Page 15 of King of Malice

The line is quiet for a moment, nothing but the sound of our breathing.

As I float down from the orgasm, I feel my body heating again, but this time, it’s from embarrassment and not passion. Did I really just do that?

But the memory makes me smile. It’s the first time I’ve shared any kind of sexual experience with another person like this. As embarrassed as I am, it was also really wonderful. “Dimitri?”

“Yes, milaya?”

“Thank you for that. It was…”

“I think so too.” I smile at his words, turning on my side.

“Bright side,” I laugh a little. “No risk of pregnancy.”

He doesn’t laugh back and I tense, worried that I made some jump, like he’d even want to have real sex with me. I open my mouth to tell him to forget it, when he answers. “You’d make the most beautiful babies, Ava.”

The words I’d been about to say die on my tongue, as I picture myself holding a baby of my own. Suddenly this deep longing fills me that I didn’t even know existed. It chokes me with emotion. “I don’t know if I could ever…”

“Be kind to yourself and take it one experience at a time.”

Does that mean we might do this again? I don’t ask, I don’t want to put any pressure on him. But all at once, I realize, I am going to have to see him again. “Thank you.” But I can hear the hesitation in my own voice and he hears it too.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… is this going to make working together weird?” I ask, wincing.

“Not at all,” he answers easily, confidence making his tone smooth.

We talk for a few more minutes, until I’ve relaxed again, stopped worrying that I’ve made a terrible mistake and then we hang up the phone.

I lay there, half asleep after the amazing orgasm, knowing that I should get up, brush my teeth, and go to bed.

If Dimitri were here, would he pick me up and carry me? The fantasy doesn’t frighten me.

He looks so strong, I bet he could do it easily. And in my fantasy, instead of being afraid, I feel so safe and protected in his arms.

My eyes slide closed, I’m so relaxed, I know I’m going to fall asleep right here on the couch.

That’s when my phone rings again.

I jolt awake, a smile playing at my lips. It’s Dimitri. I know it.

But when I pick up my phone, it isn’t Dimitri’s name I see on the screen but Steve Imperian’s. My investigator.

My brow furrows as I quickly pick up the phone. “Steve?”

“Hey, Ava,” he says but he doesn’t sound happy. I can already tell something is wrong.

“Did you find something?”

“Yeah,” his voice drops low, a wince lacing the single word. “I was able to track Cadence to a last known location.”

“What does that mean?”

He lets out a long breath of resignation. “Three days ago, she stepped into a Bratva whorehouse. Well technically, it’s a sex club, but that’s kind of the same thing. Crazy state we live in.”

“What?” I cry weakly. Those words don’t even make sense.

“She wasn’t struggling. I know that. She walked in of her own free will. But while several people saw her go in, no one saw her come out.”