Holly’s heart rate tripled in the amount of time it took for Alexei’s lips to finally touch hers. Forever. She’d waited forever. She’d dreamed about him ever since that day when he’d taken a bullet for her. He’d covered her with his body and begged her to stay still. What should have been a nightmare had turned into an act that revitalized her will to live. Up until that moment, she’d been merely existing, surviving for the moments when she could see her son. Alexei had been willing to die to protect her, and he hadn’t even known her. When he’d been taken from the hospital by the feds, she’d known that something lovely and amazing had walked out of her life.

His heat seeped into her bones, making her wonder why she hadn’t noticed the cold before. His hands found her waist, and she was pulled deliciously close. There it was. The hard ridge of his cock pressed against her stomach, making her ache in the sweetest possible way. His mouth was soft on hers. His lips cajoled, opening her and playing teasingly with his tongue. Even in heels she felt small compared to the big, gorgeous Russian bear.

His tongue finally touched hers, and her hormones began singing a Hallelujah chorus. So long. She’d been so long without this feeling, the radical pounding of her heart, the racing of her blood. She’d been dull inside, and now everything sprang back to life.

She kissed him with everything she had, pressing her body close to his. He was so tall, so big compared to her. She ran her hands up his biceps. Even through the material of the suit he wore, she could feel how muscular he was. He was sex on a stick. Tall and broad and gorgeous, his dark good looks would make the most spectacular contrast to Caleb’s gold and red hair and brooding handsomeness.

Caleb.

Why did she have to think about Caleb? Alexei took over the kiss, his mouth dominating hers as thoughts of Caleb intruded.

He’d been her shadow for almost a year. Not in a creepy way. She almost always felt his presence, like a guardian who only stepped into the light when she absolutely needed him. When her roof had been damaged and she thought she might lose her cabin, a contractor had shown up with a paid-in-full work order in hand. When her car had broken down and she told the shop to take their time with it because she didn’t have the money to fix it, he’d left her a ridiculously overblown tip in the exact amount. She’d tried to pay him back, and his favorite word had popped from his mouth.

No.

Caleb said no, but she could see so plainly he wanted to say yes. Was she ready to give up on him?

“I scare you, no?” Alexei asked, pulling away.

She looked up at him, really looked at him. She looked past his killer face and his body that would send any woman into heat. What was she doing? He was a god of a man, and she had sagging boobs. Oh, sure the girls looked good in a structured bra, but when she took it off, she worried they might hit the floor one day. She’d been so dazzled by his sudden reappearance that she hadn’t thought about the difference in their ages. Alexei was totally out of her league. It was one thing to write flirty letters with him. Another thing entirely to start a real relationship. She should ask a couple of questions. “How old are you, Alexei?”

God. She was forty. Alexei looked so young. Just a kid. What was she doing?

“Age is number, nothing more.” His growl was low and suspicious.

“Oh. I disagree. Please tell me.”

“I am almost twenty-nine.” His mouth twisted as though he knew he was saying something that would upset her.

She tried to push away from him. “Seriously? Alexei, let me go. I’m too old for you.”

“No. If I let go, you run and not come back to me. I wait too long. And I’ve done things that age me. Holly, this is a number. It means nothing.”

“No, it’s almost a teenager.” Twelve years. She was twelve years older than he was. She was older than Caleb, too. Oh, what was she thinking?

“You will calm down, or I will to spank ass.” Alexei’s face went hard, the charming man fleeing in an instant, and in his place was a predator.

Yeah, that got her juices flowing, too. Wow. When had she gotten to be such a freak?

She stiffened in his arms. “You let me go this instant.”

His hand came up, snaking into her hair. “You think you can dismiss me like small child. I am not child, and I know what I want. I will walk away if you can tell me you do not want me. I will not walk away because you think people will laugh at you. Do you know the things I have done? If you want reason to not give me chance, then tell me I am too dirty, too bad. Tell me my soul is too filthy for you, and I don’t deserve you. You tell me these things, and I will let go. Not that I am too young. I haven’t been young in years.”

She stilled in his arms, his words penetrating her embarrassment. He’d been through so much. He’d lost his brother and then his revenge because he’d made the choice to save lives rather than take them. He was good. She brought her hands up to frame his face. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

His eyes pinned her. “Then give me one.”

He would want more one day. He would need someone younger, someone his own age. It would break her heart. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Alexei, have you thought about the fact that you might want a family someday?”

“I want you more.”

And she wanted him, but there were so many barricades in the way. There was their age difference and her son. God, what would her son think? And Caleb. Why couldn’t she get Caleb out of her head?

And why did she have to think about tomorrow? Why couldn’t she have an affair? Why did everything have to be forever? Her marriage hadn’t been forever, after all. Maybe it was time to have a wild fling.

“Give me chance. Let me woo you. Go on date with me. Let me prove this can work.”

He was so earnest, so sweet, she couldn’t walk away. And she wanted to know what it felt like to wrap herself around him, to know he was surrounding her. “I want you, Alexei.”

His smile threatened to light up the night.

“But we have to talk about that spanking thing,” she said as primly as she could. She wasn’t going to try that. No. Maybe just a little.

His smile turned distinctly wolfish. The hand in her hair tightened, lighting up her nerves. “I think you like idea. And I very good with spanking. You will like what I do. But for now, I think gentleness is required.”

He pulled her close again, not attempting to hide his arousal. He rubbed against her as his tongue surged into her mouth. This time was different. He’d claimed he was going for gentleness, but she could feel his will. He was gently dominating her, and she loved it. She softened against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She was on the tiptoes of her cream-colored heels.

And then she was fully in his arms. He lifted her off the ground, his easy strength taking her breath away. He lifted her up, her shoes falling off, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was his mouth on hers. The silky slide of his tongue caressing hers made her womb flutter. She was softening, getting wet and ready for him.

The hard wood of the picnic table was suddenly at her back. She cursed the tight fit of her dress. Hadn’t Brooke Harper ever heard of bridesmaids getting lucky at weddings? The slim pencil skirt made it difficult to get her legs open, and suddenly spreading her legs seemed like a really, really good idea. Alexei loomed over her, staring down. She could feel the approval rolling off him in waves. It was a balm to her ego. Maybe she wasn’t so old if she could put that look on a man’s face.

“No one will mind if we are necking?” He smiled as though he didn’t really care if she said no.

“Sweetie, no one says necking anymore. We’re going to have to get you up to date on the lingo. We’re making out.”

His body came down on top of hers, crushing her against the top of the table. She was caught between a rock and a big hard place. Yep. She wished she could spread those legs wide.

“I like this making the out with you.”

She didn’t have time to correct him. His mouth came down again, this time against her neck. He pressed kisses along her neckline, all the while murmuring in Russian. She let her hands drift to his hair. It was slightly long, curling at the ends. It was silky to the touch.

She gasped as his hand caressed her thigh, pulling at the silk of her skirt. And his lips were getting dangerously close to the bodice of her dress. Her nipples strained against her bra. Her heart raced. She wanted his mouth everywhere.

The sound of footsteps brought her out of her haze.

“Alexei,” she said, pushing at him. “Someone’s coming.”

Even here in Bliss, discretion was called for. And Nate Wright was known to ticket people for public sex. He was always looking to upgrade the appliances in the sheriff’s department break room. Alexei’s head came up, his eyes a bit glazed.

“Don’t let me interrupt you,” a familiar voice said.

Holly closed her eyes in horror. Caleb. Of all the people to find her in flagrante almostus, it had to be Caleb.

Alexei smiled as if he was happy to see the man. “Hello, Caleb.”

With easy grace, he lifted himself off her and held out a hand. She was wobbly on her feet as they touched the grass.

“Do you even have a condom?” Caleb asked, a harsh rasp to his voice.

“Caleb!” Holly felt her cheeks flare with embarrassment. She suddenly felt like a teenager caught with her boyfriend.

Alexei simply laughed. “I shall have to be buying the condoms.”

Caleb’s face was drawn in rough lines, his eyes narrowing close together. “And you should have a blood test. You shouldn’t start having sex without making sure you’re clean. Be in my office tomorrow at nine. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

“Caleb,” she started, but Alexei held out a hand.

“It’s all right,” Alexei said, his voice a well of patience. “He’s only looking out for you.”

Caleb’s arms folded over his chest. Somewhere along the way, he’d chucked both his tie and his suit coat. She preferred him this way. He’d looked stiff in the suit. His natural, lean grace was on display now. And his temper. “Someone has to. Someone has to make sure jerks don’t take advantage of her.”

“He wasn’t trying to take advantage of me,” Holly explained. Though she didn’t want to, she continued. She had been the one to push the situation. She didn’t want Caleb to be mad at Alexei. “He wanted to be a gentleman. I asked him to kiss me.”

“He was doing more than kissing.” Caleb didn’t seem interested in letting his anger go. He held it tight, like a child with a prized toy.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we weren’t going any further.” Why was she explaining this to him?

“Of course not,” Alexei said with a smooth smile. “No further. Just the out making.”

“What?” Caleb asked.

“Making out. We were making out. And when do you expect me in your office?” She crossed her hands over her breasts. Caleb didn’t need to know that her nipples were still hard.

“What? Why? Are you sick?” Caleb took a step forward, his hand coming out and laying over her forehead. “What are your symptoms?”

She forced herself not to roll her eyes. The minute she coughed, Caleb was all over her. It had occurred to her on occasion that the way to get the man in bed was to fake a horrible disease. He might slip inside her during his examination. “I don’t have symptoms.”

Nothing beyond being all kinds of hot and bothered and frustrated out of her mind.

“You guys okay?” Laura Niles asked, walking up with her two men. Cameron Briggs was a huge hunk of all-American male, while Rafael Kincaid was all Latin lover.

Holly looked up while Caleb took her pulse. Laura was one of her closest friends, but damn sometimes she envied the tall blonde with killer shoes. Laura looked happy, her face slightly pink from her closet exertions. Laura hadn’t had to pick between Rafe and Cam. They had come to a happy agreement between the three of them.

“Your pulse is fast,” Caleb said with a frown. “And you do feel a little hot. Maybe I should take your temperature. There’s something going around.”

“I do not have anything. My pulse is fast because of the make-out session, and that’s precisely why my skin is warm, too.” Having a two-hundred-twenty-pound Russian on top of her had done nothing to cool Holly off.

Laura’s eyes widened. “Okay. We’ll leave you three to work this out.” Laura started to walk away. She turned around and mouthed “call me.”

Holly pulled away from Caleb. “I was asking about my blood test.”

His gorgeous features crinkled in confusion. “Why do you need a blood test?”

She ground her teeth together. “Because it’s the right thing to do before starting a relationship.”

His face went blank, his jaw slack. “Oh. I think you’re fine.”

Alexei was at her side, his hand reaching for hers. “She is fine. She is beautiful and perfect.”

“I don’t see why he needs a blood test and I don’t.” It seemed a bit like a double standard.

“Hookers,” they managed to say at exactly the same time and with exactly the same blank expression on their faces, like it should have been a foregone conclusion.

She felt her face go up in flames.

Alexei brought her hand to his lips. “Dushka, I didn’t have relationships. I had the intercourse. It means I paid women for my pleasure. It was the lifestyle.”

Caleb shrugged. This was the part of Alexei that didn’t bother him? “He’s trying to say he viewed sex as transactional before he met you. He wasn’t looking for a relationship, so it was better to pay someone. Women view sex differently than men. If there’s money on the table, no one gets hurt. But they can get the clap.”

“There was clapping a couple of times, I will admit. I am very good, but Caleb is right. I will take all of the tests. I do not wish to hurt you.”

“He means he doesn’t want to give you crabs.” Caleb frowned ferociously.

Alexei sighed. “I would know about the crabs. I’m healthy. I always use the rubber.”

Caleb shrugged, one shoulder arching aristocratically. “We’ll see about that.”

“Please stop.” She wanted the utter humiliation to end. She’d only wanted a few stolen kisses. Now everyone was going to know that her pseudo boyfriend had accused her halfway make-out date of spending too much time with hookers because the worst gossip in Bliss was coming their way.

Callie was waddling up. Holly couldn’t help it. There was no other way to describe it. Callie Hollister-Wright waddled, her enormous belly stretching the dress she wore. She smiled gamely, a hand on her pregnant belly.

“Alexei! It’s so good to see you!” She opened her arms, and Alexei hugged her. “I can’t believe you came back.”

“I can,” Zane said. Zane Hollister was one of Callie’s hubbies. “I think everyone knows why he came back.”

Callie elbowed her husband. Nate Wright, her other husband and the sheriff of Bliss, held out a hand to Alexei.

“It’s good to see you. Are you all free and clear with the feds?” Nate asked. Though he’d once been a fed, she knew Nate hated to see them roll into town.

Alexei shook Nate’s hand. “Mostly.”

Nate groaned. “I’ll let Logan and Cam know to be on the lookout. Caleb, it was good to see you. We’re going to get this sweet lady home. Any day now, you know.”

Caleb’s whole expression changed. She loved that about him. He could be a hard-ass most of the time, but when someone needed a bit of kindness, Caleb was there. “Any day now. You call me, Callie. Even if you’re worried. Call me. Not Nell. I’ve told her you aren’t giving birth in a kiddie pool.”

Zane groaned. Callie merely smiled. “I know, Doc. I was mainly in it for all the free ice cream. Nell always brought me ice cream. And honestly, now that I’ve had a couple of Braxton-Hicks contractions, I’m pretty sure I want to be drugged up.”

“Me, too,” Nate said, his face slightly green.

“I’ll see what I can do. You call me. Any time and I’ll be there,” Caleb promised.

And he would. She’d never met anyone as devoted to the people around him as Caleb. He could be dreadfully gruff at times, his bedside manner terrible, but there was no question in her mind that the man cared. Caleb didn’t see himself that way. She knew if she asked him, he would say he was merely doing a job, but it was so much more than a job to him. Caleb saw a person in trouble and he helped.

Why couldn’t he see her?

Callie walked away with her men, and a heaviness settled around Holly’s heart. Callie hadn’t been forced to choose. Laura had gotten everything she needed. Rachel was probably somewhere kissing her men.

But Holly would have to choose. She would have to decide if she wanted the hot, sweet Russian who was years younger and would only want a fling, or Caleb, who couldn’t seem to make up his mind but who might be good in a long-term way.

Being forced to choose sucked.

And it was getting late. The night was moving on. She needed space. She stepped away from both men. “I should be going.”

They stood side by side, each beautiful in their own way. Neither stopped her. They both simply watched her as she walked away.

Story of her life. By the time she found Nell and Henry, she’d wished she’d never left her cabin.

 

* * * *

 

Vincent Cavilli looked around his small motel room. It certainly wasn’t the worst place he’d been forced to hole up in.

He’d chosen Creede as his home base because it was close to his target but not so close he would be forced to deal with the locals. Though he was well aware that his appearance was bland and forgettable, it was always best to hedge his bets by staying outside his mark’s area.

He walked to the window and opened the curtains. He liked the mountains. This part of the country was gorgeous and clean. So unlike the city. And it made for a much harder kill.

No one noticed him in a major metropolitan area. He’d worked in all of the world’s great cities. New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney. He’d killed in them all. It wasn’t hard to work in urban areas. Everyone kept their heads down and paid attention to their own shit. People actively ignored others in cities.

Not so here. He’d already been forced to converse with both the motel owner and a father of four on vacation with the most obnoxious children he’d ever had the displeasure of sharing a lobby with. Seriously. He’d considered taking the kids out. It would be his way of giving back. His version of pro bono work. He’d considered playing the asshole, but people tended to remember assholes, so he’d smiled and laughed and talked about the hiking he would do.

Luckily, the US Army had trained him well. It had been a while, but he could hike and track and build a shelter if he needed to. He wasn’t planning on it. He planned on getting some advice on the best trails from the locals and then spending his days working. If he did the job right, it wouldn’t take more than a day or two. He mentally went through his list. Get a lay of the land. Identify the target. Figure out the best method of taking out the target and enacting the plan.

An accident would be best. Again, because he wasn’t in a city, he needed to cover his tracks. Murders in small towns got a lot of attention. Car accidents, heart attacks, even animal attacks were more common here. As he didn’t work with animals, and poisoning someone was harder than television made it out to be, he was thinking about fucking with the mark’s car.

God, he hoped the mark had a car.

The cell phone he’d bought specifically for this job trilled. He sighed. He had all the relevant information. Why did he need regular phone calls? Fucking micromanagers. He’d tried to explain to his current employer that it was better they didn’t communicate, but it was obvious the asshole wasn’t listening. Mobsters. He hated working for them, but they paid well. Unfortunately, they also believed they knew his business better than he did.

With a deep sigh, he answered the phone. “Yes?”

“Are you in place? Did you receive the package?”

Ah, and his employer had more than one employee. This one didn’t sound like she came from Jersey. Fuck. He hoped the asshole hadn’t put this duty off on some freaking law student. Real smart. Here’s your checklist for the day. Call about the appeal. Make sure the argument papers are formatted. Oh, and call to check in with the assassin we hired. Idiot.

“I received the package. It should take me a few days. I have to see a friend.”

“Ah, so you found the house of your friend.”

“Yes, the directions were impeccable, thank you.” At least the idiot wasn’t coming right out and asking him how long it would take to complete the kill.

“We thank you. I’ll be watching for your progress. Please contact this number when the job is done.” The connection closed suddenly.

Amateurs. If he didn’t need the money so badly, he would have avoided this job altogether. He preferred to work outside the US, but the serious money was here.

Two hundred thousand dollars and all he had to do was kill one simple target. He would attempt to make it look like an accident. If he couldn’t do that in the time allotted, he would shoot the fucker. A car accident would be more elegant, but a bullet would do the job, too.

He took a deep breath of mountain air, trying to banish his wariness. He couldn’t turn this job down. He simply had to watch his back and try to fit in. It shouldn’t be too hard. It was late summer, and there were tourists everywhere. He would be one more tourist among the throng. A city dweller looking to get back in touch with nature.

His mark would never know that death was coming.

Vince sat down at the crappy desk and pulled out his file. He went over all the particulars of the person he was being paid handsomely to kill.

The kids next door screamed and turned the television up far too loud.

It would be a miracle if he got out of Colorado with only the one job under his belt.