Indulgence: A Russian Mafia Romance (Grekov Mafia Book 1) (4 page)

Lifting my shaking hand to my forehead, I was surprised to find I wasn’t bleeding. I continued to rub my aching forehead, blindly thrusting a few wrinkled bills into the man’s hand as he rambled in a language I didn’t understand. “Learn to drive, you bastard,” I muttered, slamming the cab door closed.

A few minutes later, I was safe in the confines of my apartment, feeling a little safer with the knowledge that my handler was living next door. It was then that I finally began to feel comfortable again in my traitorous skin for the first time all night. I didn’t know what the hell had gotten into me but I was ashamed of my actions. Ashamed. Horrified. Disgusted. The whole sordid interaction – however hot and thrilling it had been – should’ve never gone as far I let it go, not with a man like Nikola.

It didn’t take very long before it felt as though the walls of my fake life were slowly beginning to close in on me. I needed to get a grasp on things and fast. The only thing that popped into my head was why I was here – work. This wasn’t a vacation, and it wasn’t an excuse to party with an evil man who lit my senses on fire. It was time to get serious or throw in the towel.

I headed next door to talk with my handler, James Green, who just so happened to also be the director of the New York DEA. He was the man with all the power, and he wanted to take down these guys as much as I wanted to. My only fear was that he would view my actions as a weakness and send me back to my boring desk job, where I would remain shackled to a life of endless paperwork. The mere thought of having that life on a permanent basis made my heart lurch in my chest. I didn’t want that.

Director Green opened his door, one eyebrow raised. He obviously hadn’t expected me to stop by tonight. Waving me inside, I made my way across the sparse apartment. The furnishings consisted of little more than a table covered with computers and surveillance equipment and a folding chair. I sat in the chair. The two of us looked at each other, neither seeming eager to start the conversation. After several minutes of silence, I began to recount the events of the night, keeping my eyes downcast for fear of what I might see if I looked him in the face. When the tears came, I felt like a little girl, waiting to be scolded for being a slut on my first mission. My stomach churning as the words slid like poison from my mouth, tainting everything they touched. Shaking my head as anger and embarrassment coursed through my veins, I was unable to hold back the one statement I never believed I would ever say. “Maybe I wasn’t ready for this.”

“Corsica, look at me,” the director said, handing me a glass of scotch. “As agents, we sometimes have to do things we wouldn’t normally do in our regular lives. Often, these things will leave a bad taste in our mouths. That’s part of working undercover. I’ve been there myself… many times. If you’re not ready for this, we can back out now, but it sounds as though he’s taken an interest in you. That’s a good thing.”

“I just... it was so...” I shrugged. “I don’t even have the words.”

“You’re green. That’s why you’re perfect for this. The first mission is always the hardest, but you will do fine. Just remember why you’re doing this and keep things in perspective.”

Nodding, I let those words play in my mind on repeat, hoping they would give me the strength I needed to be a strong agent. Of course, I didn’t tell the director everything. There was no way I was going to tell this man – a man I respected and looked up to – that I was on fire from head to toe for a criminal, wanting Nikola to ravage my body in ways that were possibly illegal in some states. No, I would keep that tidbit to myself.

I knew how Nikola made me feel… and I could use that to my advantage. It was a cold hard fact that had bile rising in my throat but it was the simple truth. He made me hot, and he knew it. Hell I knew it too. That might make it easier to get close to him, easier to find out what I needed to know. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, letting the time with Nikola flash behind my eyelids. I gritted my teeth. How could something so wrong feel so right? My eyes flew open as a new thought suddenly entered my mind. “Oh shit! I left my credit card at the bar.”

“You could go back to the bar and retrieve it… or simply report the card as lost,” Green said. He shrugged. “Just remember that card isn’t your real credit card. It belongs to the fake you.” He nodded his head towards the door. “Go get some rest, Corsica. You’ll need it.”
 

And with those final words, I stood up and headed back to my apartment.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Nikola stood outside Indulgence, bathed in the dim streetlight as he watched the yellow cab speed away. He had faced many types of people in his rise to power within the Bratva. From Boyevik-a warrior to Sovietnik-councilor for his father, the pakhan, nobody he had ever faced had dared to walk away from him. Women especially found themselves submitting to him, unable – unwilling – to resist his authority. This woman, however, had done just that. When it was clear what he wanted, instead of yielding, she ran away, and now he stood watching as she disappeared in the glare of a taxi’s taillights. He had been shocked by her reaction, slow to react. He had barely made it out of the club in time to see her ride away.

He turned quickly on his heel and headed back into the club, approaching the bartender that he had seen serving Corsica to learn what he could about her. He knew it probably wouldn’t be much, but he already had her name. It wouldn’t take much information to find her. She had enticed that long-dormant predatory hunger inside him, a hunger that no woman had ever been able to deny, much less walk away from without batting an eyelash. She hadn’t even acted like the choice to walk away was difficult. She intrigued him greatly. Nikola rarely lost control of himself but this woman had brought him to his knees, in a manner of speaking. He wanted more. The fact that she ran from him only excited him further. He loved nothing more than the thrill of the hunt and consuming his prey.

“You,” Nikola barked at the bartender. “The woman that was sitting here a few moments ago. What can you tell me about her?” He noticed how the bartender stiffened at the sound of his voice. Power. His was absolute… except for with this intriguing woman.

“Never seen her before, Mr. Grekov,” the man said, not meeting Nikola’s gaze. “But she left this, sir.” He slid a credit card across the bar.

Nikola slipped the card into his jacket pocket as he decided how to proceed with finding the woman. Ivan, his longtime friend and driver, approached quietly. The man had been by his side for many years, taking bullets for him numerous times. The man was loyal to a fault, and he couldn’t ask for a better person to help him get what he wanted. “Ivan, find Corsica Moretti. I want to know everything about her within the hour.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

Nikola took a seat at the table with his friends and waited as patiently as a man like himself could. Thrumming his fingers on the table, ignoring the idle chitchat of the others around him, he let his mind drift to the sound of Corsica’s whimpers as he took what he wanted from her. She had given herself to him freely, stoking the beast within. And then she had run. It pissed him off. It excited him.

Before the hour was up, Ivan tapped Nikola on the shoulder and handed him a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it. Nikola finished his drink and slammed the glass on the table “Thank you, Ivan. What did you learn of the woman?”

“She’s a food blogger,” Ivan said. “Single. Lives in a small apartment not far from here. She’s an innocent, unlike the women you usually prefer.”

Nikola could still hear her moans, feel her core clinch around his fingers. “Innocent? “How so?”

“She’s a good girl. Her record is squeaky clean. Hasn’t even been busted for shoplifting or jaywalking.”

Nikola laughed heartily at Ivan’s thoughts on the woman. “Maybe she is just what I need. A challenge. Let’s go.” He rose from the table and walked quickly out of the club, headed to the car parked at the curb. A half hour later, they were parked in an alley next to Corsica’s building, having circled the block several times. Before Nikola could exit the car, his phone rang. He pulled the phone from his pocket, seeing his father’s number on the screen. With a sigh of impatience and regret, he answered it. Corsica would, unfortunately, have to wait a bit longer.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Padding across the room, I grabbed a spoon from the dish rack and a pint of chocolate ice cream from the freezer. Curling up on the couch, I looked around the room at the fake life the DEA had set up for me in a matter of two weeks. Everything fit perfectly, from the books on the bookcase to the movies by the television set. They did a remarkably good job at building a life for me that felt real… except for the mafia boyfriend I needed to land as quickly as possible.

“Why am I being such a pansy?” I asked myself. “So it’s harder than I thought it’d be, so what? Put on your big girl panties and embrace this mission. You’re stronger than this.”

The smooth, creamy goodness of the ice cream had worked its magic once again, settling my nerves a little more with each delicious bite. Putting the half-melted pint container back in the freezer, I headed for the bathroom. Closing the door, I removed my little black dress of sin. Sin? That was the understatement of the year if ever there was one. I’d definitely receive the sinner of the year award for my actions tonight, letting myself forget all about the job as Nikola did as he pleased with me.

I’d get past that, one way or another. I was definitely eaten up with sin and lust tonight. Holding my dress up to my nose, I inhaled the scent of the devil. Rich tones of leather and pure unadulterated male invaded my senses. Shaking my head, trying to clear my fired-up senses, I started the shower. A hot shower was just what I needed to wash away the night’s mistakes, along with the scent of a man I had no business getting involved with.

I tugged my panties down my legs, flicking them across the bathroom with my foot before stepping under the warm spray. The water washed the impurity of my actions from my body, swirling away down the drain to be forgotten. If I was lucky, the vivid images would wash away too.

A cold breeze swept across the thin shower curtain and I froze. Standing still, I listened intently for a minute, then two, as my heart rate ramped up, but there was nothing... not a single sound. I turned the shower off, reached for a towel on the rack just outside the shower, but it was empty. I knelt down and fumbled around on the floor for the missing towel my hand finding only air, and then my fingertips grazed the smooth leather of a shoe.

Someone was in the bathroom with me… and my gun was in the nightstand. Damn! Then that familiar scent of pure male and leather engulfed my senses and I was certain he had found me, just as Green had said he would. His presence was so strong – so encompassing – I couldn’t think. What could I do? What the hell could I do now? I was naked and alone with a man that I should fear… but for some reason I didn’t fear him. I didn’t know why but he seemed different from the man I had read about in the DEA file. Would a truly evil man have let me simply leave?

“You can come out now.” Nikola’s voice cut through the heavily steamed-up bathroom as I grasped the edge of the towel that suddenly brushed across my hand. I jerked it behind the curtain and wrapped it around myself, my breath quickening at the reality of the situation I was in. Nikola Grekov was in my apartment. I was as naked as the day I was born. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. But at least he had provided me with something to cover myself with.

With nothing but a towel separating me from this man who oozed raw sexuality, I stepped out of the shower, pressing my back to the wall, needing to be as far away from him as possible. Forcing a smile on my face, I looked at the man sitting on the toilet seat in front of me as if he belonged there, as if there was nothing odd about him appearing in my apartment out of nowhere. I gasped as his silver eyes licked their way over my body. A wicked smile formed on his sinful lips; a smile that did things to me I couldn’t explain. I fought the urge to straddle him right then and there, a part of me wanting to continue what had been started in the bathroom of the club. But no matter how badly I wanted to taste his lips again, I resisted and let the agent in me take over as smoothly as I could.

“How did you get in here?” I asked. He laughed heartily and his silver eyes sparkled. He was enjoying this, like a cat would enjoy playing with a mouse.

“You left your door unlocked,” he replied smoothly. “A beautiful woman such as yourself should be more careful. You never know who might wander inside and catch you alone.” He chuckled wickedly, his eyes once again sweeping over my damp body.

I drew the towel tighter, as if to ward off his heated glare. “I… I was certain I locked it.”

“You left this at the club tonight. I wanted to return it to you.” He stood and held out his hand, my credit card held between two fingers. With a trembling hand, I reached for it, our fingers touching for the briefest of seconds. Our eyes met with a renewed flame of desire, even more intense than the first time we touched.

“Th... thank you.” I stuttered, wishing I didn’t sound like a scared teenager. Curling my fingers around the card, I pulled my hand away from his. A slow smile eased across his gorgeous face and a small voice in the back of my mind told me he was about to step forward, about to press me against the wall and… Before he could bridge the small space between us, I turned to the door, the need to run making my heart race.