16. Wren
WREN
Viktor dropped me off and left. With that close stroke of danger, he would need to report to his boss.
But I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, stuck here in his room in his house without any means to go anywhere on my own. Even if I could, I had no idea where I would go. I had little faith that I would be safe outside of this building.
I sat down on the chair in the massive bathroom and zoned out, staring ahead with my chin in my hand, my elbows on my knees. I spaced out as my memories replayed in my mind.
I didn’t see that elegant porcelain clawfoot tub or the gold hardware in the bathroom suite.
I didn’t register the perfect marble floor under my feet.
I didn’t feel the cool pulsing out of the air-conditioning vent.
In my mind’s eye, I was back on that sidewalk with Viktor.
I was taken back to the touch of his big hand wrapped around mine.
He did it often, and while holding my hand could be a simple gesture of making sure that I didn’t run off, I was tricking myself into thinking that he was doing it just to have a grasp on me.
Just so he could feel me and know that I was with him.
I closed my eyes, and despite the black behind my lids, I saw it all. I relived it all.
The intense terror that filled me when the car jumped the curb and rammed toward us. The gasp that felt like a chokehold on my throat as I tucked back out of the way. And the tightness of my whole body as I braced for impact.
Replaying in my ear came the screams of the pedestrians, the squeals of the tires, the gunshots from the Volkov guards.
“Go.”
That was all Viktor had to say to send out a man to hunt down whoever had tried to run us over.
He protected me.
He hadn’t hesitated to wrap his big arms around me and yank me to safety.
Viktor, the big, bad criminal I was supposed to want to take down and have arrested for all his wrongdoings, had wanted to save me.
That was his first instinct, to protect me. It wasn’t hard to imagine that he cared about my well-being. If he did that, he would not be treating me like a guest in this “stay”. The action of putting himself in between me and danger proved that my biases about him were faulty.
I came here and was set up with a stakeout where I was supposed to be shot.
Now, as I stayed here, I had a completely different experience of someone looking out for me, not subjecting me to peril.
The differences were staggering. And as I got up and began to pace through the room, I realized that first impression could be the biggest thing to hold me back.
Viktor wasn’t my enemy when he wanted to protect me.
Whoever had tried to run into us on the sidewalk was my enemy. And I had a sinking suspicion that it was another hit placed on my head.
Someone still wanted me dead.
And I grappled with why. I couldn’t have a long list of enemies from the fraud investigation that I did in Oregon. I couldn’t have any enemies who would want me dead here because I had only just arrived.
However, I had to consider that if my superiors suspected that I was with the Volkov family and cooperating with them, they might want me dead for that crime.
Or am I just a loose thread?
Something that had to be dealt with because the first hit failed.
I glanced up at the sound of Viktor entering the room. His footsteps sounded heavy only because he was such a big guy. But as he crossed through the room, his eyes locked on me, I saw how he moved smoothly like a predator on the prowl.
“Did your brother find anything? Does anyone know if that was a hit on you?” I swallowed with difficulty, my throat thick with emotion as he came to stand right in front of me in my space. Or was that another hit on me?
He looked at me with a sober sincerity as he lifted his hand and cupped my face. Staring at me like he wanted to commit every single detail about me to memory, he let out a heavy, deep breath.
“They are looking into it.”
He stroked his thumb over my cheek. The heavy moment between us was suspended with a type of intimacy that I had never felt before. It hit me deep in the heart.
I had never felt as connected to someone as I did to him at this moment. And it had nothing to do with how forbidden it was for me, an agent, to desire a criminal Mafia man like him. It had everything to do with how my body responded to his and how I was lured toward his touch.
“We have a team looking into it and trying to find the driver of that car. Regardless of whatever they discover, you are safe. No matter what, you are safe with me.” He meant it. The intensity of his gaze on me paired with the weight of his words.
He really meant it. Regardless of the fact that I had been found as an opponent to him, someone he would kidnap to bring into his life, he saw me as his responsibility. He saw me as a woman he wanted to protect. Me. The one who should be the enemy.
He didn’t need to tell me that he wanted to protect me.
I was alive and not run over by that car because of his quick thinking and his instinct to shield me from danger.
Standing here, I saw the proof of how our professional boundaries were blowing apart.
The rigid lines that I thought I would always abide by were messy and blurred now.
I couldn’t in good faith look at him as a bad guy.
I could only gaze up into his chocolate-brown eyes and feel this conflicted gratitude that I couldn’t stop. A gratitude that I did not want to hide.
“Thank you.”
Those two words packed a punch. And it was the truth. I wasn’t playing games. This wasn’t a trick. Manipulation was the furthest thing from my mind. I had to know that he understood how grateful I was that he cared enough about me that he would put himself in danger to protect me.
“Thank you, Viktor.”
“For giving you a chance to swear allegiance to my dick?”
I rolled my eyes and lowered my forehead to rest against his chest. Was he ever not sarcastic?
The slight rumble of his chest that came with his deep chuckles had me smiling.
“I’m serious,” I said. “I appreciate your protecting me.”
He tipped my chin up and kept his hand on my face as he directed me to kiss him. I did, relishing the heat of his mouth on mine.
“I’m serious too. And I appreciate your letting me protect you.”
“Letting you?” I scoffed. “Are you trying to imply that I have any power over you? That I have any say in what happens here?”
“You do.” He lowered my hand until I could feel the erection growing in his pants. “You have the power to make me feel like this.”
I wanted to give in to a full smile. His sarcasm was nothing more than a distraction, an attempt to lighten the mood. And I appreciated that too. Being playful and frisky with him was much more appealing than dwelling in the doom and gloom of the fact that somebody had tried to kill me today.
I slowly started to unzip his pants as he nuzzled the side of my face and placed a hot path of kisses along my jaw. “Are you telling me that I have any say in how I get to wield this power?”
“Anything you want,” he added.
I pulled his thick cock out of his pants and stroked it. Reveling in the hardness of him. Marveling at the soft surface of the wide, domed head.
“So if I told you that I wanted to taste you…”
He finished my question by pushing on my shoulders and encouraging me to get on my knees.
I went down eagerly. He could choose to take care of me as a distraction. He could choose sarcasm as a distraction. Right now, as I grew wet and more turned on at the sight of his dick pointing at me, the tip glistening with pre cum, I wanted to use him as my distraction.
I didn’t delay with my knees pressing onto the soft carpet for long. Leaning toward him as he threaded his fingers through my hair, I closed my lips around him. And in that exploratory kiss, I collected the salty drops that already dripped from him.
And then I threw caution to the wind.
I did not try to assess.
I gave up on ascertaining anything.
And I acted as a woman in charge of making him come.
I licked up his rigid shaft and marked how hard his throbbing dick was for me. I sucked him down into my mouth and throat, stretched wide to accommodate his dick. Back and forth, I bobbed on him with the express goal of rewarding him for wanting to protect me.
He kept his hands on my head, guiding me, but when I felt his legs trembling with the approach of his orgasm, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I was safe here.
With him.
Regardless of how conflicted I was about my purpose, I was safe to feel good too.
I lowered my hand to reach between my legs. Slipping my fingers over my wet panties, I moaned at the arousal that he caused. Sucking him off was only turning me on faster, and I tried to keep up a dual motion of pleasuring him with my mouth as I tried to finger myself.
“Red.” He almost barked it.
Grabbing my hair slightly, he tipped my head up so I would face him. With his cock rammed into my mouth, I couldn’t speak. I wasn’t sure what I’d say anyway with his lust-filled eyes blazing at me.
“What are you doing?” he growled.
I hollowed my cheeks, increasing the suction on him as I rubbed my clit.
Another moan left me, and I knew he felt it all.
But instead of enjoying the vibration, he pulled out of me, scooped down to grab me off the floor, and then tossed me on the bed.
He didn’t wait for me to stop bouncing before he yanked my panties and skirt off.
I scrambled to shed my shirt and bra. Just as I finished stripping, he tugged me closer.
My legs fell wide, bracketing him.
My pussy tingled with the coolness of air on it.
And my heart hammered in my chest as he lined himself up and thrust into me.
“That’s my job,” he growled.
Not pausing once, he rocked into me and sought my clit. He circled it with his thumb as he fucked me, and I couldn’t last for more than a minute.
His dick was so big that I felt like I was splitting into two. The pressure was too much to resist. His thumb was too masterful, applying pressure just where I needed it.
But as I came, crying out and arching my back on the bed, he lowered to kiss me roughly, still ramming into me.
Mine.
That was all I could think of him growling if his mouth were free.
Mine.
He saw me as his to protect. His to pleasure.
And as I felt his dick jerk deep inside me and twitch with his orgasm, I slung my arms around him and hugged him close.
I was too spent and overwhelmed as I caught my breath to consider how close he was to messing with my heart.