The Professional

********continued***

Which I promise you will get when we are under way."

Worst case scenario: if I didn't like what he had to say, I could run from him at the airport, straight into the arms of security guards.

Sevastyan crossed to stand in front of me. The soft light caressed his hard features. They were almost too masculine. His rugged jaw was wide, the bridge of his aquiline nose slightly askew, giving him a roguish look. But on the whole, he was devastatingly attractive, with that dangerous aura about him.

"You must trust me, pet," he said as he reached forward to gently grasp my chin.

At his touch, that dizzying heat filled me once more. It was just the liquor at work, I assured myself, or exhaustion catching up with me. Or my unsuccessful bath time.

"You know my intent isn't to harm you," he murmured. "Otherwise, I could have led you from that bar earlier, taking you somewhere for us to be alone." My breaths went shallow at that. "Would you not have left with me?"

In-a-heartbeat.

He leaned down to say at my ear, "That's right, Natalya. You would have followed where I led."

"Um . . . uh . . ." I was still recovering from the sound of my name in his raspy accent when I felt his warm breaths. Oh, God, had his lips ghosted over my ear? If his scent and heat had affected me, this grazing contact made my legs weak.

He drew back, expression inscrutable. "So why don't you stop acting like you haven't already made up your mind to come with me."

"P-pardon?"

"You were decided as soon as you heard the words Russia, father, and go." His firm lips thinned, making that razor-slice scar whiten.

"That's not necessarily true-"

"Time's up, pet." He bent down to loop an arm around my ass, hoisting me over his shoulder.

Chapter 3

"PUT ME DOWN!" I screeched, wriggling over the Neanderthal's shoulder as he strode out the front door. Cold air swept up my robe, chilling me in unfamiliar places. "You can't do this!"

He tightened his grip on my ass. "Doing it." His tone was casual; he wasn't even out of breath.

Another futile round of squirming. "Please put me down. We'll go back inside"-I'll run away-"and then I can pack, just like you said."

Three passersby ambled down the sidewalk, huge no-neck guys in letterman jackets. Husker football players! They stopped and gawked.

Hanging upside down, blood rushing to my head, I opened my mouth to scream for their help-then hesitated. Did I believe what Sevastyan had told me? Was I beset by an overbearing a**hole of a bodyguard-or being abducted? If I screamed, the jocks would kick Sevastyan's ass, which wouldn't help me get to Russia-

This decision, just like the previous one, was yanked out of my hands. Sevastyan turned to face them, slowly shaking his head. Whatever look he gave them made three massive football players hotfoot the other way.

As they vanished, I pounded on Sevastyan's back in frustration, stunned to feel a holster. He was carrying a gun! I didn't have time to register my shock before he was shoving me into the front passenger seat of a luxe Mercedes.

As soon as he shut the door, I lunged for the handle, but he'd already clicked the lock, holding it down with the remote.

At his door, he gave me a look of warning through the window. He knew he'd have to release the lock button to get in, giving me a chance to escape. The unlock game. I would time it perfectly, reflexes like lightning-