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  Elizabeth looked around us, and then back to her magazine. "You don't think the Chanel suit's enough?"

  "I think it's a start. They deal with the mega rich on a daily basis. I think you know exactly what you need to do to convince them you're one of them. I think you were born to do this, but you need to stop thinking the only thing you're good at is beating people up in the ring."

  I saw her jaw jut and she picked up the magazine again. "Fuck you Max. I thought you loved me."

  "Elizabeth. My darling, I worship the ground you walk on. Please, listen to me. We want Valentin's buy in on you joining the team properly. You've got to blow this out of the water and impress them all the way you've impressed me."

  She crossed her legs and her foot bounced in midair. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. You just watch me."

  Elizabeth

  The town was right on the waterfront and we could see the jets of the famous fountain, the Jet d'Eau, shooting up from the water of the lake at the mid point of the curved entrance of the bay. It jetted up in an impossibly straight column, striking up into the blue sky.

  I took Maxim's hand and he smiled at me and shifted his grip on the suitcase he'd packed our things in. It still thrilled me that he'd bundled us off onto a flight with so little notice. That hours ago, we'd been up in cable car over the river Thames and he'd asked me to be his wife.

  "When we're married, is this what our life is going to be like?" I loved the thought of jetting off at the drop of a hat, going wherever we were needed. Doing whatever it took to get the job done. There was a dreamy smile on my face and I didn't think I was going to be able to shake it any time soon.

  "I hope so."

  "Me too. How many different places have you been to?"

  Maxim turned to me and shook his head, eyes glinting with his smile. "Far too many to count, love. But I have no doubt you'll come to all of them with me again, one way or another."

  I looped my arm into his, enjoying the way he tensed his bicep as I clung onto him, navigating the cobbles in my heels as he lifted the suitcase up, one handed.

  "How does it work, when you have to make someone disappear?"

  Old buildings mixed seamlessly with new, pale stone houses with little shuttered windows like a freeze frame of everything I associated with provincial France. But these had a slicker feel to them. There was no grime of Paris. There was far too much money swilling about in the little bistros and around the cathedral steps for any of that.

  Something in Maxim's face shifted and his brows drew together slightly. There was a darkness, an exhaustion in him, that took a moment to fade. "I tie in with the local presence. Get hold of all the equipment I need, or the funds to procure it myself if they're inadequately kitted out. Sometimes you get to meet some interesting people. There's a pretty decent cop we have out in Brooklyn keeping everything ticking over there."

  I smiled. "Yeah?"

  "Mmhm. I'm sure he'd love to meet you. He was a little paranoid I had an eye on his girlfriend - well, his wife now."

  "What were you doing in Brooklyn?"

  "Ironing out some wrinkles. Helping him with a bit of a territory dispute. It all sorted itself out."

  "So we don't get to go back to New York any time soon then?"

  Maxim laughed. "Never say never. I plan to take you everywhere."

  "I definitely like the sound of that." I stretched up on my toes to meet his mouth as he kissed me and I let out a slow, satisfied sound. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been as happy as I was now. Maybe it was the sunshine and the beauty of the place, but I think it was a whole lot more than that. My heart was so full with love for the man who was going to be my husband and give me the entire world, that it felt like it was going to burst.

  "So… when you land in a new place and you make contact with the people you need to make contact with… what happens then?"

  "Are you taking notes Ms Harringt- oh, no it's Ms Toropova now, isn't it? Mm I do like that."

  His hand roved over my arse, settling on the small of my back and I felt the heat of his palm zing all the way through me. "You're supposed to be teaching me everything."

  "Oh, I am. I'm just taking my sweet time, darling. Never rush an artist."

  There were more yachts than I could count in the harbour. Sailing boats and motor boats. I wondered whether our banker friend had one. After seeing Valentin's money magician on his yacht out in Florida, I'd been hankering for open sea. It didn't look half bad, bobbing about on the water, sipping a few drinks, sunbathing. That was the kind of sailing I could do.

  These boats all looked a little more serious and the people milling about the marina were all dressed in tastefully muted brands like Helly Hanson, with sturdy waterproofing and trendy deck shoes. It all reminded me a bit of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge with their ongoing sailing competitions. All a bit too serious for me.

  I felt his thumb stroking my waist and heat flushed through me as I imagined his bare hands on my bum, pulling me in against him, hard.

  "What happens when you make contact?"

  "Then comes the most important part."

  "Yeah?" I met his eyes, all blown pupils and lust. Whenever he was close I was tuned to him, honed in and hyper aware of what the proximity of his body did to mine.

  "Finding the right hotel."

  I let out a laugh as he pulled me in close again, lips against my throat. "That does sound very important."

  "Got to have a good view. No nosy neighbors. Housekeeping staff who won't walk in on you in the middle of… who knows what."

  I caught my breath as he trailed his fingers along my collarbone, raising goosebumps to the surface of my skin as every nerve ending in me strained for more contact.

  All through the receptionist checking us in, I felt myself squirming, desperate for her to hurry up and finish so I could get Maxim upstairs and have him for the first time, as my fiance.

  CHAPTER 31

  Elizabeth

  I stood in the bathroom of our room in the hotel by the window, behind the glass wall that divided the bath from the rest of the room, meaning you could look out over the city rooftops from the tub, if you so chose.

  Right then, the only thing I was watching was Maxim, stalking about the bedroom, taking it methodically apart on the hunt for bugs and trackers. I was on bathroom duty, and the sweep I'd made hadn't turned up anything. I hadn't really expected it to, but maybe I hadn't had enough experience to be so suspicious.

  "Did you watch me?" I asked, and Maxim looked up from taking the back off the TV.

  "What?"

  "Did you watch me in the bath, on the middle floor landing." I reached out and closed the door, leaving me shut into the small glass cube of the artfully designed bathroom.

  Maxim stood fully up, turning square on to face me, and I slipped the strap of my dress off slowly. Just like I had done that night in the window when I'd wanted him so badly and hadn't known what to do about it, other than throw myself at him.

  "I… might have."

  "You're a very bad man, spying on a teenage girl like that." I let the other shoulder drop, holding eye contact and Maxim swallowed hard enough for me to see his Adam's apple bob. The tent at the crotch of his trousers was already visibly straining.

  "Jesus Liz. I'm trying to-"

  Maxim's mouth hinged open as I let the dress skitter to the tiles, slipping my knickers off along with it. I hadn't bothered with a bra because I liked the way he watched my breasts, liked that he could see my nipples harden through the thin fabric, while we were wandering around the city. And I loved the way he was lost for words, eyes roving over me like he couldn't ever get enough.

  I leaned forward to turn the tap on and sat on the edge of the tub as I trickled bubble bath into it from the tiny little bottle on the side. The smell of rose geranium and orange blossoms filled the air. Expensive aromatherapy oils in the bath. Check. This really was five star luxury.

  The water thundered in, filling the t
ub quickly, and I slid in when it was halfway up the sides, letting out a luxurious groan as the heat seeped into me, muscles that had been cramped up on the journey relaxing out along with my sigh.

  I smoothed the bubbles over my bare breasts and Maxim let out a strangled sound from the bedroom.

  "If that door's locked, I'm breaking it down."

  I grinned, sliding deeper into the water. "I thought you had to check the room."

  "I do, you little minx."

  "You better hurry up then, I don't think I can wait much longer." Right from the first time when I'd seen him in the window across the street, refusing to touch himself despite how turned on he was, watching me writhe, I got a kick out of knowing he wanted me. Knowing that with a pane of glass between us, he could look but not touch and all that desire for me would build and build and build.

  He'd been explosive the first time he took me, unstoppable. And every time since he found new ways to make me come apart.

  I'd been desperate for him since the first time I laid eyes on him. The thought that he'd been holding himself back from claiming me like he wanted to for all those long lonely, solitary weeks, was so sexy.

  I couldn't resist teasing him now, especially when the power was on my side.

  "Did you wish you could touch me?"

  "You bloody know I did."

  I leaned back, arching my neck on a groan as I let my finger slip down to my sex, between my soft folds and rubbing at my clit before probing inside. Mouth open slightly for my hurried little pants, I held his eye across the distance.

  Maxim growled, stalking closer to the thin pane of glass walling him off from me.

  "All that time I could have been dreaming about this being your hand on me."

  "My hands are better."

  "Are they?"

  "You seem to think so."

  "You could have crept into my bedroom in the middle of the night and showed me just how good they are."

  Maxim's hand flattened against the glass, finger spreading out as though he'd truly forgotten the way in was just around the other side of the wall. I gasped again, arching back as my fingers grazed against a point inside that made me see stars.

  His voice was dangerously, wonderfully low and his breath fogged up the glass between us. "You'd have liked that, would you?"

  My breathing came out in a heavy, hurried rush just thinking about waking up to him all over me. Now, knowing him, wanting him the way I did, it was a perfect fantasy. No matter the lines he would have crossed if he'd ever tried it at the time.

  "You know I would have. I'm made for you."

  I bit my lip, trying not to push myself too far. All of this was for him alone. Touching myself was never going to do it for me ever again. What I wanted was him. His gorgeous cock buried deep inside me, and his cum flooding into me, filling me up. He'd ruined me for any other man, and I didn't care, because as far as I was concerned, there was only going to be him for as long as I lived.

  "You better close your eyes and forget I'm even here," he murmured, and the heat in his voice nearly lit me on fire.

  My eyelids fluttered as I forced them shut, and suddenly, the room was entirely silent, except for the slow drip-drip-drip from the end of the tap and the low whirl of the fan. The water sloshed when I moved, bracing my arms on the sides of the large tub, and I tried to keep perfectly still. I could hear my breathing louder than anything else.

  And as much as I strained to hear them, I couldn't make out his footsteps outside the bathroom. Time stretched out into long minutes, and then, suddenly, I heard the the smallest catch of the door handle being pushed down. The hinges barely made a sound as they opened in, but I felt the air move against my wet skin.

  I held my breath, waiting for Max to touch me, but again there was only silence. I could feel the level of the water circled around my breasts like a line, moving against me like a physical touch every time I breathed. Above the waterline, my skin was prickling with anticipation. What I craved was his touch.

  His clothing rustled as he moved and all at once, his fingers trailed between my breasts, dipping into the water and rising up again to circle my tight nipples, one by one. All of my attention centred on them, as though all of the nerve endings in my body were focused in on their bullet-hard tips. My hands tightened on the sides of the bath and it took all my effort not to snap my eyes open to watch.

  The wet, warmth of what could only have been his tongue circling my left nipple made me gasp out, and when his teeth grazed it, pressing together in a carefully controlled bite, I nearly died.

  Something fabric unfurled next to my ear, and I shifted, momentarily concerned as he covered my eyes, tying a soft blindfold tight around my head. It smelled of him. Soft and smooth against my face. One of his ties maybe, or his old fashioned silk handwraps.

  My smile curled in, as I realised he wasn't leaving this to chance.

  "Max..?"

  He didn't say a word, and I felt my arousal increase. I knew the feel of him, the taste of him, the way it felt when he touched me, and there was no way this was anyone but him. And God, I loved that he was playing with me, doing so much more than I'd suggested.

  His hand stroked down the length of my belly, his rough fingertips searing a line down towards my throbbing sex and I groaned as he thrust his strong, blunt fingers into me. I was soft and slick and open and the warmth of the water felt so good, but his thrusting hand felt better. My thighs pressed together around his thick wrist, gripping onto him as I squirmed and he bore the heel of his hand down hard against my clit, giving me some resistance to press against as his fingers drove deeper into me. I arched my back sharply when he found the place inside me that turned everything perfect and hazy and impossibly hot, suddenly desperate for more of him.

  "Oh, Max. Oh, God. Please."

  When he pulled his fingers out of me and I groaned at the loss, my body contracting, desperate to keep him in me. But I was at his mercy, I couldn't do a thing.

  He scooped me out of the tub, pulling me up out of the water with his hands under my arms so I had to scrabble to my feet. He lifted me with a hand around my hips and I realized he was naked when the tip of his cock seared an impossibly hot line along my belly. I tried to curl into him, shivering and wet out of the warmth of the water, but he held me back and I heard myself let out a plaintive whimper. God I wanted him more than I knew what to do with.

  When I reached for him, he took my wrists in his grip. He was the only thing I had to stop myself from slipping on the tiles, and I leaned into his hold, my hands held together firmly above me. I tilted my head up, straining to see through the blindfold, but it was no use. The biting twinge of his firm hands clamped around my wrists felt so good.

  "Is this what you wanted to do to me?" I whispered, arching into him as he lowered me down to the cold tiles, stretching my hands above me. "Kidnap me, take me prisoner."

  His heavy body sprawled over mine, and I wriggled, bucking up against the bruising press of his long, hard cock digging into my hip. I loved that I could barely move. That all I could do was wait for him to do exactly what he wanted.

  "I've got you now. You're all mine."

  He had another length of fabric, and I felt him wind it around my wrists, securing it to the lowest rung of the towel rail on the wall above my head, stretching me out across the floor.

  I tugged against my restraints, smile growing. There was no way I was getting free without his say so, and I was so turned on by that.

  Maxim

  Tied to the towel rail, stretched out along the cold tiles, the woman I loved was at my mercy. Elizabeth drove me to things I never thought I wanted. But I always wanted her. In so many ways.

  She knew how to drive me crazy, how to forget myself and everything I was supposed to be doing. It wasn't hard, when she was meant to be my universe.

  Her thighs wrapped around my sides as I arched over her, and my cock pressed in against her wet, waiting body, slick with her juices and swollen and read
y to take me in. The groan she let out as I pushed inside her made me light up all the way through and I had to steady myself, breathing deep, to stop myself from coming right then and there.

  She was my everything. And I wanted to show her that.

  Kidnap and torture. I'd done that a thousand times. But not like this.

  I knew just what to do with her.

  Where she expected me to pound into her, I steeled myself to push in slowly, millimeter by millimeter, filling her up with every inch of me until I was hilt deep and she was panting, squirming, trying to get me to move. My determination to go slow faltered when she angled her hips in a way that made me see stars. I let out a groan, forcing her hips back flat against the floor, pinning her more thoroughly and Elizabeth's hands strained against the restraints I'd tied.

  "Don't you bloody dare."

  "Oh God Maxim, please."

  Just as slowly, I inched out, until only the head of my cock was still inside her and she writhed and whimpered, trying to buck against my hands holding her steady. Her greedy little cunt was flickering around me like she was trying to draw me back inside.

  Up on my arms, body held proudly over hers, I could watch every expression on her face as I pushed in slow enough to make her whimper. She arched her neck back as I drifted my hand down between us, rubbing slowly against her clit as I got myself balls deep. Her breathing was slow and lazy, and finally I could see her starting to give in and come apart.

  "You're beautiful," I purred, voice rumbling low as I tongued her earlobe, and her breathing rushed out, hot and desperate. Blindfolded and bound, everything was at my mercy, at my say so.

  CHAPTER 32

  Elizabeth

  This time Maxim said he couldn't wire me up. There was too much security going into the bank and the last thing we wanted was to raise any suspicions about our motives. We needed Jean Alaman to trust that I was a genuine client. At least at first. Just so that I could get in the door.