Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Amber wasn’t a drinker, so the single shot of vodka she’d swigged the previous evening had almost knocked her out.
She didn’t remember much about getting to bed but thanked her lucky stars that she’d only had one drink, so the effects had worn off by the next morning.
She wanted the chance to warm up in the gym before sparring with Alexei.
Exciting though the thought of grappling with him was, she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t apprehensive.
She was agile and fast, but Alexei was built like a tank.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror above the sink.
She had graduated top of her class in self-defense.
The thug on shore in Monte Carlo had just gotten lucky.
She would rely on her speed. Loading her determination with a double dose of stubborn intent to keep her job on board Russian Thunder, she brushed her hair back and secured it out of the way.
He swam in his lap pool first to loosen up his muscles, and then grabbed a towel, dried off, and strolled to his gym, where he was surprised to find Amber already well into her routine, kicking six bells out of his punch bag.
With her fists raised and her feet flying, she was quite something in sweatpants, gloves, and a tiny exercise top.
He stood watching her from the doorway as she gave the bag everything she got.
She was fast and effective. And as hot as hell.
“Don’t let me stop you,” he said when she sensed him watching and paused mid-blow.
Wiping her forehead on the back of her arm, she leveled a stare at him. “You’re not stopping me. Shouldn’t you be warming up?”
Things had changed between them since last night. She demanded respect now. She got it, and he looked forward to testing her further.
“How’s your arm?” she asked as she launched a flurry of kicks and punches at the bag. “I don’t want an unfair advantage.”
“You won’t get one,” he assured her. Temptation swung between teaching her a lesson and a primal need that had nothing to do with a workout.
He worked methodically through his sets, finding the calm that always filled him when he used his body to the full. “Ready?” he asked her as he toweled down.
“If you are,” she said.
She had guts. He’d give her that.
Ten seconds in, Amber knew she was in trouble.
She might be fast, but Alexei was warp speed.
Stripped to the waist with loose-fitting fight shorts slung low on his hips, he was also a dangerous distraction.
She couldn’t afford to get caught by one of those swings.
He’d kill her if he landed a blow. He parried and deflected her shots as easily as swatting a fly.
Her speed was all that saved her, for a while—
She yelped with shock as the mat flew up to meet her. Alexei had tripped her. She hadn’t seen that coming. Somehow he got to the mat before her, and she landed on top of him with a grunt.
“Since when was playing dirty in your rule book?” she demanded when she could find enough breath to speak.
“Lesson one, myshka. In my team, there are no rules.”
“Little mouse?” she demanded, outraged, struggling to break free before her body insisted she rub against him. “Did you just call me a little mouse?”
“You speak Russian?”
“Enough to know when I’m being insulted.” She narrowed her eyes. “I thought you’d read my CV. The unofficial one?”
As she scrambled up, Alexei reached out and grabbed her wrist. ‘But you are tiny, myshka.”
“Maybe. But I’m no fucking mouse!”
Grabbing her towel, she stalked, head high, out of the gym, with Alexei’s laughter following after.
Not knowing if Alexei would throw her off at the next port, Amber decided to make up for her loss of control by working through every single instruction the purser had given to her in half the time expected.
She cleaned every one of the guest cabins until they gleamed and made sure they were restocked with necessities.
Returning to the spacious galley after taking a shower, she gratefully accepted a giant bowl of spaghetti from one of the chefs.
She had just dug her fork in when a familiar voice rang out.
“Idling on duty, myshka?”
Stifling the urge to upend the bowl of spaghetti on Alexei’s feet, she turned slowly to face him.
Everyone else in the kitchen was standing to attention, Amber noticed, while she was still seated with her chin resting on her shoulder.
Something about the look in Alexei’s eyes and the faint angling of his chin brought her to her feet like everyone else.
His air of command was impossible to ignore.
Trying not to be impressed by a sight that made her heart go crazy, she saw he’d showered and changed into snug-fitting jeans and a casual shirt with the sleeves rolled back to display his formidable forearms. She could detect the faint scent of shower gel on him, and his hair was still a little damp.
She refused to be intimidated, either by his incredible physique or by the way he moved like a silent big-pawed predator across the galley toward her.
She certainly wasn’t impressed by the mocking expression on his hard, ruthless face, or by the freakin’ ridiculous bulge in his jeans. Especially not that.
“Hello again,” she said coolly.
“My quarters now,” he said, jerking his chin.
“Where are we headed?” she asked the moment Alexei had closed the door on his high-tech study. Her body was still singing from being manhandled by Alexei on the mat, but her brain was functioning clearly enough to know that she had to keep her wits about her.
“You’re in no position to question me. Shut your mouth,” he added coldly, “and listen for once. You did a good thing last night. And you put up a reasonable show on the mat this morning. You could be of use to us when we reach the island.”
“Are you offering me a job?”
“I thought you already had one,” Alexei commented with a lift of his brow. “Only a few unique and special individuals work with us.”
“And I don’t qualify?” Amber’s hackles rose. “How can you say that when you don’t know anything about me?”
Folding his arms, Alexei stared down at her.
“You think I don’t know about you? You think that’s not what I do?
How do you think I’ve stayed alive so long?
I know everything about you, even down to the fact that you took the job at Hard News, and turned down an offer to join one of the UK’s elite undercover squads because you could see a time coming when you might want to settle down to civilian life. ”
“But I never planned to work for you.”
“Not until you were sent here,” he reminded her.
Which was true. Working for Alexei would be full of risk, and not just because of the dangerous missions he undertook.
Her heart was at risk too. Unfortunately, the more coolly he behaved toward her, the more of a challenge she found him.
Currently, he was right up there in the space marked “Stay away from this man. If you can.”
“I do need to deliver my story,” she admitted, “But I can tailor it to suit whatever story you want to put out.”
With that statement, she had just declared her loyalty, Amber realized.
She felt good about it too. Part of her had wondered if Alexei was just another member of the privileged one percent of society, who lived their lives in an ivory tower, but he had proved to be so much more than that.
He used his wealth to help others rather than himself, and because of it, he appealed to her on so much more than just a sexual level.
She’d freely admit that she’d fallen for the world he inhabited.
She’d always thought of herself as a woman of action but had somehow had got stuck in a low-level reporting job.
What could be better than working to change the world for good, as Alexei did, and with a powerful team around her?
It would be a culmination of her life’s training and dreams.
“If you do come to work for me, I’ll need to know more about you so I can protect those you care about,” Alexei explained. “The first place any gang will strike to try to get at you is at those you love.”
“I thought you knew everything about me?”
“I need to hear your version of events to be sure nothing was left out of the reports I’ve received.”
Amber only wished she could read the reports he’d received and know where he’d got them from, and who had compiled them, but like all the other secrets she suspected Alexei held close to his chest, she guessed she’d never know. “Where would you like me to start?”
“Childhood,” he instructed.
“Father in the military.” The rush of pain she always felt when she thought about her father silenced her for a few moments.
His memory was like a clear bell chiming through all the fug in between.
“He was killed on the battlefield, trying to save his comrades.” Pressing her lips together, she lifted her chin.
“My mother married again.” This all came out clipped.
She didn’t want to relive that part of her past at all—not the mocking she’d suffered at the hands of her stepfather, or his verbal abuse of her father, or the way he’d hit her mother, and worse, when he’d had too much to drink.
“Your stepfather abused you?” Alexei guessed.
“Are you asking me or telling me?” She fixed Alexei with an unblinking stare.
He shrugged. “As I said, I’d like to hear your version of events.”
“I spent a lot of time hiding,” she admitted.
“When I was older and the army recruitment team moved into the nearest town, it seemed like the right time to follow my dad into the military. I guess you pulled my record, so I won’t elaborate beyond saying that I loved my time in the forces.
Further training in Special Ops was mentioned, and I seized the opportunity.
Joining the forces was like joining another family for me. ”
“And your stepfather?” Alexei prompted.