Chapter 15: Devil’s Lair: Chapter 15

Every cell in my body ignites with heat, my pulse jumping impossibly higher. My lower body is flush against his, my thighs pressed against the hard columns of his legs and my stomach molded against his groin. I can smell his cologne, something subtle and complex, with notes of cedar and bergamot, and underneath, the clean musk of warm male skin. And it is warm. Even with us both fully dressed, I can feel his animal heat—and, to my shock, the growing hardness pressing into my belly.

“Are you okay?” he murmurs, and I realize I’m staring up at him dazedly, like a rabbit caught in a trap. Which is pretty much how I feel. His long fingers completely encircle my upper arms, his grip unbreakable. And he’s huge. Up until this moment, I hadn’t realized just how tall and muscular he is. I’m of average height for a woman, but he dwarfs me in every way—and judging by the thickness of the bulge pressed against me, he’s consistently big all over.

My skin heats another thousand degrees, and my insides contract on a sudden empty ache. “I’m… I’m fine.” Only I sound anything but fine, my choked voice betraying my agitation. I can’t think, can’t process anything except the fact that his erection is pressing against me, and for whatever reason, he’s not letting go of me.

He’s holding me against him as if he might never let go, his gaze growing more intent by the second. Slowly, as if drawn by a magnet, his eyes move down to my lips and—

“Kolya.” Alina’s voice is tight. “Konstantin wants to talk to you.”

Nikolai stiffens and raises his head, his fingers tightening on my arms to the point of pain. An involuntary gasp escapes my throat, and he loosens his grip—but still doesn’t release me.

“Tell him I’ll call him back,” he tells his sister. His tone is cool and even, as if we were all sitting at a table instead of him holding me like we’re about to tango. My face, on the other hand, is burning with embarrassment.

I can’t even imagine what Alina’s thinking right now.

“He wants to speak to you right away,” she insists. “He’s going into a meeting in a few minutes and will be busy afterward.”

Nikolai mutters what sounds like a Russian curse and finally releases me. Shaken, I stumble back on unsteady legs and turn to face Alina, who’s watching her brother stalk off with a narrowed stare. Then her gaze swings to me, and her full red lips tighten.

“I ran into him,” I blurt before she can accuse me of anything. “It was an accident. I would’ve fallen, but he—”

“My brother doesn’t do accidents.” Her eyes are like jade dipped in ice. “You’d do well to remember that, Chloe.”

And with that, she walks off, leaving me more shaken than before.

After a few minutes, I’ve composed myself enough to resume my search for Slava—this time, at a much more sedate walking pace. When I get to his room, however, he’s not there, so I go back downstairs to look for him.

I don’t see him or Pavel in any of the common areas, so I return to the kitchen, hoping to find Lyudmila there. But she’s also gone.

Maybe they’re all outside?

Opening the front door, I step out into the bright sunlight. It’s a gorgeous, cloudless day, the forest-scented breeze cool and refreshing on my face. Nobody’s on the driveway, but I walk out there anyway, drawing lungfuls of fresh mountain air to further calm myself.

There’s no reason to freak out.

Nothing happened.

Nikolai caught me when I would’ve fallen, that’s all.

Except… something could’ve happened if Alina hadn’t interrupted. I’m ninety percent sure Nikolai had been about to kiss me. And I definitely didn’t imagine the hard bulge pressed against me.

He does want me.

There’s no longer any doubt about that.

I take another deep breath, but my heart continues to pound, my palms sweating like crazy. Wiping them on my jeans, I walk around the side of the house, taking in mountain views in an effort to calm my racing thoughts.

It’s fine. Everything’s fine. Just because Nikolai is attracted to me doesn’t mean anything is going to happen between us. I’m sure he realizes how inappropriate the whole thing is. No matter what Alina said, it was an accident, us bumping into each other. I don’t know why she would imply otherwise. Maybe she thinks I was coming on to him? But no. It seemed almost as if she was warning me away from him, as if—

The sound of voices catches my attention, and as I round the corner, I see Pavel and Slava. They’re standing by a tree stump some fifty feet away, with the big fish laid on top of it. As I approach, I see the man-bear slice it open halfway, then hand the sharp-looking knife to Slava.

What the hell? Is he expecting the child to finish the job?

He is. And Slava does. By the time I get there, the boy is scooping out fish innards with his little hands and throwing them into a plastic bag Pavel is helpfully holding open for him.

Okay then. I guess they know what they’re doing. I’ve cleaned fish a few times myself—my freshman-year roommate, a fishing-and-hunting enthusiast, taught me how—so I’m not grossed out, but it is unsettling to see a four-year-old doing it.

They’re really not worried about him with knives.

Stopping in front of the stump, I put on my brightest smile. “Good morning. Mind if I join you?”

The boy grins up at me and rattles off something in Russian. Pavel, however, looks less than pleased to see me. “We’re almost done,” he growls in his thickly accented voice. “You can wait in the house if you want.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine out here. Do you need any help with that?” I gesture toward the fish.

Pavel glowers at me. “You know how to remove scales?”

“I do.” I’d actually rather not do it, lest I get my only clean clothes dirty, but I want to continue teaching Slava, and the best way to do that is to spend time with him, engaged in whatever activities he’s doing.

In my experience, children learn best outside of a classroom—and so do most adults.

“Here then.” Pavel thrusts a descaling knife at me. “Show the kid how to do it.”

Judging by the smirk on his brick-like face, he thinks I’m bluffing—which is why it gives me great pleasure to take the knife from him and say sweetly, “Okay.”

Taking care not to get any splatters on my shirt, I get to work, explaining to the boy the entire time what I’m doing and how. I tell him what every part of the fish is called and make him repeat the words, then let him try the descaling himself. He’s as good at it as he was at the slicing, and I realize he’s done it before.

When Pavel told me to show him, he was just testing me.

Hiding my annoyance, I let Slava finish the job and put the cleaned fish back into the bucket. Pavel carries it into the house, and Slava and I follow. The man-bear goes straight for the kitchen—probably to prepare the fish for lunch—and I tell him I’m taking Slava upstairs to get changed. Unlike me, the boy has fishy splatters all over his shirt.

Pavel grunts something affirmative before disappearing into the kitchen, and I shepherd Slava into the nearest bathroom. We both thoroughly wash our hands, and then I lead Slava up to his room.

To my surprise, Lyudmila is there when we walk in, presciently laying out a clean shirt and jeans for Slava on the bed.

“Thank you,” I say with a smile. “He’s in dire need of a change.”

She smiles back and says something to Slava in Russian. He walks over to her, and she helps him out of the dirty clothes. I tactfully turn my back—the boy is old enough to be shy in front of strangers. When it seems like they’re done, I turn around and find Lyudmila helping him with the buckle of his belt.

“All good,” she announces after a moment, stepping back. “You teach now.”

I grin at her. “Thank you, I will.” Seeing her gather Slava’s dirty clothes, I ask, “Is there a washing machine somewhere in the house? I need to do laundry.”

She frowns, not understanding.

“Laundry.” I point at the pile of clothes in her hands. “You know, to wash clothes?” I rub my fists together, mimicking someone doing laundry by hand.

Her face clears. “Ah, yes. Come.”

“I’ll be right back,” I tell Slava and follow Lyudmila downstairs. She takes me past the kitchen and down a hallway to a windowless room about the size of my bedroom. There are two fancy washers and dryers—I guess to run multiple loads at once—along with an ironing board, a drying rack, laundry baskets, and other conveniences.

“This, yes?” She points at the machines, and I nod, thanking her. Returning to my room, I gather all my clothes and bring them down. Lyudmila is gone by then, so I begin loading the washers. In a half hour, I’ll come down again to move the clothes over to the dryers, and by dinnertime, everything will be clean.

Things really are looking up, the situation with my boss notwithstanding.

My heart rate speeds up at the thought, the butterflies in my stomach roaring back to life. Slava and Pavel provided a much-needed distraction, but now that I’m away from them, I can’t help thinking about what happened. My mind cycles through everything, over and over, until the butterflies turn into wasps.

I felt Nikolai’s erection against me.

He looked like he was about to kiss me.

He didn’t let go of me when his sister was there.

It’s that last part that freaks me out the most, because it means I was wrong. He does intend to act on this attraction. If Alina hadn’t insisted he take the call, he would’ve kissed me, and maybe more. Maybe at this very moment, we’d be in bed together, with his powerful body driving into me as—

I stop the fantasy before it can progress any further. Already, I feel overly warm, my breasts full and tight, my sex pulsing with a coiling ache. It must be some weird aftermath of my impromptu masturbation session last night; that’s the only explanation for why I’ve suddenly acquired the libido of a teenage boy.

Taking slow, deep breaths to calm myself, I finish loading the laundry. The situation is undoubtedly tricky. An affair with my employer would be unwise on many levels, yet I’m less than certain of my ability to resist him. If I go up in flames merely thinking about him, what would it be like if he touched me? Kissed me?

Would my self-control evaporate like water on a frying pan?

There’s only one solution I can see, only one thing I can do to prevent this disaster.

I have to avoid him—or at least, being alone with him—for the next six days.

Thus resolved, I set the washers to run, and turn around—only to freeze in place.

Standing in the doorway, golden eyes gleaming and mouth curved in a devastating smile, is the very devil who occupies my thoughts.

“There you are,” he says softly, and as I watch, paralyzed in shock, he steps deeper into the room and shuts the door.