Shock, I told myself. Shock, exhaustion. Both.
As the officer caught my eyes, I nodded. I understood what he'd been saying. If the Russian mafia knew where Arik was, then it wasn’t safe for him to come back here for a few days.
A shiver raced down my spine, and I had to wonder if it was safe at my place.
“I’ve got somewhere to go,” Arik said, distracting the officers as I turned away. They spoke for a few more minutes as I wandered over to the large, floor to ceiling windows that ran the length of the living room. My body tightened as I remembered what happened the last time I'd been here.
I wanted to tell him to come home with me, that I didn't want to be alone. That I wanted him to be with me.
But it was probably a bad idea to say that in front of an audience. Especially an audience who I might see again for work.
It didn’t take long for everybody to clear out once the cops made it clear we wouldn’t be left alone inside the apartment. Reluctantly, I bit my tongue and didn't say anything to Arik as we walked out. From the hallway, I watched as the officers placed bright yellow crime scene tape over the door.
We rode down to the lobby in two silent parties, Beale and half the uniforms with the now-upright cuffed suspect going first. His eyes glittered at me before the elevator door closed, blocking him from sight. By the time we reached the lobby, he was already being hustled out to an unmarked, flanked by two black and whites, their lights flashing in the pouring rain, but I could still feel his eyes on me.
“Make sure you let us know of your whereabouts, Mr. Porter,” one of the officers said to Arik.
“My office will be able to contact me if you need me.” His voice was polite, but purposely vague.
I knew he wouldn’t be telling anybody anything. Judging by the expression on the young cop's face, he knew it too, but he didn't press. As glad as I'd been to see them arrive, I couldn't deny the relief at seeing them go.
When we were alone in the lobby, Arik finally turned to me.
I opened my mouth to tell him he could come stay with me, even though part of me was still angry, still hurt. We'd figure that part out later. Right now, I just couldn't deal with being alone.
He put his finger over my lips, effectively stopping the flow of words before they even started. A faint smile cracked his lips and he quirked an eyebrow. “Remind me to never get on the wrong side of a door with you.”
I started to answer, but all that came out was a shaky sigh.
In the next minute, I was caught up in his arms. His lips brushed my temple as he whispered, “I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared before.”
“Don’t go to a hotel,” I said quietly, all but desperate now. My arms were around his waist, and I knew I should be embarrassed at the way I was clinging to him, but I couldn't manage to feel any of that at the moment. “Come home with me.”
“Don’t go home,” he said in return. “Come with me.”
I pulled back, staring up at him. He brushed my hair back from my face. “He knows who you are, Dena. He recognized you.”
That very thought made my heart pound and I sucked in oxygen, although it didn’t seem to reach my lungs. Or maybe the blood wasn’t reaching my brain. Either way, I felt lightheaded and queasy.
“He…he what?”
“He knows who you are.” Gently, Arik cupped my cheek, his thumb rubbing back and forth over my bottom lip. “Come with me. I want you to be safe.”
“And go where? To a hotel? Is that safe?” I asked, only half-joking. Every bad movie I’d ever seen with shoot-ups in hotel hallways started to flash through my mind. Even less comforting was that most of them dealt with people trying to hide from the mob.
“We’re not going to a hotel. We’re going someplace I know is safe.” He dropped his hand so that both of his arms were around me again.
I stared up at him, my brain struggling to keep up with all of the reasons why this wasn't a good idea. Even if I had been the one who'd originally suggested it. “We shouldn’t. The case…everything. This is stupid.”
“Do you care?” he asked, eyes intense as they cut into me.
“Do you?” I countered.
“You have an annoying habit of answering questions with questions.” Arik bent his head, pressed his lips to mine in a firm but chaste, kiss. “But no. I don’t care. Right now, the only thing I care about is having you some place safe.” His voice lowered to that tone I'd already come to recognize. “Once I have you safe, I plan on getting you naked and under me.”
“That…” Some of the knots inside me started to relax, and I blew out a breath. Fuck it. I'd played by the rules my whole life and I needed this. Needed him. “That sounds like a good plan. Even if it is stupid. And no, I don’t think I care if it’s stupid.”
“Neither do I.”
He curled an arm around my waist and we started for the door. “For the record, if you’d insisted on going back to your place, I would have been parked in a car out front the rest of the night. Just so you know.”
“Stalker, much?” I managed a half-teasing smile.
“If that’s what it takes to keep you safe,” he said.
I curled into him as he led me out into the rain, the warmth of his words protecting me from the chill of the night.
Chapter 4
Dena
The towering, imposing structure jutted overhead as we climbed out of the car. It was made of old stone, the kind you didn't see very often any more. This was the furthest thing from Arik's place in the city that I'd seen. If the circumstances had been different, I would've been more impressed and less feeling like this entire thing was becoming more surreal by the moment. The fact that it was nearly one in the morning after the hardest day I'd ever had wasn't helping matters much.
“What did you do, bring me to Frankenstein’s lair?” I asked, shoving my damp hair back. I'd been too distracted to get a trim recently and my hair was longer than I usually liked it.
A man was already at the curb, holding out an umbrella, but I wasn’t much in the mood to have somebody at my elbow, so I waved him off as I climbed out of the car. Rain now plastered my hair to my skull as I looked over at Arik.
He was also staring up at the house, and a faint smile curled his lips. “Welcome to my home away from home, Dena.”
This was definitely not what I'd been expecting. We'd taken his car since he hadn’t trusted a cab driver not to share information with anyone who paid enough, but he hadn't told me where he was taking me. There'd been twists and turns that I wasn’t sure were necessary, but were rather his way of guaranteeing that we weren't being followed.
“Marcum,” Arik said, nodding at the man with the umbrella as we began walking toward the house.
It sounded much classier than Jeeves, although not as cool as Alfred. If he’d been an Alfred, then I could have teased Arik about taking me to the bat cave. It hit me in that moment just how exhausted I must be, standing in the grand foyer of this insane house, making internal Batman jokes while the man I was...whatever with quietly chatted with a couple of others – and he had blood on his suit.
Blood. From fighting with Mr. Russian Mafia Hitman. Some of it was the other guy's...but some of it was Arik's.
A shudder wracked me and it had little to do with how cold I was. I turned away from him, pressing the tips of my fingers to my lips before the low noise building in my throat could escape. Just outside the heavy oak doors and the thick frosted glass, the rain pounded down even harder and I was actually tempted to step out into it, wondering if maybe that would wash away the shock of the night.
Would I be able to go back to my place in Chelsea tomorrow? Or any time soon? Had Bethany been tipped off? Did she know I’d been at Arik’s when her 'friend' had paid him a visit? Could somebody be watching me even now, having somehow tracked us down?
I just didn’t know.
Something hit me then. The call I'd gotten in the cab. Had it really been some random thing? Or had that scream on the other end, t
he one that had ended the call, had that been someone I knew? I thought, when I'd gotten it, that it had been Arik. Then when I'd gotten to the apartment, I all but forgot about it. Now, however, I couldn't help but wonder if it had been Bethany.
Thinking of her was like a splash of cold water in my face, and I reached for my phone, needing for the police to know. I wasn't going to call that asshole lieutenant though. I was going to call someone I trusted.
Despite the late hour, Officer Dunne answered. I gave him the quick, short version, as well as the name of the lieutenant. He promised to look into it, and reminded me to be careful.
I'd just hung up when Arik came over. “Dena, I’m so sorry. You’re standing out here soaked after everything that’s happened.”
As his voice trailed off, I turned to look at him. “Don’t apologize. I needed to make a call anyway.” I paused, and then added, “I'll tell you later.”
I had to tell him about it, about Bethany, and her connection to the man in his apartment. But not now, even if he asked.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead, he just nodded and held out a hand. “We’ll sleep in my old room.”
“Your old room?” I asked.
As he led me deeper inside the house, I tried to see everything, if only for the distraction. The house was...posh. Opulent, over the top and posh. I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it. I'd known Arik came from money, and that his father had invested in property in the city. I just hadn't realized they had a house like this nearby.
“So is this where you spent long, boring old summers while your parents were out yachting or something?”
A quick grin flashed across his face. “No. I had a place like that, but it was in upper Michigan. Not quite as far from Chicago as New York.” The smile faded as we mounted the stairs. “This place...well, it belonged to a relative. It’s ours now.”
As we climbed the stairs, he placed a hand on my lower spine. I lost track of the halls, the turns, the twists. After what seemed like an endless journey, we were in a massive, elegantly decorated room, and I turned, facing Arik once more. “So you have this...and that place in the city?”
“Sort of.” He tucked his hands into his pockets, looking around. “This isn't mine. It’s my dad’s, more or less. But it’s safe, and that’s all that matters for now.”
He rubbed a hand back and forth over his damp hair, droplets flying everywhere. “This place...well, nobody’s lived here other than the household staff for years. I think Dad and I stayed here maybe three times in twice as many years.”
“And we’re here now because...?”
“I already told you.” Flat, simple words. “It’s safe.”
He turned away and moved to the window. I followed him, staring outside and wondering what it was he saw. Despite everything going on around us, I knew that something wasn't right. There was an ache of sadness in the air, and I knew it had something to do with this place.
“What happened here?”
“That,” Arik said in a heavy voice. “Would depend on who you ask. But I don’t want to talk about that tonight.”
He turned back to me and reached out, drawing me to him.
The warmth of his body bled into my cold one, making me shiver. He felt so good, so steady and strong. Through his damp clothes, the heat of him was like a furnace and I was drawn to it. I wanted to rest my head on his chest, but stopped, staring at the blood on his shirtfront.
I braced a hand a few inches below the stains, wondering how much of it was his, thinking about how close the both of us had come to getting seriously hurt. How close we'd come to dying.
Arik restlessly rubbed his hands up and down my hips. “I can’t tell you how scared I was when I realized it was you at the door, Dena. And when he made it clear he knew who you were...” His fingers flexed even as his eyes darkened.
He dipped his head, pressed his lips to mine. He didn’t deepen the kiss, just stood there, as if he needed the reassurance of my presence as much as I needed his. I slid my hands up and cupped his face, feeling the abrasive scratch of five o’clock shadow against my hands. My entire body throbbed at the thought of how that would feel against the insides of my thighs.
I broke the kiss, but kept my forehead pressed against his. “I’ve been trying to tell myself that I’m not ready to talk to you yet, that I need to think things through more.” I closed my eyes. “I want to be mad at you, but I can't.”
“I can't either,” he admitted.
I opened my eyes, meeting his emerald ones. I lowered my hands, and stared at the splatters of blood on his clothes. Suddenly desperate to be rid of all reminders of the evening, I pushed at his suit jacket.
“There's blood on you.” My voice was shaking. Normally, that would have pissed me off, but I didn't care at the moment.
Once I had his jacket on the floor, I reached for his tie. My fingers fumbled for a moment, then his hands covered mine, stilling the restless movement. Then he was easily taking care of the knot while I started on the buttons of his no longer pristine white shirt.
He left me to it, his hands returning to my hips once he’d finished with the tie, but once I reached for the buckle of his belt, he stopped me.
“Now you,” he said, his voice gruff.
It was my turn to stand there, unmoving as he stripped off my shirt and bra. He paused a moment as I shivered, then dipped his head and closed his lips around a nipple that had gone tight with cold and need. The exquisite contrast between my chilled flesh and his hot mouth had me moaning.
He did nothing but that. One deep, drawing tug of my nipple between his lips and then he went back to stripping me bare.
Once I was completely naked, he picked me up and carried me across the room.
Not to the bed, though.
There was a fireplace, and after he’d laid me down on a thick rug, covered me with a nearby blanket, then turned to the cold hearth. Within a few moments, he had a blaze going.
“You’re good at that.” My voice shook. I don’t know if it was cold, nerves, or need...or all of them above.
He stretched out next to me and tossed the blanket aside. “Stop talking.”
He didn’t give me a chance to argue, covering my mouth with his. I moaned as his tongue slid into my mouth. A moment later, he moved over me, his skin hot against mine. He’d stripped his trousers away without me even noticing, and it was all bare flesh to bare flesh. I didn't even know how he managed to generate so much heat after the rain, but I didn't really care.
I wanted more of him – a lot more.
Bringing my knees up, I rubbed against him, felt the length of his cock pulsing against me. Arik caught my wrists and drew them over my head, staring down at me with hungry eyes.
“I don’t want to play tonight,” I warned him. “I need this – need you – too much.”
“I’m not playing.” His voice had that low, authoritative note to it that made my insides squirm. Then he drove inside me with one single thrust. I cried out from the suddenness of it.
He didn’t give me any time to adjust either, simply withdrawing and then surging forward again, deep and hard and fast. Bracing my heels on the floor, I lifted up to meet him. I wanted it to ride that line of almost-pain. I wanted something that would obliterate everything else. Shatter everything that wasn't him and me.
Arik kissed me then, a bruising, carnal kiss that filled all the dark and cold places, eased every unspoken fear. His cock filled me, the kiss, savage as it was, soothed me. It was almost too much for me to handle, but I clung to it. Clung to every sensation.
He was here. I was here.
We were together and that was what mattered.
He tore his mouth away and lifted his head, staring at me with eyes glittering with something dark and somehow...full.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he said, his voice harsh, commanding.
I nodded, nearly whimpering as I ground against him.
He kissed m
e again, just as hard, just as deep. Just as fierce and hungry.
“Say it, Dena. Say it,” he rasped against my lips.
“I won’t scare you like that again.” Then, before he could break the kiss, I bit his lower lip, hard. His hips jerked against me, driving deeper. He made a sound like a growl.
“Now you,” I said, the words breathless.
He understood. His body covered mine fully as he murmured against my mouth. “I won’t scare you like that again.”
His strokes slowed, gentled, and he let go of my wrists to push up onto his knees. I was warmer now, but I still missed the warmth of him. His large hands cupped my breasts, thumbs circling my nipples while he rolled his hips lazily against the cradle of mine. His cock, thick and hard, pulsed inside me, and I could feel the climax building.
He slid his hands over my legs, then his hands between my thighs to where we joined. “I’ve missed this,” he murmured, stroking my sensitive skin. “Having you with me, feeling you wrapped around my dick. I’ve missed that smart mouth, those beautiful eyes.”
I wanted to say something to him, tell him I’d missed him too. But the feel of him pumping inside me, the way he watched me, and the way he spoke – he shattered me in ways nobody else ever had, ever could.
“Arik...”
I came then, a slow, sweet climax so at odds with the vicious need that had fueled this.
As though he’d just been waiting for it, Arik bent over me again, and thrust hard, once...twice...three times before he joined me, his entire body shuddering with the force of his orgasm.
I wrapped my arms around him and held tight, wanting to keep his body curled around me. For those few moments, all the insanity of the day faded.
This was all that mattered.
We – whatever we were – were all that mattered.
Chapter 5
Arik
It ought to have been downright criminal to be awake at this hour, especially considering I hadn’t even managed to get to sleep until after two. But the silvery moonlight coming in through the window fell on the antique clock hanging on the wall, clearly showed me the ungodly time of four fifty-two.