Octavia
Unwanted hands run over my body.
I jolt awake with a strained breath, sitting upright in bed, my heart racing, my skin tight and overheated. The room swims back into focus slowly.
Markev stirs instantly.
He pushes up onto one elbow, his eyes already on me, full of concern.
“What’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “Nothing.”
His eyes narrow. “Nothing,” he repeats, unimpressed.
I turn my face away, but he doesn’t allow it. His hand comes up to my jaw, gentle, guiding my face back to his.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“It was just a nightmare,” I say, the words clipped. “I’m fine.”
He studies me for a long moment, as though deciding whether to press further. He doesn’t, but he doesn’t believe me either. I can see it in the set of his mouth, the appraisal behind his eyes.
I don’t know what comes over me, but it’s becoming a habit.
Before I can second guess it, I close the space between us and kiss him.
He freezes for the briefest second… then his hesitation snaps. His mouth opens beneath mine and he takes control of the kiss, pulling me in, his tongue demanding entry.
The echo of the nightmare still crawls beneath my skin, but his touch breaks through it, dulling the edges.
I hate how much I need that. I hate that after dreaming of hands I didn’t want, the only thing I crave now is his.
How fucked up is that?
But I don’t question it.
For once, I don’t analyse or resist. I let it happen. I go with the flow.
I need to feel something, and with him, I do.
I actually feel safe, for the first time in years.
And what a cruel world it is, that the first man I feel safe with ishim.
A Markev.
The kiss deepens and I lose myself in it, pushing every thought aside.
He breaks it only to trail his mouth down the column of my neck, his hands cupping my breasts through the thin camisole.
He pulls it over my head, groaning softly at the sight of my bare chest.
“Fucking hell.”
His mouth goes straight to my nipple, sucking, then biting, and I arch instinctively, my fingers curling into his hair as I hold him there.
Still sucking at my nipple, he tugs my shorts down, then my panties, pushing them off my legs.
