Chapter Ten
Igor
I’m quiet most of the ride back home.
Sergei keeps his attention on the road while Ruslan scrolls through his phone beside me.
When Sergei called to tell me one of the Mexicans had been behind the attack last night, I’d felt a pang of relief, but I couldn’t let myself relish in it until I knew for sure it was true.
This morning, we traced a second number back to Joaquin’s villa, which confirmed what we already knew: Audrey wasn’t behind the hit on my club or the ambush.
She didn’t betray me like I thought.
If anything, she was as much a target as I was. There’s even a pretty good chance she was the actual target for last night’s ambush. At best, whoever orchestrated it didn’t care whether she lived or died.
The thought makes my jaw tighten.
I glance out the window, remembering the way she curled against me inside the SUV while bullets tore through the glass. I can still feel her trembling beneath me, hear the panic in her breathing as I covered her body with mine.
For the first time since we met again, I realize the woman sleeping under my roof isn’t my enemy.
Not anymore.
Somewhere between our wedding, the bullet she took, and the way she looked at me when I apologized, she’s stopped being someone I need to watch.
She’s become someone I can’t bear to lose.
The realization should terrify me. Men like me don’t survive by becoming vulnerable. Caring for someone is a weakness. It becomes bait enemies could use to strike.
Yet the thought of losing her again scares me far more than anything else ever has.
“Boss?”
Sergei’s voice pulls me back to the present. I look at him through the rearview mirror.
"We’re home.”
I glance at the mansion through the windshield. Guards patrol every corner of the estate, twice as many as before the attack. I ordered the extra security myself, but somehow it still doesn’t feel like enough.
Nothing will ever be enough now that Audrey’s safety has become my greatest priority. I wouldn’t feel at ease even if I stationed a thousand more men here to protect her.
I step out of the car and head straight inside, taking the stairs two at a time.
There’s only one place I want to be, and that’s beside my wife. Now that I know she’s not my enemy, keeping my distance from her won’t work anymore. I have no reason to be wary of her.
When I make it to the master bedroom, I find her standing by the window, holding her phone with her back turned to the door. She doesn’t turn around when I step into the room. I don’t think she’s even noticed my presence.
Whatever she’s staring at on her phone has her full attention, and I’m worried it’s something serious from how tense she looks.
After a moment, she sighs, tosses her phone on the bed, and turns around.
Our bodies collide.
The softness of hers crashes into the hardness of mine, and instinct takes over. My hands close around her waist to steady her, my fingers digging into the curve of her hips as if they’re afraid she’ll disappear the second I let go.
She stumbles back just enough to look up at me.
The color drains from her face.
“Igor...”
The way she whispers my name twists something deep inside my chest.
For one irrational second, every instinct I possess screams that she’s terrified of me. The thought should make me loosen my grip. Instead, it has the opposite effect.
I tighten my hold ever so slightly, needing to reassure myself that she’s here. Alive. Safe. Mine.
Her breathing turns shallow and warm against my throat. She’s so close that all I’d have to do to kiss her is lower my head.
I catch the faint scent of her shampoo, feel the warmth radiating from her body through the thin fabric separating us, and every ounce of restraint I’ve clung to over the past few days begins to splinter.
I’ve spent every waking moment trying not to think about her, trying not to remember what it felt like to kiss her, to hold her, to almost lose her.
It’s a losing battle.
My gaze drops to her lips. They’re so pink, full, a little pouty, and basically begging for me to kiss her.
Audrey is a temptation I can’t resist. I tried my best when I thought she was back in my life on a mission, but now that I know she isn’t, whatever was holding me back finally lets go completely.
Slowly, I lift one hand from her waist and tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, my knuckles grazing the softness of her cheek. She doesn’t pull away. She doesn’t speak.
She just looks at me, and I can see the need and anticipation building in those beautiful hazel eyes.
My forehead brushes hers, and then the distance between us disappears as I close my eyes and capture her lips with mine.
Fuck.
Her lips are soft and delicious. The taste of them awakens something primal, needy, and possessive inside of me. I wrap my arms tighter around her and kiss her harder.
She freezes for a moment, pressing her hand softly against my chest, but she slowly unclenches her teeth and lets me in, kissing me back with the same intensity.
When she moans into my mouth, I finally snap.
One minute we’re both standing at the center of the room, devouring each other’s lips, and the next minute her legs are straddled around my waist as I carry her to the bed and drop her down gently.
We don’t break our kiss, not even as I climb on top of her and shrug off my jacket, tossing it to the floor.
Her fingers find the buttons of my shirt, and soon I’m stripped down to only my pants, her fingers exploring the muscles on my chest and abs before finally settling on my biceps.
I cup her cheek, lift one of her thighs, and let my fingers dig into her flesh as I kiss her.
Shit, I fucking missed this.
I missed the feeling of her beneath me, kissing me this hard. No woman I’ve been with in the year we spent apart has ever brought me this close to heaven. Only her.
Audrey.
My wife.
Mine.
I’m careful not to hurt her injured shoulder as I pull down the thin straps of the nightgown she’s wearing. Her breasts bounce free, her nipples hard and pink, and goosebumps scatter all over her naked flesh.
My cock throbs at the sight of her magnificent boobs. They’re full and perky, so beautiful that any man would lose his senses just seeing them.
Cupping one of them, I tease the nipple while taking the other one into my mouth.
Her cries of pleasure only fuel the fire burning inside me, a heat that’s been building for a long, agonizing year.
She arches into my touch, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps that echo softly in the quiet room.
And she smells so intoxicating—like lavender and jasmine, mixed with vanilla and spice. Everything about this woman brings me to the edge of losing my fucking mind.
How the hell did I ever control myself around her?
I shift my weight, gliding up her body and grinding my chest against hers, letting her feel the ache of my desire against her thigh. “You feel that, baby?” I murmur breathlessly. “That’s how much I want you. That’s how insane I am over you.”
Her breath hitches. She wraps her hand around my cock, pumping it slowly and gently, until the pulse I feel there is almost physical.
I find her mouth again, and as I claim it, I slide my hand between her thighs. A groan tears from my throat when I slip a finger inside her panties.
A soft gasp escapes her lips and she lifts her hips to meet my touch, grinding against my fingers like she’s desperate to feel me inside her.
She’s wet.
So fucking wet that all I can think of is my cock slamming in and out of that wetness. Knowing she wants me just as much as I want her is agonizing.
I slow down, deliberately tormenting both of us, mapping the contours of her body while she writhes beneath me, completely consumed by the sensation of my fingers circling her clit.
When I stop, her eyes flutter open. They’re dark with undeniable need as they lock onto mine. “Please,” she whispers, her voice trembling. “I need you inside me. Now.”
A wicked grin plays on my lips. “I like it when you beg.”
Her lips part, a desperate breath escaping them. Her eyes water as she whispers again, “Please, Igor.”
Fuck.
Hearing her say my name in that tone, with tears in her eyes, knowing she’s desperate, unravels me completely.
I position myself between her thighs, hovering over her as I look down on the beautiful wreck I’ve made of her, and then I slide inside her slowly.
“Gospodi, blyad. Fucking Christ,” I curse under my breath at the agonizingly slow friction as the warmth of her tight walls wraps around me, stretching to accommodate me.
“Oh,” Audrey moans, pulling me down by my neck. “Don’t stop,” she begs against my ear.
With a low growl, I begin to move inside her, slowly at first, and then I go faster, deeper, and harder.
She wraps her arms and legs around me, her fingers digging into my back and her hips rising to meet every desperate stroke.
I look down, watching her eyes shut and her face flush with the sheer intensity of pleasure. Knowing I’m the one putting that expression on her face snaps the final thread of my restraint.
I want her to look into my eyes and moan my name I fuck her straight to ecstasy.
“Look at me,” I groan.
She tears her eyes open, and the raw need I see in them pushes me over the edge. I thrust into her one more time, catching the exact spot that makes her come undone.
A sharp, breathless cry tears from her throat as her body gives in completely. The spasm of her climax clamps around me, pulling me into the fire with her.
I curse under my breath, holding her tightly as my own release hits.
We remain in the same position for a moment, with me propping myself up on my arms so I don’t crush her under my weight, and then I roll over on my back, gently lifting her onto my chest.
We don’t say a word to each other. Instead, we lay beside each other, basking in the silence that no longer feels awkward. It’s peaceful in a way I haven’t experienced in years, and it’s only broken by the sound of our breathing as Audrey curls against my chest.
I wrap my arms around her instinctively and press a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in the faint scent of her shampoo before closing my eyes.
Sleep comes easier than I expected, pulling both of us under with her body still tucked safely against mine.
I don’t know how much time passes before the vibration of my phone drags me back to consciousness.
Annoyance flares through me.
Anyone calling at this hour better have a damn good reason.
Careful not to wake Audrey, I reach across the nightstand, snatch my phone, and glance at the screen.
It’s Sergei.