Epilogue #3
I turned it over in my mind. A year ago, everything had seemed so simple.
There were good guys, like Calahan and me, and bad guys, like the Aristovs.
But now I’d seen a guy who was meant to be a cop corrupt the whole system, right up to the DA.
And I’d seen that there were far worse people in the world than the Aristovs.
If Chicago had to have crime, better that they were running things than people like Grushin.
I’d get to do what I loved: detective work, figuring things out, catching bad guys. Just in a different way.
It was a big step. Am I really going to do this?
I looked at Gennadiy. A chance for the two of us to work side by side. To solve mysteries, catch bad guys…okay, worse guys. To maybe even do some good.
I took a deep breath…and nodded.
When the meeting broke up, Gennadiy whispered, “Come with me. I have a surprise for you,” and nodded to the hallway.
As soon as we were out of sight of the others, he pushed me up against the wall.
His hand was under my dress and roving up my thigh even as his lips came down on mine.
I moaned as his hand brushed over the bare spot on my hip where the waistband of my panties would have been.
Then his fingers were gliding sideways, over my naked skin, between my thighs…
His tongue slipped into my mouth at the same instant his fingertip pushed inside me, and I groaned, my knees buckling.
“Your surprise can wait,” he muttered.
I opened my eyes. “Wait, this isn’t the surprise? There’s an actual surprise?”
He looked down at me, eyes glazed with need. “Mmm. But now I’m distracted.”
He kissed me again, and I moaned and pressed myself against him. Then I broke the kiss again. “What’s the surprise?”
He mock-scowled at me…then sighed and smiled. “Fine.” He wagged his finger at me. “But the second we’re done with the surprise…”
I saluted.
He spanked my ass. “Come on.”
He led me into the entrance hall and then outside. And there, gleaming in the moonlight…
“You found my bike?!” I shrieked, delighted. I hadn’t seen it since the night I ran from the FBI.
Gennadiy rubbed at his stubble. “Local thieves had taken it, and sold it, but Finn knows a guy and he and I went and retrieved it last night.” He actually smiled when he said Finn’s name, now.
I ran over to my bike. Then I saw the white one sitting next to it. “Who’s is that?”
In answer, Gennadiy swung his leg over it.
“You can ride?” I asked.
“Only a dirt bike, and that was when I was a teenager, stealing purses in Moscow,” said Gennadiy. “I was hoping you could teach me.”
I stared at him, imagining. The two of us, racing around the streets of Chicago, the wind rushing over our bodies as we pushed the limits…and then coming home and fucking, drunk on adrenaline. “Yes,” I said seriously. “Very much yes.”
He nodded to my bike. “Let’s start now. There’s something else I want to show you.”
I held up my finger. “Give me one minute. I need to change.” I turned towards the mansion.
“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?”
“You want me to ride a motorcycle in a dress and no panties? In your mind, how does that end?”
He smiled, and his Russian accent thickened with lust. “I can think of nothing but good ways.”
“Just wait.” I ran back into the mansion and returned in my leathers.
As I climbed onto my bike, he stared at my ass. “Did you stop to put panties on?” he asked.
I gave him my best mysterious smile and started my engine.
Gennadiy directed me downtown and, at first, I thought we were going to the casino. But then he slowed and stopped, a half block away. I pulled off my helmet and looked around in confusion. Then I saw, and my jaw dropped.
The community theater, which had been a burned-out shell for months, was now a construction site.
A banner proudly proclaimed a grand reopening early next year, funded by Aristov Incorporated.
I climbed off my bike and took off my helmet, staring.
“You’re not turning it into a poker room? ” I mumbled.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on the top of my head. “I have enough poker rooms.”
I twisted around and hugged him hard. Then I stepped back and just looked at him.
I’d gotten used to heels, and I’d forgotten what it felt like to be my natural height, gazing up at him.
I ran my hands up his arms and over his biceps, feeling my pulse accelerate.
My eyes flicked to the left, to the mouth of a dark alley, remembering the last time we’d been on a motorcycle. “No,” I told him.
He scrunched up his brow. “No, what?”
“No,” I said, a little breathlessly. “I didn’t put panties on.”
His eyes narrowed in lust. He seized my wrist. And then we were running into the alley together.
The End
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