“And it ended just as pretty, moya sirena.”
The fog of what happened to me starts to lift and I take a bigger notice in the sound of a Russian accent hooked onto his words. It sounds familiar. Same roughness and pitch as the man on the news. I abruptly sit up and turn in his arms, blinking wildly past the burn.
When I raise my gaze to his I see an unfamiliar face with features I would recognize anywhere. My heart races as his dark eyes hold me captive. I’d just proclaimed I would have this man’s baby if the Universe placed me in his arms.
I guess the joke is on me.
I forget to breathe. This cannot be happening.
I blink again and for a second, I really do think I’m dead. But I’m shivering and there are places on my body that are heating in ways that I know if I were dead would not be getting any signals.
I draw in a quick breath, not feeling even slightly amused.
My heart, my body. Even my freaking soul right now wants to drop to the floor of this boat and plant my lips on his feet.
I clear my throat, painful as it is, and squash that bad idea before it has time to flourish in my water-logged brain. One show of weakness is all it would take for him to think he owns me. That’s how these men operate.
I try to push away but strong arms brace me to Maxim Novak’s broad, muscular chest. The power in his large, callused hands is thrilling in a way that should scare the crap out of me, but with a quick soul-searching quest, I don’t find anything other than relief.
“Maxim Novak,” I say flatly.
Dark eyes, narrow on me. Piercing eyes capture mine as he tilts his head to the side as to consider me. I can see the calculating mobster behind those thick lashes and he’s doing the same math I am. My life plus his help in saving it means I owe a debt.
Shit.
Did I just get out of the proverbial pan and dive head first into the fire?
He strokes the underside of my jawline in a slow glide and tilts my head up to where our lips are nothing more than a whisper apart. My whole world melts away with that one gesture. One movement from either of us and this moment will take on a whole other tone.
Suddenly the idea of dying has me wanting to live. And right now, I can’t think of anything beyond tasting his lips. Feeling the warmth of passion instead of the cool embrace of the watery depths.
My pulse quickens and before I can chicken out, I rise, slip my arms around his neck and kiss the mafia boss. Slick heat blooms between my thighs and the tingles of electricity over my skin have me sliding my fingers through his tousled black hair.
Hands move and I’m dipped back, my weight all his to control. His warm lips tease over mine. Softly at first and then more demanding. Fingers tighten in my wet hair and I groan wildly.
Oh, God.I forgot we are not alone. I gasp, breaking the connection, and shyly look toward the front of the boat where the captain is piloting us across the ocean surface.
Maxim doesn’t seem to be bothered by having another person so near even with his back turned toward us.
The Russian mobster leans back against the bench taking me with him. “You worry too much. Gray can’t hear us over the rushing water and motor. Trust me. But I like that you don’t want anyone else to hear the moans meant for only me.”
He raises a suggestive eyebrow and the possessive fire in his eyes starts a whole other level of heat in my core and my body shamelessly tightens at the idea of moaning for him some more. There is an energy about him that pulls me in as much as it makes me quake with the fear of being left drained if I let him too close. Everything about this man screams power. From the way he holds me, to the way he angles his body into the wind to cut it from blasting me in the face. To the way his shoulders pull back and the confidence in the cut of his chin.
I swear it’s like the Universe conspired to build the most irresistible man that goes against everything I said I didn’t want and then literally dropped me in his lap and issued me a dare.
Maxim says something but when I don’t offer a response, he turns my face to his. “I said you have me at a disadvantage,” he drawls out in that heart-throbbing accent that should not have my heart doing backflips. But it does.
“What is your name, krasivaya sirena?”
I suck in a breath as our bodies bump and grind against each other with the movements of the boat hitting small white caps. My rescuer watches me intently. His eyes stroke the sides of my face before dipping to touch my lips. I get the sense there’s something he wants to say but either he’s reconsidering it or this isn’t the place.
We hit a particularly large dip in the waves that causes me to slip from my place between his legs. His big arms wrap around my body tighter and he pulls me in. But that one jolt is all it takes for me to realize the crackling energy simmering between us has resulted in giving him an incredibly hard erection.
His grin turns pure molten lava and there’s not an apologetic bone in his body. “I can’t seem to help my reaction to such a beautiful siren pulled from the depths.”
My eyes widen and his growing grin is nothing less than sinfully wolfish. The thin material of his shorts does nothing to hide the fact that he’s solid steel beneath the navy-blue material.
His warm hand engulfs my face and there’s a pure untethered desire written in his expression when he caresses my cheek with the rough pad of his thumb. Something primal is happening between us but surprisingly with this man, I’m too scared to take the first step. An issue I’ve never really had before this moment. He leaves me feeling off kilter unlike any man has ever done for me.