Page 30 of Capture
“You look chipper,” I pointed out. “Color in your cheeks.”
“I’ve been feasting on carbs,” she said, brushing chip crumbs off her stomach as I noticed a half-eaten bag of chips was on the side table.
“Who bought you those?” as if I didn’t already know. If it wasn’t Gunner, it’ll be Mikky. Worming his way into her bed with bags of fatty starch.
“Your boss,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye, as she made space on the bed for me to sit next to her. “Where’s Gunner? Is he okay? I haven’t seen him for a while.”
“Ah, yes,” I said, checking the time on my phone because I didn’t want to miss the mysterious meeting with Mikky. I didn’t want to let him down. “Gunner. He’s ah…” I should’ve spoken to Mikky about how much I could tell her, but she was concerned about him. “He’s busy.”
“Oh,” she sounded disappointed. “Too busy to visit me?”
I chuckled. “You’re our prisoner, Annika. Not an enclosure at the zoo. He’s not obligated to visit you.”
“I know,” she seemed hurt, and I realized I said the wrong thing. “Seems out of character, that’s all.”
She’s right. The guy was obsessed with her, and if Mikky allowed it, he’d move all his stuff into her room so he could be with her twenty-four-seven.
“Well, he has some important errands to run and is out of town,” I mumbled, making it up as I went along.
“I think you’re hiding something from me,” she spotted the lie easily, unsurprisingly. “But the feelings of a prisoner are irrelevant.”
Guilt stirred in my gut. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I told her the truth, as there’s not much she could do about it anyway. “Yeah, I suppose. Okay, you’re right,” I caved to my guilt. “He’s been kidnapped.”
She gasped and slapped her hand over her gaping mouth. “By whom? Oh my god. Have the police got him? No. Wait. Kidnapped. Police don’t tend to kidnap, unless,” she made a face, “Her.”
“Her?” I pressed to see if she’d open up.
“Judith the Bitchtective,” she replied. “She’s a bad cop. She is capable of kidnapping people.”
“Well, it wasn’t her, although she might be involved,” I stated honestly as her hand found mine and she began massaging the back, and her touch traveled immediately to my crotch. Fuck. That’s all it took.
“So, who?” she kept asking with a furrowed brow and bit her bottom lip.
“The Ivanovs,” I answered, and her eyes glazed over as if she wasn’t aware of who they were.
But the confusion lasted only a few seconds before her mouth parted and a gasp of shock escaped her lips. “Ivanov? Like…”
“Your friend, Katerina Ivanov, set him up. Sort of. They’re our enemy,” I held back from giving her the whole story because her hand was now on my leg, close to my cock. One track mind.
“What a little bitch. I thought she was onmyside. Wait. What am I saying? Gunner’s not on my side. None of you is on my side. I can’t trust anyone. And what do you mean by ‘sort of?’” Annika babbled because she was getting annoyed, or maybe she was high on carbs.
“I think she was on your side,” I corrected her. “She was trying to protect you, but also was using you to get closer to Gunner or me. But it was a double banger, and it was predictable. We used Gunner as bait to locate where they’re hiding.”
“So, you were setting her up as she was setting you up?” she clarified. “Huh. Funny.”
“Yep,” I nodded, locking my gaze onto her pretty face. As soon as her eyes met mine, she graced me with another of those gorgeous smiles, and I took the opportunity to kiss her.
14
He tasted like mint and coffee, soft lips, warm hands, the man who spied on me while I swam naked. The man who fucked me in the water. My Simmering Summer felt so good as my body melted under his touch.
“I feel guilty doing this while Gunner…” I breathed into his mouth, pausing my tongue.
“Do you want me to stop?” he kindly offered like the gentleman he was.
“No,” I replied honestly because my clit was throbbing and I was so wet between my legs. Thighs like rubber, toes curling, insatiable hunger.
“We’re not supposed to touch you,” he whispered into the curve of my neck, tickling my skin.
