the fullness of her nether lips. The soft folds parted and he realized that she was incredibly wet. The sound of fingers sliding through her cream was an erotic addition to her sweet cries of arousal. Then he found her clit and her hips nearly arched up off the bed.

Ivan watched in fascination as Emily’s body trembled on the bed before him. He spread her sex and circled the tight little bud until he felt the first tremors of her orgasm in the clenching of her inner muscles. Her throaty cries were music in his ears. Then it all snapped and a gush of fluid wet his hand.

“Ivan. I’m coming! Ivan!”

He watched her climax and marveled at the bravery of her total surrender. Emily held nothing back from him. And when her body seemed to sigh with satisfaction he felt a shot of male pride that made him want to roar.

Settling himself between her thighs, Ivan let the tip of his cock push lightly against her opening. It felt so damn good. She was hot and wet. The rounded head grew slippery with her fluids. His arms trembled as he held his weight above her body.

Suddenly Emily opened her eyes. She smiled up at him, lifting her fingers and touching his lips. “Make love to me, Ivan,” she whispered.

The gentle words were his undoing. He entered her in one long stroke. His thick cock spread her folds until her flesh surrounded him completely. He paused then, grinding his teeth together and fighting for control of his desires.

Emily lifted one leg, lightly stroking the small of his back with her calf. Had he ever expected to feel so wanted by her again?

He surged into her body, thrusting deep and then pulling out, only to do it once more.

Soon he was pounding her pussy, each stroke causing his body to slap against hers. The sound and scent of sex filled the room. He inhaled deeply of the smell of her fluids mingled with his. The primal instinct to claim this woman overcame everything else. He growled his need and fucked her as hard as he dared. Yet she never shrank away. Instead, Emily met him stroke for stroke. She put her feet flat on the bed and met him every time as though she were begging him for more.

Finally he felt his climax begin to uncurl inside his body. His legs went nearly numb from the sheer pleasure of being inside her. He clutched at the sheets with his fingers and panted as he struggled to breathe.

Her hands settled on his shoulders. She dug her nails into his skin and marked him as he intended to mark her. The tiny pinpricks of pain pushed him over the edge. He groaned and thrust hard as he ejaculated into the softness of her body.

Emily cried out when he came. She clutched at him and screamed his name as she came again. Her inner muscles clenched tightly around his shaft. His balls grew tighter as the delicious friction between them sent him spiraling to the heavens.

“Oh my God,” she whispered over and over again.

Ivan lost track of time then. He closed his eyes and rolled to the side in order to avoid crushing Emily’s smaller frame. She gave a little sigh. He pulled her into the curve of his body and rested his cheek against her tangled hair.

At some point her bun had come down, and now the long strands of her blond hair were spread across his sheets. The sight gave him incredible satisfaction. For once the feeling had nothing to do with what Sergei might or might not feel. It didn’t matter what his business portfolio looked like. The only thing on his mind was the woman in his arms.

“Ivan?” she whispered.

He grunted a response.

“Why is it so much better between you and me?”

He had to rouse his brain in order to consider her question. “Because sometimes the chemistry is completely natural,” he told her. “And beyond that, I don’t have any other answer.”

“I don’t hold back with you.” She seemed to be considering this fact. “I don’t know why, but I can’t.”

Somehow that knowledge, alone, made him feel like the king of the world. “I would never want you to.”

Chapter Seven

Ivan rolled away from Emily and threw his legs over the side of the bed before sitting up. Rubbing a hand down his face, he glanced over and noticed that Emily was sleeping with her hands tucked beneath her cheek. She looked so damn innocent lying there. The morning sun was just beginning to creep through the blinds. Soon it would be time to get up and start the day.

He stood and walked into the bathroom. The posh surroundings usually gave him satisfaction. Today they seemed overdone. The fixtures looked gaudy instead of luxurious in the gray light of dawn that painted everything in shadow.

Placing his hands flat on the cool, smooth sink top, he gazed into the mirror. His reflection looked different somehow. That made no sense. Nothing had changed. And yet as he turned on the faucet and splashed water over his cheeks, he
felt
different.

The water wetted his hair and drenched his face. Head bowed, he let the droplets drip back into the sink as he tried to discover why he felt so strange. He had achieved his goal. Emily had coming willingly to his bed. Sergei would be fiercely angry. And yet the satisfaction he felt was hollow.

Ivan grabbed a pair of shorts hanging on a hook and pulled them on. He shoved his fingers through his damp hair and left the bathroom for the hallway. To his surprise, Samantha Bristo was sitting in his kitchen sipping a cup of coffee.

Ivan raised an eyebrow at her audacity. “Don’t you even knock anymore?”

“Your men let me in downstairs.” She tapped her cup with one fingernail. “I made coffee.”

“Thanks,” he grunted.

Ivan poured himself a cup and rested one hip against the counter as he sipped the bitter brew. “You shouldn’t be here.”

She raised her brows over the rim of her cup, looking confused. “I come and go as I please. I always have. Why the change?”

“Emily is here.”