Free Smoke and Shadows by Victoria Paige

“They stun gunned me. No biggie.”
    He helped her sit up. She winced when she saw the expression on his face. “Seriously, Viktor, I’m fine.”
    “It was stupid to leave the hospital,” he snapped. “You were a target, damn it. If I hadn’t come after you—”
    “But you did,” Marissa reached out and touched his face. “I’m still here, Viktor.”
    He shut his mouth, but he had an overwhelming desire to throttle her. He was starting to unravel and he didn’t like it one bit. He rose wordlessly and helped her to her feet.  
    Dr. Henderson showed up with two orderlies who were cleared to work with AGS.  
    “You got this, Henderson?”
    The doctor nodded.
    “Aren’t you guys supposed to wait for the cops?” A hospital staffer pushed through the gathering crowd.
    Viktor cursed and stalked over to the man who had the gall to interfere.
    “Mind your own fucking business,” Viktor snarled at the staffer who cowered back when he came at him.
    “Viktor!”
    His gaze shifted back to Marissa.
    “You fine?” he asked coldly.
    Marissa nodded, frowning.  
    “Good.”  
    He left her standing where she was and walked back to the hospital.
    “Asshole,” Marissa muttered behind him.
    Viktor stopped, stared at his feet, and exhaled deeply. Shit. What am I doing?
    He waited for Marissa to catch up to him, put an arm around her, and kissed the top of her head.

    *****
    “I’ll try better, Iz,” Viktor murmured into her hair, his arm tightening around her. Marissa was annoyed when Viktor just turned around and left her, not knowing what ticked him off.  
    “So what set you off, big guy?” Marissa asked. “It couldn’t be me yelling at you to stop intimidating the hospital staff. You’d hate to be banned from the premises, wouldn’t you?”
    “I didn’t handle seeing you hurt very well,” Viktor admitted.
    “And your answer is to up and abandon me?” Marissa asked incredulously.
    “I did not abandon you.” His voice was tight. “You were right behind me.”
    Marissa nodded, deciding not to back him into a corner. Yet. She knew he was struggling to make it work between them. Whatever the “it” was. He seemed content to go with the flow. Unfortunately, the flow got interrupted unexpectedly and put him in an unfamiliar situation. She saw a mixture of fear and worry in his eyes, and knowing Viktor, he hated feeling vulnerable.  
    Did he feel …?
    She shook those thoughts from her head. Keeping her hopes up that Viktor might actually fall in love was like waiting for China to embrace democracy.
    His arm slid from her shoulder, his hand rubbing her back lingeringly before finding its way to link his fingers again with hers.  
    “What’s with the hand holding?” Marissa teased.
    Viktor glanced at her playfully. Her breath caught. He looked boyish, and boyish was not a word used to describe him. Ever.
    He raised their linked hands as they entered the elevator.  
    “I’m trying it on for size,” Viktor answered her. “I’m finding I like it.”
    “Who are you and what have you done with Viktor?”  
    He did his version of an eye-roll, which was a subtle movement of his eyes.
    “Shut up, Marissa.”

CHAPTER FIVE

    Rafiq Shadid watched the gyrations of the stripper before him. He hated to keep up the pretense of a perverted young sheik. Women were the last thing on his mind. He wanted revenge for his family. Every last one of them must die or suffer. He flicked his wrist and checked his watch impatiently. His men should have returned by now. They finally had a fix on their other target, who he now knew as CIA operative Marissa Cole. He thought she was his friend, and she had betrayed him. But she wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger that murdered his mother. Viktor Baran had received the very first taste of his revenge—the killing of Maia Pierce by an associate in Paris.  
    There was a knock on the private room’s door.  
    “Enter,” Rafiq said, and ordered the stripper to leave.