Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1) (27 page)

“I like your place,” Violet whispered.

Kaz’s lips moved against her skin when he said, “I know you
do, but you should see more than just the walls of my apartment. Do something
with me other than hide away in my bedroom.”

“I like that, too.”

He chuckled, deep and heady. “Keep that up and I’ll run us
over there. I’m pretty confident I can get us there in under ten minutes.”

Grinning, Violet pushed away from his side. He said nothing
when she kicked off her suede, booted heels, letting her feet sink into wet,
cold sand.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I want to check the water.”

“It’s going to be freezing.”

The air had a chill as it was late fall, and winter would
be coming soon, but it wasn’t bad.

“Violet,” Kaz said, half amused and half warning, “do not
go into that water.”

She wasn’t listening. Before Kaz could reach out and grab
her again, she was already heading toward the water lapping at the pier. Her
toes hit cold water first, but her feet and ankles quickly followed when a
small rush moved up the sand.

Kaz was right.

It was like ice had been poured onto her skin.

Still, Violet didn’t move. Her dress rested just above her
knees, high enough not to worry about it getting wet. The stinging sensation of
the freezing water eventually dulled to the point it was bearable.

But she didn’t care.

Spinning around, she faced Kaz.

He just shook his head, still leaning against the car and
watching her like she was the most important thing to grace his presence for
the day.

“How long are you going to stand out there freezing your
feet off?” he asked.

“Maybe until you come get me.”

Kaz made a dismissive sound. “You’ll be waiting for a long
time. I know how cold that water is.”

“But what if the water got really high, really fast?”

“It won’t.”

“But what if?” she pressed.

Kaz sighed. “I suppose I would have to come out and get
you.”

“Don’t sound so excited about saving my life, now.”

In a blink, his amused features hardened, turning cold.
“Violet, had I thought there was any risk to your life, you wouldn’t be
standing in that water in the first place.”

Oh.

For something that was as sweet and protective as that
statement had been, Kaz had spoken it rather candidly and with a sobering
quality that edged the words.

Violet turned back around, watching another rush of water
come in and lap at her ankles. It was enough to send her flying out of the
water, as the prickling sensation of the coldness was too much on her legs for
a second round. Kaz laughed at her until she was all the way back up to the
front of the Porsche, and far away from the water’s cold touch.

“Told you,” he said, smug as fuck.

Violet shot him a playful glare as she bent down to put her
shoes back on. She didn’t even get the chance to grab the first shoe before she
was lifted off the ground. She only realized what happened when her backside
met the hood of the Porsche, and Kaz’s smirk filled her vision once more.

“What are you—”

Violet’s words drifted away when Kaz pulled one of her legs
up, and his hands closed around her freezing foot. Over and over, he rubbed his
palms against her cold skin until the stinging sensation was gone and it didn’t
hurt as much. He did the same to her other foot without a word, seemingly
unbothered by the sand getting all over his suit and her dress.

“I may not get in the water for you, but I will certainly
warm you up after,” he told her.

“I’ll take that deal.”

By the time Kaz was satisfied he had sufficiently warmed
Violet up again, he dropped her feet and stepped in between her widened legs.

“This was nice,” she said.

Kaz’s hands landed on her thighs, skipping up under the hem
of her dress just enough to make her grin. “What was?”

“This. Pretty decent, for a second date, I think.”

“I didn’t say this was a date.”

“It’s kind of like one.”

“When was the first?” he asked, a smile growing.

“The diner.”

“Ah.” Kaz tipped his head down, his nose touching hers a
second before his lips grazed her mouth softly. “We kind of did things
backward, no?”

“How so?”

“Get to know someone. Date them. That sort of thing. We did
it all backward.”

“I don’t mind,” Violet whispered against his lips.

Kaz kissed her again. “Me, either.”

“By the way …”

His mouth hesitated against the path it was starting to
make down her jaw. “What?”

“You were right.”

“I usually am, but enlighten me.”

Violet squeezed her thighs around his hips, forcing him
closer. “Smartass. The picture. I sent it knowing it wouldn’t be innocent for
you. After all, you took far too much enjoyment putting that bite mark there.”

Kaz let out a hard breath, the warmth pulsing along her
neck. “Yeah.”

She let her hands travel down his chest, lower to his
stomach, and then grazing over the front of his slacks, barely touching where
she knew he was hard and likely aching.

“Care to make me another?”

Violet smiled when she felt Kaz’s teeth bare to her cheek.
“Like a matching set?”

“We can go with that.”

“Don’t tempt me,” he warned quietly.

“No tempting. Demanding. I like seeing it.”

“In that case …”

Kaz’s mouth crashed down on Violet’s as his fingers dug
into her thighs, keeping her firmly in place and her legs wide. She gasped his
name in a breathy laugh, earning her a nip of his teeth to her bottom lip as
his hands traveled higher under her dress.

He fisted the sides of her panties, yanking on the fabric
until she lifted just high enough for him to pull them down her legs.

The cold air danced along her skin, but it was hard to
notice when she was hot under Kaz’s wandering hands and mouth. His lips touched
down to her cheek, over her jaw, and across her neck. He tasted each and every
spot he kissed with a strike of his tongue to her flesh, pulling her even
closer until she rested at the very edge of the hood.

“Someone has to break this damn car in,” he said, his gaze
darkening as he looked her over.

Violet wet her lips, reaching for the button of his pants.
“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“You haven’t yet?”

“Didn’t want to,” Kaz said before he kissed her again.

Violet let him dominate the kiss, tilting her head back and
parting her lips to let his tongue slip in with hers. There was something about
the way he kissed her, so hot and hard, and always taking, that she liked the
most.

She was only slightly aware of the pier, and where they
were. The shadows kept her nerves at bay as he bunched her skirt up around her
hips, and his hand slipped between her thighs. Firm swipes of his fingertips
grazed her sex, making her rock into his hand and whimper for more.

A touch wasn’t enough.

She knew exactly what he could do.

And a touch wasn’t even the tip of that iceberg.

“Shh,” Kaz shushed against her heated skin.

Violet sighed the second his fingers swept over her bare
pussy for a second time. She found her chin in his hand, her head tipped up,
and his eyes seeking hers as two of those fingers thrust into her core, fast
and deep. His thumb flicked up at the same time, pressing hard to her clit. A
knowing grin spread Kaz’s lips as he drew her mouth closer to his, and his hand
worked between her legs.

“So fucking wet,” he told her.

Violet’s throat felt tight, like someone was squeezing it.
She didn’t mind the pressure, and she didn’t need to talk. He liked her sounds
far better, anyway. And each little cry that escaped as she rocked into his
fingers, his grin only deepened as he urged her on for more.

“Louder, Violet.”

She whined low.

“Let me see it,” he pressed.

Another thrust of his fingers, a quick press of his thumb,
and she was there.

“
Kaz
.”

Her shout of his name echoed across the quiet beach. As
fast as she had let it out, and the first waves of her orgasm began to flood
her body, he muffled whatever sounds she might make next by kissing her. Violet
panted into that kiss, stunned at how quickly her body had reacted to his
touch.

“Shit, yeah,” Kaz said, smirking as he kissed the corner of
her mouth. “I don’t think there’s anything quite like the sight of you getting
off on my car, Violet.”

She blinked away the haziness in her vision, grabbing his
shirt in her fist to pull him closer. His forehead rested to hers, and for a
short while, they stayed still and quiet like that.

Watching.

Touching.

Silent.

When his fingers pressed into her inner thighs, Violet
widened her legs, a soft moan falling from her lips.

“More?” he asked.

“More,” she demanded.

Their next movements came out rushed and harsh as she
worked at the zipper and button on his pants. Kaz’s hands were already at the
back of her neck, ripping down the zipper of her dress, and pulling the
clothing over her shoulders until it pooled at her stomach.

Her heels dug into his lower back when she finally freed
his cock from his boxer-briefs. She barely had his pants shoved down around his
hips before he was spreading her thighs wider—wide enough to make her muscles
protest and ache.

“Jesus,” Violet ground out through clenched teeth.

In her palms, his cock was hard and pulsing with every fast
beat of his heart. She only let go of his length when his hand wrapped around
the base.

Kaz’s free hand came up fast, his thumb catching her bottom
lip and making her mouth open. “Palms on the hood, Violet.”

She’d been watching him through her lashes, but those words
made her eyes widen.

“Now,” he added lower.

She didn’t entirely understand why he didn't want her hands
on him while he fucked her, but she listened to what he said, anyway, putting
her hands down to the hood on either side of her body. She sucked in a sharp
breath as he ran the head of his cock from her clit down to her entrance.

There was no pause between the brief moment when he was
there, at her slit, and when he was pushing in.

One hard, deep thrust was all it took. The shock of that
first thrust was brutal to Violet as he filled her full and stretched her open.
She was wet enough to ease the intrusion, but it still took her breath away all
the same. The slight bite of pain danced hand in hand with the bliss, and her
lashes fluttered closed.

“Watch me,” she heard him growl.

Violet’s gaze snapped open instantly, but instead of Kaz’s
eyes, she was drawn down to where he was watching. Between their bodies, the
sight of his cock buried almost all the way in her sex, and her arousal smeared
along the base of his cock and her thighs. His hand was still holding tight to
the base of his length, but a tremor skipped over his fingers.

Her fingers clenched against the hood of the car, the cold
metal doing little to soothe the fire sweeping her senses.

Kaz let go of his cock, grabbed her thigh, and flexed
forward, giving Violet that last couple of inches that he’d been holding back.

And it was heaven.

“Fuck,” he mumbled.

Violet’s gaze flew up to find his, a cry breaking free from
her throat.

A long groan fell from Kaz’s lips as they parted.  His
jaw was tight, a tick showing each time he swallowed. Violet was damn sure she
had never seen him look more free, more content … never sexier than right then,
as deep as he could be inside her, fucking her on the hood of his car.

Never.

Violet pressed her heels into his lower back again. “Fuck
me.”

Kaz breathed deep. “Hands stay on the hood.”

She nodded once, and that was apparently all he needed
before he pulled out, and thrust right back in again. When his hand tangled
into the hair at the nape of her neck, tugging firm enough to stretch her neck
bare for him, she finally understood why he wanted her hands on the hood and
not on him.

She needed support.

Something to keep her steady.

Because all he wanted to do was fuck her there like that.

Raw. Hard.
Fast
.

And it was wonderful.

“Y
ou know,” Kaz said as
he took a seat at the bar in his kitchen, drifting his eyes over Violet’s
backside as she was bent over, rummaging through his fridge, “I could get used
to this.”

“There’s nothing in here, Kaz, besides milk that went bad a
week ago and a bag of shredded cheese. How have you survived this long on your
own?”

“Vera usually brings whatever I need, but now that you’re
coming around here, I told her I would hire someone to do it—it was a waste of
her gas anyway. Now, what are you in the mood for? I know a great place that
makes French toast.”

“Just order me whatever you’re getting. I’m going to go use
your shower.”

Kaz had already dialed the place, his phone to his ear, as
he watched her walk past him. “Was that an invitation?”

She didn’t even look back as she said, “Yep.”

Violet was going to be the death of him.

Kaz finished his call rather quickly, and since they had a
good twenty-five minutes before the food would show, he decided to make the
best use of that time. The shower was already going, and he could just imagine
her standing beneath that spray of water … but before his mind could properly
seize on that image, there was a hard knock at the front door.

It couldn’t be the food, no one’s fucking delivery time was
that great, and he knew it wasn’t anyone that answered to him because they knew
better than to just show up at his place unannounced.

There were only two people that would, and as he crossed
the short distance between where he was sitting and the front door, he hoped
that it wasn’t Vasily.

Looking through the peephole, he saw Ruslan standing on the
other side. He chanced a look back, still hearing the shower going.

One thing about his brother, he wouldn’t have come up
without having checked to see that Kaz’s car was parked down in the lot, so he
couldn’t pretend like he wasn’t home. He had no choice but to let him in and
hope that he was there just to deliver a message.

Swinging the door open, Kaz stood in the threshold,
uncaring that he was only clad in a pair of boxer-briefs. “Now’s not a good
time, Rus.”

“When is it ever a good time for you, brother?” When he
still didn’t move, Ruslan frowned. “Are you going to make me stand out here?”

Reluctantly, Kaz shifted to the side, waving for him to
come in as he peeked out the door to make sure he was alone.

“Is there a reason you’re acting so strange?” Ruslan asked
from behind him, getting comfortable on his couch. Then, almost seconds after
the question was out of his mouth, Ruslan’s head tilted as he listened, his
smile growing. “So it’s true then. You’re seeing someone.”

“Yes,” Kaz said, not adding anything more than that. “Next
time, when I’m not pressed for time, you can meet her.”

But that wouldn’t happen. Not ever.

If they were two different people, or maybe just in a
different life, Kaz wouldn’t have hesitated in introducing the two. He didn’t
doubt that Ruslan would have liked her, and once someone got past that gruff
outer shell that Ruslan always had up, it was clear that he was a good guy.

“What’s the issue?” Ruslan asked, that teasing quality to
his tone fading away. “You keeping your secrets from the
bratva
is one
thing, but you’ve never hidden anything from me. Why are you now?”

Kaz glanced in the direction of his bedroom, hearing the
shower finally cut off making his heart kick up a notch. Looking back to his
brother, Kaz said, “Don’t … Don’t make me lie to you.”

“Why would you need to? Shit Kaz, who the fuck do you—”
Ruslan paused, his expression shifting. “You didn’t ...”

“Ruslan, walk away.”

“Fuck having to lie to me,” Ruslan said as he got to his
feet. “That’s the least of your concerns. If who’s back there is who I
think
is back there, you’re begging for a fucking funeral.”

“I—”

“Don’t,” Ruslan cut him off, not giving him the chance to
get another word out. “Whatever excuse, whatever bullshit reasoning that you’ve
fed yourself into thinking that this would work out, don’t give me that.
Because that … whatever it is you have with her, it’s not going to end well.
For either of you. And the last thing I want to do is bury you because of it.
Walk away, Kazimir, before you’re not able to.”

“I can’t do that,” Kaz said, making sure his brother heard
every word. “She’s under my skin, and I want to keep her that way.”

Ruslan didn’t say anything, not for a long time, and
whatever he saw in Kaz’s face had him shaking his head. “You’re serious, aren’t
you?”

But that question didn’t require an answer, not when the
evidence of it was behind the closed door of his bedroom.

“Is she worth the trouble that’s going to come your way?”
Ruslan asked, then smiled, the sight of it breaking up the tension in the room.
“Because your ass isn’t.”

Laughing, Kaz shook his head. “She wouldn’t be here if she
wasn’t.”

“Right. Call me later, once you’re actually alone.” Ruslan
said opening the front door, startling the delivery man that stood ready to
knock on the other side. “Be careful out there, Kaz.”

Ruslan disappeared down the hall, boarding the elevator
once the doors opened. Once he had grabbed the food and tipped the man, he
closed the door, dropping the bag on the counter.

Standing there, it was almost like a weight was lifted from
his chest. He couldn’t explain why Ruslan knowing almost felt like a good thing
to him.

Even as he was glad for it, it was just another reminder
that this wasn’t going to be easy for them.

Ruslan had reacted as Kaz expected, calmer even.

And that only meant that everyone else’s reactions would be
exactly as he thought.

Violent.

Violet listened in the bedroom doorway as the apartment
quieted of voices. She kept clutching the large beach-sized towel around her
body, not sure if she should run back to the bathroom and lock herself in, or
just stay where she was for another minute or two.

Just to be safe.

In all the many times she had come to Kaz’s place, no one
had ever interrupted their time. Not during the evenings, and certainly not in
the mornings. Sure, he’d gotten calls—work, she suspected, for his father—but
it had never been so immediately important that he needed to leave her there
and handle it.

Kaz had never warned her that someone might show up,
either, and she strongly believed that was because he didn’t think someone
would without prior notice. Violet might not know every little detail about
Kaz, his business, or his family, but she knew enough.

Enough to say he wouldn’t put her in that kind of situation
if he could help it.

“Violet?” she heard him yell from the kitchen.

She started on the spot, brought out of her thoughts with a
bang.

“Yeah?” Violet called back.

“I know you’re waiting back there. It’s safe.”

“I’m indecent at the moment.”

She swore he was smirking in that fucking way of his when
he replied, “And that makes a difference how?”

“Let me pull something on, Kaz.”

“You’re no fun this morning.”

Violet let him have his complaints as she bolted back for
the bathroom. Knowing she had to at least try to preserve the cleanliness of
her blue lace dress from the night before—the damn thing needed to be dry-cleaned,
not just shoved into a washer—she snagged a red, plain cotton T-shirt from
Kaz’s closet, and pulled on a pair of clean boy-shorts from her messenger bag.

At least she was remembering to keep an extra pair of those
on hand, now.

Violet eventually made her way back to the kitchen, tossing
Kaz a sly grin when she caught his gaze roving over her figure before she took
a seat at the bar.

He already had the bags of food emptied, and the containers
waiting to be opened. Violet grabbed one he pushed toward her, plucking up a
plastic fork to go with it.

She couldn’t help but notice how he didn’t say a thing
about his visitor.

“Kaz?”

“Hmm?”

“Your brother was here,” she said, never taking her gaze
off her French Toast.

“He was,” Kaz replied at the same level.

“And I take it … he knows now.”

“Ruslan has a pretty good idea, yes.”

Fantastic.

Violet didn’t want to be worried about the fact Ruslan
knew, given that Kaz seemed so unbothered by it all, but the panic was still
welling in her gut and spilling into her throat.

One person might lead to two, and then three.

She glanced up to find Kaz watching her, and she wasn’t the
least bit surprised. He always watched her like that whenever he could, but
especially when he thought she wasn’t looking at him. Almost liked he enjoyed
the sight of her when she was inside her thoughts, unaware and quiet.

Violet liked it a lot—she liked it a little more each time
she caught him doing it, and he didn’t look away.

She didn’t have the first clue what to make of that at all.

To feel like she was important—significant—to Kaz, simply
because she graced him with her very person, and her time, and he didn’t ask
for more.

People always wanted more.

“You know,” Kaz started to say, tossing his fork into his
container, “you always get a little dimple in your right cheek whenever you
think too much, or you’re frustrated.”

Violet’s brow lifted at his admission. “Do I?”

“Among other things.”

“Like what?”

“We’ll stick with the dimple, because it’s the most
obvious,” Kaz said in a murmur. “And I wouldn’t be very good at my profession
if I weren’t capable of reading body language. So what I might notice, someone
else probably wouldn’t, or if they did, they would overlook it as nothing
unusual.”

Violet licked her bottom lip, trying to relax the tension
in her shoulders.

“Still there,” Kaz said after a moment.

“I’m nervous.”

“Because of my brother.”

“Aren’t you?” she asked.

“That Ruslan will run to the first person he can and spill
what he knows about me? Not highly. Not at all.”

Oh.

“Why?”

Kaz smiled, softer than usual. “Because I know my
brat
,
that’s all.”

Violet had a feeling there was more to the story, but she
let him have his secrets. She still had a few of her own, after all. But it
seemed like all Kaz had to do was prompt and press in just the right ways, and
she couldn’t hold a thing back.

“Still, he’s just the first person to know,” Violet said
softly.

Kaz’s jaw tightened briefly. “You know who I am, yes?”

“Uh, yes?”

“And you know who you are, obviously.”

Violet sighed. “Kaz, get to the point.”

Kaz shrugged. “We’ve known from the beginning that this was
going to continue one of two ways, Violet.”