Tales of Chills and Thrills: The Mystery Thriller Horror Box Set (7 Mystery Thriller Horror Novels) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Nicki. She teased, she flirted, but there was an unmistakable innocence about her that unfortunately was as big a turn-on as her wanton winks and sassy mouth. And then, God help him, there was Yuri Petrakov. Yuri was the one man who’d seen past the cocky sixteen-year-old hardened killer; he’d dragged Rafe out of a gutter that would have swallowed him whole before he reached his seventeenth birthday. And then Yuri trusted him with his Nikita, the person the gruff man loved more than anything in the world.
    With a groan, he lifted her off his thigh trying to ignore the fragrant dampness she’d imprinted there. Rafe pulled her up close to him and pressed her cheek against his chest.
    “Nicki, we can’t do this.”
    His voice was as ragged as he felt. He forced himself to look in her eyes, to acknowledge her shock. His heart ached when first disbelief then pain took the place of her agonized surprise.
    He sighed.
    “Nicki, this isn’t about you, this is all about me. We can’t do this. It’s not right. I can’t take you like this. God knows I want to, but I can’t.”
    Tears welled up in her eyes. Christ, if he could have, he would have kicked his own ass. Her lips were trembling and she was clinging to him… she would fall if he didn’t hold her up.
    “Was it…something I did? I’m sorry; I’m not… very….”
    He shook his head vehemently. Knowing how it must feel to kick a puppy, he knew he had to break the chain of desire between them. He’d need to hurt her now to keep from hurting her more in the future.
    “Look, Nicki. I’m going to be honest. You’re not the kind of woman I fuck. It’s as simple as that. Plus, I’m your boss. It’s wrong. I apologize for letting this get out of hand.”
    Longing to look away from the dazed pain on her face, he built one lie on top of the other and took the cowardly way out.
    “You were right, Princess. I did have too much scotch tonight. Unfortunately, what you got was the scotch talking, not me. Again, my apologies.”
    She visibly swallowed. He breathed a slight sigh of relief when the desolation on her face began to crumble and anger moved in. He could handle her anger. He welcomed it. He deserved it and a hell of a lot more. What he couldn’t look at another minute was her devastation.
    He walked to his desk and grabbed for his cigarette case. Facing her, he leaned back against the edge of the desk and made a production of lighting his smoke. He forced himself to look at her swollen lips, her flushed cheeks, her cloud of disheveled hair. She smoothed her wrinkled dress over her thighs and wrestled the top of her dress up over her breasts.
    He took a long drag off of his cigarette and gazed at her through the curtain of smoke.
    “Good night, Nicki. I’ll see you in the morning. Seven o’clock sharp.”
    He turned away hunting for an ashtray. When he turned back, she was gone. The hole in the empty doorway wasn’t nearly as big as the one in his gut.

 
Chapter 5
    Chapter 5
    Nicki stumbled back to her room, not sure how she got there. Later she remembered unlocking the door then collapsing inside. She didn’t know how long she crouched in the corner too shocked to move. Little by little she acknowledged what had happened. Rafe had come on to her in a way she didn’t dream possible. He had kissed her, touched her, pushed her up a ladder of pleasure she’d never climbed before. And God help her, she had responded. She’d whimpered, cried out, begged him not to stop. But he did. Then he’d kicked the ladder out from under her and she’d come crashing down. He’d pushed her away. Told her that it was mistake. That if he hadn’t had so much to drink, he never would have… have made her feel things she had never felt before? No it was worse. He said that she wasn’t the kind of woman he fucked. Not hard to guess what he meant by that!
    At first she was too stunned to feel, to sort out what had happened. At length, her pain turned to rage. She