“No.”
Her glare grows sharper, as if my one-word answer somehow agitated her even more. Her chest heaves with fury. “You see? A prisoner is all I’ll ever be to you.”
“That’s not it, Elena.” I place the manifest on the crate beside me, closing the distance between us until I can feel the heat radiating off her. “I have enemies, Elena. Enemies who won’t hesitate to hurt you just to get to me.”
She lets out a short, sardonic laugh, her eyes flashing with a stubborn courage that makes my blood run hot. “So you care about me? Interesting.”
I hate to admit it, but this woman, who should’ve been nothing more than a distraction, now means so much more to me. The thought of losing her scares me more than death itself. I’m not sure how that happened, but I can’t stop my thoughts from rotating around that new nightmare.
“Assume whatever you wish, ptichka,but I’m never letting you go, and that’s final.”
Her hands ball into fists at her sides and she tilts her head, challenge bubbling in every word she says. “Fine, but keep this in mind: I’m going to leave. You can feed me apples and promise me a new job, but that doesn’t change that you kidnapped me. Whether dead or alive, I’ll escape you. And if luck is on my side, I might bring you with me to the afterlife.”
Tension crackles between us, seeping through my veins right to my heart. The sheer absurdity of her threat—and the flicker of doubt in her eyes as she says it—snaps the last thread of my restraint.
I grip her jaw, my fingers digging into her soft skin to keep her from pulling away as I slam my mouth down onto hers, kissing her hard enough for her to feel the frustration etched in every inch of my being and the agonizing want I’ve been suppressing from the first day I met her.
She doesn’t shrink away from me. Far from it. She lets out a sharp gasp and leans into me, her hands gripping the lapels of my suit jacket to pull me closer. She meets my aggression with a fiery hunger of her own, moaning into my lips as if she’s been dying to do this for a long time.
I pull back a fraction of a second, scanning her for any signs of discomfort. The uneven, ragged breaths escaping her lips are all the permission I need, but before I can act, she’s already up on her toes and grabbing a fistful of my hair, and then her lips collide with mine again.
Fuck, she’s even more intense than I expected.
I groan against her lips, and with a sudden surge of protectiveness, I scoop her up from the floor, her thighs instinctively wrapping around my waist. “We’re going home.”
***
We’re both wild with desperation when I carry her into our bedroom and lay her gently on the bed, the black sheets framing her hair like a dark halo.
For a moment, I freeze, just looking at her, at how beautiful she is, soaking in the way my heart does a strange, terrifying dance that defies every ruthless rule I’ve ever lived by.
My attraction for this woman burns beyond just sex. It’s something deeper, something even I can’t wrap my head around yet.
She sits up, grabs my hand, and pulls me down. Our lips clash again and again as we kiss each other with passionate need, stripping until we’re both naked.
My cock throbs as her nipples press against my chest. I slowly part her legs until I can feel her opening pressing against the tip of my erection. A slow shiver travels down my spine.
Christ.
The slide of my cock against her is a slow, agonizing burn…and a reminder that we’ve reached the point of no return.
I cup her cheeks, looking into her eyes as I slowly slide into her wet entrance.
A groan tears from my throat at the same time a soft cry rips from hers. She’s so fucking warm and tight. The feeling of her walls clenching around my erection is closer to heaven than anything I’ve ever felt.
“Leo,” she moans, wrapping her arms around me. “Fuck.”
I kiss her ear and her neck, then I grab one of her boobs and pinch her nipple. She shudders, her moans growing even louder. Her eyes darken softly, her lips parting as she takes me in completely.
“God, baby.” I thrust deeper inside her, grunting at the sensation of my cock hitting her cervix. “You’re so delicious.”
I take her nipple in my mouth and suck on it, sliding my fingers through her hair and caressing her face.
Our bodies move with frantic desperation. Every soft gasp she utters against my skin shatters another piece of the cold walls I’ve built around my heart, leaving me entirely exposed to her.
She’s a weakness I didn’t bargain for.
And one I can’t ignore.
