“Tomorrow. Early.”
“But your time is up tonight.”
“I know.” I brought his fingers up to my lips and pressed a kiss there. “But tonight it’s my turn to steal a moment for us.”
35
BENOIT
ISHOVED ASIDE the bitterness that had crept in at how the countdown had already started. But it could’ve been worse.
I could be leaving now.
I slid my hands beneath Dimitri’s jacket and shoved it off his shoulders as I walked him backward out of the living room. We’d both put on suits to practice the pickpocketing techniques I was so adept at, but now there were far too many clothes between us.
As I started unfastening the buttons on Dimitri’s shirt, he said, “Fuck it” and ripped it off himself. Then he yanked my shirt out of my pants and tore it open, sending buttons flying in every direction down the hallway.
“That’s one way to do it,” I said with a laugh, taking off the ruined shirt along with the jacket and leaving them on the floor.
“You’re not allowed to wear anything for the rest of the night.” There was a rough, take-no-shit edge to his voice that shot straight to my cock and made me want to obey instead of rebel. Had it been anyone else, maybe I would’ve, but with Dimitri I wanted anything and everything he had to give.
I backed him through the door to his room and unbuttoned his pants. “Not allowed? You think you’re calling the shots tonight?”
“Always.” Dimitri nipped at my lower lip, and I moaned.
Putain, I was going to miss this. The way he never let me get away with anything. The way he could make me melt with one touch. No one else could do that.
His fingers found their way into my hair, his strong hand cupping the back of my neck as he angled his head and swept his tongue inside my mouth. Just like that, every thought, every worry, left my mind. There wasn’t the impending arrival of King; there wasn’t Dimitri’s crew; there wasn’t our jobs and responsibilities or betrayal or lies or anything else.
There was just us, holding on to each other and relishing our last hours before we left this room and the real world came back in. It was the soft growl in the back of Dimitri’s throat when he wrapped me up tight in his arms and the feel of his stubble grazing my cheek as we inhaled each other. I’d known from the second I saw him that I wouldn’t mind spending a few hours in his bed, but what I didn’t know was how much I’d come to crave being there. How much I’d crave being withhim.
Curling my fingers into the waistband of his pants, I shoved them down before getting rid of my own.
There. Naked, just the way he wanted me.
When he leaned in to steal my breath again, I put my hand on his chest, holding him back, and a furrow creased his forehead until he saw why.
I was taking a mental picture, running my eyes over every inch of his incredible body. All of that tanned skin I knew as well as my own now, those broad shoulders made for holding on to. Powerful thighs that could hold the both of us when he fucked me, and, of course, that spectacular cock.
But somehow, even with every perfect inch of him, nothing compared to his face—those dark eyes that hid a deeply soulful man. The jagged scar across his cheek that didn’t detract from his looks but somehow added to it.
And those full lips, the ones that fit against mine like they were made to be there and whispered sensual words in my ear in the dark of night.
How was I ever supposed to leave this man?
An unexpected sting behind my eyes had me blinking fast and pushing Dimitri back onto the bed before he could see. That was a little too much vulnerability for me. The last thing I needed was his seeing unwanted tears in my eyes.
As Dimitri’s back hit the mattress and he shifted up the bed, he reached for the side table and grabbed a bottle of lube. He tossed it to the foot of the mattress, and I picked it up and eagerly followed him up the bed, crawling between his spread thighs until I straddled his hips. It was as if I couldn’t stand for him to be too far from me, knowing that soon he’d be a whole world away.
Dimitri went to grab for me, no doubt to roll me to my back, but I wasn’t having any of that tonight. Up until now he’d been in full control—not that I was complaining. But tonight I wanted his trust. I wanted to mark him, brand him as mine. I wanted to imprint myself on him the way he had me—and to do that,Ineeded to be the one in control.
I took hold of his hands and laced my fingers through his, then leaned down until I had his palms trapped on the mattress.
“Uh-uh,” I whispered across his lips. “Tonight,I’mcalling the shots.”
Dimitri arched a dark brow, but where I thought I’d get pushback, all I got was a challenge. “Do your worst.”
I chuckled and nipped at his lower lip. “Don’t you know by now? That’s when I’m at my very best.”
