Conflicted (Undercover #2) by Helena Newbury Page A

pleasure was building and building, ribbons of it twisting together inside me, entangling my thoughts. I didn’t think about what he was or what I was or the insanity of falling for him. I let those shining scarlet ribbons wrap me up entirely, right up to my brain, and then tighten into a hard little knot….
    Luka’s thrusts reached a peak. I’d closed my eyes against the spray but now I opened them and stared at him. His jaw was set, his eyes wild...and he was staring right back at me with a lust I’d never seen on any man. Suddenly, he pulled his hand away from my face and kissed me, hard and deep, and the feel of his tongue plunging into me sent us both over the edge. We panted into each other’s mouths as we came together in long, shuddering waves. I was pressed tightly between him and the wall, his hands still pinning my wrists above me. I was utterly helpless, utterly lost, and I’d never felt so alive.
     
    ***
     
    A half hour later, I was dressed and waiting nervously at the bottom of the stairwell with Luka. On the stairs ahead of us, Yuri stood looking upward, his hand raised to tell us to keep waiting.
    I looked down at myself. Instead of a dress, I was wearing snow boots and tight, tight jeans, plus a sweater and my black coat. “Are you sure?” I muttered. “I don’t feel very...dressy. Given that I’m meeting your dad.”
    “Trust me,” said Luka. “Being warm is more important, in this place.”
    We both went silent. The tension ratcheted higher with every second we waited there, until I could barely breathe. Then Luka said, “Besides, I like your ass in those jeans.”
    I felt myself flush and gave him a half-shocked, half-turned-on look. But the truth was, I was glad of the momentary distraction. This was a whole new kind of fear.
    We were waiting for the guards to tell us it was safe to disembark. They were checking the whole area for snipers. Any moment, Yuri was going to wave us forward and we’d emerge into the daylight, blinking and helpless. And pray that the guards had done their job.
    “Who is it?” I whispered, shifting my weight from foot to foot. “Who is it, who might try to kill us?”
    “Olaf Ralavich and his men. A rival family.” He shook his head. “Not like us. They are not part of the brotherhood.”
    “They have less...honor?”
    He looked as if he was going to spit. “They have no honor at all.”
    Yuri waved us forward. After long minutes of waiting, now we had to move fast. Luka went first and I almost wanted to press up against his broad back like a child, cuddling up to him until we were safely inside. But Yuri had warned us not to even hold hands, in case we had to break and run.
    I took a deep breath and climbed the stairs. And found myself at the end of the world.

 
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
    It happened while we were at sea. There’s been a war, and we missed it. God, what if we’re the only survivors?
    That’s what it looked like. Like every post-apocalyptic movie I’d ever seen.
    The yacht was moored at an ugly, concrete dock. The sky overhead was almost the same shade of light gray, the clouds completely covering it. Even the sea looked a sickly gray. The gray blankness made the desolation before us stand out even more.
    There had been factories, once. Now they were just shells, walls ripped down to expose their innards. There were scorch marks from fire—or possibly bombs. There was no bird song and no greenery of any kind that I could see and not even a blade of grass.
    The guards marched us towards the nearest building: three men in front, three behind, guns drawn and eyes watchful. Other guards were already patrolling the cracked, crumbling road and I could see a few perched high up on walls, keeping a lookout. “What is this place?” I asked.
    Luka shook his head. “Nowhere you ever want to come again.” Even he seemed unsettled by it.
    Crossing the open area felt like being a mouse crawling across a highway. My heart was a tight,