Hollywood sat in the back of the van, desperately trying to keep his composure, and especially trying to keep from staring at Nikita Federova.
Correction, make that ‘Niko’ Federova.
His first glimpse of her at the airport had been a surprise, as from everything he’d read about her in their intel packages, she was supposed to be a single mom, and one whose brother wouldn’t allow her to have a boyfriend. At least, the intel they’d received stated that there was more than a strong suspicion that Niko’s brother was responsible for having had the father of her child killed.
But maybe now that she was a mom, perhaps Ilya was trying to get her paired off so that his nephew would have some kind of father-figure. That would certainly explain why she’d been shrink-wrapped around the guy at the airport in a hot clinch.
When she’d run up to him in the arrivals hall, the first thing he’d noticed was how tall she was. He must have read her file a thousand times, but her height hadn’t registered with him until she was right in front of him.
To look down on most women from his six and a half feet, usually left him with a sore neck if he did it for too long.
He didn’t have that problem with Ms Federova, as she already came up to his chin.
As part of the charade that they were old friends, he hadn’t hesitated to pick her up and swing her around, but that had simply led to the second thing he’d noticed.
Large, firm breasts crushed to his chest never got missed. And holy hard-on, Batman! That woman had curves to spare under that shapeless shirt she was wearing.
Hollywood looked down at the floor of the van, so he could close his eyes and focus on something other than the firmness of Niko’s breasts. He was getting a stirring in his pants that was gonna get mighty uncomfortable soon if he couldn’t persuade his brain to change the subject.
When he’d stared down into her smiling face at the airport, her eyes had been a warm hazel colour, with flecks of green floating in an almost golden background. Her lashes were golden too, just a shade darker than her long hair, which appeared to be a mass of natural curls, pulled back into a messy, loose ponytail, golden but with lighter blonde streaks.
Back in the USA, women would pay a fortune to have their hair highlighted like that, but from the look of it, Niko’s blonde streaks were completely natural, and probably caused by spending so much time in sunny climates.
What would it be like to grab a fistful of that lustrous hair, pulling her head back as he plundered her mouth with his lips and tongue, her firm breasts crushed against him?
Jesus Christ! Hollywood almost groaned aloud. He was supposed to be taking his mind off her breasts, not turning his thoughts into something triple X-rated.
He’d been without a woman for too long, that was it. Ever since that mission in Colombia, when Alex and Drew had been shot, he’d found it hard to get his mind off the way those women had been treated.
The shack they’d been locked up in was in every way the ‘kennel’ Castille had named it. They’d been treated like dogs.
He’d met Tulli a few times since her ordeal, and every time he did, he wondered how she and her sisters had survived it.
The whole mission had left a lasting mark on Hollywood, so much so that his encounters with women since that operation had been few and far between, and only when he’d given in to the need for a physical release.
Unfortunately for him, the photos Hannah had provided them with hadn’t done the woman justice, which was probably why when he’d been looking at them for more than a week, he hadn’t managed to stir up an ounce of interest. Coming face to face with her, however, had stirred up considerably more than that! Hell, every inch of him was coming to life, and in this situation, that was probably not a good thing.
Hollywood slowly lifted his head and looked at each of his team-mates in turn. Were they having an instant reaction to the Russian woman as well?
They didn’t seem to be reacting, but then again, none of them had enjoyed the feeling of having Niko’s chest pressed against them. And thank God for that small mercy.
He glanced at Kellen last, and was surprised to see his friend staring straight back at him, with half a grin on his face. Kellen looked like he could hear every thought going through Hollywood’s head and knew exactly how much discomfort he was in.
“Dear God…” He prayed. “Please don’t let Kellen be able to see my hard-on through my pants, hmm? Please let his grin relate to the fact that he has x-ray vision and can see through Niko’s shirt.”
Hollywood casually stretched his long legs out in front of him, making sure his crotch was obscured from view, not only from Kellen, but also from Niko and her boyfriend.
Kellen grinned at him again. Shit! He figured the guy knew exactly what was going on, even if it was just through pure guesswork.
If only he’d had this reaction to her from her photos, he’d have known what to expect when he met her in person. But, of course, apart from the fact that they hadn’t been particularly flattering, when they’d been looking at the photos, all he’d had in his mind was that this woman was trafficking other women, which in his book made her every bit as bad as her brother. She was evil. End of story.
That was a problem now, though, because it didn’t matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t see her in those stark black and white terms.
And that just made no sense at all, because she was still the same person, and still responsible for other women’s misery.
Why could he not get his head to accept the facts? Niko Federova was not some Californian beauty queen, who did charitable work and wanted to bring about world peace. She was a cold, calculating, human trafficker, who profited from the pain and suffering of others, without so much as a twinge of regret.
Even if she did have magnificent breasts.
A sudden turn to the right had everyone sliding along the bench, and before he could put his hands out to block her, Niko ended up sprawled across his lap, her hands pressed into his groin as she fought against being thrown further down the van.
Drago had slid down the bench as well, and was adding his weight to Niko’s, making it harder for her to pull herself upright.
As he felt her hand press on his erection, Hollywood heard her indrawn breath as she must have realised what she was holding onto.
As the van straightened, Drago slid onto the floor, leaving Niko space to pull herself up.
Her hand withdrew like she’d been scalded, and her face had a look of shock on it that he hadn’t seen on an adult female many times before, telling him that his secret erection had most certainly not gone un-noticed.
Drago scrambled to his feet and leaning over the partition, yelled at the driver in Russian, smacking him around the head.
His team-mates had all slid along the bench and slammed into each other, with Evan and Logan being crushed into the back doors.
“Sorry about that.” Drago apologised after smacking the driver again. “The fucking idiot knows to slow down when we approach the yard, but apparently likes to play jokes on his passengers.”
“If he does it again, I’ll turn him into a fucking eunuch.” Niko muttered, still red-cheeked and flustered from her surprise.
“Just promise me that he’s not going to be driving one of the lorries, hmm?” Logan growled in his Scottish burr. “Cos if he is, I can’t see you having much cargo left to auction by the time we get to Rotterdam.”
Drago looked at the Scot and grinned.
“He might be driving one of the supply vans, but we’ve got a couple of experienced guys to drive the other trucks.” He confirmed. “Good guys who’ve been with us a long time.”
The van slowed gradually and drew to a very sedate halt, the driver obviously not wanting to be slapped around the head anymore.
Before anyone had a chance to move, the door was wrenched open, and Hollywood looked into the face of the ugliest, scariest fucker he’d ever seen.
Now this guy looked exactly like his picture, and Hollywood’s reaction to him was exactly as expected, and precisely the one he’d practised in front of the mirror.
He didn’t flinch, and his eyes remained steady, staring at the man who’d hold their lives in his hands.
“These are the auctioneer’s guys?” He grabbed Niko and hauled her out of the van.
“Yes, all six of them, exactly as expected.” Niko nodded, and Hollywood could see that she was nowhere near as confident in front of her brother as she had been without him around.
They climbed out and almost subconsciously stood in a line, waiting for him to inspect them.
Ilya stared at each of them in turn.
“Don’t fuck with me, or you die.” He snarled. “Don’t fuck with my cargo, or you die. Don’t fuck with my women, or you die. Are we clear?”
Hollywood resisted the temptation to shoot back a witty retort. He had the feeling the punishment for that might be death.
They all nodded in affirmation which seemed to satisfy Scarface.
“Right then. Get your stuff stowed away in the trucks. We’re leaving in five minutes.” He pointed to three large trucks. “Your driver will be in the red one.”
One red, one white, and one blue truck sat in a row, engines facing the exit, ready to head out.
Ilya pointed to a shabby building.
“If you need to piss, the bathrooms are that way.” He grunted. “You won’t get a chance for another four or five hours, so make the most of it.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Ilya spotted a woman climbing out of a car, and he was off, stalking towards her as if on a mission.
“Vanya, get your fucking ass back in that car, you stupid bitch!” Hollywood heard him yell, and the woman turned and hightailed it back to the Mercedes without argument.
“He seems like a decent enough chap.” Evan’s quip was so unexpected, even Niko chuckled.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him called ‘decent’ before.” Drago laughed. “I wouldn’t suggest you call him that to his face though.”
“Don’t tell me… if I do, I’ll die?” Evan suggested.
“Probably.” Niko nodded, wiping the smile off Evan’s face.
Hollywood stared after Ilya Federov as he climbed into the Mercedes and sped off through the gates.
It was funny how meeting the big boss had seemed to put everything else into perspective. It was like a lightbulb moment. Maybe Hannah had been right after all, and Niko wasn’t the hard-hearted trafficker they’d thought she might be.
Or maybe it was simply wishful thinking on his part, that he wanted to believe she wasn’t a monster.
After all, he’d never known anyone with breasts like that be truly evil, had he?