Page 27 of Sinner's Sacrifice
She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, then let it out again. Her eyes opened. She nodded at him then stepped over the bodies to reach the door. She opened it slowly and stepped into the doorway.
“C...can y...you come inside, sir,” she said, keeping her head down with only a couple of quick looks up. “There’s some...something you need to see.”
She looked and sounded utterly terrified. Perfect.
The Leech’s cackle almost drowned out his footsteps as he approached the motel room. “Find something interesting, did they?”
Sam backed up, the terror on her face making Yvgeny want to charge forward, to get between her and the threat.
He made himself stand still and wait.
Because he was the threat.
Sam tripped over one of the bodies and landed on another one. With a cry, she scrambled to get away from the dead men.
The Leech laughed.
Maybe he thought the body had been Yvgeny’s, but as the asshole stepped into the room, and he caught sight of all three bodies, his face registered surprise for two long seconds before transforming into an uncontrolled rage.
He glanced around the room, and as his head turned toward Yvgeny, Yvgeny threw his knife.
It slid neatly through the Leech’s left eye and into his brain.
The man collapsed in a heap.
Sam let out a muffled scream and scrambled backward until she hit the bed. Breathing heavily, she stared at the Leech’s corpse for one...two...three seconds.
This was it. She was going to turn her horrified, disgusted gaze on him, and he’d never get the knowledge of how much she feared him out of his head.
Yvgeny braced himself for her inevitable reaction. Braced himself against the terror and fear he was going to see on her face. Braced himself against never knowing what her kiss would taste like.
Sam shot to her feet, and with a growl, kicked the Leech’s body.
She kept on kicking him, over and over, until her shoes were soaked with his blood and it was splattered all over her clothes. Kicking until Yvgeny strode over, took her by the shoulders and pulled her away.
“He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone else,” he whispered in her ear.
Her body vibrated with tension and anger. “He forced you to kill those three men, to kill him,” she said in a hiss. “He was a horrible human being!”
“Well, that’s true, I suppose. He’s been doing this sort of thing for a long time. He just hadn’t met anyone who could fight back and win before.”
She looked down at her bloody shoes and clothes and let out a groan. “This is my fault. I started this whole mess.”
That was true, but he didn’t think it would be wise for him to agree with her out loud.
She spun in his arms, leaned forward, wrapped her arms around his waist, and planted her face against his chest.
Yvgeny froze, uncertain as to how he should respond. Her scent surrounded him, lulled him, and made him want to take in deep lungful’s of it. Her body was warm and soft against his, but unlike when they were in the elevator, his need for her now was a gentler thing. A yearning for her to hold him like this every day.
That slow, deep desire was more dangerous to him than any other weapon on the planet.
He didn’t give a flying fuck if it killed him. He had never wanted anyone for himself before. Not like this, not like with Samantha.
He’d always kept himself apart, for the sake of the family. He was the rational one, the calm one, the one man who could be counted on to clean up the various messes his family members created. It left no room for him to invest time, compassion, or care in anyone else.
He’d sacrificed his own happiness in order to stay hidden, to stay alive.
He hadn’t known what happiness truly felt like until now. Now, it was seeing Samantha’s face, her scent filling his head, her body pressed against his.