Page 36 of Toxic Salvation (Krayev Bratva #2)

VESPER

He wasn’t lying.

If anyone else ever touches me again, I’ll scream.

Because how could they be as good as him? As this? Large, calloused palms that know exactly how much pressure to apply, exactly where to touch? Every stroke sending electricity through my nerve endings?

Then you go and add his lips to the mix—his tongue, those green eyes that devour me whole. Lathered up with oil and endorphins, I’m fighting an orgasm on the table and he’s still fully clothed.

“Okay, I take back what I said. This massage is so much better than anything those Swiss boys could have given me.”

Kovan pauses. “When did you say that?”

“Uh…” I laugh, breathless and dizzy. “Okay, I may have been thinking it.”

He slaps my ass and I squeal, twisting over. He has to help me upright because I’m so slick with oil that I’m slipping all over the place.

“Your turn.” I grin and start walking him back toward his own massage table.

“My turn, huh?” Kovan’s eyes light up.

“Oh, yeah. I’m nothing if not generous.”

I reach for my towel but he kicks it away with his foot. “Nuh-uh. You want me to massage you, you’re gonna have to do it naked.”

I shrug. “You’re the client. You make the rules.”

“Hm. I like the sound of that.”

I push him down onto the table, fighting my blush the entire time. Mostly because his cock is rock hard and undeniable.

I ignore his erection as I start on his chest, sliding my palms over the smooth skin and kneading the hard muscle there until it’s shiny with massage oil.

As I work, I marvel at every mark on his body. His tattoos are intricate and complex. I trace the paths of the ink, the Russian letters, over his abs, his arms, always coming back toward his center.

At his chest, right above his heart, I notice the tiniest tattoo I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s so small that at first, I mistake it for a birthmark. Then, when I get closer, I realize that it’s writing.

“Is that…?”

“Luka’s name,” Kovan confirms. “I had it done the day he was born.”

“Oh, wow. Why is it so small?”

“It was just something my brother used to say. ‘Sometimes, the things that are most important are the things we can’t see—love, hope, happiness.’” His gaze finds mine. “He was cheesy like that.”

“Your brother sounds like an amazing person,” I whisper in awe. “I would have liked to have met him.”

“He would have loved you,” Kovan says. “He might have even given me a little competition.”

Smiling, I work my way down his body. The muscles on his abs are tightly ridged and smattered with a light dusting of dark hair. The oil slicks the hair back and forth, forming patterns. They’re hypnotizing. I could stare at them all day and never get bored.

Finally, when I’m so turned on that I can’t ignore it anymore, I reach his waist. He lets out a little growl as I palm his erection, moving up and down slowly while I cup his balls with my free hand.

Climbing onto the massage table, I lower myself at his feet and lap my tongue over the tip of his penis. His head rises up so he can see, but I keep licking him, trailing my tongue down his length, over his balls, feeling my way through every ridge and vein he offers me.

Once his cock is coated with my saliva, I start circling my fingers over the base. He spasms in place, rolling back in his head as he tries to hold his orgasm back.

I’m not concerned it’ll end too soon. The man is nothing if not disciplined.

After I’ve tortured and teased him enough, I slide my lips over him and take him into my mouth. “ Blyat’ ,” he moans, sending shivers coursing through me.

There’s something deeply sensual about being so intimate with him like this. About holding his pleasure in my mouth, teasing him, manipulating him, being able to make him scream or cry out or feel like he’s floating.

It’s good for me, too. It’s powerful, invigorating. It’s for me and me alone.

I lose myself in him, sucking him, taking him down my throat again and again. Every little twitch and moan he makes is another surge of giddiness for me.

“Fuck, baby,” he murmurs, lost in the heat of the moment.

Is this really going to be the rest of our lives? Because I can live with this. Even if it means dodging danger and avoiding catastrophe at every turn. There has to be a tradeoff, right?

Nothing comes for free.

And if I can be this happy, this satisfied, this fulfilled, for even a few short minutes, then it has to be worth the price.

Some small, sensible part of me advises caution. Don’t get carried away, girl. That’s how you get your heart broken.

It’s easily ignored, though, when Kovan shoves himself up on his elbows and curses as he pulls himself out of my mouth. “You keep doing that, woman, and I’m going to come down your throat.”

I wink. “Maybe that’s what I want.”

He looks so fierce that it makes me want to stare at him and touch myself. Kovan makes me want to do a lot of things I never thought I’d want to do.

“Now, lay back,” I order. “And let me finish your massage.”

I put a hand on his chest to flatten him on his back once more and then I double my intensity.

I’m choking, gagging, working him with hands and throat and moaning so that the vibrations trickle through me and into him.

Kovan is a mess, and so am I, but we’re a mess together, a beautiful, orgasmic, imperfectly perfect mess.

And then, Oh, God , he’s coming. Hot and salty and mine, his gift to me, filling my mouth and flooding my tongue.

I keep sucking, drinking in every last drop of him. My pussy is on fire, so I touch myself, running my fingers over my clit in fast circles just to take off the edge of how badly I need more.

When I pull my lips away, they’re swollen and tender.

“Vesper…” Kovan gasps, his pupils blown wide. He can barely sit up—he’s limp from the force of his orgasm. “Fuck.”

Smiling, I slide off the massage table, but Kovan catches me and pulls me between his legs. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I need to sit down.”

“You can sit down right here,” he orders, pulling me onto his lap. “How many men have you massaged like that?”

Smiling, I play with his ear. “Would you be jealous if I gave you a list of names?”

He narrows his gaze. “A list of names would be useful. I’ll know who to kill.”

I pull his lips to mine. “You’re the only man who’s ever been given the Vesper Fairfax massage treatment,” I assure him. “And you’re the only man who ever will.”

“Good to know. Saves me a lot of unnecessary body burying.”

I smack his shoulder, but there’s a part of me that wonders if he’s really making a joke or if there’s a kernel of seriousness in the threat.

Kovan drops his head to my chest and I let him cradle me in his arms while looking out onto the mountain tops. It’s so unbelievably beautiful. It feels like nothing can touch us up here.

“Thank you for bringing me here, Kovan.” I clear my throat, hesitate, then plow onward.

“I hate to ruin the moment, but—I also have to ask.” He stiffens against me, and not in the fun way, either.

“Is there something going on that I should know about? I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but it just feels as though there’s something else going on. Is there, or am I just being paranoid?”

I wonder if he’s going to make good on his promise and treat me like his equal. A few seconds later, I get my answer.

“There is something going on,” he admits.

“What is it? Is it Ihor?”

“Yes. He knows that you’re pregnant.”

“Oh. And that’s… bad?”

“Ihor is not a man who lets a valuable asset go to waste. He’s going to come after you, especially now that I went after his mistress and the million-dollar estate he gave her.”

“After you what ?!”

“The details aren’t important,” he says, settling me back down. “But this does mean that we need to think of backup plans.”

“What sort of backup plan?”

Kovan hesitates, and I know instinctively that this might be one of those discussions that’s not really a discussion at all. Yes, Kovan will tell me what’s going on, but I don’t really have a say in what will happen. I’m just along for the ride.

“Right now, I’m thinking of a safehouse. I want to get you and Luka out of the city, maybe even the country, for a period of time.”

“What?” I say, feeling my stomach sink even as my nerves soar. “You want us to move?”

“It won’t be permanent. Just until after I’ve dealt with Ihor. Once he’s no longer an issue, you and Luka can rejoin me?—”

“Wait.” I push myself away from him, my body going cold with dread. “You’re not planning on coming with us? To the safehouse, I mean?”

“I will come and visit, of course. But I can’t stay with you the whole time.

My men need me in the city. They need to know that I’m prepared to fight right alongside them.

Otherwise, how can they ever trust me? How can they put their faith and their loyalty in a man who won’t risk his own life for theirs? ”

“You have a baby on the way,” I protest. “You have Luka. You have me!”

He grabs my face and pulls me toward him. Those green eyes are churning wildly. “They have their own families, too, Vesper. We’re Bratva men. This is part of the risk.”

“I want to stay together, Kovan. I don’t want to be away from you.”

“I don’t want that, either. But I have to think like a pakhan first and a man second. That is, if I’m going to keep all my people alive.”

“No.”

He leans away from me. “No?”

“No, I’m not going. I’m a doctor!” I point out fiercely. “I should be with you and your men. I hope to God that you won’t need me, but you might.”

“You’re a pediatric surgeon?—”

“Yes, but I can also?—”

“And you’re pregnant .”

“I can do my job and still be pregnant,” I cry out. “Isn’t that what I’ve been doing this whole time?”

“That’s different. You’re a doctor in a hospital. It’s a controlled environment.”

“Except when masked gunmen storm the place and start shooting,” I remind him acidly.

“Exactly! Because I was there. Danger has a habit of following me, Ves?—”

“And that’s going to change after the baby is born and Ihor is dealt with?” I interrupt.

He sighs. “Well, there are always going to be threats?—”

“Exactly my point. Are we in this together or are we not?”

He’s shaking his head before I even finish my question. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“You told me that we would be partners in this. You told me that we were equals.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to give you a fucking gun and bring you out into the field with me,” he snarls. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“And you’re being stubborn. I’m a resource, Kovan! Use me! If it makes you feel any better, I’m willing to wait until this baby is born. I have no desire to put our child in danger, so I will stay behind your high walls like a good little girl until I deliver. But then?—”

“There’s no ‘but.’ You’re going to do as I say.”

“Are you telling me that you’re going back on your word?” I demand.

“Christ!” Kovan hisses, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “This is about the men who follow me, Vesper! What if something unpredictable were to happen in the field? They wouldn’t just lose me—they’d lose you, too.”

“If I were with you, your chances of surviving would be a whole lot better.”

“Someone certainly thinks highly of her skills.”

I shrug proudly. “I’m a damn good doctor.”

Despite his anger, I notice the spark in his expression as he gives me the once-over. He may not like me mouthing off to him or pushing back the way I do, but he is attracted to my confidence.

I slip my hand into his. “I’m not talking about taking unnecessary risks, Kovan. I’m just saying I think we make a good team.”

“And the boys?”

“Between Charity, Pavel, and Osip, the boys will be well looked after.”

“They’re good, but they’re still not us.”

I smile. “I guess we’ll just have to survive then, won’t we?”

The discussion isn’t over. I can see it in his gaze—the war between his protective instincts and his respect for what I can do. Between his role as pakhan and his role as the man who loves me.

“Vesper—” he starts, but I press my finger to his lips.

“We don’t have to decide everything right now,” I tell him. “But promise me you’ll think about it. Really think about it.”

“Okay.” He catches my hand and kisses my palm. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good.” I settle back against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. “Because I’m not going anywhere, Kovan. Not without you.”

Outside, the Swiss Alps stretch endlessly, beautiful and untouchable. For now, we’re safe here. For now, we have this moment.

But once we’re back home… nobody knows what will happen.