Page 21 of Smoke and Shadows

“Marissa—”

“NO!” Marissa shouted. Viktor’s brows drew together.

“I’m not one of your agents. You can’t order me around. And if you want things between us to happen, you have to stop bossing me around. This ends now, Viktor!” She was on a roll, so why stop? “I’m not a twenty-eight-year-old rookie anymore. That girl is gone, trampled by the ugliness that mykind of work—our kind of work brings. It tries to drain the humanity out of us, but you hang on to it, Viktor, you just do. You don’t see me turning into you. Yes. You try to be this cold son of a bitch, but you’re hurting inside—”

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he replied coldly. But he had flinched at her words—barely—but he did. Encouraged, she ranted on.

“Don’t I?” Marissa challenged. “Don’t I? That briefing. You could’ve at least shown some regret that Jack blamed you for what had happened to Maia. But what did you do? You acted as if you didn’t care, but you really do.”

“Jesus, fuck, shit, Iz. Shut up!” Finally, the damned mask was cracking. “What do you want from me?”

“I want the man buried in all that crap you choose to hide behind.” Marissa sighed heavily. The man she used to love. At least, she believed it was love then. She had seen glimpses of him. Viktor could care deeply. “You don’t want anyone to get close to you. You alienate people, Viktor.”

Viktor’s face softened. The harsh lines disappearing, revealing the handsome man he kept hidden behind a facade of indifference. “The man you’re looking for is an illusion, Iz,” he said with almost a pang of regret. “Stripped down . . . this is me.”

“No.” She gently brought a hand up to Viktor’s face. “There’s much more to you.”

“Marissa,” Viktor warned, his face shuttering into cold planes again.

“Goddamn it, Viktor. Try,” Marissa snapped. “Or I’m not doing this with you anymore. And you’re not ordering me around like some damned flunky. You were out of line, and you know it.”

“I was pissed,” Viktor bit out, his arms coming around her, pinning her to the length of his body. He lowered his head and muttered, “Thinking of someone else inside you—”His eyes turned murderous. “Makes me want to kill him and fuck you.”

Marissa’s heart rate skittered, her skin tingling with sensual awareness as she pulsated between her legs.

“I haven’t slept with Brian, or any man, in six months,” she squeaked, a tad breathless.

Realization dawned on Viktor’s face, which made Marissa wary. He was pleased about something.

“Great, we’re good to go then,” Viktor murmured, his mouth brushed the corner of her lips.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your last check-up was three months ago, and you were clean.” The blond devil pulled back slightly and shrugged.

“How?” she sputtered. Why would she even ask? Viktor had no problem with blatant invasion of privacy.

Viktor’s blue eyes darkened with lust and were the last thing she saw before his lips claimed hers in an urgent, demanding kiss. His tongue delved deep inside her mouth. An arm braced her front closer while his hand drifted to her ass and hauled her into him, plastering them together tightly. It seemed impossible to pull them apart. The heat between them ignited with Marissa returning his kisses feverishly, wanting to strip him bare and feel his skin over the ripples of muscle. Her sex flushed with arousal as his swelling hardness rubbed against her.

Something vibrated between them.

Marissa tried to pull away.

“Ignore it.” His voice was ragged. “I need to fuck you.”

“It could be important.”

Cursing, Viktor reluctantly set her from him and answered his phone.

“Yeah.”

He listened for a beat. His lips were set in a grim line at first, but they gradually curved into a faint smile. “She did, did she? . . . I’m not expecting anything different from you,McCord, but I agree. Maia comes first . . . good . . . tell her we’ll be there in an hour.”

Ending the call, Viktor looked at her.

“We?” Marissa asked.

“Sweetheart, I may have been an ass earlier, and I apologize. But nothing has changed,” Viktor told her. “You’ve got half an hour—” he leaned in until his mouth was a breath from hers. “—to pack your shit.”

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