AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Isabelle was protective and fierce about him keeping his hands off Harley. He wanted to honor her wishes, but Harley was too much of a temptation for him. Their conversation, during that harrowing experience, had been full of understanding and attraction. He’d had a boner for her ever since.
He closed his eyes weary beyond measure, deep in his bones tired of hiding who he was and working to promote what he was fundamentally against. He’d watched his homeland succumb to greed, brutality, and a single-minded quest for power.
He’d made the decision his conscience dictated. His father had conspired to kill a foreign ambassador, going against rules the two superpowers had always respected. Ambassadors were sacrosanct. West Africa had lost a staunch ally and the United States a brilliant statesman.
“Why didn’t you tell me last night that you had this information?” Harley asked.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use it and put my mother and sister in danger. I was going to defect regardless. I couldn’t live another moment with myself or serve a government that is propped up by an evil state-within-a-state. My country will never be a responsible member of the community of nations until its security services are destroyed. The Soviet Union died over forty years ago, but the brutal and oppressive security system that jails and kills domestic opposition and engages in relentless political warfare against the West lives on. The president could cease to exist, but the KGB state endures. Olenska is part of that. He and his son and daughter fractured and created the Z Militia. They all disgust me.”
Harley’s phone rang and she answered. She listened for a few moments and then hung up. “Isabelle wants us to move to the conference room. She’ll be with us shortly.” Her voice was cool. She was irritated with him. Well, better than having the US put a hit out on him and contracting her to do it. He was on the verge of being a hunted man.
He rose. “If I hadn’t already decided to betray my country to save my country, I would have become your spy, Harley.”More. He thought. They would have been more. He would have seduced her because he wanted her and she wanted him, too. Seduction. Real seduction was still on the table as far as he was concerned.
Fuck protocols.
Her stare was legendary and unnerving. She turned on her heel and walked away, the definite little click, click showing her pique. He followed her as somewhat of a job since she didn’t even slow down for him. “Harley,” he called, but she took the stairs without a backward glance. He increased his pace to catch up to her. When he rounded the upper hall, she was waiting, coolly, her arms folded and looking straight ahead.
“Malen'kiy mysk,” he said.
She turned on her clicky heels and smoothly, swiftly marched down the hallway to a door. Not even waiting for him before going inside. He had to catch the door from closing in his face.
Inside, she set her phone on the table and rounded on him. “I’m not your little mouse and this isn’t a game.”
“I know this isn’t a game,” he said through clenched teeth. “Nothing that’s happened has anything to do with playing you.”
She got right up into his face. “Oh, really. You want to work with me? Yet you keep vital information from me.”
Aleksei just stood there, absorbing the fireworks in full explosive action. It was something to witness. “Are you armed?”
His question caught her off guard if the sudden confused look on her face was any indication. “When necessary.”
“Now?”
She frowned. “No, not now. Why?”
“Because I don’t want to get shot or stabbed when I tell you that you’re really amazing all the time, but when you get angry, really angry, you put the fire in firecracker in a way that is absolutely breathtaking.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t need physical weapons to hurt someone.”
You are so fucking crazy, he told himself, even as he reached out and slipped his arms around her and pressed her against the wall. It was crazy to kiss her after making her so mad and risking her ire even more. “I will point out that you wereworkingme,mysk.”
“I never said I was CIA.”
He scoffed. “I never said I didn’t want you for real.”
There went that crazy again. He still wanted to kiss her after confessing how much he wanted her. He had the high ground here. He had something the Americans wanted badly. The Olenskas and his father on a platter. But perversely he didn’t want to lose Harley over politics, stupid CIA protocols, or spycraft. Even though he knew it was a doomed relationship, he still wanted her. The low ache in his body could only be relieved by getting close to her again. He wanted inside her with no second agendas between them.
He pressed into her until her hips came up against his. Then he backed her up against the wall, and all thoughts of advantages, tactical or otherwise, disappeared. He held her stormy, gray-eyed gaze, and heat coiled low in his belly. He let his gaze drift over her face, memorizing every curve. When his attention settled on her mouth, she knew it. He felt her soften and heard the slight intake of her breath. Whatever else was going on between them, however angry she’d been with him before, she wanted his kiss as much as he wanted hers.
Well, she could have him any way she wanted him, and if she ran out of ideas, he had enough for both of them.
Pulling her even closer, tighter to him, he lowered his head and took her mouth, slanting his lips across hers and seeking entrance with his tongue. Her response was immediate, a soft gasp of pleasure, and he took the kiss home, slipping inside and finding his own piece of heaven. She was so sweet.
Her hands came up around his neck, her fingers tangling through his hair, and he opened his mouth wider, taking more of her. She moved against him, her breasts pressing into his chest, her mouth angling over his and creating a brief moment of suction, and as quickly as that, heat shot to his groin. He felt his control slip, a quick jerk of it out from under him.
Her kiss was enough to undo him, and he wanted to undo her.
He got his hands under her shirt, one smooth sweep of his palms up to her bra, and for a second, she stopped breathing. He rubbed his thumbs across her nipples, making them hard and enjoying the wonderful soft weight of her breasts in his hands and the amazing texture of lace over silken skin. She groaned in his mouth. The sound shot through him like wildfire. Nothing had ever felt more right.
