Chapter 5

 

Paris, France

 

Jen stayed silent on the ride back to the hotel, allowing Sophia to be still with her thoughts as she stared blankly into the quiet night. The city streets careened by in a hazy blur of gray.

She barely registered Jen parking the car, but she was on high alert for some kind of Russian ambush on the entire walk back to the courtyard of the hotel. Moonlight still lit the shrubbery-lined path, but it wouldn’t for long.

Dawn was coming.

James had sent one of the guys to follow them back in case the threat wasn’t what they’d thought. Now she and Jen were on their own. There hadn’t been another option; either the Russian saw her, or he didn’t. All he would have learned was that she’d snuck off with her guard.

Being distracted was dangerous, so she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

She definitely needed her trip to London to relax after all the anxiety of the Paris operation and the added stress that would come from being at the palace for a while.

Irina, Jen, and Lauren had all voiced their concerns for her, knowing how she hated going back to Porenza. The only person who’d kept his mouth shut had been James, and she’d bet he’d only been silent because he’d been working. It didn’t matter. The others had made it clear how they felt about her stress levels. She hated that it made her feel weak, but they were right. Apparently, the strain had been etched on her face, which hadn’t been good news.

“Is your mind on the climb?”

Sophia rolled her neck. “Always.” But damn it, she had been in another world, wondering if Viktor’s men had really followed her.

Jen seemed extra diligent, scanning every inch of the space around them, particularly a window on the other side of the courtyard.

Viktor’s suite.

The room was shrouded in darkness, but the curtains were pulled open. He could have been up there watching her at that very moment. A tremor rippled through Sophia at the thought of him scrutinizing her every move. He’d effectively unnerved her twice in the same night. That man turned her stomach into a pile of twisted nerves.

She frowned, finding she resented his sudden interest and the potential intrusion into her life. He was threatening her neck and her fantasies all at the same time.

She sucked in a deep breath as she glanced up. The moon had started its descent, shining its dim light through the trees in the early hours of the day. She could only hope that meant Viktor was fast asleep instead of watching her, if he’d watched her at all. She had no idea if any of their suspicions were even valid at this point.

“Take your time. I’d hate to fish you out of the bushes.”

It wasn’t as if she had a choice. She damned well had to get up there somehow.

“I’ll try not to make a mess,” Sophia replied with only a hint of sarcasm before crouching down to do her quick change for the climb. They were running out of moonlight, so it was beyond time to haul her ass up to the suite.

In no time, she was back in all white to blend in with the wall. She secured the long cable to her compact safety harness, huffing as Jen bent to give her the boost she needed to get to the first decorative hold. Jen had nothing to worry about. If Sophia ever went down, it wouldn’t be from climbing a wall. That was not how she planned to go.

The usual enjoyment she gained in climbing was gone. All she felt was the stretch of her muscles as she made her ascent, not the almost euphoric rush of freedom.

She only wished it were over already. Her heart was beating too fast, and she’d never been more aware of her movements or the fact that Viktor could be watching her ass.

She breathed out slowly, blocking all thoughts, and nearly moaned in relief when she reached the balcony. She took a moment before silently swinging first one leg then the other over the railing. She had to ensure her guards didn’t hear her. With shaking hands, she wound the cable and harness into as small a package as possible. After a check to see that Jen was aware she’d made it safely, she breathed in the fresh night air one last time, grateful she’d made it without dying or humiliating herself, which would have been the case if she’d fallen and ended up dangling from her safety harness.

Everything was silent as she eased through the French doors and slid through the dark curtains into her nearly pitch-black room.

Her snug climbing shoes and cap went into a secret compartment of her barely visible makeup case with the harness and cable before she pushed a button to rearm the door alarm.

It wasn’t until she pulled the tie from her hair and shook out the heavy waves that she sensed something was off. Using the light from the cracks in the curtains, she scanned the room, her heart rate kicking up. What she could see seemed just as she’d left it, but it felt… occupied. She spun around, searching the inky space, wishing the curtains hadn’t blacked it out so completely. Her pulse thundered in her ears as she readied her prepared excuse if Antony had caught her.

The ominous snick of the bedside lamp seemed too loud in the otherwise quiet space. By the time her eyes adjusted, her cover story had fled her mind along with all the air in her lungs.

Viktor Popov was in her room. His big body lounged in the high-backed armchair on the opposite side of the ornate white-and-gold bed. The glass bedside lamp sent a soft glow along his tan skin.

He hadn’t been watching her climb. The insane man had actually broken in to her hotel suite. Never would she have expected this. All she could do was gape at him when she should be terrified that a man had broken into her room. His heated gaze held no indication this was a violent threat. But, Jesus, he broke into my room. The room of a crown princess!

She should feel threatened. But all she felt was shock. And… heat.

Her flawed hormones reacted by sliding heat all through her body. It was the same irrationally extreme attraction she’d felt at the club. The man laid waste to her sense of logic and, apparently, any hint of self-preservation.

Her gaze tracked every inch of him in the span of seconds. His suit jacket was gone, along with his tie. He’d been sexy in the bespoke suit, but he was devastating with his collar unbuttoned and his white shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal strong, tanned forearms. When had forearms ever been so sexy? His calculating blue eyes roamed her body as if seeing beneath the thin cotton. Heat and raw attraction burned in that gaze, but there was also something else, something she hadn’t noticed at first—a hint of interest that was far more dangerous in that it held blatant scrutiny, as if she were a web he planned to unravel.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered, not wanting to alert the guards. He wouldn’t have dared take out a royal security detail. Nobody had a death wish that big unless they weren’t planning to leave a body. A shiver trickled down her spine for a split second but vanished quickly as she looked at her potential captor. There was no doubt he was dangerous to her, but for a far different reason.

“How did you get in here?” Her eyes darted to the balcony doors, and her blood ran cold. The doors had been unlocked and sans alarm at her doing. Had he scaled the wall?

Her heart rate kicked into overdrive. She could have given access to an even more dangerous villain by leaving the balcony doors vulnerable. It had seemed safe enough because only guests could enter the courtyard to the expensive hotel, and if you didn’t know the right spot to climb in, you’d be all over the surveillance cameras that were monitored in real time by live hotel security personnel.

When her eyes met his, he raised a dark brow. “I didn’t climb.” He didn’t bother whispering as she had, and his lightly accented voice slid over every nerve in her body. It was sexier than she’d even imagined was possible.

When his words registered, her entire body tensed. She rushed for the door and threw it open to see one of her guards slumped over in a club chair, his back to her. Her mind spun as all the moisture left her mouth. There was no blood. Nothing had been disturbed in the room. But there was now a hulking Russian standing sentry inside the main door, tattoos peeking above the collar of his suit. He didn’t speak, just stood there, assessing her with dark eyes.

From behind her, she heard Viktor’s voice. “They’re alive. Now shut the door. You’re not in danger.”

She spun to face him, her spine straight. “You broke into my suite, knocked out a royal security detail, and you’re saying it’s not dangerous to shut myself in a room with you? You’re insane.” She wouldn’t admit that she hadn’t felt truly threatened. That plainly spoke of the mental instability she’d just accused him of.

In reality, the whole scenario felt like a twisted joke because she’d had so many fantasies of him in her room. But not a single one featured him talking, which quite honestly stung her feminine pride and effectively ruined her hotel room fantasy. The fact that she could even think those thoughts made it clear she’d lost her mind.

“What did you do to my guards?” She infused her voice with steel. She might not like most of those men, but they had been doing their jobs, and she’d left them vulnerable to attack by way of her own balcony. Another chill ran up her spine as she realized those men could have died tonight.

Because of her.

She had to force that thought away because she couldn’t do anything about it. Once this was over, she’d figure out a way to ensure this never happened again.

If she were sane, she’d be worried he might abduct or kill her, but she couldn’t see Viktor as that kind of villain.

“I said they are fine.” His voice had a calm authority that sent a thrill through her. When his broad, muscular body unfolded from the chair, her thoughts ceased and stayed silent as he stalked toward her. Her reaction to him was far too potent, too carnal, to be real. Every nerve in her body seemed to reach for him, and she violently fought the desire to sway into the warmth curling from his body to hers. When he finally towered over her, she was forced to tilt her head. She didn’t back away, not out of daring, but out of years of built-up desire for just one touch from this man. She breathed in the faint scent of masculine soap, as opposed to designer cologne, and she found it tantalizing beyond belief.

After a charged moment in which his heat radiated along her oversensitive flesh, he stretched out his arm and sent the door sailing shut behind her. The resounding click was too loud in her ears.

They were alone, inches from touching. Raw currents of electricity zinged between them in the charged silence.

His seductive tone slid through her. “Now we can get to know one another privately, Princess.”

He mocked her with the address, and they both knew it. That she liked the term princess when he said it didn’t matter. That was the least of her worries. She shook her head. “What do you want? You can’t possibly believe my brother won’t demand your head for threatening me and harming the guards?”

His firm, sexy lips actually twitched. “Your brother will never know because you will not tell him. Now, where have you been sneaking off to, Котёнок?”

Disappointment hit her harder than she would have liked to admit as she tilted her chin to glare at him. “I’m not your kitten.” Sophia wasn’t his lover or even a friend, as the endearment implied. And considering he was questioning her instead of ravishing her, this was not the type of visit she wanted from him.

His lips tilted up, but she didn’t take the time to wonder at the pleased look in his eye.

“I’ve disappointed you,” he murmured as he moved forward, forcing her back against the hardwood door. His gaze was unnerving as it roved over her face, undoubtedly seeing more than she intended to share. When his hand rose to touch her face, she held her breath.

His deep voice lowered to an impossibly sexier hum. “Were you hoping for something other than conversation? What is it you want, Princess?”

His thick, warm fingers made her flesh sizzle with heat. How could the barest, most innocent of touches make gooseflesh rise all over her body? Her nipples pressed into the confining material of her sports bra, and it took all her strength not to angle for more contact. His hand was gone in a second, but electricity still arced between them.

“If you were meeting a lover, he didn’t do his job. You respond too well to me.”

More heat rose to her cheeks, and his knowing look made her heart rate kick up. She was giving him information without even speaking. That fact sent warning triggers through her. Her body and features were betraying her, and they’d only been in the same room for moments. She had to get away from him. She wondered if she would have fared better if he’d water-boarded her. His touch, those sexy, assessing eyes, and his warm masculine scent of woodsy soap, mint, and maybe a hint of expensive cigars made for an arousing combination.

Her movements were wooden as she attempted to sidestep him. It was as if her body and mind were fighting one another. Her mind knew she needed to retreat, while her body felt magnetized to his.

She needed distance and clarity, but she’d only moved an inch before strong arms caged her against the door. He leaned closer, taking unfair advantage of the effect he was having on her. The knowledge that he was toying with her was the lifeline she needed to snap her into focus.

It made her assess what she knew. If he wasn’t worried about the guards, then the men obviously hadn’t seen the threat coming. No alarm had been triggered, or Jen’s phone would have issued a high-pitched wail. If that had happened, she wouldn’t have been blindsided, though she was grateful that it meant the men were alive.

He wasn’t there to harm her. She would have already been dead if that were his motive. “You’re so sure I won’t talk? And you don’t think the men will immediately check all of the security feeds the second they realize they were drugged?” She wasn’t sure she was the “prim” princess at the moment. She couldn’t fathom what that princess would do in this situation. Her reactions came fast and strong with him, not planned and calm. That scared her.

He leaned in next to her ear and whispered, “They’ll see only what I wish them to see. And they won’t want to lose their jobs because of a breach when they find you unharmed. You won’t tell, so there is no risk to this meeting.” She shivered at the sensation of his warm breath tickling her hair. “Now, what were you up to?”

He was definitely playing with her, and that angered her as much as it aroused her. “You came here to blackmail me? It isn’t a crime to want a break from the spotlight.” She pushed hard against his arm, demanding freedom and distance with the action as much as her hard gaze. Taking him down to the ground was tempting, but the demure princess Sophia wouldn’t do such a thing, would she?

If he attempted to harm her, he would go down. Mischa had taught her well, but he hadn’t moved to physically threaten her.

Instead of letting her go, he moved his other hand to her hip and set about driving her insane. Her traitorous body melted. Her entire focus was on the single, simple touch and the warm energy sliding from his big hand on her side all the way to her pussy.

He growled low in his throat. “You burn for me. You tempt me too much, Princess.” His thickening accent and words only added to the sensations rocketing through her.

At least she wasn’t the only one affected. His simple touch was unlike anything she’d ever experienced in her life. It was like he’d flipped a switch inside her. Her heart hammered in her chest as anticipation surged in her blood.

His eyes scanned hers, flashing with raw need. This was a confident man who was well aware of his effect on her.

Viktor tightened his hold, not enough to hurt her, but enough to get her attention as he gritted out the answer to her earlier accusation. “I also said nothing of blackmail.”

Just when she felt herself relenting to the need, his hand left her hip, and he moved back a fraction. Too little, too late. She already felt branded by him.

Slowing her breathing was difficult, but she did it. Infusing as much strength into her voice as possible, she said, “It’s no secret how you get what you want, Mr. Popov.”

“So formal, Princess?” His tone had cooled.

“Yet you still mock me with pet names, Mr. Popov.”

For some reason, his eyes warmed a fraction at her words. “Why risk your beautiful neck, Котёнок, if not to see a lover?”

That was flawed male logic at work, but she wasn’t in any mood to argue the point. Why did he care if she’d gone to see a lover?

Disappointment and frustration ate at her. “You expect me to believe you came here out of curiosity? You’re resourceful enough to find a less extreme way to talk to me if you were merely curious about why I was sneaking away. No, you came here, gambling on my silence, to extort me in some way.”

She swore she saw respect flicker in his gaze. She didn’t need his respect, so why did she like it?

The bastard actually had her. He’d been right that she’d keep this secret. She would bet Jen was also right that they’d been followed by Viktor’s men. Considering he was still questioning her whereabouts, he didn’t know where they’d gone. The only silver lining was that it hadn’t been some dangerous enemy from her covert activities. Relief should have come from that knowledge, but not when she faced an apparent interrogation.

“I’m here to decide if you’re worth the trouble, little Princess, and I ask about a lover because I don’t share.”

The seductive quality of his voice did dangerous things to her body and mind. She heard enough truth in his tone, but he was a man who valued the secrets of others, so she knew his answer had only been part of his motivation. That knowledge didn’t prevent her mouth from running dry or stop her from licking her lips.

His gaze dropped and grew even more heated. “Were you with a man?”

She shook her head, answering even as she narrowed her eyes, while replaying his entire comment back. “If I’m ‘worth the trouble’?”

There was no missing the amusement in his eyes. “Are you worth the trouble of having in my bed, Princess?”

“I never said I wanted to be in your bed.” She was having difficulty making the words stony when in reality she wanted him now.

“Your eyes betray you. Your body even responds to mine no matter that you’re angry. You want me.” Not even a hint of doubt colored his words. Arrogant man.

Her pulse pounded in her ears when he leaned down… slowly. Was he giving her time to speak? To deny the attraction? His warm breath mingled with hers. She lost all rational thought when his lips slid over hers. She hesitated only a second before returning the kiss. If he was kissing her, he wasn’t interrogating her. Flimsy reasoning, but she wanted this. Just once.

The kiss was intoxicating. Tempting. A seduction. His tongue slid over hers, tangling and retreating in a rhythm that matched her erratic heartbeat. She moaned into his mouth, her fingers gripping his collar, pulling him down for more.

He growled against her lips and lifted her. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and she groaned at the sensation of his hard cock riding her clit. A lust-filled haze clouded her mind as another needy sound slipped from her.

She couldn’t force her hands to stop their exploration, and she honestly didn’t want to. The silky strands of his hair begged for her fingers, and she tugged with a desperation that would embarrass her later. It had been too long since she’d been touched by a lover, but it had never been like this. This was her fantasy, one that could never happen again, so she fully intended to enjoy it.

If she was going to be irresponsible, she was going to own it. Her fingers moved to his shirt, the buttons a frustrating obstacle between them. She needed to feel his skin on hers.

At some point, he’d fisted a hand in her hair, angling her for a more demanding kiss. An incoherent sound escaped her at the dominant hold. The buttons finally gave under her fingers, or perhaps she ripped them away. All that mattered was his warm, hard chest twitching beneath her palms, the dusting of hair her playground. It was intoxicating.

A growl of approval left his lips before they moved to her jaw then slid to torment her exposed throat, a throat she eagerly bared with the slightest tug to her hair.

She was lost in a lust-filled daze, trying desperately to grind against the hardness rocking against her clit. Her breathing was too rapid, and her body was on fire as his tongue and teeth tortured the column of her neck and the sensitive spot behind her ear.

“More,” she demanded breathlessly, not caring about the repercussions or that she was begging a man who’d broken into her room to take her against the hard door. She could either attempt to kick him out, answer his questions, or succumb to the pleasure she’d been dreaming of for nearly a decade.

She chose pleasure.

“You burn for me, Котёнок.” His rough, accented words in her ear only added fuel to the fire.

There was no denying it. She was so wet that she could come just as they were.

With a harsh Russian curse, he tightened his grip in her hair again, the tighter pull adding to her mindlessness. He controlled the kiss, ruled her with it.

The world moved and tilted, and suddenly, her back settled into soft bedding.

He moved from her only to pull off his tattered shirt. His eyes barely left hers as he commanded, “Take off your shirt.”

His accent was growing thicker by the moment, turning her on all the more. Refusing to think, she ripped the shirt off over her head. The sports bra was next, and her nipples ached as his eyes devoured her breasts.

He didn’t give her time to admire the hard muscle of his chest arrowing down a flat stomach in a vee to his dress pants. He was gorgeous and even more sculpted than was fair. A scar on his side, a reminder that he’d led a dangerous life, only added to his beauty. Before she could yank off her snug white leggings, his hands were on her ankles, spreading her thighs in a way that made her ache. She felt completely at his mercy as he settled his weight on her.

“No time,” he gritted.

Her fingernails sank into his tight shoulders when he took her mouth in another wild, dominating kiss.

She was so close. She knew she’d go off the second he was inside her. They didn’t need more than a few minutes. When her fingers slid to his pants, he moved, gripping her wrists and forcing them to her sides.

“It won’t take long,” she panted.

His face was harsh when he spoke. “нет.”

Nyet? No, what?

His lips slid to her throat again, nipping at her collarbone while she rode the tip of his cock through the slacks, keening in frustration at the clothes separating them.

He used his firm hold on her wrists to lever farther down until his lips met a tight nipple. She cried out and fought for more. Her back arched as he nipped and sucked first one then the other. She’d lost her ability to grind against him, but she might explode from the harsh suction sending jolts of pleasure through her system.

The thumping of her heart was drowning out everything else. He cursed again, but all she could do was beg. “I need more.”

He released a wrist only to force his hand beneath the waistband of her pants. The second he touched her clit, she felt the first waves of climax crashing through her.

“So wet and greedy.” He grunted as he slid two thick fingers inside her body, stealing her breath at the invasion. His palm ground into her clit until she screamed and clamped down in the most intense orgasm she’d ever had. Shock wave after shock wave rocked her until she was throbbing around his fingers, her fists digging into the bedding at her sides.

Pounding. More pounding, and she finally realized it wasn’t her heart.

Viktor’s jaw was tight when he moved his hand and body from her. The tic beneath his scruff and his harsh breathing only made her blood sing louder. He moved over her, slid his wet fingers over her lips, and as she gasped, his mouth descended in a kiss meant to conquer.

She tasted her own slickness, and the way he sucked on her lower lip made tremors of renewed desire rock her body. Her hands pulled him closer as he was pulling away.

Left in a daze, she watched as he shrugged into his damaged shirt. His cock tented the front of his expensive black slacks, and the look on his face said he wanted to destroy whoever had interrupted them.

“It’s nearly daybreak.” The muffled Russian words held not only hesitance, but a question.

Viktor bit out an answer to the man on the other side of the door. He leaned in, assessing her far too knowingly. “We’re not done, Princess.”

“Yes, we are.” This couldn’t happen again.

“It will.” Had she said that last thought out loud? She must have.

His answer held far too much arrogance, yet she found it sexy as hell. His gaze burned as he slid his eyes over her flushed, half-naked body. Her nipples peaked even tighter, begging for his touch.

He stalked from the room before she could say another word, leaving her with the knowledge that she’d set in motion something beyond her depth, regardless of how much she wanted him. Viktor was on another level.

His questions had been dangerous—not that he asked them, but that her body and reactions had revealed too much. Being around him was a threat to her secrets and her sanity. One night in his bed might ruin her. How could having more of him be the letdown Jen had assumed it would be? He’d made her come in a split second and taken nothing for himself.

It was suddenly very silent in the other room, and that cleared the lust fog along with her breathing. She ran a shaking hand over her bare stomach.

What had the Russian really wanted? Sex was obviously part of the equation, but that was after the questions. Could she believe he wanted to make sure there wasn’t another man?

With her renewed sanity came a jolt of unease at the realization of how badly she’d screwed up. She jumped from the bed and put on her shirt before pacing the room, poring over how the night’s events could bite her in the ass. The options she came up with weren’t exactly pleasant ones.

Her eyes caught on a button by the door. It was from his shirt. Her fingers closed around it without thought. She should throw it away, but her hand tightened until she felt the imprint of it on her palm instead.

She couldn’t call Jen into the room because she had no idea when the guards would wake and how they would react. It would be best if they found her sleeping alone. Jen being in the room when they woke would cause questions. It would negate Viktor’s assessment that the men would wake alone at their posts and say nothing to prevent from getting fired. That meant she was stuck in the room, doing her own search for hidden listening or video devices while her body tensed in reaction to every tiny creak in the building. Her heart raced, and her blood pounded in her head as she peered through slats in the vents, in lamps, and at the phone, knowing that at any moment, her men could wake and rush in to check on her. After doing the best she could, she turned off the lamp and sank into her bed, mentally cursing. Had she looked everywhere? Her guards had the only devices for sweeping the damned room. She’d have to change that in the future.

If Viktor had somehow recorded what they’d done, she would surely murder the man or die of embarrassment. She hadn’t considered that kind of blackmail when she’d been begging him to screw her. Putting her face in her hands, Sophia squeezed her eyes shut at her behavior. He’d broken in! And how did she reward him? By letting him put his hands and mouth all over her. She’d have let him do far more than that. Hell, she’d demanded he do far more than that.

She hadn’t been smart while he was there. Her hormones had completely taken over. Her justifications were hardly sound now that she was alone in the dark. She rubbed her temples, mortified by how he’d boldly smeared her lips with the evidence of how needy she’d been.

Her “harmless” fixation with that man hadn’t turned out to be so damned harmless after all.

The second she heard movement in the outer room, she stilled beneath the bedcovers, praying all ended well and that she hadn’t missed any hidden recording devices.

Please don’t let there be a sex tape.

A rapid knock at the door stilled her.

“Your Royal Highness?”