Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“No, absolutely not. They don’t want anything to do with me, and I don’t want anything to do with them. I do talk to some members of my old team every once in a while, but they’re not working for the Company anymore.”
“And the Krestyanovs?”
Soren sighed heavily as he leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees. “When things went to hell with your family…”
“You mean when my uncle went on a spree, killing all the family members who served my grandfather before assassinating him,” Alexei clarified.
“Yeah,” Soren said roughly. He stopped and cleared his throat. “I was a young little agent. Still wet behind the ears at the time. I don’t think I was even in the field yet, but everyone knew about Viktor Krestyanov, and we had strict orders to stay the hell out of his way. He was doing us a huge favor by cleaning house.” Soren’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “No offense, of course.”
Alexei snorted. “Trust me, he was doing me a huge favor. He even came to the house where we were vacationing in Mykonos to kill my mother. It was the first time we’d ever met. He didn’t know I existed.”
“Oh, God! Did he hurt you?”
Alexei quickly shook his head while suppressing a smile. It sounded like Soren was ready to retroactively kick Gabriel’s ass for hurting him as a child. “No. Definitely not. My uncle would never hurt a child. I’ve never gotten the full story, but I think my mother was too much like my father for a long time. Things changed, but my uncle didn’t see it until much later.”
“I’m glad you found each other.”
He could only nod while his brain processed everything. Soren was former CIA but now a cat burglar who was being hunted by assassins and the SVR. Oh, and he was becoming increasingly protective of Alexei, who was also an assassin. Yep, that sounded about right. Only he could land himself in this kind of mess.
“Angel,” Soren started gently, stretching his open hand out to him. “I have no desire to hurt you. No plans to hurt you. Until today’s meeting with those Russian goons, I had no idea who your family was. To me, you’re my Angel, sexy assassin and an amazing man who I would very much like to spend some time getting to know.”
Sliding down from his perch, Alexei crossed the room but stepped away from the extended hand. He crawled right into Soren’s lap, straddling him in the chair, while wrapping his arms around his neck. “Amazing, huh?”
“Well, I thought you were amazing before I knew what you’d survived, but now I feel like I need to upgrade it to at least stunning and fabulous.”
Alexei bussed his lips across Soren’s sweaty hairline. He needed to touch him, to be close to him, but his mind was a mess. “Soren, what are we doing? This is all happening so fast, and I don’t even know what this is most of the time. From one moment to the next, I want to strangle you, fuck you, or just be held by you. You’re former CIA. My family has created a long line of Russian spies and assassins. You’re a thief. I’m an assassin. We should be oil and water.”
“What’s your heart telling you?”
“Don’t let go.”
Soren’s arms tightened around him until he was sure his ribs were going to crack, but he didn’t resist. He nuzzled the side of his head and wished they could get even closer.
“Then don’t let me go. Don’t ever let me go, Angel.”
Alexei closed his eyes and let him sink into the reassuring warmth and strength of Soren. He’d never simply let himself be held like this. But he’d never felt close enough to a person to allow such a moment of vulnerability and reliance on another.
“While I would love to hold you like this forever, it doesn’t help us figure out what the hell we’re going to do next,” Alexei murmured into Soren’s hair.
“Are you sure? Because this is really nice.”
Reluctantly, Alexei loosened his hold and pushed against Soren’s shoulders so he could lean back. “Plan now, and then we share a shower.”
“I can live with that suggestion, but we’re moving to the bed again.”
Alexei unfolded himself from Soren’s lap and returned to flop on the bed, staring up at the ceiling while Soren stretched out on his side next to him. “A plan…”
“We need to find out what’s on the hard drive,” Soren grumbled. “It’s the only way we’re going to figure out why my buyer wants it as well as the Russians.”
“And who else might crawl out of the woodwork for it.” Alexei tapped a finger on his bottom lip. “It’s got to be encrypted. Gabor Kalman was an arrogant asshole, but he was a smart businessman. He’d have encrypted the data if it was important. We need a computer and the appropriate software to handle hacking it.”