The Lion in Russia (14 page)

“Well I know now. He doesn’t want me in jail,
he wants me dead. This whole trial is just an elaborate trap.”

Vries nodded. Glad he’d finally seen the
light. “So when are we leaving?”

“Leaving?”

“Aren’t we leaving Russia?”

“I thought it was understood, I will not be
leaving until after the trial,” he said dropping his hands from her
hair.

She turned to face him. “Are you kidding me?
There’s not going to be any trial.”

“There has to be a trial. They’re not
planning on me being alive for it, but it still has to happen, and
my reasons for testifying are still valid. There must be an
accounting, in writing, for what we did. What we all did. The
governments and the oligarchs.”

Vries took a deep breath, then exhaled
heavily through her nose. “Dead men can’t testify,” she said as
softly as she could, though she really wanted to grab him by the
neck and drag him all the way back to Milan.

“I won’t be dead.” Vries snorted her disgust,
but he continued. “They have no idea I have you. They don’t know
what you are. They think you are just another rich man’s toy. You
will keep me alive.” He gave her a considered look. “Your U.S.
State Department paid you a great deal of money to make it so.”

Vries gasped. “You knew who hired me?”

“Of course I knew. I told you, I’m not an
idiot.”

She gave him a sharp look. Had anyone in the
history of the earth ever behaved more idiotically?

As she had intended he got her point without
a word. “My current stance notwithstanding, it was quite easy to
determine who your employer was. Who else would bother?” he asked
with a shrug. “They want me alive to serve as a focus of opposition
for an overthrow of the president. They believe they might be able
to build a coup around me. Governments do this type thing all the
time.”

Vries stared at him. Oh no, not again. The
Department had used her that way in Laritrea and a lot of people
had died.

“I would never agree to such a thing. One,
because I’m not stupid, but also because your country is not being
fair to mine. They want to cut off our head, even though we have no
one to replace it. It would be a very foolish thing to do.”

“They have you.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “That is out of
the question. Is that part of your government’s plan? For you to
lure me into agreeing with their scheme?”

“I’m not even going to answer such nonsense.
I told you what my assignment is; keep you alive until you testify
at this trial. Period. Why are you determined to see the worst in
me?”

“You are right. I am not being fair to you,
there’s no indication that you are acting in bad faith,
but...anyway I lack the skills to be a politician. Politics require
a level of duplicity of which I am incapable.”

“You mean you want Putilin to stay in power?”
Vries rubbed her forehead, totally confused by what he was
saying.

“Who else is there? We need a strong leader.
Russia is still a new country we don’t have hundreds of years of
democracy. Barely a century and a half ago we still had serfs! We
had weak presidents right after the Soviet Union fell. Crime and
yes, looting was rampant. We had to be reined in and he was the
only person strong enough to do it. The money must be repatriated
to the people.”

“You mean to give all the money back?”

“He can have everything but Zenit,” he said
referring to his beloved soccer team.

“But he tried to kill you.”

“I know, but I understand. It is difficult
for you, I know, but I do understand.”

He reached over and pulled Vries off the
ottoman and into his arms. She buried her face in the hollow of his
neck, struggling not to cry. They sat that way for a long while.
Vries relaxed against him, so glad to be in his arms again. There
were plenty of obstacles in their way, but when she was with him
like this she could almost believe everything would be okay.

When his lips met hers there was a sweetness
that hadn’t been there before. He seemed hesitant, even shy, and
she responded in kind, loving this aspect of him. The soft caress
was punctuated with tender endearments and her heart just
melted.

“Why do you always speak Russian when we make
love? I want to know what you’re saying to me,” she said against
his lips.

“I speak Russian because I can’t think in any
other language when I’m with you like this. I’m barely thinking.
All I can do is feel and it’s impossible for me to express myself
adequately in English. I will teach you the love words.”

He kissed her again, their lips pressed
together in a slow drugging kiss. Taking her bottom lip between his
teeth, he nipped it slightly. Vries groaned as the slight pain
blossomed into blazing desire as it coursed through her body.

She turned to straddle him looking down at
him she brushed his hair back from his forehead, the followed that
touch with a kiss. She kissed each beloved feature in turn; his
prominent nose, the slash of his cheekbones, those clear gray eyes
that showed each emotion like a billboard. Right now they
smoldered. His mouth, which was so full it wouldn’t be out of place
on a woman’s face, drew her attention next. She took his bottom lip
between her own and slowly caressed it with her tongue. Tasting his
salty flesh and masculine flavor, then she sucked on it, loving its
resiliency against her tongue. She began to grind her clit against
the heavy erection behind the soft wool trousers he wore. He
groaned under her mouth and before she knew it, she was on her back
on the sofa.

Leo began undressing her almost as quickly;
wool pants and cashmere turtleneck no barrier to his passion. Vries
stretched under his hands wanting to purr like a kitten. There was
something so primal about being naked in front of a roaring fire,
especially when he was still clothed. He looked down at her body,
the possessiveness in his gaze made her arch her back wanting to
show off and preen for him. He kissed her again, then slid down her
body, he nudged her legs apart and within moments had his face just
inches from her pussy. He took his time, his breath teasing her hot
flesh, tickling the sparse curls that framed the glistening pink
opening. Leaning closer, he kissed the damp lips, outlining her
folds with the tip of his tongue, exploring her with his mouth.
Vries was instantly aroused. Leo lapped at the moisture that leaked
from her, pressing his tongue in farther with each pass.

He opened her with his fingers as his mouth
found her clit, sucking gently on the small nub. Vries arched her
back, overwhelmed by the sensation of the wet tugs of his mouth as
two fingertips nudged into her pussy, sliding easily through the
moisture. He circled her clit with his tongue, smaller and smaller
circles, until he pressed against the very center of the sensitive
nerve bundle. At the same time, he drove his fingers deep into her
wet channel, drawing a longing wail from Vries. She pressed her
palms against the couch so she could thrust her hips up, closer to
Leo’s talented mouth. Sucking in rhythm with his delving fingers,
he drove her higher and higher, using his lips and tongue and teeth
to draw pleasure out of the deepest parts of her.

Vries’s muscles clenched, trying to hold the
slippery invader inside, but his tongue evaded her grasp and
disappeared. Before she could even register her dismay at his
withdrawal, his finger replaced his clever tongue, working its way
more deeply into the clutching passage. A second digit joined the
first, thrusting their way into her body as his lips found her
stiff, eager clit and sucked, his tongue flicking the delicate
nub.

Tension built in Vries, fueled by each stroke
of his tongue, by each plunge of his fingers. Sobbing for breath,
she thrust her hips at him, grinding her pussy against his mouth
and hand. Leo pulled his fingers free and slid them back, soaking
and slippery with the evidence of her excitement.

Then softly, gently he slipped his penis
inside her questing vagina. Her body absorbed him as the parched
earth absorbs water. Their gazes met and held as they rocked
together. Sweetly. Sweetly. The tenderness of the moment was almost
more than she could handle. The feeling intensified with each slow
grind and Vries could tell he was deliberately slowing the pace.
Dragged it out. He leaned over and took her mouth under his in a
series of kisses so ephemeral she craned her neck trying to capture
more of him, but he pulled away only to return for more mere
seconds later.

The caress of his lips and tongue matched the
movement of his hips. Unhurried. Methodical. Each time she tried to
speed up he’d grab her hips and hold them immobile while he slowed
down even more. Again and again until the intensity of it sent
tears seeping out the corners of her eyes. He leaned down and
sipped them away.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, totally incapable of speech,
which was a good thing. God only knows what she’d say if she could
actually form sentences. He slowed down even more. His thick cock
slid into her slippery channel stimulating every nerve ending
inside along the way. Again and again he rubbed the head against
her throbbing clit sending delicious sensations coursing through
her body. Their bodies were covered in a sheen of sweat as their
flesh strained together, striving for completion.

From the way his neck was chorded and from
the strain on his face, she could tell this was costing him. Seeing
his what? was as intense as her own, she kissed him again, holding
him in place when he would’ve pulled back. Sucking strongly at his
tongue, she reached between his legs and stroked his balls. That
was all it took. A groan rumbled from his chest, deep and
desperate, and his kiss turned fierce, eating at her lips as if he
were starving. Their mouths fought each other, teeth and tongues
clashing as they battled to get closer. With a roar he began
slamming into her like a madman. Pushing her legs back until her
thighs rested on her breasts he assaulted her pussy, pounding into
her until she thought she’d die from the pleasure of it. When her
orgasm finally came, it wracked her body at the same time that he
began grinding out his own completion. Then he collapsed on her. He
was still half-hard, so he didn’t pull out.

Vries laughed. “Geez Leo, what were you
trying to do? Kill me?”

He murmured something against her neck as he
rolled over and pulled her atop him on the sofa.

“What?”

“I said, it felt so good, I wanted it to last
and last.”

“You’re right; it was amazing.”

“We must go upstairs. I don’t want anyone to
come in here and see you naked.”

“What about seeing you naked?”

He shrugged. “They’ve seen that plenty of
times.”

Vries sat up to begin getting dressed. There
were some things she really didn’t want explained.

Chapter Eleven

“I don’t want you to come to the trial.”

Vries rolled her eyes at him.
Yeah, like
that was going to happen.
“Where you go, I go.” They’d spent
much of the rest of the previous day in bed, but hadn’t discussed
the political situation any further. She was surprised he was
bringing it up again first thing in the morning.

“If all my employees were as loyal as you are
I could rule the world. I hope you were well-compensated for your
devotion.”

Vries inhaled sharply. She couldn’t believe
he still thought...of course he didn’t. He just wanted to make her
angry enough to leave. “I thought you already did.”

“I have plenty of security.”

“Which, as you already pointed out, might be
loyal to you, or could be in the pay of the sonofabitch trying to
kill you. At the very least, my commitment to keeping you alive
cannot be questioned. Even if you do doubt my motives for sleeping
with you in the first place,” she said proud that none of the hurt
from his words showed in her voice.

He closed his eyes briefly, his frustration
palpable. “You know the last man who testified at a corruption
trial wound up dying in prison himself. Probably after being
tortured. Nobody knows what killed him.”

“Well it wasn’t polonium. Putilin only uses
that poison because it’s so easy to trace. He wants people to know
he did it. And yes I know what’s happened to the other people who
tried to do something about corruption in this country. I’ve been
pointing that out to you for days.”

“What do you think will happen to you if I’m
arrested?”

Vries smiled. The way he was trying to
protect her was so sweet. “Probably not a helluva lot. I’m not
Russian. Everyone thinks I’m just your trophy girlfriend. With any
luck I’ll be on the first flight back to Milan.”

He frowned at her, studying her face as
though trying to read her expression. “Promise me that.”

“Promise you what? I have no control over
what your government does.”

“Promise me that you’ll be on that flight if
it’s offered. That you won’t try to rescue me.”

“Why on earth would I do otherwise? I can’t
imagine taking on an entire government, not to mention that
homicidal maniac in charge of it,” she said, and she almost made a
mistake, the mistake of sighing her relief when he accepted her
words at face value. He hadn’t noticed that she didn’t promise him
anything and wouldn’t if she could help it. With the relief there
was a slight pang. He didn’t know her so he had no way of knowing
that there was no way in hell she would leave him to rot in a
Russian prison if she had the means to get him out. Deringer was
still in Russia, and between the two of them they could call in
enough back up to get Leo out of any jam he managed to find himself
in. She would need all the help she could get, because she had
enough experience with megalomaniacal dictators to know Putilin was
far too paranoid to ever let her go. But there was no point in
telling Leo that.