Dark Desire by Lauren Smith (an ebook reader txt) 📗

She still needed to process the information she’d been given. He would not let her try to use her body and his to escape thinking about that. She also needed to rest.

He slipped into bed beside her, more than pleased to feel her body warm against his. She wore only a shirt and cotton shorts. Someday he wanted them to sleep skin to skin, but not tonight. He turned off the light, cloaking them in darkness.

It was dark, but her body found its way to his. She pressed close to him. They lay in silence for a time, listening to the wind blow against the windows. There was nothing more perfect than holding this woman in a warm bed when he knew how cold it was outside.

“Tell me about something beautiful. Something wonderful. I don’t want my mind to go back to that dream.” She pressed her cheek to his chest, and he circled his arms around her body, hugging her to him.

“Something beautiful.” As a boy, he’d loved learning about the world, about everything that was around him. That had only deepened as he’d grown up. He’d become obsessed with nature, art, and history. In every city he traveled to, he visited museums and art galleries and historic sites, soaking up the knowledge of the world. It reminded him of the beauty that the world offered.

“There is a species of jellyfish that is immortal.”

She giggled at that. “What?”

“It’s true. It can revert back to its child state after having become sexually mature, and therefore it never dies. It’s very small and is found worldwide in temperate to tropical waters.”

“Can you imagine living forever?” Elena asked.

Dimitri tangled his fingers in her hair and gently massaged. “I cannot.” If he could live forever, he would only do it if he had Elena with him.

She yawned and burrowed closer. “Tell me some more interesting things.”

“Hmm, let’s see . . . polar bears have black skin and see-through fur.”

“How is that possible? Their fur looks white.”

He moved his hand to his shoulders, rubbing her soothingly. “The long, coarse guard hairs that protect the bear’s undercoat are hollow and transparent. The thinner hairs of the undercoat are not hollow, but, like the guard hairs, are also colorless. They look like they do because the airspace in each hair scatters light of all colors. The color white becomes visible to our eyes when an object reflects back all the visible wavelengths, rather than absorbing some of the wavelengths. So polar bears reflect all light.”

“How do you know all these things? Is that in your spy handbook?”

He chuckled. “As a child, I had many books on animals. My mother used to read me some of them. After she died, I kept reading. She taught me about learning to bring joy and pleasure.”

“And your father?”

“He taught me duty.” Dimitri didn’t want to talk about him. He had idolized the man, but now he was realizing that he no longer wanted that life.

“I’m sorry.” She pressed a kiss to his skin, and a flush of warmth filled his chest. He cradled her even closer. He tightened his hold on her, and she shifted slightly. His body responded to her pressing against him, but he ignored it and instead focused on the sound of her breathing. She would be asleep soon.

“Thank you,” she said drowsily against his chest.

“For what, kiska?”

“For you . . .” He felt her body relax against his as sleep claimed her. He didn’t want to move, didn’t want to disturb her now that she was finally resting. The peace that filled him at holding her was almost overpowering. But if he wanted this dream to become a reality, where he could hold her for the rest of their lives, he had to figure out a way to protect her, not just now, but forever. He had a plan, and he hoped it would work.

He waited until she was deeply asleep, then slid out of bed, grabbed his cell phone, and stepped into the hall. He dialed Royce’s number.

“Man, these after-midnight calls are going to kill me,” Royce grumbled as he answered. “What is it? You all right? Don’t tell me you’re already in Colorado?”

“No, we’re safe but still en route. There something I need you to do.”

“Name it.”

“Elena’s parents were planning to visit her in California. She left them a message to stay home before I destroyed her phone. I want her to be able to contact them, but their phones are most likely being tapped by the Russian government. I need them to be given safe phones, and I need them to be moved out of their house and put under protection.”

Royce sounded more alert, his tone sharp-edged with concern. “Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on? I thought she would be safe with Vadym dead.”

Dimitri rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “We tested Elena’s blood.”

“Okay . . .” Royce waited for him to continue.

“You remember the stories that someone escaped the Romanov massacre a hundred years ago?”

“Yeah, one of the daughters. Anastasia . . .” Royce was silent, then cursed. “No, that’s impossible. Crazy.”

“Not so crazy after all, it seems.”

“So if that’s true, how did the government find out?”

Dimitri let out a breath. “Elena knew she was adopted and decided to run a blood test on one of those ancestry websites to find out about her past. They don’t know her exact connection to Anastasia, but they’ll have had enough to know she’s a direct descendant of the imperial royal family.”

“Holy shit. Do her parents know?”

“I imagine not, but they will still have targets on their backs. The Kremlin will want to use them to get to her.”

“Okay. I’ll go pay a visit to them and stash them at my house on Long Island until you give the all-clear.”

“Call me when you have them so we can speak to them. Elena will need to hear their voices.”

“I’ll let you know.” Royce hesitated. “Can I tell Kenzie about this? She’s worried about Elena.”

“Yes, of course,” Dimitri assured him. “And