Wild Men of Alaska Collection - By Helmer, Tiffinie Page 0,112
it made her feel to have this man desire her, still, after all the time that had passed. He’d pursued her hard in Afghanistan. But that had been to get information from her. He hadn’t really been enamored of her. Had he? And why the hell should she care? She wanted him dead...she did. Damn it.
He smoothed down her top, and his dark eyes stared into hers. If fire could shoot out of them she wouldn’t have been surprised. She’d been unable to catch her breath waiting for him to strip her of her bra and was more than a little surprised that he hadn’t. His eyes, with their sultry flecks of amber within the dark coffee depths, hunted for something within hers.
“You have beautiful breasts, Katja. They have haunted me these many years.”
That she hadn’t expected. She flattened her lips in an inflexible line. What did he want her to say? Thank you?
“You are a pawn being used in a game of not your making.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “Don’t be such. You must let this go.”
“I am not a pawn.”
“I saved your life the night you gave yourself to me.”
Gave herself to him?
“Just as I gave myself to you,” he added in a softer more dangerous tone that rubbed areas inside her she didn’t want resurrected.
He had not given himself to her. Those were soft, romantic words, and he was neither of those things.
“There vas mutual loving on both sides, Katja.”
She still refused to respond. He confused her, and she didn’t like it. Her hate for him had fueled her for a long time. Kept her going when she didn’t know if she could go on. She liked it, craved it. Whatever mind game he played, she would not be suckered in.
“You seduced me in order to set me up,” she bit out.
“You let me seduce you, and I saved your life that night. It isn’t me you should hate. It’s Perry.”
“Sure, attack a dead man. A man who can’t defend himself.”
“Perry vasn’t defendable vhen he vas alive.”
“Stop.”
“The sooner you realize that the sooner ve can get past this and explore vhat ve discovered about each other in that hotel room.”
“There is nothing I want to explore with you. I want you out of my life, and off my radar. I wish you had never come across me.”
“Now who is coward?” His eyes turned cold, and she knew she was in the presence of The Bear. The one who killed, maimed, destroyed. She tensed, and then when nothing came, she didn’t know what to feel. He wasn’t doing anything she expected of him. Was that another way of toying with her? Keeping her off balance?
“Vhen vas the last time you ate?” he asked.
Too long. “I’m not hungry.” Her stomach stirred making a liar out of her.
“Right. You’ve been on the hunt, therefore eating rations or vhatever you could kill. And since, you no doubt, didn’t vant me alerted to your presence, you vouldn’t have lit a fire and cooked anything.”
She hated that he knew so much about her and her activities.
“Since you entered The Edge from behind, you vould have hiked in from either Tutka Bay or parachuted in. Vith your skills, I’d bet on the drop. Either vay, you must be starving. And I can alvays eat.” He murmured the last words like it wasn’t food he wanted to consume. “Come.” Sergei rose to his feet without letting go of her hands. He pulled her to hers, and dragged her into the kitchen.
Birch cabinets lined two walls with stainless steel countertops and a wall of windows taking up the other where a table sat overlooking the bay. There was nothing but black outside the window testifying to the deadly landscape. The ocean was a mirror of darkness, and it took no imagination to think of the souls it had already claimed. Would hers be next? What better way to dispose of a body than to sink it somewhere out here off The Edge, knowing the sea scavengers would digest the remains? No moon was out tonight to help illuminate or soften the harsh landscape.
Sergei sat her in one of the kitchen chairs—grabbing another length of rope he conveniently had resting on the counter—and tied her up.
“Is this really necessary?”
“Vell, let’s see. You’ve shot at me, kicked me in balls, and come after me vith knife. Dah. I believe it’s necessary.” He looked at her. “There are a lot of sharp things in a