Page 2 of Scarred Temptation

“What is it?” As in get it the hell off me.

“Yashcheritsa.”

“In English. Please.” With a deep grumble rumbling in my chest, I smacked at whatever had landed on me.

“A huge lizard.”

After several scattered breaths, I turned my head. My fingers had already discovered the truth. A leaf. “Oh, goody. Something cute and cuddly to curl up with since my boyfriend will be sleeping outside tonight.”

“Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged.”

Every time he snorted, which wasn’t often, highly sinful thoughts littered my already wicked mind. “I’d honestly love to see you try.”

“Hmmm… We wouldn’t have this issue had you chosen something other than a Jeep.”

“The only vehicle allowed on this trip.” He shifted the gear again, the Jeep slowly coming to a stop.

Immediately, I grabbed the roll bar and stood, tilting my head to try to snatch even a tiny glimpse of where we were from under the edge of the blindfold.

“Any peeking and you will be punished.”

“Let me think,” I continued teasing. “I’d like to see you try.”

His fingers danced down the side of my leg. “You know I don’t make promises I don’t keep.”

“Yes, but your promises are usually deadly.”

I was rewarded with another laugh. “Do not move. If you dare step foot outside the door, I assure you that you will learn why my enemies are terrified when they cross me.”

“Is this where I say promises, promises?” Only a few months earlier, Maxsim had rarely smiled, his world embroiled in a sullen, almost despondent atmosphere. To see him relax made me happy.

The strong, dominating, very handsome Russian was everything I’d never known I’d craved or needed. Standing at six foot four with shoulders capable of filling a doorway and muscles honed from over two decades of brutal physical labor, to anyone who didn’t know him, his presence was menacing.

Every time he walked into a room whether in a suit or in his signature jeans and tightly woven tee shirts, he dominated the space. With a single look of his heated, condescending gaze. His eyes were the color of the deep, restless ocean before a storm, an intense blue that threatened to pull me under.

And every time he looked at me with them, I was momentarily lost in the power and admiration of a man I shouldn’t be falling for.

I leaned back into my seat, paying close attention to every sound. Almost instantly a smile crossed my face. Maxsim had managed to keep the location a secret, yet he couldn’t effectively hide Mother Nature’s restless beauty.

We were steps away from the ocean. Which one remained to be seen.

Almost as soon as he threw open the door, he gathered me into his arms.

“You don’t need to carry me.” He wasn’t about to listen to anything I had to say at this point. He was also all controlling, refusing to back down to anyone.

“I don’t need to do anything.” One other thing I’d learned very quickly about the man. He was as stubborn as they came. I’d envisioned him more than once during the early phase of our tumultuous relationship stamping his feet when he didn’t get what he wanted.

Which as of the entire time I’d known him was never. No one crossed the man for fear of losing everything.

Including their lives.

I considered myself the lucky one. He was a huge teddy bear under his sculpted muscles and huge snake tattoo that covered almost the entire length of his right arm.

As he climbed a set of stairs, I allowed a brief moment of sadness to shadow the joy from earlier. Not for me, but for him because of what the intricate venomous beast had been commissioned to hide.

The sound of keys being jangled meant we were getting close to him unraveling the mystery.