My phone vibrates on the tabletop. I glance at the screen. Unlisted number. A second later, Yan’s phone vibrates.
Holding each other’s eyes, we sip our champagne. This is supposed to be a sentimental holiday to celebrate my third year of being healthy. We’re not supposed to work. But I see the temptation in his gaze.
I narrow my eyes in a dare. Kicking off a shoe, I trail my toes up his leg. He stiffens, swallows visibly, and catches my foot before I reach my destination. Placing my foot in his lap, he massages it gently even as his attention sharpens. He’s watching me like a hawk, calling the bluff of my failed distraction.
Another moment of silent challenge passes.
When I reach for my phone, lightning fast, he moves too. We’re both unlocking our screens, our fingers tapping fast.
I hit send. “It’s mine.”
He drags a heated gaze over me. “Not if I beat you to it.”
“You won’t dare.”
He raises a brow. “Is that a challenge?”
“You did the job in Poland.”
“You did the one in Angola.”
My smile is seductive. “Ladies first.”
“Oh, but my princess is only a lady when it suits her.” He strokes a thumb over the arch of my foot. “We could do the job together, split it fifty-fifty.”
“Three million each?” I pout. “I had my heart set on six.”
“What’s mine is yours anyway, Minochka.” His smile is pure sex.
“If you put it like that, how can I resist?”
He checks his watch. “If we hurry, we can catch a flight and make it to the meeting point in time.”
“Should we get the check?”
Pushing to his feet, he pulls out my chair. “Only if we go Dutch.”
Holding hands, we hurry outside into the magnificent sunlight that bounces off the Vltava River. The sound of our shoes falls on the cobblestone street, a happy rhythm that echoes in the beat of my heart. My breathing spikes with the excitement that always comes with a job.
I feel the pull of danger.
I feel alive.
Yan tugs on my hand, changing direction toward an alley. “Shortcut.”
Laughing, high on life and happiness, I follow him down the narrow, shadowed passage. The breath leaves my body when Yan grabs me around the waist and pushes my back against the rough wall.
He cages me in between his arms, trapping me with the weight of his hips. “I think we can spare a minute.”
“We’re going to miss the flight,” I say, already reaching for his belt.
He slides a palm up the inside of my leg, over the thigh holster with my knife and pistol, instantly making me wet. “We’ll take our own plane.”
“In that case…” Taking the pistol from the back of his waistband, I drop to my knees and carefully lay the weapon at his feet.
“Fuck, Mina.” He catches my head between his hands, his eyes ablaze with need and love. “I can’t get over you. Ever.”
Unzipping his pants, I stare up at his face. “Then don’t.”
He threads his fingers through my hair, pulling just enough to make my feminine parts clench. “You’re fucking dangerous.”
I am. And so is he. My need for him is all-consuming. Complete. I don’t care where we are or what time it is.
“Do it,” he says through gritted teeth, already impatient.
So I do. I give him what he wants, and he lets me. He lets me disarm him. He lets me make him vulnerable. He lets me conquer him before spinning us around and conquering me right back.
Together, we find light within the darkness, and warmth in the cold pastures of our hearts.
The End
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Dark & Contemporary Romance by Anna Zaires:
The Twist Me Trilogy – Nora & Julian’s dark, twisted love story
The Capture Me Trilogy – Lucas & Yulia’s breathtaking enemies-to-lovers romance
The Tormentor Mine Series – Peter & Sara’s intense captive romance, where we first meet Yan & his crew
Wall Street Titan – a sizzling contemporary romcom featuring a billionaire and a cat lady
Dark & Contemporary Romance by Charmaine Pauls:
Beauty in the Broken – a dark forced marriage romance about revenge and salvation
The Loan Shark Duet – a dark mafia romance with a Beauty and The Beast theme
The Age Between Us Duet – an older-woman/younger-man romance that will melt your e-reader
Catch Me Twice — a heartbreaking second chance romance about betrayal and redemption
Sci-Fi Romance by Anna Zaires:
The Mia & Korum Trilogy – an epic sci-fi romance with the ultimate alpha male
The Krinar Captive – Emily & Zaron’s captive romance, set just before the Krinar Invasion
The Krinar Exposé – Anna’s scorching hot collaboration with Hettie Ivers, featuring Amy & Vair—and their sex club games
The Krinar World stories – Sci-fi romance stories by other authors, set in the Krinar world
Sci-Fi Romance by Charmaine Pauls:
The Krinar Experiment – alpha alien kidnapping at its hottest, set in Anna Zaires’s Krinar world
The Krinar’s Informant – an alpha alien captive romance, set in Anna Zaires’s Krinar world
Sci-fi and Fantasy Collaborations by Anna Zaires and her husband, Dima Zales:
The Girl Who Sees – the thrilling tale of Sasha Urban, a stage illusionist who discovers unexpected secret powers
Mind Dimensions – the action-packed urban fantasy adventures of Darren, who can stop time and read minds
Upgrade – the mind-blowing technothriller featuring venture capitalist Mike Cohen, whose Brainocyte technology will forever change the world
The Last Humans – the futuristic sci-fi/dystopian story of Theo, who lives in a world where nothing is as it seems
The Sorcery Code – the epic fantasy adventures of sorcerer Blaise and his creation, the beautiful and powerful Gala
And now, please turn the page for a little taste of Dubious by Charmaine Pauls and Tormentor Mine by Anna Zaires.
Excerpt from Dubious by Charmaine Pauls
I’m a loan shark. Breaking people is in my blood. The Haynes’s were supposed to be a straightforward job. Go in
