Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“Because you won’t be able to stop next time.”
She nods slowly.
“Does that make you feel powerful?” she snaps. “I haven’t been with a man in… a long time.” She huffs, waving her hand, like she’s annoyed she said that. “Either answer my question or go.”
I walk to the door, then stop. I can’t leave like this, a coward who won’t tell her the truth.
But I must be half a coward, because I don’t turn to face her.
“My company owns the company that handles the CCTV for the hospital,” I tell her. “My life is cold and boring, but meeting you was new and interesting. I was curious about you. So, every now and then, I’d log in to the CCTV servers and watch you, admire you.”
“Maksim,” she says, breathy. “Are you serious?”
“I’d watch you because those few minutes were brighter than anything in my miserable world.”
I walk out of the house, knowing I most likely just ruined whatever this might’ve been.
Outside, I remind my men to keep this woman safe, then climb into my car and drive away.
CHAPTER 11
LIA
Isit up in bed, staring down at my Kindle, unsuccessfully focusing on the book. I don’t know what I was expecting when I asked him how he knew how I like my coffee, but it wasn’t that. He’s been watching me… obsessing over me, it sounds like. Less than a day spent together in a medical setting was enough to make him lose his mind for me.
I clench my jaw, attempting to be angry. I’m aware that’s what I should feel. But the thought of being his secret, his private obsession, does something else to me entirely. And the way he kissed and touched me…
This sort of heat hasn’t touched me in years. Or ever, if I’m being brutally honest. My body responded with heat and desire the moment he touched me. I kissed him twice, initiating it because it was like there was this urgency inside of me. The second I felt what it was like, I just wanted more, more, more.
Even now, I’m squeezing my legs together. My sex is still hot, excited with anticipation. I can’t believe how easy it felt, effortless, no nerves or hesitation as we collided.
I stand, pace the room, leaving my Kindle on the bed.
I’m not a slave to my desires. Just because my lips tingle and fresh wetness threatens, it doesn’t mean I should simply forget what he admitted. He violated me, didn’t he? That’s what I should be feeling.
A powerful man, watching me in the dark, breaking laws so that he can fix those dark, intense eyes on me and make me his secret desire. Hell, that’s hot too. I can’t deny that. I know it’s wrong. It’s flattering as well. I’ve never considered myself special when it comes to my beauty, never thought I’d ever be the object of obsession—or infatuation, or whatever the hell’s going on here—for a man like Maksim.
A criminal, I remind myself.
“I should be mad,” I whisper under my breath, as though that can make it so.
I pick up my phone and fire off a text.
Lia: You owe me some answers. And since it’s clearly impossible for us to talk in person about this, I want them now.
I sit on the edge of the bed, my foot tapping restlessly. There’s so much to worry about. That poor young man, Daniel, missing because of some spy phone that unlocks the secrets of the politicians in this city. Work. Mom. These feelings flurrying inside of me. And now this.
Maksim: You’re right. I’d be a fool to answer anything over text, but maybe that’s what this situation has made me.
Lia: This SITUATION? You say that like it’s something that just happened. But you made it happen. You chose to watch me. I need to know why. I need to know how often. I need to know what you were thinking. How did you think that was okay?
Maksim: I was thinking you were the only bright spot in the day-to-day savagery of this life. Seeing you smile, help patients, or simply drink a coffee was worth looking forward to. I know it was wrong. I know I shouldn’t have done it. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t help myself. You have no idea how beautiful you are when you think no one’s looking. How easy it is to be reeled in by every single part of you.
I drop the phone, breathing hard again. I want to succumb to his words badly. I try to think, well, it’s just because we kissed and got steamy. My body’s still hot all over.
Lia: And that excuses it?
Maksim: I’m a man who takes what he wants. That’s who I am. Who I’ve always been. But before that gunshot, I never wanted to watch a woman, to learn about her, to know her, even if she didn’t know me.