*Lola cut her steak carefully into little bites. She popped a piece of meat into her mouth and enjoyed the burst of flavor on her tongue. She was sent here on “holiday,” amid the chaos that was the Ukraine. Her other mission was to meet with a man called Stanov but that was later. Right now, she’d enjoy her “holiday.” Right now, she’d sit quietly and contemplate whether her recent decision was too crazy.
She took a sip of her wine and looked out of the window to enjoy the view of the Azov seaboard. It was a nice hotel, undamaged by the unrest in the city. Outside, the ceasefire was holding. Here, she was given a room as a “guest” and there was enough staff left to take care of her needs.
What she needed wasn’t here, though. But he would be soon.
Wouldn’t he?
A part of her mind nervously played on her naturally suspicious nature. What if he changed his mind and didn’t show up?
Then you continue with your job, came the quiet assurance. It’s not the end of the world. Easily said but not easily believed. She’d known Jacob Travis long enough to know, if he didn’t show up, it could only mean two things—he’d been found out and was prevented somehow to continue, or, he’d decided the risk wasn’t worth it, and if the latter were true, then all his words had been lies, falsehoods to persuade someone from the opposite side to betray her job.
There were tensions between their countries, after all. It was the growing tension this past year that had decided their course of action. If they waited any longer, it’d be dangerous for them to talk as “acquaintances.” Previously, an alliance was allowed here and there during operations of mutual benefit but the opportunities were getting fewer as both their sides were playing their version of Cold War spy games.
It was time, he’d said, when they’d last met. And her heart had bloomed like a flower at the thought of being with him, away from all this.
“Yes,” she’d replied.
His smile back was so damn sexy. “Cannot wait.”
That was a few months ago and with many dangerous messages hidden through various means, communicating the next location, the next possibility, they’d finally found the right place and the right time. And here she was, Lola Kalina, waiting to disappear with the man she loved.
A man entered the restaurant. Lola looked sideways. It wasn’t him.
Although there was unrest in the area, there was a cease fire in place and people were venturing about the city, cautiously hopeful as they enjoyed a rare day without the sounds of shelling and gunshots. She felt sorry for Mariupol’s citizens. Russians love to come here for their vacations and in happier times, she’d visited with a few friends. Now, there were Russians here with a different agenda.
She sighed. How did Jake put it? Sometimes, following orders sucked canal water. He’d made her laugh with that. Such a strange term. Exchanging silly colloquial terms, they giggled like kids sharing a secret.
There hadn’t been much laughter in her life. It was a strict upbringing, with many rules and not much freedom. Even now, the freedom she had was a restricted kind. The first time she’d laughed spontaneously was when Jake put on the most ridiculous disguise at an assignment in which she’d been tasked to get someone’s attention through the usual seduction. Jacob Travis had arrived dressed as a clown, big nose, big feet, the whole make-up, even an act. Nobody had recognized him but she did. The fake bald patch with the rainbow tufts of hair couldn’t disguise the way he walked. He’d shown up, apparently at the wrong party, and started giving a show, even though there were no kids around. By the time the people came along to get him out of there, he’d already accomplished his task—handed off a balloon animal to a woman. No doubt, with a secret message in it.
Lola had enjoyed the ridiculousness of it all, so much so, she hadn’t reported it to her superiors. The clown act was in direct contrast with her usual method, and had given her a few minutes of pure surprise, then laughter. She’d wished…she’d wished she could be a clown.
How odd was that moment? And yes, it was then she’d started feeling more than attraction for “that American spy,” as she’d called him. His eyes had caught hers and his gaze had lingered for an extra moment. He’d then winked conspiratorially, as if daring her to expose him. He’d even leered at her, with his tongue hanging out. Wicked man.
She took another bite of her steak and then a sip of her wine. She frowned. Then smiled secretly, a glowing joy welling up her heart. It wasn’t what she’d ordered but she’d tasted that particular drink before. He was here.
*
“This plan will get her killed.”
Jake turned to look at the other man looking through the small two-way mirror in the office. Lola was sitting eight feet away, facing them, looking relaxed and enjoying her meal. She took a sip of her drink. Her brow furrowed a little, then a small smile appeared, as if she suddenly remembered something.
“I hope so,” Jake said, quietly.
He couldn’t take his gaze away, drawn to the way she was eating. Little bites. She picked a small cherry tomato and slowly popped it between her luscious lips, her tongue licking away the juice. He must remember to get finger food so he could feed her himself. He wanted to lick the juice off himself. In fact, he wanted to lick her all over. What would she taste like?
“If this plan fails, we will die,” his companion interrupted his reverie.
Jake slanted Marco a glance, studying the demeanor of the other man. He didn’t appear nervous or hesitant. Good. He didn’t want someone who would change course from the original plan.
“Your side needs the information. I can’t get this directly without attention.”
“Too many news people,” Marco agreed. “Can’t have an American getting any mention in the news right now.”
“We’ll give them a story,” Jake said. He nodded toward to Lola. “Her info will be good. Whether we succeed or not, the exposure alone would be worth it for your side.”
Marco nodded. “True, but it’d be 100 times better if we could get our hands on the weapons.”
“It’d be nice, but the Russians are wily. They layer all their information so I doubt Lola is the only one giving the whole message.”
“If there are other women like her hanging around restaurants in Mariupol right now, all the ‘Russian militia on vacation’ are lucky men,” Marco joked cynically. His fingers bracketed his phrase in quotation marks. It was well-known the Russians were using that term as an excuse to bring fighters into the city. “Where are all these pretty women, I wonder?”
Jake shrugged. He was only interested in one. “There will be different couriers. She is just one I know.”
“What if she’s a decoy? Then what?”
Jake had wondered about that. Perhaps he was just a foolish man to place his heart above his head, to really believe everything Lola had told him. It was too late now. He was going through with it, no matter what.
“Then I’ll deal with her,” he said. “Just one step at a time. We first trick Viktor. The rest follows.”
Marco inhaled deeply, paused, then let out his breath slowly. “All right. We’ll do it, but there are no guarantees she’ll make it.”
Jake nodded back. “You just leave her to me,” he said.
He watched Lola finished her drink. She unwrapped a small piece of complimentary chocolate and bit into it. He’d made sure it was her favorite kind. Her face lifted and her smile of pleasure radiated all the way into his heart. Soon. Soon he would be part of that pleasure too.
“And so it begins,” he murmured.
*
She had a text from her handler on her disposable phone. Her instructions for Day 1 were relatively simple. It was sent right on schedule, right after lunch.
You’re on holiday. They’re watching. Go shopping. Seduce someone tonight. Convince them you’re there for fun.
The Ukrainians were looking for Russian infiltrators, soldiers coming in and then secretly joining the rebels. That was why they’d sent her. One might overlook a woman doing some shopping and having casual sex. She sighed. She knew she was being watched by both sides. If she didn’t bring a man into her room that night, there would be questions.
The summer weather was perfect for market day. Despite the fear that the ceasefire wouldn’t hold, the citizens were out, taking a chance to enjoy life and resume normalcy. Lola strode, casually stopping at a stall and moving on to the next, picking up scarves and sunglasses and donning them.
“You look like a movie star,” the male voice said softly.
She looked across the sales table. A bearded man looked back at her, eyes behind sunglasses too.
“You should buy both,” he said, with a smile, his teeth yellow from cigarettes. “Cheap, ma’am. I need the money.”
She cocked her head. “Movie star?” She wrapped the scarf over her shoulder and struck a pose. “A famous one or one just starting out?”
“Ahhh. Well, a famous beauty, of course. Here, you should put it on like this,” he said, leaning over and lifting the scarf off her shoulders and gently securing it around her face and flipping one side over a shoulder. “There, with the sunglasses, you’re incognito from your fans.”
His fingers brushed her neck as he tied a loose knot. The back of his hand smoothed down the rumpled material.
“I suppose I have to buy them now that you’ve put it on me so prettily,” Lola said, taking a look in the mirror hanging over the table. “Here, keep the change.”
“Thank you kindly, ma’am. Hope to see you again while you’re here,” the man said, taking the money from her.
Their hands touched fleetingly and his fingers lingered for half a second longer. She couldn’t see his eyes but the smile was his, in spite of those ugly teeth.
“Maybe,” she replied, smiling back.
“I wish I was handsome and young, so you won’t be alone tonight,” he flirted, bowing his head.
Her smile disappeared. She didn’t want to think about tonight. She would prefer to fantasize about spending time seducing Jake, instead of picking up a stranger just to please her boss. It was something she didn’t do often, but it’d been drummed into her ever since she was picked off the streets that her body was her weapon. Her trainers had taught her to go after targets using the art of seduction.
Jake had known about this. He’d once challenged her while they were at a “party” that he would get her wet just by talking to her. She had been making a circle around the room, making small talk to different people, passing on messages to two weapons dealers. He’ casually joined her in a conversation and in one of those times when they were alone, they’d flirted and he’d palmed her a card with a number when he kissed her hand.
Lola had called as soon as she knew no one was listening. He’d picked up on the second ring.
“It’s me,” was all she’d said and nothing else, as he started talking. After that she’d hung up without a word.
She’d needed a drink and a shower after he finished telling her what he’d do to her. Even now she could recall his softly spoken words—a masculine drawl, with a slight edge—told with that lilt that came with a born storyteller, the slow cadence of mesmerizing promises that were both arousing and terrifying at the same time.
I want to stand you in front of a mirror so I can see your face. I’d undress you—slowly—because every part of you is a treasure to me. I’ll watch you in the mirror too, every part of you revealed to me, finally. Your breasts in my hands, the feel of their weight, the sensation of your nipples hardening as I rub them.
I’ll move my hand down that flat stomach and put it between your legs. You’ll lean back against me and feel my cock hard against your back, wanting you, needing you, like I’ve been doing every fucking time I see you. My hand will learn where to touch to give you pleasure. Wet pleasure. The kind only I can give you because I’ll take the time before I fuck you, Lola. I’ll take the time, watch your face in the mirror, know how many fingers you like, how much pressure to get you to part your legs wider, know how many strokes before you tremble and fall back, so all your weight is on me. I’ll crush you to me as I watch you come, and as you melt, I’ll lean you down against that mirror, so you can watch my cock pushing inside you, my hand still between your legs, still giving you that wet pleasure, and I’ll fuck you hard because I can’t do it slow the first time. Hard and fast and furious, with you watching my cock moving and fingers stroking, feeling me deep inside as you melt around me.
And that’s the beginning. The next thing’s my mouth. You know what I want to do. On your mouth. On your breasts. On your hot, waiting pussy. Tell me I made you play with yourself after you hear this, and I’ll tell you what I plan to do to you with my mouth.
Arousing because no man had ever spoken like that to her before. Seduction had never been from the other side and it’d always been all the act and none of the words. Terrifying because, behind his words, Jake had told her he wanted total control of her body, that he wanted her to let him seduce her. That last part was a leap of faith she’d never learned to take with anyone, and, most of all, with a man.
She’d just have to get through tonight, even though the thought of being with another man, when all she could think of was Jake, made her want to punch something. It was getting harder to compartmentalize her feelings. She’d been very careful these past months not to get distracted because of Jake and she had to plan very, very slowly. She didn’t want her handler to notice anything out of the ordinary.
The one thing that had kept her focused and determined was Jake’s private number. She had continued to call him on a throwaway cell phone just to hear him make those sexy promises. Words. She was being seduced by mere words. They haunted her, teased her, provoked her. Distracted her when she was supposed to be doing her job. When she was supposed to flirt with an assignment, she found herself thinking about Jake instead and wanting to be with him.
Tonight would be the last time, she swore. She wanted to be with Jake and no one else. It was dangerous to put all her trust in his hands, but she would make that leap of faith, fall into his arms and let him take her wherever he wanted. She wanted to be Jake’s woman and only his.