Kieran reached the side of the bed in two strides before unzipping the hold-all and looking inside. It was obvious from the amount of clothing in there that the bag had recently and hastily been packed, not unpacked, as Janina had claimed.
He folded his arms as he straightened to look down the length of his nose at her. “Unpacking, hm?”
A blush stained her cheeks. “I think you should leave my bedroom now.”
“My leaving isn’t going to change the fact I sent your cab away.”
Her chin rose. “Then I’ll order another one.”
“And I’ll have that one sent away too.”
“Then I’ll order another and then another, until you get tired of sending them away.”
“Not going to happen,” he assured. “Whether you like it or not, Janina, you aren’t leaving this estate again unless you have several bodyguards protecting you. Not even to go to work,” he added in a hard voice.
She straightened to her full height of a couple of inches over five feet. “You can’t make me a prisoner here.”
His smile was humorless. “I’ll do whatever the hell I need to do in order to keep you safe.”
Her eyes glittered with temper. “My being here is getting people killed!”
“And no one regrets that more than me. But,” he continued as she would have interrupted, “they all knew it was a possibility when they agreed to work on Leon’s security. It’s why they’re paid the big bucks.”
“And how many of Leon’s men have been killed since you came to work for him?”
Several had been shot in the past ten years, but none killed. “That isn’t the point.”
“Of course, it is,” she almost shouted.
“No, it really isn’t.” This conversation was making tonight’s deaths clearer for Kieran too.
The men who worked for Leon’s security team were all paid very well because the danger always existed that they could be killed protecting New York’s capo dei capi. Which was what Leon had been trying to say to him earlier.
Janina’s intention of leaving without telling anyone where she was going—mainly because she didn’t have a fucking clue herself where she was going!—also put Leon’s earlier claim that Kieran was in love with Janina into perspective.
If he’d returned to the house and found she had already left, whisked away in a cab, then Kieran would have ripped New York apart trying to find and protect her.
Was that love?
“What the hell did you think running away would achieve?” he now demanded.
Janina shrugged. “I didn’t care as long as I took the danger with me.”
His jaw clenched. “By getting yourself killed.”
“That’s a risk I have to take—”
“No, it fucking well isn’t,” he bit out furiously. “I’m warning you, Janina, if you try to leave here again without my knowledge, I’m going to tie you to the bed to ensure it never happens again.”
Her eyes widened, the pupils dilating, but otherwise, she remained unmoving. “You’ll tie me to the bed…?” she finally repeated.
Kieran looked at her searchingly for several long seconds. “You seem more excited by that prospect than afraid or angry,” he finally observed.
Janina wasn’t sure what she was.
It definitely infuriated her that Kieran thought he had the right to stop her from doing what she needed to in order not to get anyone else killed in her stead.
At the same time, the thought of having Kieran tie her to the bed sent heat coursing through her body, resulting in her breasts tingling and her core tightening in anticipation.
“You like the idea,” Kieran realized.
“No. Of course not.” Her protest came out too loud even to her own ears. “You’re an arrogant bastard for even thinking about doing something so…so…”
“Erotic,” he suggested softly.
“Barbaric.”
“Then why are your nipples engorged?”
She couldn’t help glancing down, biting her bottom lip when she saw her nipples were visibly swollen as they pressed against her sweater. “I’m cold not aroused— Don’t laugh at me!” she warned when he did exactly that.
He instantly sobered. “Love, I’m laughing at both of us, not just you.”
“Why?” she prompted warily.
Although, having Kieran call her love gave her strange fluttering sensations in her chest. Not that she thought for a moment that he meant love, as in the emotion, but it was still heartwarming to have him call her by an endearment.
Kieran sighed. “This evening has been one of the worst of my life. Because of it, or in spite of it, right now I just want to lay you naked on the bed and bury my cock inside you to the hilt. With or without those restraints,” he added ruefully.
A wild fluttering started in her chest. “Isn’t a reaffirmation of life a common reaction to death?”
“I’m only interested in my reaction.”
“Which is to want me?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing has changed. I’m still a virgin,” she reminded.
He nodded. “I would hope so.”
“That seemed to bother you the other night.”
“And now I’m acknowledging that you’re a grown woman and that you have the right to make your own decision as to who you give your virginity to.”
“Big of you.”
“I thought so.”
Her laugh was completely involuntary. “You really are an arrogant bastard.”
“So what’s it going to be, Janina?” He ignored her insult as he eyed her challengingly. “I tie you to this bed for the sole purpose of stopping you from trying to leave again? Or I restrain you by other means, and we finish what we started three nights ago?”
Janina was suddenly aware of every single beat of her heart and the hot rush of blood through her veins merely from thinking of being restrained by Kieran as the two of them made love.
Except, she reminded herself firmly, it wouldn’t be love.
Not on Kieran’s part, anyway.
Janina was very much afraid that she had fallen in love with this arrogant Irishman.
She hadn’t planned on making anything more than casual friendships when she decided to stay in the US for a while. Initially because she had been unsure as to how long she wanted to remain here.
A plan which, she realized now, was laughable.
She was definitely emotionally attached to her sister and Jericho.
To Carla, Leon, and Marco too.
And Zoe and Paul.
Even Dragon Lady was a presence in her life, even if it was an annoying one.
Also Liam and the other bodyguards she had come to know since coming here.
As for Kieran…
What she felt for him was too big to ignore. She also knew it was going to cause her heartache in the future, whether she stayed in America or returned to Russia.
But here and now?
Kieran was offering her exactly what she wanted.
Just as importantly, she didn’t doubt that the two of them going to bed together would help Kieran, if only briefly, not to forget his friends who had died, but to at least cope with the horrors of tonight.
She lifted her chin. “What other means?”
Kieran frowned. “What?”
“What other means will you use to restrain me?”
His brow cleared. “Considering your options fully before making a decision?” he mused.
“I’ve been told it’s the best thing to do in any circumstances,” she replied lightly.
Kieran gave an appreciative smile. “I thought one of my hands about both your wrists as I pin them above your head might suffice, but I can just as easily use a couple of my silk ties, if you would prefer that?”
An anticipatory shiver ran down her spine at the thought of the latter, but she was still drawn more toward having the heat of one of Kieran’s hands about both her wrists.
She gave a nod. “Okay, let’s do this.”
He looked taken aback. “Let’s do this…?”
“Yes.”
His gaze remained fixed on her. “I’ll need to shower first.”
“So will I.”
“Together?”
She shrugged. “We could save on water that way and help the environment.” Her answer sounded teasing, but inwardly, she was trembling at the thought of seeing Kieran completely naked. She had seen certain parts of his body already, obviously, but he’d never been completely naked in her presence. “Kieran?” she prompted at his silence.
He gave a shake of his head. “I don’t want you to think I’m just using you.”
Janina took a couple of steps forward until she was standing so close to Kieran, she could feel his body heat and see the light brown flecks in the green of his eyes. “Use me, Kieran,” she encouraged throatily. “Put that big cock in me and pummel me into the mattress.”
“Jesus…” he breathed huskily.
“This is what happens when you say no to a woman and leave all that arousal just hanging there,” she warned.
Kieran reached up to gently curve one of his palms about her cheek. “You constantly surprise me.”
“In a good way, I hope?”
He nodded. “Very good.”
Janina pressed her palm against the back of his hand. “Then could we go shower together now, please?”
God knows she was upset about this evening’s events herself, but Kieran must feel it on a much deeper level. He had personally known all the men who died. Worked with them. Lived with them.
And now felt responsible for their deaths.
Janina wanted to give him something else to think about. Not just herself and her virginity, but also to remind him that, no matter how dire the situation, life continued.