Had he always been like this? Why would someone decide to seclude himself? Clearly, he wasn’t the only one. Axel had done the same. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the seclusion, how they were both so removed from any form of civilization.
I was in the process of doing the exact opposite thing.
Working for Ryan as an insurance assessor was a bitch. I hated the job, I hated my boss even more, and the run-of-the-mill thing was enough to push anyone to tears. But it paid the bills, it was work that kept me off my mom’s back, and it was an opportunity I hadn’t wanted to pass up at the time.
Soon, everything would change, though. My mom kept encouraging me to leave, to explore the big wide world, to create a new life for myself away from the childhood I’d had in Grizzly Falls, away from the ghosts my dad had left behind that haunted us both.
At first, I hadn’t wanted to leave. I couldn’t leave my mom behind and alone. But she kept insisting that I would be living for both of us, that I had to make more of myself than I could be in a place like Grizzly Falls. I needed to stretch my wings and fly, she kept saying.
So I’d started looking for jobs. I’d looked in big cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, places my mum had suggested, places that seemed to make her happy. Now, I was less than a week away from packing up my entire life and traversing the unknown. In just a couple of short days, I was going to leave behind the only place I ever knew.
My stomach twisted in a knot of nerves when I thought about it. To leave my home behind was terrifying. To go to a big city where I was a nobody scared the living crap out of me.
My future job as an executive assistant excited me, though. A big city go-getter in Chicago had decided that my set of skills was exactly what she needed. She needed someone unattached, someone who could travel at a moment’s notice, work everchanging hours. She needed someone who was willing to have an adventure.
That sounded like me. I had no strings attached, I had no one to look out for if I left my mother here. Most of all, I liked the idea of being an executive assistant to a woman. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable taking the job if it had been a man. I just didn’t trust men. You could give yourself to someone, believe they had the whole world in their hands, and then those hands turned out to be the very same hands that hurt you.
My mom was the perfect example.
The door opened, jarring me, and I glanced over as Viktor walked in. I’d been so deep in thought, I hadn’t heard his boots on the front porch.
“Are you doing okay?” Viktor asked. He stood close to me, his voice low. He took one hand in his and rubbed his thumb in circular motions over the back of my hand.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Axel doesn’t happen to have a signal, does he?”
Viktor shook his head. “Unfortunately not.”
I sighed. I really wanted to call my mom.
“I think it’s going to take longer than we thought,” he told me. “I just wanted to check on you, make sure you’re okay.”
“Actually, I think I’ll go back to the cabin.”
Viktor frowned. It made his dark eyes seem broody. He stopped moving his thumb. “I’d prefer you wait here.”
“Why?” I pulled my hand out of his. “I’m sure I can find my way back. Like you said, you’re going to be busy for a while. What does it matter if I wait here or there?”
Viktor shook his head, took a small step back. “You can wait here, Malen kiy. I’m not letting you go back to the cabin without me.”
I arched an eyebrow at him, irked. “I’m sorry? You’re not letting me go back?”
When he looked at me, his face softened a little. “Malen kiy, I just don’t want you to be alone.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Says the man who insists on being alone all the time.”
Viktor took a step closer again and dropped a kiss in my hair. It was unexpected, and the warmth that came with it even more so. “Please, just a little longer,” he said. “Make yourself comfortable in Axel’s home and I’ll make sure we don’t take too long. Then we can go back to the cabin together.”
I wanted to argue, but the look on his face stopped me. “Okay,” I said. “But I’m going to sit on the porch. I like watching you work.”
He flashed a cocky grin at me. “Maybe I’ll pull off my shirt if it gets hot.”
I blushed even harder. And my body was suddenly hot, my hormones raging. God, what was it about this man that got me so flustered and so ready for him? If he took me now, I wouldn’t complain.
“Hurry up, then,” I said in a breathy voice.
Viktor let out a low growl at the back of his throat leaned closer to me, dipped his head and nuzzled my neck. He brushed his thumb over my nipple, and when my breath caught in my throat, he offered a throaty chuckle.
“I won’t be long, kitn,” Viktor said in a thick voice. He tugged at his pants, and I could see the growing bulge he was trying to hide. I flashed him a smile, and Viktor made a grunting sound that I could only translate as frustration.
Kitn.
I loved it when he called me these Russian names. Kitten, that was what it meant. When he said it, it made me feel sexy. Everything Viktor did made me feel sexy, though. I’d never been with anyone who could draw out this side of me. Until I had been with Viktor, there had been parts of me I hadn’t known about.
I didn’t know what his deal was, though. Why was he so possessive over me? I didn’t belong to him, but he acted like he could tell me what to do. In a way, it pissed me off. I could stand on my own two feet, thank you very much.
On the other hand, it made me feel warm and protected. All I had ever known a man to do was hurt us or leave. My dad had been a piece of work. My mom still carried the scars, was still haunted by the pain and the rejection that seemed to go hand in hand. I could still remember the smell of alcohol on his breath when he came home too late. The smell of fear that came with it when my mom tried to keep him calm.
I shook off the thoughts and turned my attention to Viktor. He was nothing like my dad. He was big and rugged and rough and something about him was animalistic and wild. When I was with him, I didn’t fear him. When he lifted his hand to touch me, I didn’t cower away from him, I leaned into him.
As I sat outside, watching him, I thought about the way he’d touched me, the way he’d made me feel. God, it had been delicious. I arched my back and tilted my hips forward, aware of my own body. I was getting wet again. Viktor hadn’t done much and it had set me off. I refocused on the work they were doing rather than his sexy body, and slowly the lust calmed to a simmer.
Viktor kept to his word, working with Axel like they’d done it a thousand times. Working quickly so they could get finished.
“See if it works,” I heard him say as they walked toward me. “If it doesn’t, you know where to find me.”
“Thanks, man,” Axel said, clapping a large hand into Viktor’s enormous one. “It’s great to have someone I can always count on.”
“Anytime,” Viktor said and looked at me. He smiled at me, but his eyes were dark and hungry, echoing my own need. “Are you ready, Malen kiy?”
I nodded. I was so ready.
We took leave of Axel and walked through the forest together, heading back to Viktor’s cabin. While we walked, I was aware of his colossal form next to me. His hand brushed against mine, and when it did, electricity ran through me.