Page 81 of Alexei

God, I must have lost my head.

I was on an assignment. Alexei was part of the job. This was work. Except, this last time, Iwantedhim inside me. It didn’t feel like work.

“Igor should be convinced,” I mumbled, unsure why I even felt the need to have an excuse for what we just did. I was a grown woman. He didn’t respond and I avoided looking into his face, scared of what I’d find there.

Whatever.

Careful not to look his way, I got out of bed, pushing my hands through my hair. Bed head never looked good on me. I had way too much hair, and it always made me look like a crazy person.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” I asked him, glancing over my shoulder. Again, it struck me as odd that he slept dressed. I never met a man, or heard of one, that preferred to sleep with his clothes on.

Though I could still feel him against me as he fucked me.

“Breakfast.”

My stomach promptly growled and I released an uncomfortable chuckle. “That sounds perfect. Apparently I’m starving.” The man of very few words nodded. “I’ll take a quick shower,” I muttered, pulling my hair up into a bun.

It agitated me that the man seemed completely unaffected by the sex we just shared while I rattled like some goddamn china doll.Maybe it was totally one-sided.It couldn’t be. Right? The images of us caught in the mirror from last night flashed through my mind, and suddenly, my insides were on fire.

Swallowing hard, I made a hasty retreat into the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

I needed a cold shower and a cool head.

By the time I came out of the bathroom, Alexei had showered, shaved, and dressed. My eyes darted behind me to find his duffle bag sitting on the counter and I frowned in confusion.

He must have read my thoughts.

“I took a shower in the spare bathroom.”

“How did you get your stuff?” I choked out. This man moved silently and deadly.

He looked at me like I was crazy. Or stupid. Either was debatable right now.

“I got it out of the bag.” Jesus! He entered the bathroom while I was in the shower and I never even heard him. Alarm shot through me. The man could kill me, and I’d never see him coming.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled. Panicking now wouldn’t do me any good. I had to keep my cool. Not that I had a choice. We were locked in this room and who knew what the next steps would be.

“You need to eat.” Alexei’s voice had me focusing on him. He tilted his chin to the left corner of the room and my eyes darted in its direction to find a tray full of food. They must have brought in food while I showered. Heck, Igor, or whoever was watching us, probably heard my stomach growl. “Then we’re leaving.”

There was no sense in asking questions. I knew Alexei wouldn’t give me any other info and we were being watched and listened to, so we couldn’t blow our cover.

I took five steps to the cart and eyed the choices. One croissant and a mug of coffee later, we were enroute back to the roof where a helicopter awaited. As we strode to the helicopter, Alexei slipped his arm around my waist and ushered me into the helicopter. Something pushed me to glance over my shoulder and just as I did, I felt a sharp sting on the back of my neck.

“Alexei… I…” My voice trailed off and my vision blurred. I stumbled backwards, and as if in slow motion, I watched his hands catch me. I blinked, trying to clear the fog in my brain, but it wasn’t lifting. I attempted to shake him off and step back, but all I ended up doing was stumbling backwards and my face planted onto Alexei’s hard chest.

“Put her in,” Igor’s voice sounded distant, though he was right behind us.

“Alexei.” I wasn’t sure if I said his name out loud or just thought it.

Then everything went dark.

ChapterTwenty-Six

ALEXEI

Well, I was certainly determined to make this woman detest me. My wrongs were stacking up fast and furiously. And doing this to her right after what happened between us in bed this morning made it worse. She trusted me to blindfold her, restrain her, and fuck her. And I repaid her by drugging her.

Aurora was out cold when the door to our room unlocked earlier. Fucking Igor thought he’d caught me unaware. He never learned, and it was a miracle someone hadn’t killed him by now. The slimebag was a fucking backstabber, but then it might be the reason he was still alive.