Page 13 of King of Shadows

He looks at me like I just said something funny. “Baby, I just fucked you. I had my mouth on you. My tongue inside you. My cock inside you. I came in you. And this is where you draw the line?”

The last part hits a second late. “Oh my God.” I shove at his chest. “We didn’t use protection.”

What is wrong with me? I’m a nurse, I teach patients about safe sex. And yet I let a man I know nothing about his health status I know nothing about have sex with me without protection? What is it with this man that whenever I’m around him? I lose every sense of reasoning?

“Calm down. I’m clean.”

I give him a look that says I am not taking a break-in artist at his word.

“I can send you my tests,” he says. “Clean as a whistle.”

I shake my head. “Don’t. There’s no need. But this—” I swallow. “This won’t be happening again.”

In one second he has me on my back again, and he leans over me until all I can see is those dark blue eyes.

“That’s where you’re mistaken, sweetheart. This isn’t ending anytime soon. This is only the beginning.”

Before I can respond, he starts kissing me, and yet again, every self-restraint I have goes out the window. He goes on to eat me out again, and then uses my vibrator on me until I come so many times I can’t keep my eyes open. I pass out in his arms, wrecked.

In the morning the bed is empty again. No note this time. Just the indent of his body and the same disappointment as before. Kazimir is gone.

Chapter 4

Kazimir

Lev’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I look up and find my best friend, sitting across from my desk, watching me with an expression that tells me I haven’t heard a damn thing he’s said.

“Did you hear anything I just said?”

I lean back in my chair. “No.”

He sighs and starts talking again, I try to focus. But it’s difficult when all I can think about is a certain dark-haired woman with a body so curvy it could go on for days. Chloe.

Last night, I wasn’t supposed to be at her apartment. I shouldn’t have gone back. I was supposed to keep my distance. That was the plan. Except all week, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She had taken over my thoughts. When I woke up, when I showered, when I worked.

Even when I was surrounded by men discussing business, weapons, territory, and the war with Vadim, somehow my mind always found its way back to her. No woman has ever had that kind of effect on me. The harder I tried to stay away, the more I thought about her.

It was like there was an invisible force pulling me toward her. And knowing she lived alone in that apartment only made it worse. Was she safe? She hadn’t told me where she worked, but finding out wasn’t difficult. So every day, I passed by her apartment and her workplace. Just to make sure she was safe.

I followed her to work. I followed her home. And when I couldn’t be there myself, I had my men watching her. It had been like that all week. Until last night. I couldn’t stay away anymore.

I’d told myself I was only going to check on her. The plan was to get into her apartment, watch her sleep for a few minutes, and leave. She wasn’t even supposed to know I’d been there. But then I stepped into her bedroom, and saw her calling my name as she touched herself, every ounce of self-restraint I’d spent the entire week building disappeared.

And afterward, all I could think was that I’d never experienced anything like her. I’ve traveled to countries most people only dream of visiting. I’ve stayed in the finest hotels, eaten at the best restaurants, owned things most men could never afford. I’ve experienced more than most people ever will. None of it compares. Nothing. Not even close. Because nothing has ever made me feel the way Chloe does.

“You’re zoning out again.” Lev’s voice cuts through my thoughts.

I blink and look at him. “You were saying?”

He studies me for a moment. “Let me guess.”

I already know where this is going.

“This has something to do with your disappearance last night. You went to see the woman.”

I give a small shake of my head. “Yes.”

He exhales sharply. “Kazimir, this is a bad idea. You’re supposed to keep your distance from that woman. It’s risky enough that you went into her apartment in the first place. She’s a civilian.”