He kisses along my collarbone before dipping lower, being careful to not pull my shirt too low.
“Valeri,” I whisper again, feeling the orgasm start to build to the breaking point.
“I’ve got you,lapochka.” He gives me one more rub, pushing me over the edge before he presses his lips to my skin and sucks hard while my body bucks up to his. Grasping his head, I tighten my legs around him as my back arches up and everything else fades away except the man who’s completely transformed my life, and it’s only his body that’s keeping me from floating right up to the damn sky.
When I start to slowly come down, he murmurs against my skin, “You have no idea how badly I wish I could keep you here all day, giving you orgasm after orgasm until you can’t even remember your name.”
I run my hands through his thick, dark hair, unable to stop the goofy grin from spreading across my face. He gives me one more kiss before lifting his head. Running his finger over the skin he just sucked, I look down at the deep purple hickey he’s given me. I’m no stranger to bruises, but this is the first one I’ve ever been happy to see.
“When you look in the mirror, this is the bruise I want you to focus on.” He reaches a hand up to brush my cheek. “This one you don’t see. Only mine. Do you understand?”
I nod my head.
“The only marks you should ever have on your body are ones that I’ve given you,lapochka, and I can’t tell you how much it pisses me off to know that another man has dared to mark your beautiful skin.”
He shakes his head softly, and the pained look on his face surprises me. I figured he wouldn’t be thrilled to know my dad sometimes hits me, but I hadn’t expected him to genuinely be upset by it. Aside from Gale, no one else ever has been.
“I’ll be fine,” I tell him. “Most of the time I can avoid him.”
“I don’t suppose you’d let me get you out of there?”
When I try to sit up, he scoots back to give me room. The dark grey Henley shirt he’s wearing looks mouthwatering on him, highlighting how fucking ripped he is. I look away so I can focus and grab my glasses, slipping my protective armor back on.
“I’m fine, Valeri. I’ll eventually save enough to get my ass out of there, but until then, it’s home.”
“What if I could get you an apartment? Hell, you can stay with me. I know that sounds crazy, but I have plenty of room.”
“Don’t you think you should at least know me for a full two weeks before you invite me to move in?”
“Fine, I’ll ask again in a few days.”
I smile, but he just lifts a dark brow at me because he’s definitely not joking. I’ve never had anyone be protective of me, and I’m not at all surprised to find that I really like it.
“You’re not going to want to hear this,” I tell him, “but I need to get back.”
“At least let me drop you off at your house instead of the bus stop.”
“He can’t know about you,” I quickly say, grabbing onto his hand. “He would be furious, and I can’t have you getting hurt because of me.”
He squeezes my hand and leans closer. “Do not waste a second of your time worrying about me. He can’t hurt me. You’re just going to have to trust me on that.”
I start to pack up the basket, wishing I could spend all day here with him. Seagulls squawk above us, hoping for some food, but I remember reading that feeding them actually does more harm than good, so I resist the urge to give them scraps and instead tuck it all back inside.
“Can I please drive you home?”
I knew at some point this would come up, but I hadn’t planned on it being today. “I’m embarrassed for you to see where I live,” I finally say because it’s pointless to lie about it. “And my dad can’t know about you. He may not be able to hurt you, but he can hurt me.”
He sighs and scrubs a hand over the back of his neck. “You have no idea how close I am to just taking you back to my place.”
“You can’t just kidnap me,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
His green eyes lock on mine. “Yes, I can.”
Instead of fear, a shiver of pure pleasure and excitement runs down my spine at the thought of him throwing me over his shoulder and taking me off to a place where my dad will never find me, a place where I won’t have to live in fear, but then reality sets in and I start thinking about how unrealistic that is. You don’t run off into the sunset with a guy you’ve just met. For all I know, Valeri regularly meets women and woos them in less than two weeks. If anyone could pull that off, it’d be him.
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about, by the way. I don’t give a shit about any of that.”
I appreciate what he’s saying, but that doesn’t mean I want his fancy-ass car parked out front of my shitty house anytime soon.
