His gaze on me is soft, and so is his voice when he answers. “Among others.”
Yes, I’ve seen the others. When I spied on him hitting his punching bag through his living room window.
“Like those stars on your shoulders. What do those mean?”
“High rank.”
I whisper, “In the mafia.”
He doesn’t even miss a beat. “Yes.”
Oh god. How is this my life?
Looking interested and not at all surprised by this bizarre development, Sloane rolls Kage’s ring between her fingers. “What would the mafia be doing in Lake Tahoe? Snowmobiling?”
Kage says, “Gambling. Skimming from casinos here and in Reno. Running illegal gaming operations.” With a small, lethal smile, he glances at Stavros. “Isn’t that right?”
Stavros sits stiffly in his chair, looking like he’s wishing he were anywhere else on earth. “Exclusively online.”
When Kage lifts his brows, Stavros clears his throat and adjusts his tie. “I own a software company.”
“Ah.”
When he doesn’t add more and only continues to give Stavros a challenging stare, Stavros drops his gaze to the table.
He murmurs, “We’d be pleased to pay tribute to Maxim any amount he feels fair to continue operations.”
“In arrears, as well.”
A muscle in Stavros’s jaw works. “Of course.”
I say, “Wonderful. Glad we’ve got that all worked out. Please excuse me for a moment.”
I push back my chair and walk toward the restaurant’s entrance, my cheeks burning hot and my pulse flying. I don’t know exactly where I’m headed, only that I needed to get away from that table.
I knew it.
I knew he was dangerous from the moment I set eyes on him.
The question is, why didn’t I run away?
At the hostess’s stand, I make an abrupt right turn toward the bathrooms. The corridor keeps going past the two doors, ending in another door that I push through.
I find myself in an employee break room. A square table surrounded by chairs sits in the middle of the room. There’s a stack of metal lockers on one wall. A TV hangs from another. Aside from me, it’s deserted.
Before I can collapse into the nearest chair, Kage bursts through the door.
“Stop,” I say firmly, wagging my finger at him as he approaches. “Stay right there. Don’t take another step.”
He ignores that and stalks closer.
“I’m serious, Kage! Or is it Kazimir? I don’t want to talk to you right now!”
He growls, “I don’t want to talk to you, either,” and grabs me.
My yelp of surprise is cut off by a hard, demanding kiss.
He drags my head back with a hand fisted in my hair and ravages my mouth until I’m breathless. He’s got one of my arms pinned behind my back, holding me firmly by the wrist, but my other hand pushes against his chest.
It’s useless. He’s too strong.
He kisses me until I make a small, pleading sound in my throat. Then he pulls away, breathing just as hard as I am.
He says roughly, “You knew I wasn’t a choirboy.”
“If you think that’s getting you off the hook, think again.”
“I told you I wasn’t a good man.”
“You didn’t tell me you were the head of the Russian mafia.”
“I’m not the head.” He pauses. “He’s in prison. I’m second-in-command.”
“Jesus!”
“Nobody’s perfect.”
My laugh is caustic. “Seriously? That’s your argument for why I should keep seeing you?”
His eyes flare. There’s something dangerous in his gaze. Something animal.
I’ve never seen him look more handsome.
He growls, “No. This is my argument for why you should keep seeing me.”
He kisses me again, so ravenously, I’m bent back at the waist.
Part of me wants to break away. Wants to bite his tongue and tell him to go back to whatever hellhole he came from and leave me alone forever.
The bigger part of me—the stupider part, apparently—wants everything he’s got to give me and doesn’t give two flying fucks about anything else.
It’s really too bad I haven’t had sex for so long. I think my sad and lonely vagina has now hijacked my entire body.
He pushes me against the wall. His mouth is hot and demanding. His big hands rove all over me, squeezing and fondling, staking a claim.
My arms find their way around his broad shoulders. I kiss him back, just as hungrily as he’s kissing me, my ambivalence pushed aside for the moment. The sheer pleasure of tasting him and feeling him against me suddenly takes priority over everything else.
I can hate him later. Right now, I’m out of my head.
This—this is why people make bad decisions in love.
This feeling of euphoria. This pulse-pounding, skin-burning, soul-baring feeling of being so completely alive. This pleasure that starts as an ache and explodes into fireworks with something as simple as a touch.
This raw, bone-deep sense that no matter how wrong it is, it’s still overwhelmingly right.
Kage thrusts his hand underneath my dress and between my legs.
Into my ear, he says gruffly, “Go ahead. Tell me you don’t want me. Say you don’t want to see me again. Tell me any lie you want, but this sweet pussy will tell me the truth. You’re soaked right through your fucking panties.”
I want to scream in frustration.
But only because he’s right.
When he takes my lips again, I moan into his mouth. It makes him growl. He kisses me deeply, rubbing his hand against my panties, until my body takes over and my hips start to move.
Cheeks burning, body shaking, I part my thighs and rock against his hand.
He says hotly into my ear, “You want my mouth, don’t you, beautiful girl? You want me to eat this wet little pussy until you come on my face.”
I mumble a denial. It only makes him laugh.
“Yes, you do.” When he pinches my swollen clit through the cotton of my panties, I jerk, moaning. It makes him even hotter.
He whispers, “Yes, you fucking do. You want my tongue and my fingers and my cock all at the same time. You want me exactly as much as I want you. You want to give me all of you, and that makes me fucking crazy because I know you don’t give that to anyone else.”
He slides his fingers under my panties, stroking my wet folds, teasing the bud of my clit with his thumb.
“Say the word and I’ll get on my knees and make you come. I’ll make you come with my mouth, then I’ll fuck you up against this wall and make you come on my cock while I suck on those perfect tits of yours.”
I’m panting. Delirious. “Someone will see us. Someone will walk in—”
“I locked the door.”
He slides his finger deep inside me.
I arch my back, gasping and clutching his shoulders. “Kage—”
“Yes, baby. Say my name when I make you come.”
His voice is a husky rumble at my ear. His scent is in my nose. He’s big and hot and all around me, overpowering me, making my vision blur and my blood turn to fire.
When he kisses me again, I give in.
With a little moan, I bend my knee and slide my leg up to his hip. It opens me wider. He responds with a grunt of approval from deep inside his chest and kisses me so hard I grow dizzy.