Page 69 of Smoke and Shadows

Viktor stared down at her, his lips curving in a sly smile. “You’re trembling—”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Viktor, it’s like thirty-degrees out here,” Marissa retorted.

“Bullshit. You’re horny for me,” Viktor whispered into her ear. “You want my cock. Admit it, sweetheart.”

“It’s always sex to you, isn’t it?”

“Goddamn it. Why are you so stubborn?” Viktor released her shoulders, stepped away from her and raked his fingers through his hair. “Do you honestly believe that? Because if you do, then we’ve nothing else to discuss.”

Marissa arched an eyebrow.Wily bastard. Is he bluffing?

“There’s nothing else to discuss,” she said flatly, turning around. “Go home,” she repeated for the third time.

A guttural sound of frustration exploded behind her. She found herself backed against her car, her body draped on top of the hood, legs shoved apart, with a very angry, obviously aroused male wedging his hips between them. Fingers yanked her hair down, tilting her face up, and his lips slammed down on hers in a brutal, penetrating kiss. Marissa fought her desire, but his probing tongue was relentless and she ended up kissing him back. There was no tenderness in his touch, and he ignored her muffled cry when his fingers dug into the side of her hip where the bullet had grazed her. His erection rocked against the soft layer of her sweat pants, rubbing her with erotic friction until she cried out and came violently.

Viktor shoved away from her, Marissa slid down the hood and was almost boneless after her orgasm. He was breathing hard, fists clenched at his sides, the night too dark to discern the expression on his face. And then he stepped forward, cupped her face and leaned his forehead on hers. “You—drive—me—crazy. I should stay away from you for how you make me feel, but I can’t, Iz. Don’t give up on me.” He slowly trailed his mouth along her jawline until it was by her ear, and he whispered, “Please.”

Please.The word, so foreign to Viktor’s vocabulary, melted her resolve.

“Come on in.”

“I didn’t meanto be so rough,” Viktor muttered. They were in the bedroom when he noticed the blood on her sweat pants.

“I’m made of sturdier stuff, Viktor,” Marissa said.

And to think he had actually leashed his urges earlier. If he had let go of the raging inferno within him, he could have seriously hurt her. He wasn’t kidding when he told Marissa she wouldn’t be able to walk for a week. Hard, long fucking thatwas bordering on violence was what he’d been harboring in his mind as her punishment for daring to disappear on him.

Marissa excused herself to go to the bathroom, which gave Viktor an opportunity to take a look around the place. There were two bedrooms. Stan Morgan was currently in the kitchen whipping up something to eat. When he and Marissa entered the house, the other man had the gall to smirk at him.

Viktor was already crazed from not being able to find her for the past five days. He didn’t need another man suggesting a three-way with his woman. Viktor had shared his women before, but the idea of another man touching Marissa made him want to commit bloody murder. She washiswoman. She belonged tohim. And he would kill anyone who would try to take her from him.

And that damning question came back to haunt him.If it had been Marissa instead who had the gun to her head, would he have given up the codes?

Viktor groaned, sat on the bed, buried his face in his hands, and rested his forearms on his knees.

“Viktor? Are you all right?” Marissa asked. She was dressed in a fresh pair of sweats.

“No.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The reason Maia and I were having a conversation—”

Marissa tensed. Viktor cursed. “She was assuring me she understood what I did.”

“That you’d sacrifice her to protect the NOC database.”

“Yes.”

“You were in an untenable position, Viktor. It was lose-lose.”

“She said she would have done the same if our situations were reversed.”

“Do you hold it against her?”

“God, no.” Viktor said, horrified Marissa would even suggest it.

“So what’s the problem?”

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