Page 20 of Bound by Blood

“We have had this conversation before,” he growled, reaching for her wrist. “You will have to fucking shoot me if you want me to stop.”

Laney willed herself to put her finger on the trigger, but as the seconds passed she knew she wouldn’t do it. She closed her eyes instead and allowed him to take her wrist in his hand, slam her arm overhead and push her body back against the door. He covered her body with his much bigger one. The vibrations of the ship leaving dock shuddered through both of them.

“Look at me,” he rumbled from over her head.

Laney shook her head and kept her face tilted down. She was so much smaller than him that her head was well below his shoulder anyway. He sighed in annoyance and reached for her chin, forcing her head up until she had no choice but to look into his dark eyes.

He looked stern, closer to the Russian enforcer that held sway over an entire city than the gentle giant he sometimes took pains to let her see during the long half a year he attempted to woo her. “You knew what would happen when you agreed to come with me to Hong Kong, Laney.”

He seemed to expect some kind of answer from her. She nodded as much as she could in the hold he had on her chin.

“We share a cabin,kotenok. There will be no more discussion.” His voice was so unyielding that she had no trouble picturing him as the head of the Grekov empire he would soon claim.

At the same time as the ship stopped shuddering, indicating they were leaving the dockyard, Boris bent to claim Laney’s lips.

Before his lips could touch hers and take away all of her good sense and ability to reason, Laney used her free hand to unsheathe one of her blades and hold it to his throat.

He immediately tried to reach for her blade hand. Laney growled and pricked him to show that she was serious. A bead of blood bubbled against the tip of the blade. Boris froze. She could feel his brain switching into fight mode while his body continued to seduce hers. He wanted herverybadly and he had waited a long time. He breathed heavily above her, his massive chest rising and falling against her breasts, causing sweeping breaths to shiver against the silken strands that escaped her braids. His massive erection grew even harder against her belly, as though the added danger of a blade and the blood spilled turned him on even more.

“Drop it,” he snarled. “Do not want to hurt you, little Japanese.”

She laughed coldly. “I may have known your reasons for wanting me here, Boris Grekov, but you didn’t know mine. I won’t be falling into bed with you that easily.”

“Da, you will,” he said with supreme confidence.

His words pissed her off enough that she quickly calculated exactly how much pressure it would take to stab him just enough to maim him without killing him. He began squeezing her gun hand, clearly trying to draw her attention elsewhere. She simply stared at him coldly, refusing to be distracted and unwilling to give up the gun. Finally, when he pressed his thumb into the bones between her wrist, she was forced to open her fingers and drop the gun.

Laney grunted in annoyance as the weapon clattered to the deck. Boris released her hand now that she couldn’t shoot him and reached for the wrist that held his throat hostage.

Expecting such a move, Laney quickly dropped her blade hand, slipping it between his legs and pressing it hard into the denim against his heavy ball sack. When Boris froze once more, this time in shock, Laney pressed her advantage by pulling another blade and pressing it against his throat once more.

He stared down at her, awe, passion and frustration warring in his eyes. He wanted her more than ever. And her weapons ensured she was further out of his reach than ever before. Amusement lit her features and she shrugged slightly. She’d never quite been in a situation like this before either. Boris clearly outmatched her as far as ability and strength, but his distraction for her would be his undoing. If he ever got over that, she would be screwed. Probably literally.

Finally, he seemed to come to some kind of decision. His huge shoulders and jaw relaxed. He smiled down at her and nodded slightly. “You have forced me to chase you for over seven months. I think I begin to enjoy this game of ours. Let us see if the ninja can beat the Russian bear.”

She raised an eyebrow. What was he getting at? Of course she couldn’t beat him at hand to hand combat. That’s why she was holding a blade to his throat and balls.

He continued. “I give you two minute head start. If you can evade capture, then you win. If I find you, then I keep you.”

“Why should I play along with you?” Laney asked cautiously, though she was intrigued. She did want to explore the ship and she was terrified of being forced into bed with the giant Russian enforcer. Maybe this was her opportunity to escape that fate for a little while longer. She was smart and she was fast. This could be her only chance. The ship was huge, she could make herself scarce for ten days if she really put her mind to it.

His expression grew serious, his eyes hard. “Because we both know I could disarm you right now.”

Laney’s heart thundered in her chest. He was right. “I would make you bleed though,” she whispered.

He shrugged. “Maybe. It would not be the first time I’ve been pricked and I would be buried in that little pussy before I even noticed.”

She shuddered against him, fear and lust warring within her. She could just drop the daggers and let him take over. He would do his best to make it good for her, like he’d done at the wedding reception. He was generous and he cared for her.

She stared up at him, blue eyes blazing into bronze and nodded. “I accept your two minutes.”

CHAPTER NINE

Boris had been eager to finally claim his woman. Upon their arrival, he’d intended to lock her in their shared cabin and not let her leave for the entire ten days. He would fuck her senseless so she would have no understanding of time and space beyond what he told her. He would bring her food and he would wash her in the small cubicle shower. He would care for her every need and make sure she was entirely dependant on him during their time together.

Instead he had lost her. For a full twenty-eight hours. He was not amused. He was less than not amused, he was enraged. He should be balls deep in her hot little cunt for the fifth or sixth time by now, not searching a fucking ship for his missing goddam kitten.

He didn’t understand why she wasn’t locked in his cabin. He’d been close so many times. He was a damn good hunter. It was why he’d bothered to issue the bloody challenge in the first place. Even on a ship the size of the HMS Solntse. He should have had her within the first hour.

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