Stripped down to my underwear, I sat on the edge of the bed and opened the envelope. It contained a single sheet of paper—a handwritten note.
Cam,
The accounts for Kings Building Ltd are now up to date. I have made allowances for undocumented expenses as personal transactions and noted the amount you will need to repay to balance these discrepancies.
Your corporation tax payment is due in three weeks. I have highlighted the amount below. After expenses, including salaries and dividends paid out, the balance you are left with is written in red. Be aware that any withdrawal from this balance is taxable... and traceable.
Pay your corporation tax on time.
Do not be late.
And Cam... I will collect payment for my services at a time convenient to you.
Do not be late with this either.
The note was unsigned, butAlexeiwhispered in my brain regardless and my phone was in my hand before I could blink. I called him, flopping onto my back as it rang and rang and rang, disappointment settling into my bones as it became clear he wasn’t going to answer.
No voicemail. The call clicked out. I dropped the phone on the bed and closed my eyes. Heaviness seeped into every part of me—I honestly couldn’t remember when I’d last been to bed—but agitation plagued me too, the scratchy energy that often sent me prowling for a warm, willing body to share my bed.
Not today.
I sat up and retrieved my breakfast from the dresser, eating it in three bites. It hit my empty stomach like a stone and stayed there while I retreated to the shower to wash away a night of violence and stress.
The hot water pummelled my aching body. Ink covered much of my skin, but I knew if it hadn’t, I’d be black and blue. We were good fighters—the best—but we’d been outnumbered, and no fucker was untouchable, not even me. I’d taken some hits and now the adrenaline had died down, it hurt. Maybe Nash was right and it was time to step back from the road, but fuck it, I liked the pain. It kept me alive.
“I would not advise falling asleep in the shower.”
I jumped a fucking mile, my bowed head jerking upright, eyes flying open, hand flailing for a weapon, cos youknowI kept one handy in every damn room.
Alexei held up my cosh, tossing it from hand to hand, a lazy half smile twisting his full lips. “Looking for this?”
“No,” I lied, reclaiming my arm and shutting off the shower. “How the hell did you get in here?”
“Far too easily, as it happens. Did you know complacency kills more people than heart attacks?”
I stepped out of the shower, water dripping down my heated skin. “I’m not a statistician, so no, I didn’t, and I don’t really give a fuck.”
“Clearly.” Alexei lowered the cosh, dropping it on the tiled floor with an obnoxious clang and an insolent sneer.
It seemed out of character for him—the noise, not the sneer—and I tilted my head to study him better. He was as put together as he’d always been, though he was dressed this time and I missed his bare chest, his sinewy muscles, and the dark hair that dusted his creamy skin.You’re out of your damn mind.
Maybe I was, but I was starting not to care. As long as my family were looked after, the mess in my own head didn’t seem to matter.
Alexei handed me a towel as though it was the most mundane thing in the world for him to have appeared in my bathroom like an apparition. “You asked me if I was the person trying to kill you.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I did not need the words to understand the question.”
I took the towel from his outstretched hand, still dripping water on the tiled floor. This shit was fucking surreal. I’d been craving a hit of this dude’s company all night long, and now he was right here in front of me, I couldn’t quite believe it. “If I’d asked you in those exact words, what would you have said?”
Alexei’s faint smile turned wolfish. “In my kitchen, the simple answer I should have given was no. Here, in your bathroom, I will say this one more time: if it was me who wanted to kill you, I’d have done it today—right now—and left no trace. Perhaps you should think about that next time you are discussing security with your brothers.”
He was toying with me. Why, I had no idea, and despite knowing I had a viper in my bathroom, all I could think about was kissing him again. Fucking him had blown my mind, but the sensation of my lips pressed against his was permanently etched on my brain. I wanted it again and I didn’t know how I was going to live the rest of my life if I didn’t get it.
Hell, I didn’t know how I was going to survive the rest of the day if he walked out of here without giving me a chance to claim his fucking mouth.
I dropped the towel without bothering to rub it over my wet body even once.
