Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“Fuck!” Lucas snarled, barely noticing when Andrei finally grabbed him, forcing him behind Andrei’s larger body. Someone had stabbed a large knife into the hood of the car to hold a fluttering piece of paper in place. Moving close, he could easily read the big block letters written with a magic marker:
This is your last warning. Get out of Price Hill.
The next bullets won’t miss.
Lucas looked up in time to see Andrei dialing 9-1-1 on his phone. With a strong hand, he clasped Andrei’s wrist before he could connect the call. “Don’t.”
“You don’t want to tell the cops?”
Grinding his teeth, Lucas forced himself to take a deep breath and release Andrei’s wrist. They’d destroyed Snow’s club, threatened his customers, and now they’d fucked with his car. He was done letting the Cincy PD dick around in his life. Rowe was getting carte blanche.
“Take a picture. Then pull the knife out of the hood. Get the knife, the note, and the picture to Rowe tomorrow. Tell your boss to do his fucking job.”
Chapter 10
A long, heavy sigh slipped from Andrei. He slumped against the side of the elevator when the doors slid shut and dropped his head back to watch Lucas with hooded eyes. Lucas had been quiet since they’d left the nightclub, but then he was undoubtedly preoccupied. His business had been shot up and his customers threatened. They’d had to tolerate nearly two hours of questions from the police and they still were no closer to knowing the culprit. At least Lucas hadn’t gone to the hospital again. That would have been fun to explain to Rowe.
Lucas leaned against the opposite wall, staring back at Andrei, his face an unreadable mask. “Well,” Andrei drawled with a smirk playing on his lips. “I’ve had better dates.”
“Let’s make it better,” Lucas said. Andrei barely had enough time to turn his words over in his mind before Lucas pushed off the wall and lunged at Andrei, covering him with his larger body. A grunt shot from Andrei and then any discomfort was lost to Lucas’s lips. Andrei’s slump made them the same height, allowing Lucas to kiss him deeply without needing to tip his head up. There was no tentative exploration or slow seduction. The kiss was scorching heat, burning away thought and doubts. His tongue plunged into Andrei’s mouth, dominating him as a low moan rose up from his throat. Andrei lost himself in that kiss as Lucas threaded his fingers through Andrei’s hair, clutching the strands so he could hold his head captive.
Lucas pulled back slightly, sucking Andrei’s lower lip, tugging at him. With a growl, Andrei chased him. Fingers tightening in the smooth material of Lucas’s jacket, he jerked the man back, tongue darting into Lucas’s mouth to glide over his tongue. They ground their bodies together so that there was no hiding their arousal. After dragging his hand across Lucas’s chest, Andrei started unbuttoning his shirt, fingers skimming from the soft material to warm, naked skin. Lucas made a hungry noise in the back of his throat and Andrei briefly wondered if he was about to get fucked in an elevator. They had been dancing around this edge since their first meeting. Last night’s kiss had only made it worse, leaving Andrei constantly thinking about the softness of his lips, the hardened muscles wrapped in smooth skin, and his hands. Those goddamned hands were so strong and so sure. Those hands made him shudder.
A soft ping broke Lucas and Andrei apart. They both looked up to stare vacantly at the elevator doors as they opened. Their heavy breathing filled the small car and they looked out into the hall that led to the penthouse, but neither moved as if they couldn’t comprehend where they were or why they were there. It was only when the doors started to shut that Lucas cursed softly, the spell broken so that he could lurch forward to hit the button to open the doors again.
Shaking his head, Andrei watched the other man step out of the elevator before he followed behind him. “Damn, Vallois. You’re going to kill me,” Andrei muttered, searching for his key to Lucas’s door while putting his other hand on the butt of the gun tucked under his arm.
“Never before sex,” Lucas promised in a low voice, smiling at Andrei with enough heat to send a throb of longing through him.
“I think we need to concentrate on finding the bastard who’s causing all this bullshit.” Andrei unlocked the door, hoping to put both their minds on the problem at hand rather than the smoldering desire that was quickly turning all of Andrei’s common sense to ash.
Pausing just inside the entrance, Andrei tapped in the code, turning off the alarm before flipping on the overhead lights. For the moment, the gnawing hunger for Lucas was pushed aside as his eyes searched what he could see of the first floor. No one was there and nothing had moved. Stepping the rest of the way into the penthouse, he moved aside so Lucas could enter before locking the door behind him and setting the alarm. Sinking comfortably into protector mode, Andrei could forget about personal worries and needs so that his entire being was focused on the job at hand—protecting Lucas.