Smoke and Shadows (7 page)

“What the fuck, Marissa?”

Not bothering to explain further, Marissa quickly slithered along the wall, praying whoever was outside wouldn’t just spray her door with assault rifle rounds. But her instincts told her that this wasn’t an assassin. She had a pretty good idea who it was, but she still wasn’t taking any chances when Brian was with her.

She pulled out her gun from the credenza, ignoring the curse from her neighbor, and leaned in to look through the peephole.

Her blood pressure shot straight to her head.

CHAPTER FOUR

Viktor’s slightly irritated face greeted Marissa when she opened the door. But a flash of fury quickly passed through his eyes when he spotted Brian behind her. Not waiting to be invited in, he stepped into her space, forcing her to move out of the way.
 

“You weren’t answering your phone,” Viktor leveled Brian with an intimidating stare. Brian visibly stepped back and then caught himself. She couldn’t blame him. Viktor filled up a room with his presence and it wasn’t the type of presence where you’d leave your guard down.

Annoyed, Marissa said, “It’s the weekend, Mr. Baran. Can’t this project wait until Monday?”

Ignoring her, Viktor turned to Brian. “You should leave.”

Marissa’s jaw slackened in outrage, and her neighbor was speechless in the face of Viktor’s rudeness.
How dare he start ordering her guests from her house?
Brian actually sputtered and shot her an aggrieved look.
 

“Marissa? You work for this asshole?” Brian asked when he managed to speak.

“With.” She corrected. Facing Viktor, she said through gritted teeth, “You’re the one leaving. You have no right demanding my time after working hours.”
 

Viktor’s brow shot up before he balanced back on his heels and crossed his arms.
 

She wanted to scream in frustration. She couldn’t do this in front of Brian and Viktor knew it.
 

She looked at her neighbor apologetically. “I have to handle this, Brian. It’s a high-profile project and I,” she glared at Viktor, “have no desire to be blamed for its failure.”

“I don’t want to leave you—” Brian began.

“Bri,” Marissa said sharply. “Go! I’ll be fine. I’m the one with a gun.”

“Well, if you shoot him, I didn’t see or hear anything,” Brian retorted. Walking up to her, he brushed her lips with his, surprising her. Her eyes snapped to Viktor’s and she flinched because the promise of retribution in them sent her heart racing.

When the door closed behind Brian, Viktor crossed the distance between them. A hand shot out to firmly, but gently grasp her nape, bringing her nose to nose with him.

“I thought I made myself clear.” Viktor enunciated each word. “We’re happening. And while we’re happening—only I touch you—only I put my mouth on yours—and—only—I—fuck—you. I do not fucking share.”

Marissa tried to escape from his dominant hold, but he tightened his grip, not enough to hurt her, but enough to keep her head where it was. Her lips curled cynically. “You’ve come to that conclusion yourself. Well, guess what? I’m not twenty-eight years old anymore. I’m not one of your subs. So get your hands off me before I really do shoot you.”

Of course, Viktor grabbed the gun out of her hand and tucked it behind his cargo pants.
How does he freaking do this
? She was a damned CIA agent for Christ’s sake.

“You were saying?” This time there was a smirk on his face.

“Go to hell, Viktor.”

“Already been there, Marissa. Hell spit me back out,” Viktor said dryly. His eyes took on a feral gleam. “So, sweetheart, have you fucked the neighbor?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“It really is. Answer—the—question.”

“He’s my fuck-buddy—” Marissa’s voice faltered when she saw Viktor’s face darken into a ferocious scowl. “Viktor—”

“Wrong answer,” Viktor suddenly released her. “Pack your shit.”

“What?”

“You’re moving in with me right fucking now.”

Marissa recoiled because she had never seen him this furious before.

“Viktor—”

“I swear to God, Marissa,” Viktor’s gravelly voice muttered, visibly struggling for control. “Move your ass right now, or you’ll be leaving with the clothes on your back.” He took a menacing step toward her. “Pack your fucking shit!”

Eight years melted away as Viktor’s forceful words slammed her into retreating. He was as intense and domineering as ever.
 

Her head bowed. She took a couple of meek steps toward the stairs and stopped. Raising her head, she turned around.

“No.” Her eyes cut to his defiantly.
 

The muscle tic on his jaw became more pronounced as he regarded her with icy blue eyes. He was about to say something when she said, “I can’t do this with you again.”

“Marissa—”

“NO!” Marissa shouted. Viktor’s brows drew together.

“I’m not one of your agents. You can’t order me around. And if you want things between us to happen, you have to stop bossing me around. This ends now, Viktor!” She was on a roll, so why stop? “I’m not a twenty-eight-year-old rookie anymore. That girl is gone, trampled by the ugliness that my kind of work—our kind of work brings. It tries to drain the humanity out of us, but you hang on to it, Viktor, you just do. You don’t see me turning into you. Yes. You try to be this cold son of a bitch, but you’re hurting inside—”

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he replied coldly. But he had flinched at her words—barely—but he did. Encouraged, she ranted on.

“Don’t I?” Marissa challenged. “Don’t I? That briefing. You could’ve at least shown some regret that Jack blamed you for what had happened to Maia. But what did you do? You acted as if you didn’t care, but you really do.”

“Jesus, fuck, shit, Iz. Shut up!” Finally, the damned mask was cracking. “What do you want from me?”

“I want the man buried in all that crap you choose to hide behind.” Marissa sighed heavily. The man she used to love. At least, she believed it was love then. She had seen glimpses of him. Viktor could care deeply. “You don’t want anyone to get close to you. You alienate people, Viktor.”

Viktor’s face softened. The harsh lines disappearing, revealing the handsome man he kept hidden behind a facade of indifference. “The man you’re looking for is an illusion, Iz,” he said with almost a pang of regret. “Stripped down . . . this is me.”

“No.” She gently brought a hand up to Viktor’s face. “There’s much more to you.”

“Marissa,” Viktor warned, his face shuttering into cold planes again.

“Goddamn it, Viktor. Try,” Marissa snapped. “Or I’m not doing this with you anymore. And you’re not ordering me around like some damned flunky. You were out of line, and you know it.”

“I was pissed,” Viktor bit out, his arms coming around her, pinning her to the length of his body. He lowered his head and muttered, “Thinking of someone else inside you—” His eyes turned murderous. “Makes me want to kill him and fuck you.”

Marissa’s heart rate skittered, her skin tingling with sensual awareness as she pulsated between her legs.
 

“I haven’t slept with Brian, or any man, in six months,” she squeaked, a tad breathless.
 

Realization dawned on Viktor’s face, which made Marissa wary. He was pleased about something.

“Great, we’re good to go then,” Viktor murmured, his mouth brushed the corner of her lips.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your last check-up was three months ago, and you were clean.” The blond devil pulled back slightly and shrugged.

“How?” she sputtered. Why would she even ask? Viktor had no problem with blatant invasion of privacy.
 

Viktor’s blue eyes darkened with lust and were the last thing she saw before his lips claimed hers in an urgent, demanding kiss. His tongue delved deep inside her mouth. An arm braced her front closer while his hand drifted to her ass and hauled her into him, plastering them together tightly. It seemed impossible to pull them apart. The heat between them ignited with Marissa returning his kisses feverishly, wanting to strip him bare and feel his skin over the ripples of muscle. Her sex flushed with arousal as his swelling hardness rubbed against her.
 

Something vibrated between them.

Marissa tried to pull away.

“Ignore it.” His voice was ragged. “I need to fuck you.”

“It could be important.”

Cursing, Viktor reluctantly set her from him and answered his phone.

“Yeah.”

He listened for a beat. His lips were set in a grim line at first, but they gradually curved into a faint smile. “She did, did she? . . . I’m not expecting anything different from you, McCord, but I agree. Maia comes first . . . good . . . tell her we’ll be there in an hour.”

Ending the call, Viktor looked at her.

“We?” Marissa asked.

“Sweetheart, I may have been an ass earlier, and I apologize. But nothing has changed,” Viktor told her. “You’ve got half an hour—” he leaned in until his mouth was a breath from hers. “—to pack your shit.”

*****

Viktor glanced surreptitiously at the woman beside him. They were on their way to see Maia, riding in the elevator that would take them to the wing of private rooms where Jack had Maia ensconced.
 

He chewed on his lower lip to prevent the grin of triumph from breaking through. Although it stung that Marissa had castigated him for his less than stellar behavior in handling Jack, she at least agreed that having them watch each other’s back was a prudent suggestion, particularly given that Harry Matthews had a questionable demise. Marissa wasn’t the idealistic black ops agent of eight years ago. There was a confidence and stubbornness that wasn’t in her before, and her uncanny ability to push his buttons grated on him. It also excited him.

The elevator doors slid open. The VIP wing at New Park Medical was expensively appointed in a sleek contemporary style. The nurses’ station was a sweeping half circle of cold efficiency punctuated with state-of-the-art technology.
 

Viktor nodded to the head nurse who was eyeing him suspiciously. Marissa tried to walk ahead of him, but he grabbed her hand, pulling her beside him. She raised a brow, but there was a smile playing on her lips. Yeah, he was turning into a sap, but he liked holding her hand, and he didn’t give a damn who looked at him strangely—for example—Kane Taylor, who stood outside room 602—Maia’s room.

Kane Taylor was a contractor who frequently worked bodyguard duty for the McCord family. Obviously, Jack wasn’t taking any chances when it came to his wife. Viktor would have offered some of their agents, but he and Jack were barely civil to each other.

“Taylor.”
 

“Baran.” The other man glanced curiously at Marissa.

Marissa pulled her hand out of Viktor’s grasp—much to his irritation—and extended it to Taylor.
 

“I’m Marissa Cole.”

“Kane Taylor, ma’am.”

Viktor pointedly grabbed her hand back and rapped on the door. Jack’s voice invited them in.

He tried hard not to react to Jack and Maia’s shocked faces when their gazes fell upon their intertwined fingers.

Maia spoke first. “Have we jumped the time-space continuum and pigs started flying?”

Marissa blushed beet red.

Viktor ignored Maia’s smart-ass remark and bent down to kiss her. “How are you feeling, Katerina?”

“Better,” Maia said. “I certainly can’t wait to get back into the action.”

“Babe—” Jack started with a scowl.

“Jack, you honestly believe I’d let someone do this to you and get away with it?” Maia said, her eyes flashing angrily.

“You’ll be back in the thick of things in no time,” Viktor said.

“Damn it, Viktor,” Jack snapped. “Don’t make me throw you out.”

Marissa squeezed Viktor’s hand.

“All right,” Viktor said. “Truce.”

Jack was struck speechless. Maia’s overprotective husband was all prepared to spar words with him and was blindsided by his unnatural acquiescence. Viktor paused and wondered why he was reining in his acerbic tongue. Was he trying to prove something to Marissa? And if he was, why in the fuck was he?
Shit
. That was troubling.

Maia was grinning as she looked at Marissa. “I think I like you in Viktor’s life.”

“Ah . . . I think you’re getting the wrong idea,” Marissa said awkwardly, trying to pull her hand away from Viktor again, and this time he let her.
 

Maia stared at her dubiously. “Uh-huh.” She shifted her gaze to Viktor. “So fill me in. How in the hell did I get out of there alive?”

Jack moved closer to his wife’s bed, intent to listen to what Viktor had to say.

“The CIA had reason to believe that someone is hell-bent on revenge against the Guardians.”

“Yes, Jack filled me in on the cache of information found in Syria. But what is Grave Digger?”

“Grave Digger is a team of operatives that are tasked with extracting any injured agents targeted for assassination and getting them immediate medical care while leaving the impression that they died. Fortunately, France has an active team at the Paris CIA station.”

“So, I’m dead to whoever wanted to kill me?” Maia asked.

“For now. With Jack’s rescue, I’m sure they’re keeping an eye out at MDI and your apartment.”

“I’ve got Derek installing extra security cameras around the Trident building and my apartment. I’ve also got some of Taylor’s men on twenty-four-hour surveillance rotation,” Jack added.

Viktor nodded briefly in satisfaction.
 

“Tim added several layers of encryption to our agent NOC database,” Viktor added. “I have a feeling that’s what our enemies are after. They’ve also been targeting CIA.”

“What’s their end game?” Maia asked, concerned.

“No fucking clue,” Viktor replied. “Anything else you remember, Jack?”

Jack shook his head. “All they wanted were the codes.”

Someone’s phone buzzed. Marissa’s.

She looked up apologetically, stared at the number, frowned, and turned it off.