He slid his hands wide, gripping her hips to hold her down on the bed as he gave her another lick before beginning the delicate task of exploring her. Holy Christ, she tasted as good as she smelled, that sweet, tart orange flavor filling his senses.

She began to shake, her hips trembling beneath his hands. "Alexei ... pozhaluysta..."

He slid his tongue deep inside her, dragging a short, ragged cry from her. Giving a woman pleasure had never felt so satisfying, never felt like such an achievement as making Katya cry out did. He kept watching her as he moved one hand from her hip, down over her stomach, pressing down with the heel of his palm at the same time as he licked her.

She said something in Russian, a stream of words he didn't understand, but he heard the frantic note in her voice nonetheless.

"Stay with me, Katya sweetheart," he murmured. "Hold on a little longer."

"Nyet ... ah ... ya ne mogu..."

He heard the word for "no," but he kept his gaze on hers, touching her gently, licking her, using the expressions of agonized pleasure that crossed her face as his guide to keep the orgasm she was desperate for just out of reach. He wanted to blow her mind, make her scream, have her come apart in total ecstasy. Because she deserved nothing less than that.

He kept her on the edge for as long as he could, until her ragged pleas were broken and hoarse. Then he pressed his thumb down on her clit, licked her hard and deep, holding her down on the bed as she flung her head back and screamed, her whole body lifting as the climax took her.

He couldn't take his eyes off her, watching as the ecstasy unfurled over her face. And he realized he'd never watched anyone come like this. He'd simply never been interested. But now ... Christ, he'd never seen anything so erotic. She was flushed and shaking, achingly sensual and at the same time incredibly powerful.

He continued to lick and stroke her, bringing her down slowly until her screams had subsided into sobs. Until she was collapsed onto her back, one arm thrown over her face, still panting, her body sheened with sweat.

So fucking beautiful.

Alex moved, putting one hand by her head and leaning over her. She lifted her arm away from her face, staring up at him. Little tendrils of gold hair stuck to her damp forehead and her fair skin was pink, making the color of her eyes even deeper.

"It is always like this?" she asked in a cracked voice. "So intense, I mean?"

"No." He couldn't find it in himself to lie to her. "It's never like this."

"Oh." Clearly this wasn't the answer she'd expected. "Why not? You must do that to women all the time." It wasn't an accusation, merely a statement of fact.

"I've done it more than once, but..."-he paused, brushing a couple of golden curls off her sweat-damp forehead-"I've never wanted to watch."

"Really?" She frowned. "But you wanted to watch me?"

"I wanted to see you come."

"Why?"

"Because you're beautiful, Katya. You're sensual and passionate." He touched the curve of her cheek, feeling softness beneath his fingertip. "And I wanted to make sure it was good for you."

She stared up at him for a long moment, unspeaking. Then abruptly she pushed herself up and kissed him, another of her sweet, generous kisses that made him want to kiss her hungrily back, take everything he could from her.

But he held himself still, and when she pulled away he was breathing fast, his cock so hard for her it was almost painful.

"Now it really is your turn." She ran a fingertip across his mouth. "What do you want?"

"To be inside you."

"That can be arranged." Her forehead creased. "Protection?"

"Condoms are in the nightstand."

She shifted, reaching over to pull open the drawer and draw out a silver packet. He let her rip it open and showed her how to put it on him, watching as she rolled the latex down over the hard length of his cock. And Christ, the feel of her fingers on him-he wasn't going to last.

"Come here," he murmured when she'd finished. "I'll show you what I want."

She moved over him, straddling his hips, and he put one hand on her hip to guide her as she eased herself down on him, the wet heat of her pussy tight as a glove tailored especially for him.

"Oh ... fuck ... Katya..." he whispered, his knuckles white on her hip, the feel of her around him making his head spin. Holy hell. How was he going to survive this?

Alex tried to temper his own breathing, but he couldn't. He'd waited too long. Heat moved through him as she shifted her hips, and he sank deeper into her, a wildfire burning out of control.

She gasped, arching her body, the tips of her breasts brushing his chest.

His thoughts burned away in the heat, evaporating entirely. There was nothing but this. Nothing but fire and flame. Nothing but ecstasy.

Her fingers pushed into his hair, tilting his head so he was looking into her eyes. "Let it go," she whispered. "Let it go, Alexei."

And he was too far gone to understand what she meant or know whether she'd said it in English or Russian. At that moment he didn't even understand language at all.

Or at least only one kind. The feel of her pussy around his cock. Her skin against his. And the movement of her hips, driving him on, driving him deep.

In that moment it was all the language he needed.

Alex gripped her hips, thrusting hard, burying himself inside her, drowning himself, drowning them both, in pleasure.

He tried to hold on. He really did. But it was too much for him. And in the end, he moved his hand between them, stroking her clit as he pushed deeper. She screamed in his ear, her fingers curling tight in his hair, her body convulsing.

Then he lost himself. But before the end he found one word had come back to him, and as the climax annihilated him he said it.

"Katya."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Katya woke up the next morning feeling strange. First, when she looked at the clock on the nightstand it was 10:00 A.M., and she never slept later than seven. Second, she ached in odd places. Places that generally didn't ache even after a very strenuous workout. And third, it felt like something was missing.

She rolled over and sat up, frowning. And then realized what was missing.

Alex.

He wasn't lying beside her and he wasn't anywhere else in the room.

For a long moment she just sat there, a vague kind of disappointment settling in her gut. She'd expected ... Well, she didn't quite know what she'd expected, but waking up alone wasn't quite it.

She cocked her head, catching a sound coming from the bathroom. Faintly she could hear the sound of running water. Oh, so he hadn't gone. He was only showering.

Relief filled her and she slipped off the bed, heading toward the bathroom.

Why are you going to him? What do you want? What do you think is going to happen?

She slowed to a stop in the middle of the room. Because those were all very good questions.

They hadn't discussed what would happen in the morning. Whether the previous night had been a one-off occurrence or they would continue as lovers. She hadn't even thought about it. But ... they had to think about it, didn't they? Especially considering they were in the middle of an important mission.

You really can only think of the mission?

But what else was there? Sex didn't make all those other things go away. Alex still had a game tonight and his life was still at risk. Even more so now that they knew what they were getting into. Which made it doubly important that she remain focused on the end goal: protecting him.

What about what you want? He told you that you laid him open ...

Katya ignored the stray thought. What she wanted was to do a good job, protect her client any way she could. And as for what she did to him, well, that was irrelevant, wasn't it?

She moved over to the bathroom door and pushed it open just as Alex stepped from the massive shower. Water sheened his body, highlighting all the intriguing dips and hollows of his muscular torso and running down his long, powerful legs. His hair was inky black and wet, dripping down his back as he reached for one of the thick, soft white towels that hung on the rail nearby. "You're up." He didn't smile. "I'm sorry, were you hoping to join me?"

"I'm too late anyway, I see."

"Yeah, sadly. I should have woken you, I know, but I thought you needed the sleep."

Katya watched him towel himself off, her mouth going dry. He hadn't let her touch him the way she'd wanted the night before, distracting attention away from himself with more pleasure. She'd spotted it easily enough but hadn't pushed him for the reasons as to why. She knew anyway, and besides, it had been a night of too many truths to keep pushing for more.

But now her fingers itched to run over his skin, trace the graceful interplay of muscles that flexed and hollowed as he moved.

An unfamiliar awkwardness gripped her. This whole situation was completely new and she was unsure of how to act. He was a client she'd just slept with and- Alex casually slung the towel over the rail and stepped toward her, sliding one hand behind her head and drawing her in for a searing, possessive kiss. She responded automatically, reaching for him, her hands moving hungrily over the warm, damp skin of his chest. God, she could feel taut muscle beneath, the suggestion of leashed strength ...

He released her, moving past her and through the door back into the bedroom.

Katya caught her breath. Her fingers tingled from the touch of his skin and there was a hollow feeling in her stomach. As if she'd been given a taste of something she hadn't realized she'd been starving for until now.

She turned, following him into the bedroom. He was standing by the closet, pulling out some clothes. A dark blue suit and white shirt, black boxers, all of which were laid on the bed.

"What now, sir?" she asked.

Alex raised a brow as he pulled on his boxers. "What did I tell you about the 'sir'?"

"Oh, I assumed that since-"

"Since I didn't pull you into the shower and fuck you up against the wall, we're back to being employer and bodyguard?"

She let out a breath, feeling exposed all of a sudden. "I ... yes. I suppose I didn't think that."

"Well, we're not." The certainty in his tone was absolute.

"We didn't discuss this-"

"So, we're discussing it now. I expect to remain your lover for the remaining time here in Monte Carlo, understood?" He stepped into his pants, pulled them up, and fastened them, his impressive abs flexing as he did so. "Unless of course you don't want that, in which case we'll-"

"I want that." The words came out before she could stop them, and even though she was afraid of what they might mean, she didn't take them back.

What about the mission, Katya?

They could be lovers without it affecting the mission, surely? It wasn't the sex she needed to be careful about, after all, but letting her emotions cloud her judgment. If she was careful, it would be fine.

Alex reached for his white shirt and pulled it on. Then, ignoring the buttons, he came across the room to her and gently took her face between his hands. "I'm sorry, Katya," he said quietly. "I know this is new for you. I wanted to stay and talk to you about this, but it's late and I have a lot to do before the game tonight, okay?"

Yes, of course. The game.

She pulled herself together. "Of course. What can I do?"

He didn't linger, stepping away and doing up his shirt as he moved back over to the bed, reaching for his jacket. "I need you to follow up on the e-mail Zac sent me last night. About the rest of the Apocalypse players." He didn't look at her as he pulled on the jacket. "They're not primarily poker players, as I thought. In fact, apart from August, I don't think any of them are."

"So ... what are they doing in that game then?"

"Good question." He ran a hand through his damp black hair. "I keep coming back to what Conrad said to Lau last night about 'a good businessman or -woman should know their stock.' Did you hear that?"

Katya thought back. It had been during the strip poker part of the evening. Mrs. Lau had been ambivalent about choosing a piece of clothing to take off the girl standing behind the sheikh. "Yes, I heard. Do you think it's related to what he's doing with those women?"

"I don't 'think,'" Alex said. "I'm pretty damn certain it's related. Because if he's referring to them as 'stock' then there's something pretty fucking dubious going on." He gave her a look. "They were businesspeople, Katya. All of them. Very rich businesspeople. And I'm thinking they weren't actually playing poker for the fun it. They were there for something else."

A cold feeling settled in her gut. "Those women?"

"It's looking like it. Perhaps the players are potential buyers or something."

She muttered a curse in Russian under her breath. "That's disgusting."

"It is." His voice was absolutely cold. "Which is why we're going to stop it."

Katya stared at him. He wasn't wearing a tie and his white shirt was unbuttoned at the throat, his hair damp and untidy, but that in no way detracted from his allure. He looked disheveled, but the glitter in his eyes was sharp, hard. Dangerous.

Desire twisted inside her and she was helpless to stop it.

You want to be more than just his lover.

No, she didn't. She couldn't. Being his bodyguard and his lover was one thing, but wanting more ... Sex might not be a weakness, but getting emotional definitely was. And if that happened, she would have to leave him. For both their sakes.

"You look sad, Katya mine." He took a step toward her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, ignoring the thought and the weird sense of desolation that came with it. "I'm fine. So, will you forward me Mr. Rutherford's e-mail?"

"You're already CCed on it." He studied her a moment longer.

She was still naked, but his gaze didn't take in the rest of her body as hers had done with his. His gaze remained squarely on her face. And for some reason that made her feel even more exposed.

Katya glanced away, beginning to turn back toward the bathroom. "Good. I'll have a look over it this morning."