Taking Sides (ARC Operatives Book 2) (8 page)

It would have been a lie if she’d said it, and they both knew it. She leaned into the warmth of it.

“That’s why he went after you, because he thought you’d kept a copy of the footage and would have been able to make him as a double agent,” Balfour added. Nico’s hand squeezed on her knee gently.

“That doesn’t… okay, well, that makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why Nico’s here with me, and not rotting in an ARC prison cell,” Daria licked her dry lips after she spoke and then sank her fork into the cinnamon bun, not wanting to let it go to waste. She wasn’t exactly hungry, but didn’t want to seem ungrateful.

“I did nothing wrong,” Nico said, he was on edge, and he was looking at her like he was simultaneously willing her to believe him and also daring her to challenge him. They hadn’t had a talk, but she was willing enough to listen with an open mind, make up her decision once she’d heard the full story.

“That’s not even a question now, Novik, so settle down,” Rykov bit out. Her eyes were soft as she looked at the younger augmented, and Daria could tell that Rykov felt bad for him in her own way. “The footage placed you at the camp only once when we weren’t expecting you-“

“I saw movement, similar to what I can do, and I knew it was Russi. He is the only other augmented with speed as I have, and there was no reason for him to be in the camp at that time. He should have been back at base, monitoring the computers and watching Daria’s back,” Nicolai’s words were increasingly bitter, and Daria pulled her arm out to place a gentle hand over his where it rested on her knee.

“Right. You’ll file your official statement once things have settled, but I think given that the only one claiming you’re an associate is Russi, and the rest of the crew we picked up didn’t even know who the hell you were when we had them try to ID you, I think we can all safely assume you weren’t involved,” Balfour was soothing as he spoke, and Nico calmed somewhat. Daria looked at him, wondering if he would ever forgive her for thinking the worst of him, and knew deep down… he would. If she would forgive him for his rough treatment of her, their not-break-up. That was something to be discussed later, when Rykov and Balfour were gone.

“Good,” Nico grumbled and then leaned into Daria, wrapping a possessive arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him.

“It all seems very simple,” Daria said, looking from one of her senior agents to the other. Balfour shrugged and Rykov looked at her nails.

“It’s not the full story, but we’ll get that out of Russi. He’s been with ARC for a long time, and I’m not sure that he’s been a double agent for his entire tenure. Something caused him to snap, switch sides, and why he picked an environmental group is beyond me. That man is a red-meat devouring, big-truck driving sterotype, so it doesn’t seem like his crew,” Rykov said and then bumped Balfour’s knee with her fist. “C’mon, let’s let these two patch things up between them. You and I have paperwork. Lots, and lots of paperwork.”

Balfour cursed under his breath and slowly got to his feet. Daria made a move to follow, but Nico held her tight, not letting her shift an inch. Rykov smirked at that.

“You behave yourself,” Balfour admonished them both and then moved towards the door.

“I will let you out,” Nico said but made no move to get up. Rykov laughed at that.

“No you won’t. Stay with your girl, the door will lock just fine behind us.”

CHAPTER NINE

Despite Rykov’s assurance that the door would lock after they left, Nico was a blur as he got off the couch and checked it. Daria’s hair fluffed up as he breezed back to her in a heartbeat and had her tangled in his arms before she could protest.

“Hey, we seriously-“ Daria squirmed and got herself out of his grip, pushing up against the side of the couch to look at him. “We need to talk.”

Nico’s expression was shadowed as he watched her, and Daria felt her stomach turn off. What did he expect? She wasn’t going to embarrass him in front of their senior agents, but that didn’t mean he was off the hook. He had some serious explaining to do.

“
Mila
,” he started and then took a deep, huffing breath, “I should have told you about Russi, how he trained me and mentored me during the initial phase of receiving my augmentation.” Nico’s words were stilted as he spoke, but Daria didn’t reach out to him to comfort him like her whole body was telling her to do.

He needed to get it all out before she’d make her decision. It was clear he wanted her back, that didn’t even need saying since he’d hustled her to his apartment and cocooned her in his bed. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to be back, as much as the thought of leaving him made her heart shiver.

“Yeah but that’s like, just the start of it. You were a dick the day we got our assignment, and then the entire time we were on it, you barely spoke to me. I knew something was up, and you knew I knew, but you didn’t even… you couldn’t say it to me.” Daria crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into the couch to watch him. He was shifting, his shoulders hunched. His normally sprawling, muscled body was almost curled inward on himself and she felt a pang of guilt.

Was it really fair to put him through this? He’d saved her, once in her apartment, and then again when he’d tried to rescue her from Russi during the extraction. Throwing himself into the side of the van had been the only way he’d known how to get attention to the fact he wasn’t guilty, but Russi was… since he hadn’t had use of his hands, and explaining it apparently was taken it too long.

It hadn’t worked, but he still got points for trying.

“Russi was… not an easy trainer to work with,” Nico said, his voice and expression dark. “I could not help but be jealous, and angry that you were with him and not with me. He did not like me, and I knew from the way he looked at you he would try something. I was sure of it. When I saw him on you in your apartment… Daria… I could not even think…”

Daria couldn’t help but remember the steamy kiss she’d shared with Russi after she had thought Nicolai was done with her… and guilt ricocheted around in her gut.

Nico frowned as he watched her.

“You look…” he trailed off and then his lips pressed together in a thin line. “What did he do?” His eyebrows pulled together and he looked ready to race off to ARC headquarters and start tearing Russi limb from limb.

Daria ducked her head and couldn’t help the shiver that ran through her body.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” her voice was small and she hated how weak she sounded. “I mean, yes, he touched me when he was searching me, but before that, in the cabin. We kissed.” Her cheeks were flushed with shame and she looked up at him, waiting for him to order her out of his apartment, to tell her she was a slut and he wanted nothing to do with her.

Nicolai was eerily quiet and still, his blue eyes piercing as he stared at her.

“He took advantage of you,” he rumbled after a long quiet moment. Daria’s heart panged in her chest and she shook her head.

“No, I kissed him back,” she insisted. Nico looked away and glowered before closing his eyes.

“He was a clever man, and knew the right words to say and the right things to do to make a woman…” his words died off and guilt settled into the pit of her stomach. “I should have explained to you from the beginning,” he whispered, his hands fisting uselessly in his lap. “It is my fault for not trusting you with my concerns. I thought you would believe me to be jealous, to be a fool, that you would laugh at me, that-“

Daria moved, leaning forward, and pressed a finger to his lips.

“Never,” she said, “I will never laugh at you, not for your gut feeling on things.” He slowly looked at her again, then in a blur his arms were around her and he had yanked her against his chest.

Her ear was pressed over his heart and she could hear it’s beat, faster than normal even for him. Then she noticed he was shaking. His hands ran up and down her spine, stroking over the fabric of her shirt.

“I’m sorry,” he said, nuzzling his face into the top of her head, his breath hot through her hair. The way things had gone, she wasn’t sure he really had all that much to apologize for anymore. She bit her lip and clung to him, letting her eyes sink shut as she just enjoyed his warmth and the bulk of his chest against her.

She felt like she wanted to sleep for a week wrapped up in his arms. Still, she tilted her head up, keeping her eyes closed and hoped he’d kiss her.

The first brush of his mouth on hers, soft and hesitant, send spirals of excitement rolling down her shoulders. She shivered through a whole body shake and he kissed her again, harder this time. His lips parted over hers and they were both gone, lost in each other.

Her tongue found his and he made a noise that curled arousal tight like a bud between her thighs. It suddenly didn’t matter what they had or hadn’t fought about, and the stress of the last week melted away as he licked at her mouth with a familiar hunger she’d missed so badly.

“Daria,
Mila
, I was so afraid to lose you,” he was breathing hard as he spoke, his mouth just an inch from hers like he didn’t want to pull away too far. She blinked in the soft light that filtered through his apartment’s windows and threw her arms around his neck, shifting up on her knees so she could be more on his level as she kissed him again.

Each wet, messy exchange was a burning brand on her heart, made her hips grind into his stomach. She wanted it, wanted him, could feel that she was getting wet already under the light blue sleep shorts she’d been wearing. The thin cotton did nothing to disguise the dampness when Nicolai’s hand went exploring over her thigh and then sunk between her legs.

She felt him smile against her mouth, and couldn’t help the blush that sprawled across her face when he pulled back and gave her a look that was pure smug lust.

“You get that shit-eating grin off your face, Nicolai,” she hissed, and then hiccuped a moan when he twisted his fingers into the loose open leg hole and stroked against her bare pussy.

“But
Mila
, you love it,” he teased, his voice hot and full of smoke as he split her open with the flat of his palm, rubbing up along her folds. His thumb tucked in between them and caught on her entrance, his touch a circling threat before he slid it home inside her. She couldn’t help the way her back wanted to bow, his touch perfect and the feel of his thick thumb inside her melting her after so many days of stress and loneliness.

“Oh, fuck,” she mewled the curse out, embarrassed over how ruined she sounded when he’d barely started touching her. His mouth found the side of her neck and he kissed her there, tongue running hot lines over the delicate dip of her throat.

She was close already, the anxiety and strain making her whole body shudder and she gave in to his slow massaging touches and let the first warmth of her orgasm roll over her. He made a noise of complaint when her nails dug into his skin and she scratched at him as she hit her peak, but she was too busy trying to remember how to breathe.

“Oh hell that was so good, so good, Nico,” she huffed out as her body sagged into his. His fingers were still between her thighs, stroking over her idly and teasing the slick skin he found. She whined in protest when his thumb teased over the tense bud of her clit, too sensitive to put up with much stimulation. “Stop,” she curled her stomach away from him, bending her back to try to escape his touch. He just chuckled into her hair and kept touching her despite her protests.

“I have many wrongs to make amends for, Daria,” he insisted when she shoved at him a little harder. Apparently that meant teasing her past the edge and onto another orgasm. Heat blossomed all through her stomach and she gave up trying to fight him, instead letting her hips roll with his smooth touches as he began finger fucking her.

“God yes, so many wrongs,” she breathed out, and then shifted to she could lay back on the couch. He moved over her without a word, hands finding her thighs and pushing them up against her chest. He kissed the back of one, tongue trailing down over it and then-

She gasped when his tongue vibrated over the delicate spot where her thigh met the curve of her ass. It was so good, even after a month she hadn’t tired of his ridiculous augmented party trick, and she couldn’t wait until he got his mouth on her properly and took her apart with his fast moving tongue.

“I don’t think I can handle that right now,” she blurted out when his lips found the seam of her shorts and mouthed over her through them. Nico lifted his head, his hair falling in his eyes and he just grinned. Then his hands were in her shorts and they were on the ground before she could even blink. He was over her in another breath, his clothing gone from the waist down.
Oh
, she shivered at the hot smooth length of his cock pressing up into her.

“Are you sure you are ready?” he asked, but he was teasing her since he had to be able to feel how wet she was against him. He was smirking, and she whimpered as the head of his cock slid into her with a slick noise. Daria scrunched her eyes shut.

“Hard, please,” she begged, “don’t make me wait.” She needed him, desperately needed to feel him moving inside her. She cried out and arched up as he held her thighs down and thrust into her fully, sheathing the fully hard length of his cock inside her. Oh god it felt so good, so complete. Her mind scrambled for words to describe it, to make sense of it, but he was pinning her down and fucking her hard and fast, and she was gone.