I can feel the tension in his body, his hands grasping for me as though he is making certain that I’m really here. He slides his mouth along my neck, his lips finding my ear, and bites down hard, enough to draw a cry from between my lips. It’s like he is making sure I know every inch of me belongs to him, as though I could have thought for a second that anything else was true.
He tips me back on the counter slightly, so that he can look me in the eyes as he fills me over and over again with his length. His eyes are dark and wanting, jaw tight, hands grasping for my ass and my thighs. I almost want to ask him to go harder, to leave bruises on me, to show me exactly how much he wants me, but I don’t have time to say so much as a word before he kisses me once more, bringing me flush to his body and pushing down into me so that he can grind against my clit with every thrust.
I can feel the orgasm starting to brew inside of me, the pleasure coming together to take shape in a way that I’ve been craving for longer than I would care to admit. All the stress and fear and tension falls away as he fills me, as my body opens to receive everything that he wants to give me. He presses his forehead to mine and breathes in the scent of me hungrily, like he cannot think of anything he wants more than to get lost to the way that I make him feel. I slip my hands into his hair, holding him in place so I can watch him, the expression on his face as he fucks me tells me that he is just as close as I’m right now.
And it’s that knowledge that pushes me over the edge and into my own release. I’ve never had a man so obsessed with me in my life, so hungry for me in the way that Alexei seems to be.
Everything else falls away for me when we are together, the weight of it lifting from my shoulders, and it’s hard to imagine that it ever could have mattered at all. My hips lift, pushing back into him, body craving him deeper and deeper and harder and harder until...
My body gives in, clenching around him in a helpless release that makes my head spin and my nerve-endings burst into fiery pleasure. I press my head into his shoulder to contain the noise, but it takes everything in me not to cry out anyway.
But he can feel it, feel me, feel how much I want this and how much I need him, and that’s all that matters. My pussy pulsates around him, tugging on his length as he holds himself there inside of me, letting me massage him over the edge with the remnants of my own pleasure.
And it only takes a few more moments before he comes too, the warmth of him inside of me enough to announce his pleasure. He grunts, stirring his hips against mine a few times, and the motion draws out a few last flashes of my orgasm, heart fluttering as my eyes droop and my body slackens against his.
He lets himself rest there within me for a few moments, neither of us wanting for this moment to be over yet. But then, slowly, he draws himself back from me, and I let out a small whimper at the feeling of emptiness within me.
“Come on,” he tells me gruffly, as he tucks my dress under my hips, grabbing my panties and stuffing them into his pocket. “You need to rest.”
I think of protesting, but when he lifts me into his arms, I know there’s nothing I can do to resist him. He is right, after all; every inch of my aching body is crying out for sleep. And, with the guards on the door, with Vinski dead, with the children taken care of, I know that I can.
I rest my head against his shoulder as he carries me through to the bedroom, the pleasure softening into something more intimate, more tender. And, as I slip my arms around his shoulders, I swear to myself that I’ll not let my concerns about control and protection go unnoticed.
But, for now, all I want to do is sink myself into his arms and the promise of his protection a little while longer.
21
ALEXEI
When I stirthe next morning, it takes me a moment to remember where I am. Not in my own bed, that’s for sure. The sunlight comes in from a window on the wrong side of the room, and the covers are different to the ones I normally sleep under...
And then, I look around, and see the woman sprawled out on the bed next to me. And everything that happened yesterday comes flooding back into my mind. I realize that I must have spent the night with Cara at my side.
I turn to face her, reaching out to brush my fingertips along her jaw; she is fast asleep, no doubt exhausted from the chaos of the last few days, her hair fluttered around her head on the pillow and her eyes shut. Her lips are slightly parted, as though she is about to say something.
And she sure as hell had plenty to say to me the day before, when the two of us clashed in the kitchen. The way she talked to me, the edge to her voice as she told me just how unwilling she was to give in to the level of control and security that I keep in my house and on my family. It had turned into something else the momentshe had kissed me, but I know that all the weight of those words is not forgotten, not by a long shot.
But now, it’s hard to remember what we were arguing about in the first place. Because, as she sleeps, she looks so peaceful, so pliant. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in closer, and she lets out a small noise in her sleep, snuggling into me as if she doesn’t want to be anywhere else but in my arms.
And lucky for her, that’s exactly where I want her too. I can’t remember the last time I woke up next to someone; the majority of my hook-ups since I was last with her have been quick, dirty, and somewhere outside of the house, the women taking off as soon as they get what they want from me.
And that’s been just fine for me, because I need my privacy and my space. I’ve never really wanted anyone closer than that as it is.
But here she is, right at my side, and it doesn’t feel wrong. No, it feels like the most natural thing in the world, as though it’s ridiculous to think that she could be anywhere else right now. Her hair brushes against my neck, and I watch her as she rests, this woman who has changed so much about my life...
And this woman who the rest of the world knows about now, whether I like it or not.
I can try to spin it any way I can in my head, but the truth is, I doubt Vinski kept his fat mouth shut about what he had done when he attacked the house. I can already imagine how he must have been boasting to anyone and everyone he could, that he had managed to make it into my house and steal away Cara and Nina. Even if he doesn’t entirely know who they are to me, I’m sure he can put the pieces together, fit them into something thatmakes sense so he can prove to himself that he is the one calling the shots here.
Even if he is dead, the threat remains. Which means that I need to be even more careful now. Bring in even more protection. She might have bucked against the rules I tried to put into place, but now, they need to be even more intense than they were before, even more certain.
It’s why I’ve kept myself single for so long; Max is one thing, my son, not a choice I made but a responsibility I carry. But having a woman in my life like this, involving her in my world, that puts her at risk in all the ways my mother was. People saw her as my father’s weakness, and it was ultimately what killed him, even if he would never have admitted it. Sometimes, you don’t need to come out and say it; the truth is written all over your face, and it’s the only thing that matters.
I can do it differently. I know I can. I just need to be smart in all the ways my father was naive for so long. A stir of resolve squeezes in my chest, insistent and powerful.
I sit up in bed, running a hand through my hair as I look around her room. I’m going to need to be even more careful than before, and that starts here, with her quarters, the home that she has made for our children. Max and Nina might be safe now, thank God, but I don’t even want to think what might be waiting for them on the other side of that door if someone else tries to make some kind of move against them…
I feel a hand resting against the small of my back, and her sleepy, throaty voice rises from the other side of the bed.
