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I bite my lip. “I need to get a message to Calix.”
“No,” he answers before looking away.
“I wasn’t asking for permission, Maxim. I’m not looking for a way out of our deal. At least for now, I’m happy enough to stay here and help you, but I won’t leave Calix to worry. He’ll end up exposing himself to find out answers.”
“You really think he cares that much?”
Ouch. That barb drew blood.
“It doesn’t matter what either of us thinks. It’s about doing the right thing. If he sniffs around asking questions, it might not just put his life in jeopardy but mine too.”
He’s quiet after that, and having nothing else to say, I turn and look out the window and watch the world pass by. It’s not until we pull up to a rather ostentatious townhouse that he breaks the silence.
“Fine.” I turn at the sound, and he nods. “Tonight, you make everyone believe, and tomorrow I will provide you with means to contact Calix.”
I smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he warns as he opens the door and climbs out, offering me his hand.
“I’m about to throw you to the wolves.”
I take his hand and climb out, flashing a lot of leg. He closes the door, but he doesn’t let me go. Instead, he pins me against the car.
“There are people watching from the living room window,” he murmurs as his lips skim over my pulse point. I feel my stomach flutter, and I squeeze my hands into fists, knowing this no-underwear thing is going to bite me in the ass.
His teeth nip the skin lightly in warning, so I blow out a breath and slip into the role of the vixen I’m all too familiar with. I slide my hands slowly up his arms and pull myself closer to him.
“We better get inside before people think I’m more important than I am.” I warn him using his body to keep me hidden for a moment while I prepare myself.
He turns his head lightly, catching my eyes. I give him a seductive look for the onlookers and lick my lips before leaning in close.
“You want them to see me as nothing more than a pretty toy. If they think I mean more to you than that, I’ll become a person of interest. And you better believe if they think they can get to you through me, they will try.”
He curses but pulls back and urges me to slide my arm through his. “It’s going to be a long fucking night,” he grumbles as he walks me up to the house.
“Yeah, well, try being me. I’m walking into this virtually blind. I have to say, Maxim, you’re not exactly forthcoming.” I mutter quietly.
His lips twitch as he looks at me and winks. The expression clears from his face as the door opens to reveal a short, round man with thinning hair and a fake smile holding his arms open for Maxim to enter. He speaks to Maxim in rapid Russian, leaving me to look around the large entrance hall as we step inside.
When Maxim nudges my arm, I turn back and find the guy’s eyes on my tits, staring as if I were naked. He says something to Maxim before he licks his lips. I don’t know what he says, but the air around us seems to freeze despite the man’s smile. A smile that slips right off his face when he finds himself pinned to the wall, Maxim’s hand around his throat and knife pressed dangerously close to his eye.
Maxim’s voice is so low I can’t make out the words—let alone what language he’s speaking—but when the sleazy guy starts apologizing profusely, I get the gist. Maxim shoves him away before sliding his knife back inside his jacket pocket. He growls at the man before his hand moves to the back of my neck and pulls me to him.
Before I can stop his next move, his mouth is crashing down on mine in an act of ownership. For a second, I freeze, but then I remember that none of this is real. It’s all an illusion, and if there is one thing I’ve mastered over the years, it’s how to act.
I allow myself to melt into him and remind myself to go with it when his hands move around to cup my ass. I feel the evidence of his arousal pressed between us, and for a moment I, worry about how far he’s going to take this. A cough drags his attention away, leaving me with bruised lips and what I’m sure is a dazed look on my face.
The man approaching us must be someone Maxim trusts because he greets him with a casual grin and a man hug, even though he keeps one hand on my hip.
“Speak English, my friend. Alina might not speak, but she hears just fine. She doesn’t, however, understand a word of English,” Maxim tells him in English.
I fight back a grin at the clever bastard before adopting a confused expression.
“Alina, this is Po, one of my most trusted brigadiers.”
I keep my eyes wide as he chuckles and repeats what he just said in Russian to keep up the ruse. I nod and smile at the man, but I don’t offer my hand. I wrap myself around Maxim and look up at him as if he hung the moon.
Gag.
