5. Maxim
5
MAXIM
N adia Petrov.
Her pictures didn’t do her justice. Not one bit. The slender brunette looked up at me. Shock crossed over her expressive face, but she snapped to quickly. Replacing that frown of surprise, she narrowed her eyes and pressed her plump lips into a firm line. Not quite a scowl, but close. A hint of fear remained in her blue eyes, but I dismissed it.
I dismissed a hell of a lot more. Gazing down at her, I was instantly captivated by the allure of her soulful eyes. She pulled at me. Instantly, without any hesitation or any chance of a knee-jerk reaction to glance aside, I was sucked into her presence.
The gorgeous challenge in her glare. The smart clamp of her lips as though she fought the urge to tell me off.
She was shorter than I’d expected. The photos I’d found of her suggested she was slender and willowy, but with my fingers locked around her upper arms, I felt the solid substance of muscles. Inked skin covered her, and with an impatient flick of her head, she tossed her long brown locks back and revealed another line of tattoos up near the back of her neck.
God damn.
Tensing within my hold, she fidgeted to break free. “Let me go.”
Fuck me. Her voice. It was just as—if not more—potent than her beauty. I wasn’t this weak around women, especially not at a first glance. Something about this woman hit me. Swift and sure. Hard. I couldn’t look away. Holding her against my chest felt like embracing a bolt of flames, and still, I remained stuck in place staring at her.
“Planning on running?” I taunted.
She would. If I released her, she’d dash away. I felt the simmering tension beneath her skin. This touch felt like I was grasping a live wire that would sizzle and spark any second now. The anxiety in her guarded expression didn’t lie either.
A flicker of alarm showed when I referred to her by her name, but I got the impression that she was in too much of a hurry to reply to it or demand an explanation.
She was upset and eager to leave this bar, and crashing into me had startled her.
But I wasn’t any better, dammit. I had to break out of the trance this instant attraction had pushed me into.
“Let me go .” She paired her order with a harder wrench of her arm. It only motivated me to hold on harder.
This exquisite woman wasn’t leaving my side. I’d found her, fucking finally, and I wouldn’t let her out of my sight until this job was done.
After several days of hitting dead ends and not finding her in this big city, I was not in any mood to release her.
She furrowed her brow at the tightening of my fingers on her arm. Glancing down at my grip on her, she gave me an opportunity to step even closer. Flush to her, I lowered my head until I could whisper in her ear.
“You’re coming with me.”
I couldn’t be sure if she shivered, but her body stiffened after my words.
“The hell I am.” Again, she wrestled to get free.
I didn’t relent. Keeping her within my reach, I began to step back toward the exit. “Let’s go.”
“No. You can’t just…” She growled, yanking to get free without success. “You can’t barge in here and just tell me what to?—”
At her gasp, I paused in pulling her out of the bar. Turning back to her, I caught the tail end of her movement. She’d looked back, and something alarmed her.
“Let go of me!” She doubled down, flinging her arm and garnering the attention of the people near us. Concerned drinkers and guests at the pub followed our progress through the bar. Brows were raised. Some women frowned, as though they’d intervene. I hardly gave a shit who saw and what they thought. If they called the cops, I’d figure out a way to evade them. All that mattered was keeping Nadia with me now that I’d found her.
“No.” I looked past her, curious about why she was fighting harder all of a sudden.
That was when I spotted him.
One man wove through the crowd, his focus centered on the sexy rebel I was struggling to keep with me. His dark eyes considered no one but her, and I realized his intention straightaway.
Competition.
He had his sights set on her, and with the steady, confident speed with which he crossed the room, he intended to grab her for himself.
Not on my fucking watch.
A streak of strange possessiveness shot through me, emboldening me to hustle Nadia out of there faster.
I had a room nearby, and I’d tie her up there until I could arrange for transportation back to the States. A plane would be made available shortly, and we would be out of here before she could protest.
But this fucker… He didn’t look like anyone I saw before. His appearance suggested that he was muscled help, a grunt worker or lackey, for someone more influential. I’d seen plenty of men just like him to know the type. Yet, I had no clue who the fuck he might be employed by.
It hardly mattered. If he intended to capture the woman I was sent here to retrieve, he would soon see that he was out of luck.
“That man’s coming for me,” Nadia insisted as we reached the door.
“I can see that,” I replied dryly.
“Oh, and what, you’re determined to rescue me or something?” She growled, fighting to escape me outside.
The cooler air heightened my senses. I felt more clear-minded, ready to act. Away from the stale and overcrowded bar, I was more at ease to move quickly.
Nadia dug her heels in, though, clawing at my fingers to pry them off her arm. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Yes, you are.
“Stop!” The other man hurried outside after us, and Nadia changed her tactic. She ran, almost matching my pace as she raced forward.
I didn’t let go of her arm, refusing to lose her, but her actions told me that she feared this other man more than she did me. She focused on running, on getting away, but she no longer concentrated as much on breaking free from me.
I wasn’t disillusioned to think that she was accepting that I’d caught hold of her, but it seemed that I was the lesser evil.
Was he an ex? Someone who hurt her before? Again, immediate spikes of anger and frustration struck me, and I fought them back.
Nadia was a job. A means to an end. She didn’t matter, but I despised the idea of her so desperate and frantic to get away from that stranger.
“Please.” She tugged on her arm as we pumped them, sprinting hard down the street. “Please, just let me go.”
I gritted my teeth, wondering if I’d need to gag her too. Once I explained where I needed to take her, she’d rail and beg even more. As sexy as her voice was, I didn’t need more complications to seeing this through.
Instead of replying, I maneuvered her to turn down an alley. We skidded, slowing on the slick pavement from the recent rains, but we managed the abrupt change of direction.
“Stop!” The man shouted as he pursued us, chasing us all the way down here. His accent sounded foreign, yet not, as if he was a man used to living and being all over the world. Indistinguishable.
I didn’t know who he was and I didn’t care. I was expected to get this woman and bring her to her fiancé and that was what I’d fucking do.
He could find another random woman to harass or stalk.
Not this one.
But he wasn’t giving up. All the way down this alley, he chased us.
At the first sound of a gun being fired, my irritation from his persistence morphed into anger.
“You motherfucker,” I growled under my breath.
Panting hard from the run, I halted so quickly that Nadia squeaked in alarm. She flung back to me with the sudden stop in our momentum, but I made sure to pull her to me as I veered to the side.
I couldn’t have her shot at. I had to deliver her safe and sound, if sassy and stubborn.
“Stop! Let her go!” The man just wouldn’t quit.
You interfering asshole.
I gritted my teeth as I turned to face him. His footsteps pounded closer and closer, and I knew I had to settle this and get rid of the threat. I didn’t want to deal with outrunning him and giving him the chance to stay on our tail.
At the same time I spun to fight him, I pushed Nadia to the side. She’d be safe next to the dumpster while I handled this pest.
Her back slammed against the brick wall, and I had just enough time to catch a glance of her stunned expression. She was still afraid but fighting to show it. Alarmed. Worried. Bewildered. And she only had herself to blame for it. Had she not resisted me, we could’ve easily left this fucker in the dust behind us.
“Let her go?—”
I punched him at the same time I grabbed my gun. His order would stay unfinished. I’d robbed him of speech with that jab to his jaw, but he wasn’t a weakling to fall back easily.
We engaged in combat, and with every deflected punch, kick, and hold, I realized this was no amateur asshole trying to snatch a woman from a bar. He was trained, skilled, and practiced at fighting.
I’d knocked his gun to the side, but he produced a knife just as quickly. Shooting him would’ve been quicker, but I didn’t need to pull any more attention to us out here. This wasn’t like back at home where guns were so common. A gunshot caught too much attention.
This was supposed to be an in-and-out sort of operation, but it was already turning upside down.
When he lunged forward to stab me, I twisted into a countering move and took the blade from him. With my step back, I drove the sharp point into his gut.
He groaned, uttering expletives in Russian, then Spanish. I lost track of them as I slammed my elbow into the side of his head. That knife wound would slow him down from chasing after me and trying to get Nadia. The hit to his head would make him stagger even more.
Nadia.
I caught my breath, my chest heaving as I looked to the side where I’d shoved her.
Fuck!
Only the brick wall met my eyes. She wasn’t there. The damn woman had taken off while I’d been distracted fighting off this man.
My patience was shot. I didn’t have time for this. I found her and lost her? Already?
“Fuck!”
As the man groaned and clutched his bleeding injury, I gripped his hair and smashed his face into my knee.
Under any other circumstances, I would stay and interrogate him before killing him. I had to ask him who he was. Why he wanted her. What his connection was, if he had any other than seeing a gorgeous woman and wanting to take advantage of her.
But I couldn’t. Jogging away, I shook out my hand and wished away the sting and ache of punching that fucker so hard.
Nadia wasn’t here. I ran forward to an intersection of the alleys, scanning the grimy area for any sign of her. Slowing to a stop in the cross of alleys, I steadied my breath and listened for any sound of her footsteps as she ran away.
“God damn it,” I mumbled.
She was gone.
I had to hunt her down all over again.