Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
I shrugged nonchalantly. “We could do that, or we could put this temporary truce to better use.”
“What do you propose?” Her voice was cautious yet intrigued, her eyes scanning my face for any hint of deceit.
“We work together,” I said simply. “You have your skills and resources, I have mine. Together, we can find and kill the fuck outta Zaitsev.”
“Why do you want to kill him?” She was genuinely curious, but I knew she was filing away all this information for inspection later. She’d remember everything about our conversation, my expressions, the inflection of my voice, and dissect it for every ounce of information. Just like she’d been trained to do. Same as me.
“Isn’t it enough that his goons kidnapped my vice president?”
She nodded slowly. “Sure. But I don’t think that’s whole story with you.”
Smart woman. “I’ll tell you my secrets if you tell me yours.”
“Right.” She picked up the gun Zaitsev had shot me with, checking the weapon before tucking it against her back in the waistband of her pants. “I’m going back to Tzars. Lemon wanted me to check on Dani.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Lemon. Wanted you to check on her sister.” I spoke slowly, wanting to make sure I’d heard her right, because it sounded suspiciously like Venus, the badass assassin for the FSB, was… running. From me.
Two things were foremost in my mind. First, it didn’t sit well that she wanted away from me. Granted, she didn’t know me as well as I knew her, but I was becoming more and more protective of Venus. I wanted her close where she couldn’t get into more trouble than she could get herself out of. Though I’d watched her from afar for years (stalker much?), I liked having her close. I blamed my vice president. Had it not been for Lemon getting kidnapped, I might never have gotten this close to Venus for this long. I damned sure wouldn’t have gone with her to kill the man she’d been trying to take down for a decade.
The second thing, though…
Yeah. Having my arms around Venus -- even to keep her from eviscerating me with her dagger-like nails -- awoke something inside me I had thought was way the fuck dead. I was forty-seven years old, for crying out loud. While I had an active sex drive, I hadn’t been this hard for this long in years. Hadn’t had a need for it. If I had an itch, I scratched it with a club whore. No fuss. No muss. And no one expecting to be all up in my space.
Part of what I did at Grim Road was take care of… issues. Permanently. I’d love to say it was why I’d come with Venus on this errand, but I’d be lying. I’d claimed her in my mind the moment I’d seen her. Couldn’t keep my mouth shut and made it official so I could get her into Grim Road where she could come and go as she pleased. Then I’d followed her back to Iron Tzars… where she’d promptly run back to Grim Road in the guise of making sure Lemon was settling in well. As if Lemon couldn’t protect herself.
What I couldn’t figure out was why she didn’t just kill me. I’d been expecting it, yet she hadn’t made a move on me until tonight when she’d pulled that gun in my face. Sure, I’d noticed the occasional glance at my crotch. On more than one occasion, I’d caught her staring at me with those freaky eyes of hers. I was quite possibly the only other person in the world, other than Giovanni Romano of Argent Tech and herself, who knew what her vision was capable of with those contacts. And I’d bet my balls she’d be furious if she knew I knew.
I followed her to where we’d left our bikes. She climbed on hers, tossing her hair over her shoulder before reaching down to turn the key. I had to admire her. She rode that pink monstrosity like a boss. I was surprised she hadn’t already taken off, but she kept fiddling with her bike.
“Everything good?”
“No. Everything is not good.” Her response was muttered, and she didn’t start her bike.
“All right.” I tossed a leg over my own bike in a slow, deliberate movement. “What can I do to help?”
She didn’t look at me and for long moments I thought she wasn’t going to answer me. Then she started her bike, revving it a couple times before putting it in gear. Then she met my gaze with that eerie pink stare. “I think it best you go back to Grim Road.”
“I go where you go, Venus. Pretty sure I made that clear.”
Then, her control snapped. I knew she had a fiery temper under there. I’d met her sister Millie once and she’d said as much, but I hadn’t seen it. Until now.