Chase You To The Sun (9 page)

“How old are you?” she risked asking him. It was an innocent enough question.

“Thirty-five,” he replied.

“Ah.” She absently tapped through the DesEx start-up screen, scrolling down to the latest news about Desidan stock exchange involving Mars, Luna and Ganymede.

“Well, that was random,” Bruce commented, when she didn’t say anything else after that. “Why are you asking?”

Lana looked up, hesitating for a few beats. If he was thirty-five, he was too young to know her British mother from going to the same college. She could probably rule out school, too – after all, Bruce had had a private teacher. “Just – I was curious,” she mumbled bashfully.

“I see.” He stared back at her, that same look of surprised interest returning to his eyes. “So, have you ever been with an older man, Lana?”

She froze, her eyes widening in apprehension. “No. Why?” she asked, her voice shrill.

Bruce smiled lazily. “Just curious,” he mumbled, echoing her own words. “Now give me that pad. You’re logged on, right?”

Lana almost threw the device into his lap, her hands jittery with nerves. “Have a look,” she whispered.

“I sure will.” He focused on the screen, still sporting the same, amused smile as his eyes skimmed the data. It slowly disappeared from his face as he kept reading, though. Lana regarded him with a sinking feeling in her stomach. This wasn’t good. He wasn’t seeing the changes he’d hoped for.

“Looks like trade to Mars hasn’t stopped yet,” he grumbled after some time. “Luna seems to be struggling a bit, though. Guess I’ll have to set up another video conference with your dad.”

“Well, he could still be working on things,” Lana proposed feebly.

“What’s there to work on?” Bruce snapped. “He practically runs the whole goddamn Promethean mining business. All he needs to do is tell his ships not to fly out.”

“It’s not that easy,” she objected stubbornly. “Surely you must know that.”

He scoffed. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. It’s
complicated
.” The sudden venom in his voice made her tremble. “Well, I’ll make it really easy for him. Either he does what I want or he’ll never see you again.”

His eyes flared with fury as he looked at her. Lana moved back, but she met his gaze unflinchingly. “That really bugged me,” she admitted softly. “Him saying it was complicated.”

Bruce remained silent. Gradually, the anger drained from his face. “I know,” he said at last. “I could tell.” He didn’t wait for her response. Instead, he got up, still clutching her pad as he turned on his heels and strutted back inside, probably on his way to his study.

Lana let out the breath she’d inadvertently been holding. She hated to admit it, but Bruce was definitely beginning to get under her skin. Even though he threatened her, and even though he scared the living shit out of her sometimes, he also seemed to have his weak moments with her – showing her glimpses of what he’d be like if he were not the most wanted criminal of the Russian Realm. Glimpses of a man who seemed to have a hard time truly hating her.

When she went back inside to put her breakfast plate in the kitchen, it suddenly dawned on her that the living room was empty. Bruce was setting up a secure video call, and it seemed he’d taken his entire entourage to the comm room to assist him. She could hear dim voices coming from that direction.

This was her chance to use her phone again. The force field was gone, and so were Bruce’s watchdogs. Without thinking twice, Lana shot up the stairs and disappeared into her room.

T
he smart phone was still waiting for her where she’d left it – under her pillow. Lana bit back a tiny squeal of excitement when she saw the three reception bars on the display. Her hands shaking, she hit redial on her outgoing calls and waited for someone to answer.

“Lana?” Tori’s voice sounded so warm and so familiar that it brought tears to her eyes. “Is that you? Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she confirmed firmly. “I’m all right. Still alive. Still with all my extremities intact. No broken bones or bruises.”

“Good.” Tori sounded relieved. “I was worried. We were expecting to hear back from you a bit sooner.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. They use a force field to shield off the house at night. I couldn’t get through. Anyway, I found out the sun sets at eight. I have no idea when sunrise was, though.”

Lana could hear Alen’s voice in the background. “Ask her if the air is dry or humid,” he said.

“I can hear you, Alen,” Lana said with a smile. “And I’d say it’s dry. Not tropical, as far as I can tell. I didn’t have a chance to look at the constellations, unfortunately.”

“I’ll pass on the info,” Alen said. “I’ve contacted some of my former colleagues. Tori told you, didn’t she?”

“I’m sorry I made you do that,” Lana apologized. “It means a lot to me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Any friend of Tori’s is a friend of mine.”

“We also talked to your dad, by the way,” Tori chimed in again. “He’s devastated, but he’s keeping it together well, considering the circumstances.”

“Please tell him I love him.”

“Will do.”

“Now tell me something about the outside world,” Lana said longingly, staring out the window with unseeing eyes. “Something that will take my mind off things.”

“Well, Alen’s coming with me to New Berlin for Christmas,” Tori replied, her voice taking on a dreamy quality. “Oh, and Anna and Shirley might come and have dinner at our place. I think my parents are finally convinced they are the right kind of friends for me, after all.”

“That’s great!” Lana enthused. “Are they bringing dates as well?”

Tori giggled briefly. “Who knows? Hey, you should visit, too. Patch things up with Sergei. We could make it a quadruple date.”

“I might not be home for Christmas.” Lana bit her lip. In fact, she might not be home
ever
.

“Of course you will,” Tori tried to cheer her up. “We’ll get you out. Or your dad will – I swear to you he’s not going to lose you too.”

Lana stiffened when she heard heavy footsteps quickly climbing the stairs. “Gotta go, Vitusya,” she whispered urgently before abruptly ending the call. Slipping the phone into her back pocket, she turned around to rush to the door and lock it just in case, but she was too late. The door already opened, and Bruce was standing on the threshold with a slight smile playing around his lips.

“Hi,” she said, unsettled by the apparent glee on his face.

“Hello, blossom,” Bruce replied pleasantly, his smile widening when her face filled with color.

“What, uhm, what are you doing here?” Lana wanted to know. Maybe he was here to beat her up like he’d promised. That video call with her dad might have gone all wrong. Perhaps he was looking forward to taking it all out on her.

His next words made her stomach lurch with dread. “We picked up a phone signal,” he said slowly. “Coming from this room.”

Her mouth opened and closed again. “Well, that’s impossible,” she finally said. And it was – her smart phone should be absolutely secure.

Bruce cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, I know it’s supposed to be shielded. Good thing I have an expert on my team. John may be a jackass, but he’s one hell of a hacker.”

Lana broke out in a cold sweat. Shit – she couldn’t lose the phone. It was her one and only lifeline to the outside world. The only way she could talk to her friend. She could almost feel the device burning a hole in her pocket as she took a few steps backward. Perhaps, if she kept facing him with her back against the wall, he’d search the room and unwittingly give her an opportunity to sneak the phone out of her pants and hide it somewhere else. It wasn’t that big.

“Just hand it over, Lana,” he said, his voice almost kind. “Don’t be difficult.”

“Hand what over?” she replied, trying to stall for time.

“The device. It’s in your jeans.” He observed her closely, smiling triumphantly when her hand edged almost imperceptibly toward her back pocket. “Well, look at that. I only needed one guess.”

Damn – he’d tricked her. She should have kept her cool! Lana knew she’d just lost the phone, but she couldn’t bring herself to submissively comply with his order. By now, she was sick of Bruce bossing her around and even more of herself being so fidgety and jumpy around him.

“Well, you guessed wrong,” she said snappishly, staring back as defiantly as she dared.

Bruce slowly shook his head in amused disbelief. “You want me to come and get it?” he said darkly, his eyes filling with something raw and unnamable.

All of a sudden, his words seemed to imply something else entirely. Lana’s knees trembled as he closed the distance between them, pinning her with his gaze. Her heart stuttered when he reached out and slid his hand purposely over her butt, leisurely feeling his way down to the back pocket containing her phone. His large, warm hand fit perfectly around her ass. Too perfectly. This shouldn’t affect her. His closeness should leave her cold – but God knew it didn’t.

“There,” he mumbled, his eyes unreadable as he stared down at her. “Found it.”

“Yeah,” she replied breathlessly. Slowly but surely, her cheeks turned red under his intense stare. Bruce didn’t move. Awkward seconds seemed to stretch out for an eternity as Lana prayed for him to go ahead and pluck the phone out of her pocket, her breathing turning increasingly shallow.

And then, Bruce did move his hand, but it wasn’t to take the device he’d been looking for. Instead, he gently caressed her ass, squeezing the round curves, making her shiver involuntarily.

“Just
take
it,” she whispered in desperation.

He smiled lazily, a devious glint in his eyes. “Am I making you nervous?” he murmured softly from up close.

Lana closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm down her wildly-beating heart, pressing her back against the wall just to create one more inch of breathing space. “Yes,” she choked.

He waited a few beats before putting one hand against the wall next to her head, his other hand still on her ass. “That’s strange,” he breathed, leaning into her, “because by now, I’m pretty sure you want my attention.”

“I don’t,” she squeaked.

“You do,” he insisted. “Even though I scare you shitless.”

Lana shuddered under his gaze. She couldn’t look away, although she wanted to. Her stomach twisted half pleasurably, half with fear when he moved his hand from her butt to her waist, boldly slipping his fingers under her shirt to touch the soft skin of her belly. His caress was a warm, seductive taunt, his hand moving slowly and deliberately to tease out her completely inappropriate feelings for him. Lana knew she should protest, but it was too late – her body had already responded to his touch, moving under his heat, aching to give him what he wanted. More blood rushed to her cheeks as a strangled gasp escaped her throat.

“You like that, don’t you?” his rough voice rumbled above her. Bruce dipped his head down and whispered softly in her ear: “You can have more, you know. All you need to do is ask.”

Her breath hitched when his mouth slowly trailed down from her temple to her cheek, and even lower, lightly touching her lips – her disloyal lips that wouldn’t form the word ‘no’. Bruce paused for a few seconds, then exhaled raggedly and pushed her up against the wall, slipping both hands around her waist as he brushed his mouth against hers once more. When she still didn’t push him away, he stood even closer, gently parting her lips with his tongue before he swept sensuously inside her.

Lana whimpered helplessly as his tongue found hers, its silky touch rendering her powerless in his arms. Her entire body thrummed with desire. His kiss was better than anything she could have imagined. Bruce kissed her like he owned her mouth. He tasted too good to resist – rich, musky, masculine, and dangerous. Delicious.

Lana heard him groan when she tentatively returned his kiss by running her tongue along his bottom lip. Bruce smiled against her mouth, his large hands roaming down to her butt again. Her entire body was alight with sexual heat – already, she was so wet for him Lana was sure he could somehow smell it. When he urgently brushed his groin against her lower belly, it was really obvious she’d turned him on, too. The size of his arousal pressing against her abdomen made her tremble with fear and anticipation. Once again, his tongue darted between her parted lips and slowly stroked the insides of her mouth, so seductively, so warmly.

And then, it was over. Bruce abruptly broke away from their kiss. He snatched the phone out of her pocket and slowly stepped back, releasing her from his strong embrace. “I’ll be downstairs,” he said matter-of-factly, his eyes sweeping up and down her body one last time before he turned around and strolled out of the room.

Lana gasped as she stumbled away from the wall to sit down on her bed. She blinked her eyes at the open door, half-expecting him to come back, but he didn’t. Why had he
stopped
? It was pretty obvious she’d been ready to let him do just about anything to her. She could still feel his hands on her body – her treacherous body, hungry for all kinds of things it wasn’t allowed to have.

But that had been the whole point. Bruce said she only needed to ask – and he’d given her a clear demonstration of what was in store for her if she did.

“Shit,” she mumbled, biting down on her lip to stop herself from crying. While her friends were trying everything in their power to get her out of this place, she’d allowed her jailor to kiss her. While her father was sick with worry, she’d melted into Bruce’s arms, never once telling him to stop. She was a disgrace to the Ivanov family. Not to mention incredibly stupid for playing with fire.

How could she ever face him again? The thought of having to go downstairs and answering the questions Bruce undoubtedly had about her phone conversation freaked her out. Then again, she couldn’t stay in her room forever – she had to talk to her dad again. She needed to eat. And she had to stand up for herself and demand some answers from Bruce, too. Why did he think he had the right to keep her here?

Lana quietly scolded herself as she slowly descended the stairs. Of course he had no right. It was like her dad said – Bruce was probably interested in holding a monopoly on gemstone distribution so he could control a large part of the economy. On the other hand, if his men had really known her mom at some point, something more complex had to be going on. The whole thing was making her mind whirl with confusion.