Page 14 of Deadly Knight

“You. Care about me? Even though you came here to kidnap me, you care? We just met yesterday. How can I trust you?” Maya shivered. The touch of his hand was surprisingly gentle, and the frosty intensity of his eyes had melted beneath the weight of his sincerity. The panic Maya had lost herself to ebbed away, replaced by an emotion far more tender.

How could this be happening?

Kostya, the Mad Dog of the Sokolov family, cared for her. He ran his fingers across her cheeks like he was caressing the petals of a flower. Maya hadn’t known that he was capable of such gentleness, and she found herself moved by it.

It seems he’s only like this for me…

“You want to stop my father from what, exactly?” she asked in a small voice.

Kostya’s face became serious as he frowned at her question. “He needs to answer for his actions back in Boston, but more importantly,Ineed to keep him away from you.”

Maya felt herself melting but she needed to understand. “Why?”

“Because you are an innocent and your father is a very bad man.” He said it as if it was obvious.

“But you’ve done bad things, too.” She was finding it increasingly hard to think with the way he kept touching her.

He nodded, his expression solemn. “I have. Which is why I know I can protect you—no matter what it takes.”

So far, Kostya had been the only thing keeping her from her father’s clutches. She’d been so confident that she could take care of herself, but confidence had done her no good. She couldn’t hope to stop her father—not alone, at least. She felt herself swaying toward him.

“Together, Maya, I think we can pull it off.”

Maya closed her eyes and leaned her head against his hand. She felt the callouses on his fingers. She knew what terrible things those hands had done before, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. What Kostya offered her was tempting. While her father had allowed her to walk away, she was under no illusions that she’d actually escaped him. Even though she felt as though the target on her back had grown smaller over the years, deep down, she’d always known that her father would eventually reappear. The only chance she had of truly being free was if her father was permanently removed from power. And if Kostya could promise her that she’d be safe…

“I don’t want him dead,” she whispered. The request was likely a dealbreaker, but she had to say it. If she held her tongue and he pulled the trigger, she would never forgive herself. She lifted her chin and made sure her words reached his ear. “My father is an evil man, but he’s still my father. If I allow you to kill him, or even help you do it, I’ll be no better than he is. I can’t let that happen. I won’t degrade myself to his level.”

“Being indirectly responsible for the death of one malicious man wouldn’t make you a bad person, Maya,” Kostya whispered in return. The heat of his voice caressed the side of her face, and the dark sound met her eardrum and shot down her spine as a shiver. His free hand drifted down her side, a seductive invitation to give in to what was easiest instead of worrying about what was right. “All the lives he’s taken? All the heartache he’s brought onto the world? You could never sink to his level.”

“I don’t want him dead,” she repeated. No matter how alluring the sound of his voice or the promises he made her, she would not budge on that. “I’ll help you if it means that I’ll be free of him, but you can’t kill him. Those are my terms.”

“You know who you’re talking to, don’t you?” Kostya asked with a chuckle. His fingers traced a delicate circle on her hip, teasing up her shirt. “Asking the Mad Dog of the Sokolov family not to kill—”

“Is my price,” Maya reaffirmed. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re Nikolai or Kostya…my conditions stay the same. Your reputation does not define you. Your name does not define you. If it did, we would have already been at each other’s throats, wouldn’t we? A Popov and a Sokolov…but instead, here we are.”

“All I can promise is that I will keep you safe,” Kostya replied. He spoke slowly, choosing his words with care. His fingers stopped their circular track, and his hand fell away from her body. “If keeping you safe means someone has to die…”

“You won’t kill him.” Maya’s heart knew that it was true. Kostya had shown her that there was a person beneath his ruthless facade, and she knew he would listen to her. He’d saved her more times than he owed her. What he did, he did out of affection, not out of obligation. She saw right through him. “You’re not going to let it happen. There’s more to you than violence, Kostya.”

“And how would you know?” he asked.

His voice was temptation, and Maya couldn’t help herself. She knew it was wrong—that Kostya was supposed to be her enemy, and that he was dangerous—but none of that mattered to her anymore. In him, she’d found a man who would risk his life to save hers, even when he had no obligation to do so. No one had ever cared for her so deeply. Not her friends, not her family, and definitely not her father.

She moved back, but only enough so that they could come face-to-face again. Then, slowly, she lifted herself up and tilted her head to the side, leaning in close and closing her eyes.

“Because I’ve seen it,” she whispered against his lips. The stubble on his chin scratched her skin, and his calloused fingers returned to caress her cheek. “You won’t kill him. Not if you don’t have to…and you won’t have to, because you’ll find another way.”

Their lips met, silencing his response. Maya wasn’t sure if she was the one who’d started the kiss, or if it had been him, but once contact between them was established, it didn’t matter anymore. Maya burned for him. Heat scorched through her chest and set fire to her arousal. She kissed him harder, and to her surprise, he returned her passion with equal measure, then took control and kissed her even harder than that. Maya moaned against his lips and clutched the front of his shirt, and he backed her up until she was pressed against a storage shelf. The kiss broke and she panted for breath, but Kostya didn’t give her long to recover. The hand that had once caressed her cheek now cupped it to hold her head in place, and the other ventured lower. His thumb worked open the button of her jeans.

“Kostya,” Maya murmured, but she didn’t resist. She couldn’t. Behind the coldness in Kostya’s eyes were flames rising to melt the ice, and it was all her doing. He had changed because of her—forher—and Maya’s heart worked overtime as she struggled to process how monumental that was. Somehow, she sensed that this was a first for him, softening for someone, and she couldn’t not be affected by that.

The little voice in her head that she expected to chastise her, telling her it was too fast, he was all wrong, to run—instead, that voice was screaming at her to let go, to let this happen. Toenjoyit.

“Don’t fear,pchelka…I would never harm you.” Kostya tugged down the zipper of her fly, and Maya parted her legs, trying to give him more room. Her heart hammered, and she was sure that, at any moment, it would give out. The danger, the excitement, the tenderness, and the taboo…she couldn’t remember a time when she’d been more excited. “All I want is to give you pleasure,” he whispered into her ear.

His fingers caressed her mound through the thin fabric of her panties, teasing her. Maya sucked in a breath and tried to widen her stance farther, but the small space they occupied and the position of his body made it difficult. Unable to help him, she decided to help herself. As Kostya stroked her, she ground down against him, teaching him where to touch her and how hard.

Kostya chuckled against her ear and nipped at her earlobe. When Maya gasped in pleasure, his fingers pushed aside the thin fabric of her underwear and dipped between her soaked crease.

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