“Morning.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face into the crook of my neck taking a deep breath.
“You should have woken me up,” I murmured softly. “It is almost noon.”
“You needed sleep,” he replied simply. “I kept you up most of the night.”
Heat rushed to my face at the thought of how he kept me up most of the night. I felt his warm lips on my neck and instantly my body responded in need for him. I tilted my head to allow him better access, wanting to feel more of him. But then to my embarrassment, my stomach growled and he stopped.
“Ugh.” Talk about the mood killer. “Sorry,” I muttered uncomfortably.
“Don’t apologize,” he chastised. “I should be apologizing. Let’s go feed you.”
I ran to the bathroom to quickly brush my teeth and wash my face then went to my bag, searching for something to wear when he handed me his shirt. “Wear this for me.”
I eyed the shirt and had to admit, I kind of liked the idea of wearing his shirt. There was something simply sexy about it. He helped me put my arms into the sleeves and buttoned down the shirt while I rolled up the sleeves. He was much bigger compared to me so the shirt almost reached my knees but I still didn’t want to go around without panties and at least some shorts underneath it.
I dug through my bag and found both, quickly putting them on.
“Okay, I’m ready for some food.” Lifting my head to meet his eyes, I smiled at him.
His gaze on me felt like a caress and intense as a storm at the same time. I was quickly caving to his demands, getting under his spell.
“Okay, milaya,” he murmured, taking my lips into another kiss. “Let’s go eat.”
I meant to ask him what milaya meant but as soon as we got to the kitchen, his phone rang and few curses left his lips after he answered it. Alarmed, I raised my eyes in question. I couldn’t forget this wasn’t exactly a vacation that we were doing. We were hiding.
“It’s nothing,” he whispered softly. “Just a meeting I forgot about.”
“Ahhh.” I shouldn’t be surprised. He had a day to day job to take care of. After all, he had several businesses to worry about. Just because I was jobless and careerless at the moment, it didn’t mean everyone was. “You take care of it, and I’ll whip up some food.”
Hopefully it will be edible.
He disappeared into another room to take care of his call while I went into the kitchen to figure out what the safest thing would be for me to fix… with my limited cooking experience. I bent over supporting myself on the open fridge door and kept staring at the contents of the fridge.
“Eggs should be super easy to fix, right?” I muttered under my breath to myself. “I’d prefer cereal. Can’t go wrong with cereal.”
“We aren’t much into cereal,” a man's voice had me whipping around. It wasn’t someone I saw before.
“Who are you?” He wasn’t one of Sergei’s or Dimitry’s men. I knew them all; not all by name but I definitely could recognize them. This man I had never seen before, although there was something slightly familiar about him. I had seen him before; I knew I had but my brain refused to cooperate.
“Vlad,” he extended his hand. “And who are you?”
I slightly stiffened at the name, an unwelcome memory at the forefront of my mind. I knew it was a very common name in Russia but God, I really hated that name. Boris and Vlad were one of the top names I hated.
I stood there, deciding whether he was safe or not when one of the security men came from the outside and greeted him. “Hey, Vlad. Damir said you were here.”
Seeing that apparently he wasn’t a threat, I reluctantly took his hand. “Anja.”
There was no reason for me to give him my full name since he clearly didn’t give me his full name. Something about this man didn’t sit well with me at all.
Then I remembered Dimitry mentioned Vlad. Didn’t he?
“American?” he asked. I nodded in response and he continued. “Nice to meet you.” I slightly tilted my head in acknowledgement. Something about him made me feel uncomfortable although I couldn’t quite pinpoint what.
Vlad turned his attention to the other man. “Dragan.” I guess that was a greeting. “I’m bringing extra men for safety.”
The man nodded and went back out, assumingely to see these extra men.
“So what are you trying to do?” he asked, turning his attention back to me.