Love Thy Enemy (Red Stone Security #13)(22)

He nodded once at Kir. “I’ll be down in twenty,” he said.

The HR employee asked, “Got a few minutes?”

“Yeah.” Even if all he wanted to do was chase after his very sexy assistant who was covertly trying to make her escape. She’d gone into Viktor’s office but Abram knew that as soon as he stepped back into his own she’d be leaving for the night.

To escape him and what had happened here.

If she thought she could run from him, she was very much mistaken. Now that he’d tasted her come, felt her climax against his face, he didn’t think he was ever letting her go.

*

Viktor wiped his damp palms against his pants as he headed up to Dominique’s condo. He hadn’t been this nervous in…

He’d never been this nervous. It was ridiculous.

She was on the second floor of a small, Mediterranean-style complex. It was in a good area and had decent security. Not good enough for her though. He’d never been particularly protective of anyone before. Well, other than his mother, but he’d been a child when she’d died. And of course Lucy.

But the protectiveness he felt for Dominique was very different. He wanted to put himself between her and anything that might ever threaten her. He wanted to make sure she never got hurt again. When he reached her door it swung open before he could knock.

As usual his heart rate kicked up at the sight of her. She had on a green and white summer dress that fell a little lower than mid-thigh. With her legs it was pretty much guaranteed that anything showing off all that skin looked good on her. She’d left her pale blonde hair down so that it fell in soft waves around her shoulders and face.

“I was waiting for you,” she said, her light laugh just a little nervous. “Did you want to come in for a drink before we head out?”

He wanted to say yes, but shook his head. Viktor didn’t want to know more about her, to see more of her life, because it would just show him what he couldn’t have.

He was only here tonight because she wanted to talk about the contract. Okay, that was a lie—he wanted to spend time with her. But he knew that she was only here for one reason. So he wouldn’t pretend otherwise. And going into her place and having a drink before they went out sounded like something people on dates did. This wasn’t a date. “I wasn’t sure where you would want to go so I chose a place on the beach. Cuban food, and mainly locals eat there.”

“Sounds good.” She grabbed her purse, which was more of a small pocketbook than anything, before shutting the door behind her.

“Don’t you need to set your alarm?” he asked as she locked her door.

Her eyes widened slightly as she turned to him. “Ah…I don’t have a system. Well, my place is wired for it. I just don’t have a paid service right now.”

He frowned as she fell in step beside him.

“What?”

He lifted a shoulder. It wasn’t as if she was his. He had no say over her life. “Nothing. I brought a couple copies of the contract,” he said. “If there’s something you don’t like we can fix it, but I think you’ll be okay with it. You should still have an attorney look at it, regardless.”

“I lied,” she blurted as they reached the stairs. “I don’t want to talk about the contract.”

Ah, here it came. Keeping his expression neutral, he braced himself for what she was going to say. His brother had been right. Maybe she’d asked him out tonight to—

“I just wanted to spend time with you. As in…a date.” She cringed, guilt flickering in her dark eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have just been honest with you.”

He blinked in surprise, wondering when she’d drop the punch line, but he realized she was being serious. “You want to go on a date with me?”

She nodded, looking almost miserable. “I shouldn’t have used the contract as an—”

“It’s fine.” His words came out more harshly than he’d intended. Viktor cleared his throat. All his muscles tightened as her words sank in. She wanted to go out with him. For no other reason than she wanted to spend time with him. “I would like to take you out as well.” He inwardly cringed at how formal he sounded. But everything about this woman made him forget how to function.

Her cheeks flushed the sexiest shade of pink. “Okay, then. No contract talk tonight?”

“None.”

“Good.” She lightly curled her fingers around his upper arm and gave him a soft, almost shy smile that made him half desperate to kiss her. He could easily imagine her hands stroking over his naked body and had to shut that thought down. “I’m hungry. Let’s get out of here.”

He was hungry too, but not for food. Keeping that thought at bay, he nodded once. The feel of her fingers grazing him ever so lightly was heaven and hell.

This woman made him want too much.

That was a very dangerous thing. The last time he’d fallen for a woman he’d learned too late that everything they’d shared was a lie. That she’d felt nothing for him. The shame of that memory flared inside him now, nearly consuming him. It also reminded him why he only used escorts. There was never any question of where they stood.

But when he looked at the beautiful woman on his arm he knew that he wouldn’t be able to simply walk away from Dominique, no matter how great the risk.