skin was hot beneath her hands, silky and hard, and she longed to stroke it.
Stop it. How could she possibly find him sexy at a time like this?
“Let me go,” she breathed.
“Before you’ve done what you came to do?”
“I didn’t come here to do anything.”
“What did Russell offer you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Were you supposed to seduce me? Supposed to leave me sated and exhausted in bed while you went through my papers?” His head dipped toward her. “Because I have to say, Paige, that I am very disappointed in your technique thus far. But I find I am quite willing to allow you to complete your mission.”
She knew she should pull away when his lips touched hers, but it was physically impossible. Not because he held her too tightly, but because her body was zinging with sparks that she didn’t want to end.
His tongue slipped into her mouth, and she met him stroke for stroke. He smelled so good, like spice and a cold winter night, yet he was as hot as a volcanic eruption. His skin sizzled into her where she touched him with her bare hands. She wanted to slip the shirt from his shoulders, wanted to see if his skin tasted as good as it felt.
His hands slid into her hair, tugged her head back. His mouth left hers, forged a trail of fire along her jaw, the column of her throat.
Her head fell to one side, giving him greater access. He made a sound of approval, and she opened her eyes—just for a moment—and found herself staring at the most erotic scene she’d ever personally experienced. A mirror on the opposite wall caught their reflection, shone it back at her.
It was like a scene out of a movie. A gorgeous man held a woman in his embrace, a woman whose dark hair flowed wildly over her shoulders, whose eyes sparkled with passion as the man’s mouth moved across her skin.
It was exotic and beautiful.
And she wasn’t supposed to be the woman in the scene. This man didn’t care for her. He thought Chad had sent her here to seduce him, for God’s sake—which was a laugh in itself—and she had no idea who he really was.
Paige’s hands curled into fists against his hard chest.
And then she pushed. “Stop. Please stop.”
Amazingly he did. Alexei’s eyes were hot, glittering as he straightened to his full height and glared down at her. He was even taller than Chad, broader, and he did things to her insides—
Stop thinking about it.
Paige closed her eyes, took a step back. Her clothes were intact, but she felt as if he’d undressed her, as if he knew all her secrets.
A ridiculous feeling, really. He might know her name, and he might know she was Chad’s secretary, but he did not know her.
“I want to go back to my hotel,” she said with as much dignity as she could summon. “Chad has a very important meeting tomorrow, and I have to be there. He needs me. And Emma will be wondering where I am by now.”
Alexei shoved a hand through his thick hair—black, not brown, she realized. “You will not be going anywhere tonight.”
“I want to see my sister,” she insisted. “You have no right to keep me here.”
His gaze sharpened. “Your sister is busy, Paige. I doubt she will want to be disturbed. Though perhaps you did not know you were sharing your lover with her?”
Everything inside her went cold and still. “My lover?” she said numbly.
“You never give up the pretense, do you?”
She ignored him, her mind beginning to work overtime. Emma and Chad? They’d met once or twice when Emma had come to the office, but Chad hadn’t shown any particular interest in her sister.
Or had he?
She remembered Emma’s flirtatious giggle, Chad’s megawatt smile, Emma’s declaration later that night that Chad was probably amazing in bed. She’d thought the same thing herself, but she figured she’d never know.
She just hadn’t realized that Emma might actually find out.
Chad had suggested she bring Emma along on this trip when Paige expressed disappointment she would be gone for her sister’s twenty-first birthday. She’d thought he was being kind. She’d refused at first until he insisted it would be fine, that he wouldn’t hear of them being separated for Emma’s birthday.
And now this.
Paige put a hand on the bookcase to steady herself. Rage, disappointment, betrayal—they whirled inside her like a hurricane, spinning her in a vortex of emotion. She’d thought he was interested in her, when all along it had been Emma! She’d been so stupid, so blind.
Chad and Emma. Her boss and her sister. Making love while she searched the icy Moscow streets in a panic. Making love while she nearly got assaulted by a group of drunken men.
Her sister making love with the man she wanted, the man she’d secretly been in love with forever.
Tears pressed against the backs of her eyes. She would not let them fall, not now. Not here, not in front of Alexei.
“Paige,” he said, taking her arm.
She jerked away and hugged her arms tightly around her body. “Leave me alone.”
“I apologize if this news hurts you.”
She speared him with a glare. A blurry glare, since her eyes were swimming in moisture. “You don’t care, so spare me your insincerity. Besides, how do I know you’re telling the truth? How could you possibly have found Emma if she’s in Chad’s room?”
What if he’d made the whole thing up? Though why he would do so, she couldn’t say, but surely it was a possibility.
“My head of security used to work for the secret police,” he replied softly. “Yuri knows people, and he knows how to get things done. But I can certainly prove where your sister is if you wish. My men have audio of her with—”
“Stop,” she blurted, turning away, her body trembling with anger and pain. Her intuition had told her all along he was telling the truth, which was why she’d reacted, but that hadn’t stopped her from grasping at straws. The last thing she wanted to hear was Chad and Emma whispering together in bed. Or worse.
Before she realized what Alexei was about to do, he wrapped her in his embrace, his hand pressing against the back of her head so that her cheek was flush against his bare chest. Briefly she considered struggling—but gave up the idea as his other hand rhythmically rubbed her back.
It’d been a long time since anyone had comforted her. She was always the one doing the comforting, the one who’d sacrificed everything to raise her little sister, never complaining when Emma got the best of everything. Paige had been proud that her hard
