I have no idea what I’m doing.
Aleks just sucked wine off my fingers in the strangest, hottest display of tenderness and ownership I’ve ever seen. I’m still trembling head to toe from the after-effects of the intimate gesture.
But he’s looking at me like we’re not quite finished here.
My mistake since the moment we met has always been looking directly into his eyes. That’s my weakness, my undoing, every single time. It’s what landed me in this mess.
So I try to avoid it now. I stop myself from doing more than glancing, although I still catch a glimpse of blue with slices of green around the iris before I change course.
Danger. That’s what those eyes tell me.
They aren’t lying.
“I don’t want to be part of your world,” I snap defensively. “Don’t want to be part of your life.”
“Why not?”
“Why do you care? Don’t you have other women waiting eagerly at your beck and call?”
“More than you could possibly imagine.”
“Great. Then go beck-and-call one of them. I’ll happily slip away and you’ll never see me again.”
He just smirks, that same arrogant, infuriating smirk that draws and repels me at the same time. God, he’s a frustrating enigma.
I take a deep breath and try to remind myself of Yulia’s advice. I need to earn his respect. But the task is daunting. Impossible.
I push aside my reservations and focus on him. I don’t look at his face because I know that will only inhibit the process, so I concentrate on his shoulders.
His broad, muscular, infinite shoulders. I can’t help looking at him and feeling weak in comparison. Fragile, whereas he is so solid and undeniable.
The top three buttons of his shirt have been left open. I can see his collarbones, smoothing out into the tattooed planes of his chest.
He gives me a knowing smile. “Something wrong, Olivia?” he asks. “You look a little lost.”
“I… I…”
That’s when I do it—I make the mistake of looking at him.
And just like that, I’m lost.
His eyes are indisputably beautiful, but the fire that burns there gives them a feral kind of quality. It takes the beauty and twists it into something more. Something different. A severity that exudes power.
And so I find myself saying words I shouldn’t even be thinking.
“I don’t know what to do now. You’ve ruined me.”
He nods, unsurprised. “My advice? Stop thinking about my opinion of you. Just concentrate on yourself. Your desires. Feel it authentically, truly, from deep in your soul. Convince yourself that what you want will want you in return—all you have to do is send that desire radiating outward. So answer one question for me, kiska… what do you want to do now?”
My lips feel numb. “I want…”
My hand curls around the opening of his shirt. I lean in and press my lips against his. Aleks wraps his arms around me, holding me against him.
But he isn’t kissing me back. Not really.
He’s waiting to see how far I’ll take this on my own.
I run my tongue over his lips and then slide it into his mouth, deepening the kiss. Even with him barely moving, I feel the connection all the way down to my toes.
This. This is what I want.
But he’s right—I don’t know how to say that out loud.
When I pull back, he looks at me with one raised eyebrow. “Is that all you’ve got?”
I’ve never been a very competitive person, but Aleks knows how to press all of my buttons, apparently. Those five little words light a fire in me. Or rather, they throw gasoline onto a fire that’s been raging in me since the moment a hot man at the airport watched me spill coffee on myself.
I take the final step forward and stand between his legs. We’re both extremely aware of how insistently his cock is bulging against his zipper.
I turn around. “Unzip me.”
His warm fingers slide my zipper down to my lower back. I let it slip down my body, pooling at my feet. My bra and panties are conservative enough that I don’t feel completely exposed when the dress hits the ground.
At least, not yet. Not until I feel his hand on my ass. “Turn around and remove your bra,” he growls.
I take a deep breath and turn in place. His hand drags around my hip, settling high on my thigh. Aleks is relaxed, legs spread, forehead unlined. His gaze flits across my face before dipping down to my breasts.
He grabs the band of my panties and pulls me forward so that my thighs are at his crotch, rubbing against his erection.
I lean forward, ready to free him from his pants, but he grabs my wrists and shoves me backward.
“No,” he says firmly. “You first.”
I frown, wondering how the hell he’s managed to take control when I’m the one who’s supposed to be driving this interaction. But I really don’t mind one bit. In fact, I’m so wet that it’s getting uncomfortable.
I unclasp my bra and pull it off. My breasts spill free.
Aleks looks at me like he’ll die if he can’t have me.
“Now, your panties.”
I don’t delay with those. I shimmy them off my hips and they slide down my legs. Desire burns hot in his eyes for a moment before he nods. “That’s a good little girl. Come here and kneel.”
I bend down in front of him until I’m eye level with his erection. Then I unzip him and pull his dick free. He watches, impassive on the surface, but I can feel the heat of his lust scorching just beneath his skin.
I run my hand up his massive length, savoring the feel of him in my palm. I could just stay here forever, marveling at him.
But there’s more to come in this fucked-up dance of ours.
I drag my eyes up and unbutton his shirt to reveal his impressive abs. Russian words are tattooed across his left side. I have no idea what they mean, but I admire them nonetheless, running my fingertips over the flowing script.
Just more mysteries I can’t unlock in this man. More things hidden from the light.
He has a few other tattoos, none of which make any more sense than the first. An axe just above his right nipple, the silhouette of a tree on his chest.
I smooth my hands over the ink, admiring both them and the body beneath. Then I look up and see that Aleks is looking down at me.
And every thought in my head grinds to a halt, except for one.
I need to kiss him. Now.
I stand, wrap my hand around his neck, and pull his face to mine. I meld our mouths together, swirling my tongue in to taste him and tipping my head to the side to deepen our connection. I kiss Aleks until he moves against me, until his hands slide over my skin, until his cock is pressing against my stomach.
I gasp into his mouth as he sinks into his seat and pulls me onto his lap.
I raise my hips, desperate to feel him inside me. But before his cock touches my entrance, his fingers do.
I moan as he teases his fingers up and down my slit, spreading my wetness until I’m writhing around on top of him, pleading for more than just this faint temptation.
Then, when he’s done torturing me, he grabs my hips and sheaths himself inside.
“Oh, fucking fuck!” I cry out.
It only hurts for a moment. Pleasure soon washes away the pain. My body knows what to do from here. Truth is, I left my mind a long time ago, so I do the only thing I can do.
I submit.
I start riding him, bucking my hips against his until the sound of our bodies coming together drowns out everything else. Aleks alternates grabbing my hips and slapping my ass hard as I bounce on his cock.
When my legs begin to cramp, he grabs my hips and stands. His cock never comes out of me as he carries me to the table.
With a sweep of his hand, he clears half the place settings before setting my naked ass down on the edge of it. Then he pummels into me hard, his jaw rigid with concentration.
“Oh God!” I whimper. “Oh God… Aleks… Aleks…”
I don’t mean to say his name. In fact, I try to bite down on my cries.
But I can’t help myself. My world has narrowed until he’s all that exists. His eyes flash with lust as he shoves his cock into me so hard it feels like he’s in my stomach. Breaking me. Owning me so fully and completely that I know even in this moment that no one else will ever match it.
My arms flail around the table, searching for something to grip. I hear more things fall and break, but he doesn’t stop.
The orgasm that courses through my body then is so intense that I scream. Loudly. I’ve never done that before. Not like this.
My thighs clench around his hips. I lean backward, trying to lay down, but Aleks’s arms around my back hold me up. He bends down and sucks my nipple in his mouth, adding pleasure even though I’m already maxed out. My body is oversensitized and spent.
But he keeps fucking me relentlessly, pushing me towards another orgasm that I don’t think I’m ready for yet.
He doesn’t give a shit about that, though. No mercy in anything. Not even this.
“Please,” I gasp, as the pleasure twists in my nerves and turns me limp and lifeless. “Aleks, fuck…”
I jerk upright when the second orgasm takes hold against my will. My fingernails dig into his shoulder blades, and I know how unforgiving my grip is. I feel the heat of his blood when I break the skin. But he doesn’t so much as flinch.
I doubt he can even register the pain. He’s singularly focused on where our bodies are connected. Every ounce of his attention on me. I feel like a goddess and a ragdoll at the same time.
After the second orgasm, I can barely hold onto him. My limbs are heavy, and I’m not sure how much more I can take.
Then, suddenly, he pulls out and pumps at his cock. I watch with fascination as his hand rocks back and forth along his thick shaft.
With a guttural roar, he erupts. The first spray of his seed lands on my neck, just above my breasts. But I catch a few drops on my face. I can only gawk at him as he pumps his load onto me.
I’ve never had a man come on me before. And certainly not on my face.
I don’t know why it’s so exciting. Shouldn’t it be demeaning? Insulting? But it’s the farthest thing from it. The moment he drenches me, I feel awash with adrenaline. Alive. Owned and thus freed, in the strangest way possible.
When he finishes, he releases his hands from my body. I almost fall back against the table, knocking over another glass in the process. It clatters to the floor, but thankfully, it doesn’t break.
While I struggle to gain control of my extremities, Aleks tucks his still-hard cock away and zips himself up. It makes me more aware of the fact that I’m still as naked as the day I was born.
Not just that, but we’re out in the open, in the middle of the garden. The terrace has some foliage that separates it from the greater expanse of the garden, but still… anyone could have walked in on us.
Someone still could.
“My clothes,” I say, panic creeping in now that the high of my orgasms has receded somewhat and the cold logic of reality has come rushing back in.
“Go on,” Aleks says. “They’re right over there.”
My legs are shaky and the ground is littered with everything that was upended when Aleks swept them off the table to make room for me.
He stands to the side and observes me as I pick my way barefoot between broken pottery to the pile of my discarded clothes.
“You could help me,” I say, glaring back at him.
He shrugs. “And miss the show?”
My annoyance blots away some of the self-consciousness, which is good, because he never takes his eyes off me. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s part of why I stay so damn mad at him all the time—because it’s a better alternative than acknowledging what he’s doing to me deep down inside.
I pull my dress up over my breasts, although I know there’s no way I can zip myself up without his help. But he doesn’t offer and I’m not going to ask.
He grabs a glass of wine from the table and sits back down as if the area isn’t a complete disaster of spilled cutlery and broken glasses.
“Well?” I ask, turning to him.
He looks at me with amusement. “Well, what?”
“I did what you wanted me to do.”
He frowns before taking a sip. “I don’t follow.”
“You need to take me to see my brother.” I still sound confident for now, but uncertainty is starting to creep into my limbs with each passing second.
He raises his eyebrows. “You don’t strike me as the type of woman who trades sex for favors.”
I know if I concentrate on that insult, I’ll get side-tracked. So I stick to the point instead. “I told you I would do anything—”
“And I asked you to prove it,” he says.
“So I…”
I trail off when I realize the point he’s trying to make. I start to pale as he regards me with his gaze.
“You fucked me of your own accord,” he says. “I didn’t ask you to.”
I shake my head, but his chuckle makes me freeze. “You gave me your body before I even asked for it, Olivia. You showed me everything I needed to know. You want it. You want this. You want me.”
I rear back and twist around so that I don’t have to look at his face.
Oh God, what have I done? I walked right into the trap he set for me.
But even that isn’t totally true. I set the trap myself. I told him I’d do anything. Because I was blinded by my attraction to him.
“All I want is to be reunited with my family.”
His devil-may-care eyes see right through my lies. “If only that were true.”
