Chapter 19
“You’re killing me, Lev.” Nicolette frowns at me through my computer screen.
“I wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t necessary,” I explain. She’s looking a little worn out. Her eyes aren’t as bright as they usually are. “Did you get enough sleep last night?”
“Lev.” She glances up from her phone. “I’m still jet lagged. I’ve only been here a few days.”
“Still. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep.”
She locks her eyes with mine before rolling them. Secure in the fact that she’s hundreds of miles away.
“You can’t keep worrying about me, Lev. I’m all grown up—”
“So you’ve told me repeatedly for the last four years.”
“Yes, since I hit adulthood.” She brushes her dark hair back from her face. I’m second guessing my decision to let her move an ocean away. She’s still too young, to impulsive.
“I’m fine,” she says again, this time with more sincerity. “This is a big deal for me, Lev. I don’t want this internship messed up because I have security all over me every second of the day. There are places I’m not sure they can be with me.”
“They can be with you everywhere you are.” I lean forward. “When I agreed to let you go, you gave me your word you wouldn’t fight me on the security measures.”
“That’s when you had two men with me, now you’re talking about adding more? Where? At my loft, at the office?”
“It’s unavoidable, Nicolette. You need to listen to me here.” I suck back my annoyance.
This isn’t her fault. She never asked to be part of all of this darkness, but when our parents died she became my responsibility. I will never allow anything to happen her, even if it means listening to her rant and rave at how I’m overbearing and annoying.
“Can you at least promise they won’t get in the way?”
“Like they aren’t even there.” I vow.
Besides, she already thinks I let her move to Europe for a full year with only a two-man security detail. If she knew about the other five watching over her, I’d really have an angry little sister on my hands.
And they’d be having a hell of a time trying to keep her in their sights. The girl can be slippery as a fish when she wants her privacy.
“Fine.” She sighs. “It’s not like I really have an option, right?”
“No.” I grin. “You don’t. And it’s not forever, just until this issue is handled.”
“This issue with Maxine or the Volkovs?”
“Yes.” I nod.
She shakes her head. “Is she all right?”
“Maxine? She’s fine.”
“She’s probably worried sick about her brothers. You still don’t have any idea where they flew off to?” There are a lot of things I won’t tell my sister for her safety and to keep her from worrying, but I trust her with my life, so there’s also a lot I keep her informed about.
And when it comes to Max, her friend, I’m trying to be as open about the whole situation as I can be. Especially since she’s having to accept more armed guards in her life as a result.
“No, but we’ll know soon enough. They can’t hide forever.”
“What if they’re not hiding from anyone? What if they just took off. They’ve never been exactly good to her.”
“Does she think they’d do that? They’d just abandon her?” Maxine does nothing but defend the little pricks at every turn. I haven’t been able to get a serious read on the situation from her eyes other than she’s worried about them.
Nicolette lifts a shoulder. “I kinda got that impression.”
She leans back in her chair, brining a cappuccino to her lips. “Like if she didn’t do everything they asked her to, she’d never see them again.”
I drum my fingertips on my desk.
“Lev?” Her voice softens and she leans into the camera. “You didn’t do anything to her, did you?”
“Why would ask that?” My mood instantly darkens.
I’m no angel. There’s definitely no place in heaven for me when I get there. I’ve squeezed the life out of men with my bare hands and left their bodies rotting while I went off to dinner.
But Maxine isn’t some lowlife thug. She’s…well, she’s Maxine.
“I don’t mean hurt her. I mean, you’re not you know…” She lifts her eyebrows, waggling them at me and I get her meaning.
“It’s not really your business.”
“Lev.” She sighs with disappointment. “You better know what you’re doing.”
“I don’t need a lecture.” I snap. “I’m keeping her safe.”
“By making her sleep in your bed?” She shoots back at me. “If you hurt her—”
“I’m keeping her from getting hurt.” I move closer to the camera. “No one is going to hurt her.”
“Not even you?” She quirks her brow and tilts her head.
There’s a soft knock on the door right before it opens. From my side vision Maxine appears in the doorway.
When I turn to look at her, she steps back and holds herself up straighter. I realize the scowl meant for my sister is pointed at Maxine.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but Dmitri said the car’s ready.” Her voice is steady but uncertainty flashes in her eyes. And I’m the asshole who put it there.
“Hey, Max!” Nicolette yells through the iPad. “Don’t mind him, he’s grumpy because of me. Come here so I can see you!”
Maxine’s expression lightens. “Are you talking with Nicolette?”
Apparently over her apprehension at interrupting me, she hurries over to my desk and leans over me to wave at my sister.
“Hey! You got there.” Maxine nudges me with her hip, trying to nudge me out of the way.
Taking the opportunity given me, I grab her by the hips and pull her into my lap. She shoots me a glare over her shoulder, but Nicolette snatches up her attention by telling her about the loft she’s rented for the year.
“It sounds amazing.” Max says with genuine enthusiasm. “You’re going to have such a good time. And when you get back, you’ll have a huge career ahead of you!”
Nicolette laughs. “I’ll be happy if I get through this year without embarrassing myself.”
“Why would you embarrass yourself?” Max wiggles on my lap, probably trying to find a comfortable position.
But in doing so, her plump, sweet ass rubs against my cock.
I’m already hard simply from having her so close, I can smell the gentle fragrance of my soap on her.
The fact that it’s my soap clinging to her soft skin, makes me want to lick her skin.
Now with her ass pressed up against my cock, I have to bite back a growl before I cut off the call with Nicolette and bend Maxine over the desk.
“He’s not even listening.” Nicolette’s chiding laughter pulls me from my erotic thoughts.
“I am listening. You’re talking about a party you’re going to this weekend that I would tell you not to go to, but you’d only defy me.”
“Oh, so that is something a person can do?” Maxine looks over her shoulder at me with a teasing smile. “Defy you?”
I lift an eyebrow. “Not you, no.”
“But Nicolette—”
“Is my sister, it’s different.”
“Don’t let him bully you, Max.” Nicolette laughs. “He only has the power you give him.”
“I think we’ve had a long enough chat,” I say to my sister, who’s looking every bit the little brat she’s been since I took over raising her at the age of thirteen.
“Hey. You called me. I was merely sitting over here enjoying my afternoon coffee.” She takes a long sip of her cappuccino with a wicked grin.
“I can always have you dragged back home.” I reach around Maxine toward the keyboard. “You’re never too far away for that.”
“I know, I know.” She rolls her eyes. “There’s nowhere in the world you don’t have reach.”
“I think she’s heard the threat before.” Maxine mutters.
“You two together is a bad idea. We need to get going; we’re going over to Alexander’s.”
“Alexander? No, you said I was going to see Vee. She’s at Ivan’s.” Maxine argues, apprehension settling in her tone.
I squeeze her hip.
“Yes, they’re going to be there, too.”
“Well, tell Megan and Elana I said hi.” Nicolette smiles warmly. “I have a lot of work this week, so I’ll call you on Thursday when I get a break.”
Almost a week before I’ll hear from her again, but that’s all right. My men will be reporting back to me about her safety.
“That’s fine. Remember, the additional men will be arriving this afternoon.”
She waves her hand in front of her face. “Fine, whatever, but if they cause any trouble, Lev, I’m calling you right away and you’ll send them away.”
“You’ll do what they say to do for your safety, Nicolette or you’ll be on your way home before you can blink.”
“Lev.” She gives me a stone hard look. One she’s learned from me over the years and has perfected.
It doesn’t work on me, though.
“If they’re in your way, you call me, and I’ll take care of it. But you do what they say in the meantime. I’m serious.”
“I’m sorry, Nicolette. This is my fault.” Maxine leans closer to the screen, making her ass press harder into me.
I squeeze her hip, willing her to stay still. I’m getting dangerously close to my limit. Another movement from her, and I’ll have her damn jeans down and her ass bent over. FaceTime call or not.
“No, no worries, Max. You know him. Overbearing, overprotective. An overall pain in the ass.” Nicolette assures her. Then with a more serious tone she says, “It’s not your fault.”
“Of course it’s not.” I agree. “Now say goodbye.”
Nicolette huffs. “Okay, bye!”
I strike the key, cutting off the call and sending the screen into darkness.
“I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Maxine twists in my lap to complain.
“Did you take another shower?” I touch the edges of her hair, they’re still damp.
“I had to.” She lowers her eyes to my chin. “I…I smelled like you.”
“And you washed it away?” I like the idea of her wearing my scent. I like the idea a fucking lot.
“People might get the wrong idea of I walk around smelling like your aftershave.” She nudges the bottom of her glasses with her knuckle, pushing them back in place.
Gently, I pull them off of her, giving her a stern look when she seems ready to grab them back.
“We need to heat these.” Opening my drawer, I pull out a lighter I keep for the nights I enjoy a cigar alone in my office.
“You’re going to burn them,” she argues, squinting to watch me work.
“Trust me, Max,” I say, striking the lighter.
Lowering the flame enough so not to melt the plastic, I warm the frame until it’s workable. Palming the lighter, I get to work and bend the earpiece of the temple at a sharper angle. Once done with the one side, I do the other.
“What do you think people would think if they smelled my aftershave on you?” I blow on the temple, cooling it once I have shaped the way I want it.
“They’d think we’ve been together.”
I bring my gaze up to hers. “But we have been together.” I pause a beat, then smile. “Very together.”
“They don’t need to know that,” she argues.
“So you don’t want them to know I’ve had my tongue inside you? My cock buried deep inside you?”
“Oh, god.” A blush erupts on her sweet face. And without her glasses on, I get a better look at her eyes as they widen in shock. “You don’t need to be so crude.”
I chuckle, then guide the glasses back into place, feeling behind her ears to be sure the temples fit better.
“That should do it.” I say, dropping the lighter back into the drawer.
She reaches up and touches the frames. “They do feel tighter.”
“Maybe you need a new pair. How old are these?”
Her ears turn red. She’s not embarrassed by my crassness now. It’s something else.
“I’ve had them for years. They work great so I haven’t bothered to get a new pair.”
She’s taken good care of them if they are years old. Much like her apartment, her clothes, everything she owns. They’ve been in her possession a long time but are well-loved and cared for.
Everything around her gets her love and attention. Something not reciprocated.
Anger burns beneath my skin. Her fucking brothers. It all comes back to those fucking pricks.
“Your eye is red.” Her fingertips lightly touch the skin below my left eye. “Does it hurt?”
I fight back the instinct to raise my hand to see what she’s talking about. She’s touching me, it’s a feather-light touch, but it’s unprompted. And it feels good. Her skin on mine. It lights a brand-new fire in me.
This woman gets under my skin too easily.
“No. It doesn’t hurt.” It itches, but nothing to complain about.
“Hmm, maybe you got something in it.” She drops her hand into her lap. “I was thinking about what you said upstairs.”
“Oh, yeah?” I brush a lock of her dark hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
She still wears my bite mark on her neck, right where her shoulder meets. It’s faint, and unless someone is staring at her with as much intent as I am, they probably won’t see it.
“You’re right. I just assumed the worst about you, that you hate me. I’m not sure why I do that, but—” she stops, drops her eyes to her hands. “Anyway, I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry if I offended you in some way. You’re doing a lot for me, and you don’t have to.”
“You didn’t offend me,” I assure her.
Grasping her chin between my finger and thumb, I turn her head to get a better look at the scrape on her cheek from that fucking police officer and the cut from the debris.
She maneuvers herself on my lap, sitting sideways on my me so I can see the other side of her neck.
“I took the bandage off. It looks okay today,” she says.
And she’s right. There’s a scab already forming, but she really should keep it covered to keep it clean.
“You should still have a band aid on it or something, to keep it clean.”
“It’s a little cut. I’m fine. Besides, if I put something on it, it’s going to attract attention.”
Something, I’m beginning to understand she’d rather not have. At least not on herself. And especially if it means she might need assistance in any way.
Because to need assistance, to her, would mean she was being a burden.
I wonder if she understands how easily she can be read. Or maybe it’s just me. I read her easily because she seems to be a story written just for me.
Fuck.
I can’t be thinking that way.
She’s an innocent.
After all of this mess is cleaned up, it’s best for her to go back to her world. Safe and sound in the little bookstore and her tiny, homey apartment.
I lean into her, intent on taking a closer look, but she misreads me and meets me halfway. Her mouth brushing against mine. It’s a tender kiss, one probably meant only to reciprocate, but I’m not going to miss my chance.
Sliding my hand along her jaw, I sink it into her hair and hold her tightly as I deepen the kiss. Her tongue meets mine, accepting and submitting to my efforts.
Her hands brace on my shoulders as she leans into the kiss. What started as a gentle touch intensifies to the point that I’m fighting the devil himself to keep my pants on right now.
When I break the kiss, she sighs, her eyes sharp and full of desire.
“We should probably get going. I don’t want to miss Vee,” she says breathlessly.
“Yes. We should.”
My cock will have to wait. But he’s as impatient as the rest of me.