Asylum

Chapter 36: On High Alert

"It's not the sexiest outfit I've seen you in," Ivan admitted, "but for some reason, it's really doing something for me." He leaned in to brush his lips down the side of my neck and reached up a long-fingered hand to begin inching down my zipper.

"Maybe you're a big Uma Thurman fan?" I suggested. I tilted my head against the back seat of the town car to expose more skin to his burning lips and tongue. "Maybe you're secretly a Tarantino fanboy?"

"Maybe it's the easy-access top," he countered, and opened the track suit's jacket to run his fingers along my taut and quivering belly. He slid his hand beneath the band of my sports bra, freeing one breast, then the other, to his appreciative gaze and gentle ministrations. "Yes, that's definitely it."

Ivan bent his head to my mouth, his lips gently parting mine as his hand kneaded my breast, when the town car was rocked by Marshall and Mateo slamming their doors.

I quickly broke the kiss and pulled my bra down, fumbling with the zipper as Mateo opened the back door. Ivan grinned.

"To be continued," he promised, and pulled my hand to help my out of the car. I gave one last tug on the zipper and followed.

Mateo waited close by as we exited, his eyes barely glancing in my direction as he continually scanned the parking garage for potential threats. Marshall waited at the open doors of the garage elevator. I tried to read his expression as Ivan and I approached, but the bodyguard had an unbelievable poker face. If I hadn't been watching for it, I would have completely missed the wink he threw me after Ivan passed him to stand in the elevator car. A giant Cheshire Cat grin bloomed on my face, and I squeezed Ivan's hand, delighted that my plan was coming together.

He smiled when he saw my excitement. "You look happy," he commented, pressing a kiss into my hair as the elevator doors slid shut.

"I am," I confirmed. "I really am."

Some of the tension drained from Ivan's athletic body, and I found myself folded in his arms. He murmured something softly on the top of my head, but I didn't think it was in Russian. Or English, French, or Spanish, for that matter.

"What was that?" I asked, pulling back just enough to see his movie-star-gorgeous face.

"Nothing," he assured me, shaking his head. "I'm happy that you're happy." But he didn't look happy, I thought. He looked ... conflicted.

The elevator doors opened onto the lobby, and Mateo took a stance in front of us, his massive back and shoulders blocking most of our view, as Marsh went to call the elevator up to the residences.

Ivan sighed. "Is there someone else in the lobby, Mateo?" he asked wearily.

Mateo's head swiveled slightly to answer him. "Just Frank."

"Well, I think that, between the four of us, we could probably take him, if it came to that," Ivan reasoned. Mateo conspicuously checked the lobby again before letting us out of the small cab.

I gave Mateo as wide a berth as possible as I slipped out onto the lobby's polished concrete floor. As the doors to the garage elevator eased closed, the giant bodyguard repositioned himself so he could now watch the entire lobby and the elevator we'd just left. In case anyone followed us up from the garage, I realized.

"The guys seem even more uptight than usual," I murmured under my breath. "Is that because you told them about what happened on the boat, or is something else going on that I'm not aware of?"

He squeezed my hand. "I told them what Emilio did," he confirmed. "Nothing else has changed."

We stepped into the elevator and repeated the entire performance in the hallway, this time with Mateo striding out first and unlocking the door to Ivan's loft. My eyebrows shot up as he entered the apartment, leaving us to wait in the elevator with Marshall.

"Isn't that taking it a bit far?" I asked the shorter bodyguard.

He shrugged. "Mateo takes his job very seriously," he insisted, stiffly defending his partner. He softened his tone a bit and dropped his voice. "He's always a little extra careful after Ivan's been with the Santiagos and we've been left behind. And after what that whack-job did ... well, he's just really, really alert."

I glanced at Ivan, whose eyes were focused on the door in the distance. "But Ivan told me that Emilio would never touch him."

Marsh shrugged again. "I'm sure he's right, but ... Mateo just needs to reassert a little control. It makes him feel better if he thinks we're really doing something."

I didn't think I had realized until now just how big a favor I had asked of Marshall tonight. I gave him what I hoped came off as an appreciative smile. "Thank you ... for everything."

He nodded almost imperceptibly, then motioned us forward as Mateo reappeared to give the all-clear. Ivan pulled my hand and led me into the now-brightly illuminated loft, nodding at Mateo as he passed.

The door was barely closed before he pulled me into his arms and brought his hot mouth down on mine. All thoughts of my plans for the evening fled my brain as his tongue slipped past my parted lips, plunging into me, devouring me, as his hands slid under the back of the waistband of my tracksuit and pulled me to him. His hard length pressed against my belly, and I realized that if Marshall didn't get back here soon, my cello would be spending the night across the hall.

"I missed you today," Ivan whispered, breaking the kiss to run his lips along my jaw to just under my ear.

"You mean, for the 170 minutes between when I got in the cab this afternoon and when you saw me at the club?" My hands pushed between us to unfasten the buckle at his belt.

"And for the 527 minutes between the moment I saw you working at your station and the second I could touch you in the car." He took advantage of the space I'd opened between us to unzip my jacket again; he pushed it over my shoulders and down my arms to crumple on the floor as he brought his lips to my neck.

"Now where was I ...?" Ivan mused, his mouth a feather-light tickle at the base of my throat. "Ah, yes." He pulled my sports bra up under my armpits, catching my right breast as it fell into his hand. He lowered his head as I bent backwards, and pulled a nipple into his warm, wet mouth. I sucked in my breath as pleasure exploded through my body. Unconsciously, my hands dove into his silky hair to hold him to me as he hungrily moved his attention to my other breast.

"Ты так красива (You are so beautiful)," he purred, as he ran his tongue over the hardened nub at the peak of my breast. A soft burst of self-conscious laughter escaped my parted lips.

"What?" Ivan demanded, dropping to his knees as his mouth traveled down my belly, his tongue circling my navel as his strong fingers pulled the garish yellow pants of my tracksuit down to my ankles. His hands stroked up the backs of my legs until they cupped my buttocks again. He pressed a kiss to my hot sex through the lace of my black thong, then began to run his tongue along the sensitive line where the fabric met my skin. I gasped softly, head thrown back and eyes rolled back beneath my closed lids. "Since you still don't believe you are the sexiest, most beautiful, most desirable woman I've ever met, I'm just going to have to prove it to you. Again." He threaded his fingers under the sides of thong, beginning to inch my underwear down over my hips.

A soft pounding on the door snapped me back into my head, and I swayed against Ivan, my fingers lighting on his broad shoulders for balance. His hands tightened on the back of my thighs.

"What now?" He growled softly. He slowly stood, dragging his body along my sensitized skin. He captured my lower lip between his teeth and nipped lightly. "I swear sometimes they time these interruptions deliberately," he muttered, releasing his grip on my hips to prowl to the door.

"Go easy on him," I urged him as I scooped up my discarded backpack and skittered for the bedroom. "This time it's a favor for me."