11. Kelly
11
KELLY
S eeing Eva and Irina calmed me down. They were here, dressed in casual loungewear and completely at peace. They didn’t give off a vibe of being trapped here or anything like that. They called themselves Mafia princesses, but they looked like two friends, down to earth and relaxed, welcoming me here in the warmth of this enormous house and all these men around to protect them.
To protect us .
Rurik had rushed back to protect me on campus.
It sounded like he’d left his other obligation to get back to me. I had yet to thank him for that, but I was eternally grateful he’d split his duties like that. Being the center of someone’s worries was a new sensation to experience, but it wasn’t bad.
Seated between Eva and Irina, I felt special. Chosen, even, which was ridiculous.
Maybe Rurik hadn’t only been on campus for the sake of doing his job and spying on the drug scene there.
“Marcus was killed?” Irina asked, glancing at the man I knew to be Professor Remi. “Vik? Is that true?”
“Yes. Word came in from the men there. Marcus James was killed at that meeting,” Vik replied.
“Wait. Aren’t you?—”
Irina lowered my hand that I lifted to point at him. “He was undercover. That’s Viktor Baranov, my fiancé.” She wiggled her fingers to show off her engagement ring. “Eva and I will catch you all the way up later,” she promised with a wink.
“But Marcus wasn’t at the meeting,” Rurik argued. He played a recording on his phone.
“Maybe Marcus didn’t get there on time, but he was found dead there,” Vik said. “Our man closest to the scene saw the police arriving and declaring it a crime scene.”
“Where was this meeting supposed to happen?” I asked. As soon as I spoke, I felt awkward. What happened to minding my own business and keeping my head down? “It’s just, um, I’ve heard that name before.” And recently. “Marcus James is a politician?”
“Was,” Vik confirmed. “It sounds like someone killed him at that meeting with the Petrov and Ilyin dealers.”
Rurik shook his head. “He wasn’t at the meeting when I was there.”
“But you didn’t stay to see him come to it, either,” Lev said.
I saw the guilt flash over his face and I hated myself for being the cause of it. He’d come to check on me and saw me being followed when he was expected to go spy on this meeting. Being late to get there and then assuming it was canceled, he ran right back to me to fight off the man who’d attacked me. It was my fault that Rurik hadn’t been doing his job. I was too scared to analyze why he’d been so concerned about me. I was grateful he was, but I also hated this guilt that he hadn’t been where he was supposed to be because of me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, standing.
“No.” Eva reached for my hand to pull me back down, but I avoided her touch. “This isn’t your fault.”
“If he hadn’t been worried about getting back to her, he would’ve been able to see who was at that meeting and who’d killed Marcus,” Lev argued.
Eva glared at him. “She had no control over that. Neither did he.” She pointed at Rurik. “He acted on what he was aware of.”
Rurik nodded. “If I had the slightest guess that this meeting would’ve happened, then I would’ve stayed.”
“But then I’d be dead.” I shrugged. “Look, I’m sorry to stir up all this trouble. I don’t want to complicate anything or get in the middle of all… this.” Holding up my hands in surrender, I spun and backed up toward the door. “Eva, it was nice to see you, and Irina, I’m glad you’re doing well. But um, I don’t belong here and…”
Lev huffed a weak laugh. “Like we’re going to let you walk away with all this information,” he muttered.
My jaw dropped. “But I didn’t ask to be here. I didn’t want to be here. Rurik said—Eva wanted to see… And I—” Strong arms wrapped around me as I bumped into someone. Knowing somehow that they were Rurik’s, I relaxed a bit. I’d dreamed too often of being in his arms, with his strong chest bracing my back, that I didn’t have the instinct to fight and get free, no matter how scary Lev’s words sounded. As though the fear of being forced into staying here couldn’t be so bad if Rurik was with me.
“Settle down,” the older man in the chair said. He stood, setting his cigar on a side table. “Kelly, isn’t it?”
I furrowed my brow. “Who are you?”
“Oleg Baranov.” He tipped his chin up as he looked down at me. “Welcome to my home.” He dragged his attention from me to Rurik, nodding at him once. “See that our guest is comfortable. We’ll discuss the matter of this politician’s death tomorrow morning.”
That still sounded like a coerced expectation to stay here. Rurik obeyed, though, shifting me so I would walk forward with him.
“Eva?” I sought her out as I walked with Rurik. It was a twisted tug-of-war playing out in my mind. I’d missed him so much even though we’d hardly gotten to know each other before. I longed for the security he seemed to give me so freely. But I hated to be stuck here and told what to do or where to go. Panic rose again. “Eva, I?—”
“It’ll be fine, Kelly,” she insisted, walking with me as Rurik led me toward the stairs of this mega-mansion. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
“No. You can’t just kidnap me and keep me here against my will.”
Rurik took his arm off me, seeming sullen as we walked further.
“I mean…” I hated that he’d think I wouldn’t want to be here with him . That was what I’d dreamed of, being with him in any possible way. I just couldn’t tolerate the idea that I was forced to be here and associated with their organization. “I have a life. I have my jobs. And classes and…”
“But isn’t tomorrow the start of spring break?” Irina asked as she headed up the wide stairs with us. She branched off to go the same way down the hallway that Eva was going, while Rurik was taking me the opposite way.
“Yes, it is, but?—”
“Then sleep. Rest up after the scares you’ve had.” Eva came back, frowning as she studied my face. “Well, let me get some ice first, and then?—”
“I’ll take care of her,” Rurik cut in. He stated it. It wasn’t an offer, and dammit, did my stupid heart race faster. The mere thought of it—a man taking care of me. It sounded like a dream I couldn’t trust.
Eva nodded, telling me that she’d see me in the morning before walking away.
Once it was just me and Rurik walking down the hall, I resumed my frantic ramble. “Rurik, I don’t want to be a hostage held here for answers. I’m a nobody. I’m not important in whatever the hell is going on with these drugs and rival families and please, I don’t want to be forced to stay here and?—”
He stopped at a door and put his hand up high on it. Staring at me deeply, he tilted his head to the side and sighed. “I’m not forcing you to stay?—”
I rolled my eyes. “But obviously, when the Boss says to jump, you jump.”
“But I won’t hesitate to ask you to.”
My mouth remained open, parted as I couldn’t reply.
“Will you stay, Kelly? Tonight?” He searched my face, reaching up to cup my face and stroke his thumb over my cheek. The skin still stung there, and I winced. “Stay so I don’t have to worry about you being safe?”
“I’m not yours to worry about. My safety isn’t your concern.”
He growled, leaning in closer as he slid his hand to the back of my neck. “The hell it isn’t.”
Holy fuck.
Rurik was already too hot to handle, but like this? Dominant and greedy for me, he was so sinfully sexy that I struggled to resist him. “I want to leave,” I said as firmly as I could.
Because I knew that if I didn’t, I’d never be strong enough again to want to be apart from him. If I budged an inch, if I gave in now… I’d be too weak to ever want to be alone again.
His hot breath mingled with mine. Those stern lips smirked at me, just centimeters away as he bored me with that smoldering gaze.
“No.” He replied with only that one word and then a hard, brutal kiss. Closing the distance between us, he covered my mouth with his and seared me with a drugging heat I wanted to bask in. He stole my breath. He made my heart triple its beat. I gasped, carried away with wanting and needing so much more.
He didn’t stop. Not once did he pull back, and that hunger propelled mine to match his. My nipples hardened under my bra, and with desperate lust controlling me, I pushed up against him to feel some friction there. I wanted to rub up against him completely, wanted to feel him everywhere.
Reaching up to loop my arm around his neck, I slanted toward him and kissed him harder. He grunted under the pressure, then angled my head for a deeper kiss. As he caged me in against the wall, he parted my lips and dove his tongue in to taste me.
Oh, God.
Oh, my God.
I couldn’t keep up with the hit of desire that snaked through me. I couldn’t think with him making me burn up like this, with him making my pussy drip with cream.
From zero to sixty, he’d chased away all my worries. He erased all my thoughts. In that flash, he’d pushed me to do nothing but feel him. His hungry lips on mine, his greedy hands on me as he pulled me flush to him. Beneath his pants, his erection poked at me, but it wasn’t until I lowered my hand toward his shoulder to hold on to him that he winced and broke the spell.
“Oh, shit.” I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head, hauling me back in for a kiss. At the same time, he walked me over and reached for the doorknob.
Thrown back under the lusty haze, I kissed him the best I could and backpedaled. This rabid need was too hot to resist. This feral longing that he showed me in his demanding kisses was too tempting to sacrifice for even a second.
But he was hurt. Because of me.
I was sick of all this guilt, that I was the cause of so much trouble when all I tried to do was stay on the downlow and not attract attention or mischief.
“Rurik.” I panted as I broke the kiss, staring into his gaze. “You’re hurt.”
He chuckled a low, gritty growl of a laugh that turned me on even more. As he shook his head, he tugged at the hem of my shirt. “Not bad enough to think twice about doing this with you. Finally.”
Finally? I wasn’t able to figure it out, kissing him again. The idea that he’d been wishing for this to happen just made this all the more significant. If I wasn’t alone in wanting him from afar…
“But you are.” I protested, too worried about his being in pain to satisfy myself. “I heard you hiss. And you fought off not one, but two men tonight just to keep me safe.”
He pulled my shirt up and off, bracketing his big hands on my bare back as he nuzzled hot kisses up my neck until he reached my mouth again.
Oh, my God.
I couldn’t keep up with him. I couldn’t stay on top of this rush of desire making me crazy for him.
I tugged at his shirt, pulling it up, and he took over, only parting from me to toss it aside.
And there it was.
“Rurik! You were— You’ve had surgery.” His shoulder still bore the signs of injuries, new skin rising up to knit together.
He dismissed me, reaching for my jeans to lower them. “Yeah.”
“Yeah? That’s it? Just yeah , like it’s not a big deal.”
“Nothing can be a bigger deal than getting your clothes off and seeing if you feel as sweet as you taste.” Before he even let the last of his words leave his mouth, he kissed me again and shoved my jeans and panties lower. Stuck in the fabric, I tried not to fall as I walked backward with him. He kept me close, rubbing his fingers over my slit and collecting my cream.
Every touch made me hotter. Each stroke of his big fingers urged me closer to coming.
Trying to keep up, I fumbled for his pants and just barely got the zipper open. Then he worked on them, forcing them off as the backs of my knees hit the edge of a bed.
Before he let me go, he kissed me hard. Not leaving my lips, he arched back to step out of his clothes, then shoved mine further down. He didn’t give me a chance to lose my balance because he hugged me close, tormenting me with the delicious friction of our naked bodies flush together.
Then as he arched me back onto the bed, I shifted so the bulk of his weight wouldn’t be on the side where he was clearly still recovering.
Lifting up from rubbing his fingers around, then in and out of my wet entrance, he smiled down at me. “Finally,” he whispered roguishly.
Then notching his head at my hole, he pushed in. Then more. A little more.
I groaned, arching my back to get the full stretch of his big shaft opening me up.
No man had ever entered me like this. No one had ever touched me here.
Rurik was taking my virginity, and I was too blown away by how fully complete I felt to rationalize how quickly this was happening.
“Finally,” he repeated again, thrusting into me over and over, pushing me closer to coming. The need to burst consumed me, and before long, I was falling. Splintering and shattering. The tension broke apart within me, and I cried out at the strong orgasm that racked my body.
“Oh, my God. Rurik.” Tears spilled down my face, evidence of how strongly this impacted me. “Oh, my?—”
He cut me off, driving into me harder and faster, literally stealing my breath. Every push into me ruined my effort of inhaling deeply, but somehow, the more forceful thrusts prolonged my orgasm. Waves of pleasure carried through me, never stopping until he groaned and buried his face against my neck as he came too.