Killian
The bedroom door opens with a gentle push, and as I step inside, the splintered remains of the lock crunch underfoot. I wedge a chair against the door to keep it closed, then test it to make sure no one can enter. The shredded handle rattles, but holds.
My arrival isn’t quiet, but Katarina doesn’t react. She stands in darkness with her back to me, staring out of a window that brings in light from the fires marking our assault on the compound. This place will all be ash by morning.
Talking to Vasili’s niece on her own is an opportunity too good to miss.
I’m a good talker. Listening not so much, but it’s in my family’s interests to know what’s brewing between the Barkovs and the Moncriefs.
Ash might tell me when things have calmed down, but then again, he might not.
He and I share business interests, but we’re not partners.
He’s not obliged to tell me everything and vice versa.
Catching Katarina on her own is just a fact-finding mission.
That’s why I’ve barricaded us in. That’s why I take out my earpiece.
That’s… OK, that’s a load of bollocks. After the adrenaline rush of the raid, I want to celebrate being alive, and a nice chat isn’t going to cut it.
Malachy knows me too fucking well. I want to do exactly what he told me not to.
I’m getting hard just staring at Katarina’s arse.
“This was my room,” she says without turning around.
I like that she knows it’s me. What I don’t like is the hollowness in her voice.
“I spent six months here when I was eighteen. My uncle wanted us to absorb some American culture and expand our skill sets.”
“Us?”
“Me and my sestras. My sisters,” she explains. “We were bound by circumstance rather than blood, and Oleg was one of our instructors.”
“Did he touch you?”
“No, not me,” she replies, but before I can relax, she adds, “I only had to satisfy the camp commander.”
My jaw feathers. “Give me a name.”
When Katarina turns, her complexion is startlingly pale against the darkness that surrounds her.
The spatters of blood on her cheeks look like old wounds reopened.
“The commander didn’t abuse me. Not in the way you think,” she says.
Her gaze flicks to the chair wedging the door shut.
“I was a good, little student. I learned all the ways to seduce and pleasure a man.”
I could point out the power imbalance of such a situation, not to mention her age, but this is Katarina’s story. “And what about you? Who saw to your needs?”
Her laugh is strangled by darker emotions. “My needs were simple. Stay alive and keep my sestras safe.”
I close my eyes briefly. “You were the princess. The commander couldn’t harm you, but he could threaten the people you cared about to force you to do whatever he wanted.”
She shrugs. “Caring for people is a weakness that can and will be used against me. I learned that the hard way.”
I rest my back against the wall, keeping my distance. If it’s talking Katarina needs, I can give her that. “And what happened to your sisters?”
“The lucky ones are dead,” she says simply. “For lower ranking women in the Bratva, the alternative is infinitely worse.”
I don’t disagree. Ilya flooded the dark web with horrific footage of many of his victims before we put an end to his operations and his miserable life. We destroyed what we could, for all the good it achieved. Where there’s a demand, there’ll always be a supply.
Some might point out that my family does some fucked up shit too, but in my defense, I’ve spent most of my adult life steering Dad towards more legitimate ways of earning a living. That’s how I ended up working with Ash. I corrupted him a little, and some of his principles rubbed off on me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for redemption. I like the buzz you get from nights like this, but the McConkeys’ moral code is significantly less twisted than the Barkovs’. Present company excepted.
I dig my hand into a pocket and pull out a protein bar. “Want one?” I ask, offering it to her.
Katarina shakes her head in disbelief, her long braid swishing across her back. “You’re snacking? Now?”
“All the excitement makes me hungry,” I reply, tearing open the wrapper and taking a bite. With my mouth full, I ask, “So what’s the plan, Kitty?”
I notice the flinch. She thought I was going to call her kitten. I might have done, if I hadn’t seen her reaction when she was talking to Oleg. She relaxes into a scowl and more importantly, doesn’t tell me off. Result. I think she likes her pet name. “Who says I have a plan?”
I size up the next bite of my protein bar. “Ash told me.”
She scoffs at that. “Nice try, Shorty.”
It was worth a shot. “Come on, you can tell me. No way would you be hooking up with Marmaduke Moncrief if there wasn’t some deal on the table. That guy’s been through enough trauma.”
Not a single muscle twitches in those luscious lips of hers.
She’s been trained to withstand intense interrogation, but her bored expression lasts all of five seconds.
She closes her eyes briefly, but she’s already fallen victim to the Killian McConkey smile.
“Duke and I are soon to announce our engagement so my uncle won’t recall me back to Russia. ”
“Duke’s going to marry you?” Decent guy or not, I want to kill him. I shouldn’t. But I do.
“God no,” she replies. “He’s desperately trying to keep out of my way, but he’s agreed to play along until…”
When she pauses, I know what she’s waiting for. “Whatever you say won’t leave this room,” I promise.
“The Griffins are going to fake my death,” she says without hesitation. Taking me at my word is an act of faith. My goddess believes in me. “With their help, I’m going to disappear off the face of the earth. I’ll be gone in a matter of weeks.”
I should be pleased she’s going to escape Vasili’s clutches, but leaving? Forever? The news crushes me in a way that takes me by surprise. “Fuck, Katarina. That doesn’t give us much time.”
Her gaze narrows on me. “To do what?”
“Each other,” I reply, licking the last crumbs of my protein bar from my fingers when it’s her lips I’m desperate to taste.
“Not a chance,” she says but her gaze flicks to my mouth. “You’re too loud.”
“I can be quiet.”
“You’re too cock-sure.”
She would have to mention that particular appendage. “Not around you,” I say, then immediately prove myself wrong by pushing off the wall and taking a step towards her.
“Too Irish,” she says, straightening her spine.
“No such thing.” I’m halfway across the room.
Her throat works hard to swallow. “You’re too much,” she says, her words catching.
I stop. “Because of who I am? Or because we’re in this place?”
“Both,” she admits. She huffs out a breath. “Why the hell am I telling you all of this?”
“Because you trust me,” I answer, staying where I am.
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. And you like me, Kitty,” I point out. “Maybe not as much as I like you, but we can work on that.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
Her jaw drops as I get down onto my knees. “Shorty, what are you doing?”
Good question. This woman’s doing things to me that has way too many alarm bells ringing, but that just adds to the excitement.
“Possibly losing my fucking mind and my dignity just so I can test out a theory.” I drop forward onto my hands, but keep my head high.
My grin widens as I move towards her on all fours.
“You said you wouldn’t let me fuck you if I crawled to you on my hands and knees.
But there are plenty of other things I can do while I’m down here. Want me to show you, Kitty?”
Katarina doesn’t say yes, but she doesn’t say no either. “You’re completely insane.”
“Thank you.”
Her groan of frustration is a sound I’m more than familiar with, especially with the opposite sex, although I’m not usually this persistent. Or desperate.
“Why do you treat every insult like I’m offering to have your babies?” she asks.
Those alarm bells in my head are starting to sound way too close to wedding bells. Clearly the crash I’m suffering after my adrenaline-fueled high has my brain misfiring. “Are you offering to have my babies?” I ask anyway.
“Do I look the maternal type?”
“You can mother me,” I offer. “Did I tell you I lost my mother four years ago? No? Ah, don’t worry. I’ll tell you all about her another time.”
“There won’t be another time, Killian,” she points out.
“Is that so?”
She actually thinks I’m going to let her get away from me. There’s plenty of time to disavow her of that notion, but for now I’m happy to play along.
“If now is all we have, do you not think we should be making the most of it?” I stop in front of her and sit back on my heels.
“I must be losing my mind,” she mutters as I take hold of her hips and she moves her hands to my shoulders.
Katarina has extraordinarily long legs and her pussy is at the perfect height for me as I trail my tongue along the zipper of her jeans.
“Here’s how I see it. You were all hyped up after killing Oleg and you wanted to jump my bones right there and then.
But you couldn’t very well admit you find me impossible to resist, so you came in here to remind yourself that you’ve had enough of men taking what they didn’t deserve. ”
“And you think you do?”
I keep my gaze locked on Katarina’s as I undo the top button of her jeans.
“No, I don’t think I deserve you. Not yet,” I’m forced to agree as I drag down her zipper.
I catch sight of red silk that’s darker at her center.
My Adam’s apple bobs in my throat and I immediately want to take back my words.
“Looks like you need attention from someone, lovely. You’re dripping wet. ”
“It’s the sweat of my exertions.”
I take a swipe at her thong with my tongue. “Tastes like pure need to me,” I insist, enjoying the way she shudders. “What do you say we give this room some new memories? Take whatever you need for your own pleasure, Kitty. Use my fingers. Use my tongue. Use me.”