The Kidnapping of Roan Sinclair

by Ashlyn Drewek

face. He radiated warmth no matter what he was doing. And like the sun, he seemed to pull everyone around him into his orbit. It was strange — the complete opposite of the world I lived in. You couldn’t afford to be warm and kind. Those traits would get you killed in a heartbeat like the fool you were.

It was strange seeing Roan so still. Every other time I’d had him in my sights, he was moving. Constantly moving. Even when he was on the couch, there was some part of him that twitched or tapped. He was like a hummingbird, like the music he played was constantly at work inside his brain and his body couldn’t help itself.

A few more days watching Roan? Being in the same space as him? Dodging his questions and the beseeching look in his brilliant blue eyes? Sure. No problem.

“Oh, is that so? The big, bad Aleksandr Vassiliev is a baby sitter now?” Yuri stepped forward, lifting his chin. “So much for the Wolf of Verkhoyansk.”

The urge to crawl over to Mr. Black’s side of the cage hit me hard.

warm. I really should get him a hoodie. Despite his sunny disposition, he didn’t seem to generate nearly enough body heat for himself. God, he’d never survive a Siberian winter.

The curiosity to taste him hit me out of nowhere. I was fixated on his mouth, momentarily lost in wondering what it would look like after being kissed mercilessly. Just like his creamy skin, I was sure his lips would turn a darker shade of pink, showing the marking for hours, if not days, later.

I was beginning to think bravery and stupidity went hand in hand with him.

Tall, dark, and murdery were not admirable traits. He wasn’t even nice. Nice to look at, but not a nice person.

He was a fucking psychopath. But try telling that to my dick, who had a shitty track record when it came to choosing men, and was now awake and in search of release.

He was a fucking meal ticket, Sasha, nothing more. He was your captive. And he was a he. One made him off limits — the other made him a death sentence.

It was hot. And terrifying. Mostly hot. No, terrifying. Crazy, Russian criminals were terrifying, Roan. But also really fucking hot.

“Either you take care of it, or I will.” The threat only made me that much harder, which I’m sure was not his intended effect. Or maybe it was. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I hissed as his fingers tightened in my hair. “I saw you yesterday. You couldn’t take your fucking eyes off of me.”

He nudged my face to the side with his nose, his lips brushing my ear and sending a shiver down my spine. “I want to use you…” He inhaled before he grabbed either side of my jaw and yanked my face toward his so we were nose-to-nose. “To get what I want…” He was glaring, but his pupils were so big I could hardly see the icy blue I was used to. “And then? I never want to see you again.”

Somehow he crawled inside my head and refused to leave, tormenting me with images as blinding as the sun — the way he ran a hand through his hair, the definition in his arms, his fucking smile.

Did he know, or was it a coincidence he happened to pick my favorite type of cookie?

Biting my lower lip, I unbuttoned his jeans. When he didn’t stop me, I pulled the zipper down. I slid both hands inside the waistband of his boxer briefs and pushed them down low on his hips, freeing his erection from the restraint of the cloth and denim. We both exhaled at the same time, him in obvious relief and me in surprise.

No one had ever looked at me like that, like the sun rose and fucking set with me. It was thrilling, empowering. He wanted this — he wanted me. Bad.

I didn’t know who I was, but I knew what I was. Disgusting, that’s what. Immoral. Reprehensible.

“Or maybe I’ll break your jaw so you stop asking questions.” That damnable smirk was back, along with an impish sparkle in his eyes. “If you break my jaw, I can’t give you any more blowjobs.”

Somewhere along the way, I ended up with most of my torso against his, the rise and fall of our chests mirroring one another. I was suddenly aware of the fact his cock was not only hard, but it was pressing against mine. I didn’t even know when I got hard, but I was. He felt it too, because his mouth softened and the muscles in his neck relaxed beneath my fingers.

The way Sasha hauled ass out of the basement, you’d think he was late to a meeting with Putin himself.

Come for me. His words echoed in my head, just as sexy in my memory as they were the first time around. What was that about? Dirty talk with your captive? What kind of kidnapper was he? My God…

“I would have cut off every piece of him if it meant getting you back.” The truth of that statement hit me as hard as a battering ram. I would have — and I’d do it again. Roan didn’t seem to understand the lengths I’d go to once I dedicated myself to a job. And losing him? Unacceptable.

“I know whenever you get close to me, you can’t keep your hands off of me. I bet you’re hard right now.”

His mouth hovered over mine, his stunning eyes staring right through me, like he knew my dirtiest secret. Then his lips were on mine. Full and soft and so fucking trusting.

“So just how hard are you? Do you need to throw me around first, or is the verbal banter enough?”

“You can’t help who you love any more than you can help how tall you are or what color your skin is. It’s not a fucking choice, it just is.”

I wasn’t kissing him so much as being kissed, with anger and need and desperation. The hand on my throat slipped around to the back, threading through my hair to cradle the back of my head.

He flipped positions so his head was up by mine and we were laying side by side, our forearms resting against one another. It was probably the closest thing to snuggling in his fucked up world, but it still made me smile.

I managed not to laugh by grinding my teeth together, but I squirmed away from the sensation. “Don’t do that.” “Do what? Ask about your tattoos or this?” He grazed his fingertips along my ribs again. Jerking away, I sliced a warning glare at him. “Are you ticklish?” His eyes lit up with a mischievous spark. “I will break your fucking hand if you touch me like that again. Understood?”

I had to get away from him. Now. Being this close to him made me want things I shouldn’t want. It made him want things he shouldn’t want. Staying was a bad idea. I saw that now.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get over this.” “What?” “How amazing you are.”

He may have been fascinated by me for whatever reason, but I was enraptured with him. I loved touching him, tasting him, making him feel pleasure after I’d inflicted so much pain.

Strangely, it was his apprehension that silenced the dozens of questions streaming through my head. If it was what he wanted, I’d give it to him. I’d give him anything.

“I’m more myself with you than anyone else,” he said at last, returning his gaze to mine.

Walk away, Sasha. Just walk the fuck away. It was what I told myself time and again, and time and again I came right back to him, like a magnet. “I can’t.” The admission was barely audible.

“I’m not going anywhere, Solnyshko.”

Admitting I couldn’t stay away from him almost gutted me, but actually staying away would have been a far worse pain. There were no words to explain it, it was just a feeling I had, the need to be near him. The only thing I could liken it to was the feeling you got in the dead of winter, when sunlight washed over you and held the cold at bay. I didn’t want to go back to the cold now that I knew I could feel something else, something better.

“You want to know?” Sasha snapped, throwing the car into park. “I have them because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. From the moment I saw you. Every impure thought I had, I tried to burn out. At first I told myself it was part of the research, all the thoughts. But then I had you and I still couldn’t stop.”

“I heard you.” “When? Where?” “Everywhere.”

That look, the lust in his eyes, was somehow better than the things he was actually doing, because it was for me — I was the reason for that desire.

“I want to see you,” he said, brushing a kiss to my lips before leaning back.

“You’re mine, Solnyshko,” Sasha said, tearing his mouth from mine and fixing me with one of his piercing looks, the kind that saw straight to my soul. “Yes?” I blinked and nodded, despite the fact I was still trying to work out what, exactly, he was saying. “From now on, you are mine,” he repeated in a growl. The words reverberated from his chest into mine, solidifying that they were real and not just my imagination. “No one else’s. Do you understand?”

Even if I didn’t physically hurt him this time, it was because of me that Roan was here. I did ruin his life, because I was selfish and weak. He was the one good thing in my life, for however brief a time, and I destroyed it.

“Solnyshko,” Sasha whispered, dipping his head even lower to try and catch my gaze. “Please.” My breath caught in the back of my throat. In the time we’d spent together, Sasha never said please. Never. Not to me, not to anyone. He might as well have been begging me.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. The look in his eyes said it all. Fury, agony, despair. Not pity. Not disgust. The world tilted. My vision blurred until Sasha was nothing more than a wash of color. Tremors wracked my body. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. It wasn’t until Sasha’s arms wrapped around me that I knew I’d fallen.

Caring got me nowhere in life, so maybe it was time to try things Sasha’s way.

The Wolf was off the leash and those motherfuckers had no idea what hell was coming for them.

Roan is a big boy. He can make his own decisions without you chiming in like a nagging wife. Sorry he’s gay, but he can’t be your emotional boyfriend for the rest of his damn life.”