“All right,Solnyshkuh. We’re home and you should feel safe.” He used his gentlest tone but saw Azelie wince and realized his mistake instantly. She hadn’t been safe in her home. She hadn’t been safe with her relatives. None of them, not even the children, had been safe.
She paced across the room. It wasn’t a large area, so there wasn’t much space for her to get away from him. Maestro read her uneasiness without difficulty. He noted that she placed her backpack on a hook just inside the tiny utility closet. He would have to go through that backpack in an effort to find the key to Billows’ underground rooms.
“Take your shoes and jacket off and get comfortable. If you want to change your clothes, I have no problem waiting.” Deliberately, he bent to remove his motorcycle boots. He nearly always wore them, unless he dressed up to play the part of an affluent Russian. He had played many roles to get the job done. Usually, the job was assassination. He was extremely good at his work.
He didn’t look at her, but kept his gaze on his boots, as if his feet hurt and he couldn’t wait to get them off. His boots were very comfortable, but she needed to feel as if she werein control. When he had the boots sitting beside the chair, he stretched out his long legs with a sigh of relief.
She was instantly alert. “We shouldn’t have stayed so long, Andrii. I stayed late because I was talking so much with Celine, but I should have been paying better attention to you.” She hung her jacket in the closet and removed her shoes and socks, taking them to the bedroom and placing them inside another closet.
When she returned, she sent him a small smile. “This apartment is so tiny I’ve learned to utilize all available space. Everything I own has its place. If I leave my shoes or anything else out, I would eventually stumble over them in the middle of the night.”
“You’re wandering. Come over here.”
She sent him a leery look from under her lashes, but she crossed the room to stand in front of his chair.
“I asked you to come to me, Zelie,” he reminded her in his softest, most compelling tone.
She swallowed her nervousness and indicated with her hand she was close. “I’m right here.”
“I see that, but when I tell you I want you to come to me, that means I want you sitting in my lap.” This time he held her gaze captive. He refused to allow her to look away from him.
She pressed her lips together as if to keep from blurting something out, but she obediently stepped close to him. His long, outstretched legs forced her to straddle him. She felt small and curvy in his arms. The heat at the junction of her legs seared right through his jeans. He wrapped one arm around her back to support her, but mostly to keep her anchored to him.
“I believe you owe me something.” He dipped his head to nuzzle her ear and then tug at her earlobe with his teeth. A small bite but it accomplished so much. Goose bumps rose on her skin, and she shivered. Her blue eyes darkened with desire.
“Owe you?” she echoed, sounding confused.
“Kisses, baby. You were going to kiss me to thank me for your surprise, and I had to shut it down to keep you safe. As it was, I had a hell of a hard-on with you winding yourself around me.” He smiled at her and nipped her neck this time. “Seems my control goes right out the window when I’m with you.”
Another shiver went through her body. She squirmed on his lap, right over his cock. He’d flared to life the moment his body felt the heat of hers. He lay beneath her, thick and long and demanding. Andrii made no move to hide his reaction to her.
“Kiss me, baby,” he whispered—an enticement. Meant to be temptation. Was temptation.
Her hands slid up his chest and then she circled his neck with her arms, turning her face up to his. “I’m not sure I know how.”
His heart melted at the whispered admission. Still, she tilted her face and brushed his lips with hers. Light. Barely there. The shock was electric. His pulse jumped. His heart slammed up against his chest. Flames raced through his bloodstream straight to his cock.
Her breath was honey and strawberries. Impossible. When she pressed her lips to his again, the tip of her tongue slid along the seam of his mouth. It felt like a living, burning flame. He gripped her hair, angled her head perfectly and took control. Honey and strawberries gave way to fiery whiskey. The flames rolled down his throat.
Azelie ignited. Detonated. Set him off. The explosion between the two of them was a fiery volcanic storm that built in intensity. The earth rocked beneath them. No joke. It happened. He hadn’t known it could happen, that the world could spin and drop away when the one woman who was your other half kissed you.
She wasn’t experienced in the least, but she followed his lead and surrendered herself to him completely. There was no holding back; she gave him everything. He took it withouthesitation, although he hadn’t planned to follow through, not until they had talked. He wanted her to know exactly what she was getting into with him before she surrendered her body to his keeping.
Maestro wasn’t a man to share intimacy with anyone. Kissing was as intimate as it got, and yet once he had her mouth, the dance of their tongues, the heat poured down his throat, racing like a wildfire out of control straight to his cock. Every nerve ending was awake. He felt alive for the first time. Completely and utterly alive. This woman owned his heart.
He had to feel her skin. There was no going back from this moment. No stopping and slowing down. He was on a runaway freight train rushing down the tracks, and there was no way to put the brakes on. Thunder roared in his ears. Flames ignited in his belly and settled lower. A sinful dark craving rolled through him. Took hold. Those flames branded that addiction deep into his bones. Wrote her name on his heart.
He made short work of the off-the-shoulder top. Azelie didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy trying to pull his shirt off, evidently needing the same thing he did—bare skin. Her lips feathered over his throat, leaving tiny flames behind.
“We’re taking this into the other room.” His voice sounded like a growl, but she didn’t seem to notice as he stood in one smooth motion, holding her to him. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he made his way to the bed, grateful the room was so small, with his aching erection making it difficult to walk.
One knee on the bed, he lowered her bottom to the edge and quickly dispensed with her bra. She was wearing one he’d purchased for her, a sexy demi-cup that held her breasts lovingly. Any other time he would have focused on the sight, savoring the luxury. She had gorgeous breasts. Full and round, with nipples begging for attention.
He pushed her back until she sprawled out in front of him, her silky breasts jutting up at him as he grasped her jeans and panties to draw them down her legs.
“You take my breath away.” It was the truth, and he needed to give her that when the trepidation was creeping back into her eyes.
“I’m afraid. Really scared, Andrii,” she admitted in a little whisper. “Most of the time I feel alone and a bit lost, but when I’m with you, everything is different. I know better than to depend on anyone else, but when I’m with you, I can’t help the way I feel.”
