He kissed her, but it wasn’t the hard or possessive connection she had known so far from him. Instead, it was tender, tentative. Aleksei was barely touching her, cupping her cheek reverently. His body towered over hers, and his heat surrounded her, touching every part like a powerful blanket. Deva stilled her hand on him, focusing on the kiss, or more on the way he kissed her. She wanted more, faster and more intense, but his behavior puzzled her. And enthralled her. She had seen firsthand that he could take whatever he needed from her, make her body crave him and submit to him. But this? The way he held back was even more powerful.
Ever so slowly, Aleksei traced her lips with his tongue, and Deva moaned. But when she pressed, opening her lips, pursuing him, he retreated. The hands she had laid on his chest, snaked up, curling around his straining neck, trying to pull him closer. He resisted. Confused, Deva pulled back a little, a clear question in her eyes.
Breathing hard, Aleksei put his forehead against hers, his exhale fanning her skin when he answered. “I think we both need slow, soft...” He hesitated and then she understood. All that had been laid on the table lately, all that she had said about her past, the violence of it. He was offering her something else. Himself. His body, his time, his lust for her to take, but only if she did the same for him. He wanted slow and soft too. Needed it. Aleksei Voronov came from violence and darkness, and he didn’t want that between them. Not now. He craved something else.
Deva nodded. She could offer him and herself that. Peace, connection. Closing her eyes, she took that step and rubbed her cheek against his scruff, peppering his ear and neck with slow kisses. As she hesitantly pressed her body against his, Aleksei ran his fingers through her hair, over and over again. His arousal was undeniable, hard and pushing against his pajama pants, but she ignored it. Her hands on his shoulders, she pushed him down and started tracing every line of ink she saw on his body. He smelled like soap, musk, and heat. His taste was as addictive. Her lips, tongue, and teeth moved, discovering his body, empowered by his deep moans and shivers. When his skin trembled, his muscle quaking under her touch, it fueled her own fire.
Not pushing past the boundary of his pants, she returned back up, nuzzling his abs like a cat. Aleksei kneaded her shoulder but didn’t press, letting her explore his body at her leisure, and when she straightened, he cupped her face and kissed her again. Circling his wrists, Deva gently tugged them down, making her intentions clear. It was his turn. His lips trailed on her cheek until he reached her ear, his tongue swirling amazing patterns and his breath on her damp skin making her shiver.
In a flash, it became clear to her. She wouldn’t survive him. Not this Aleksei. And he hadn’t even moved past her shoulders yet! His hands felt hot and rough when they ran from her collarbone down to her arms, rasping against the thin cotton and lace of her nighty. Letting her head fall back as he trailed kisses down her throat, lapping at her clavicles, running his cheeks against every inch of exposed skin, chafing her, marking her.
Her eyes followed his descent and when he fell on his knees to the floor, between her legs spread on the couch, his attention solely on her face as if in prayer, her breath caught. His hands circled her ankles and made a maddening slow ascent as he kissed her belly through the thin material and inhaled deeply.
Tense as a bow, Deva fought against rushing and surrendered to his worship, but she wanted more. She wanted all of him, and despite her best intentions, she kneeled in front of him, mimicking his posture on the floor, taking his lips once more, pouring all her conflicting emotions into him, including all the tenderness that was in her heart. Her hand caressed him, but this time, she didn’t want any barrier between them. Pulling her gown over her head, naked before him, her temperature spiked when her breasts plastered against his chest, rubbing. Her hands on his pajama bottom waistband she pushed it down. The sound that came from his chest when she circled his freed erection was one of blissful pain. Pushing forward, Deva made him topple backward on the carpet, and without breaking the kiss, she followed him down, straddling his hips.
Aleksei’s eyes were the darkest gray she had ever seen, his hands cupping her breasts, pinching her nipples. It was her turn to whimper. Damn, she wanted him inside her. And from the way she could feel his hips swaying under her, seeking more friction, she wasn’t the only one with that wish.
Oh, she could accommodate their desire, for a little while at least. Deva widened her stance and rolled her hips, so his cock was nestled between her slick folds. The movement was subtle, but when his hard flesh rubbed against her clit, the sensation was enough to make her shudder and her breath catch.
It took all her might to open her eyes again to look at Aleksei. The man looked fascinated and lost at the same time.
His hands pinched her nipples one more time before following the swell of her hips, squeezing her ass, guiding her movements. Slowly, ever so slowly. Frustratingly, maddeningly slow.
“You are beautiful, Deva. A siren, calling me out at sea. I just want to lose myself in you, Deva. Please.”
The low rumble of his voice, pleading, broke her.
“I never want you to beg, Aleksei. Not when I want you as much as you want me.”
Shifting, she reached beneath her and positioned his slick cock at her entrance. Placing both her hands on his chest, Deva unhurriedly lowered herself onto him, until he was fully seated inside her.
For a long moment, Deva stayed still. Enjoying the sensation, admiring the man heaving beneath her, trying very hard not to lose his hard-earned control, his hands still squeezing her ass.
But this wasn’t about denial. She lifted and let herself fall onto him.
Straightening, she cupped one of her breasts with one hand and extended her other hand to him.
“Don’t leave me out here alone, Aleksei. Come to me.”
Deva didn’t know why she said those words, but they felt right. And her own desperation, both for his body and his connection overrode common sense or self-preservation.
Her words must have reached something in Aleksei too because he sat up and pulled her into a kiss. Friction increased, rubbing sensitive skin. His hand grew more impatient, and so were her own movements, her body now searching for fulfillment.
“Aleksei, please.”
The man gripped her butt and increased his movement, slightly meeting her midway.
“Tell me what you need, Deva. I’ll give it to you.”
The fierce devotion in his eyes and the open sincerity clogged her throat with emotion. It may have been said in the spur of the moment, or with his mind filled with lust, but Deva realized that she had waited to hear those words all her life. Apart from her mother lost to her long ago and Johnny, she had never been the center of anyone’s universe. Not as she was in the gray mists swirling in the eyes in front of her.
“You. I only need you, Aleksei.”
His face softened, a hint of a smile on his delectable lips, and she knew there was no going back. Right here in the face of this dangerous man who had offered her a glimpse of vulnerability, of who he could have been without the Bratva interfering, she had surrendered part of her soul.
“And you have me. All of me,solnyshka.”
And this time, something shifted between them as he pulled her down to him to take her mouth. When Aleksei increase the strength of his upward thrusts, it bumped her clit in the most delicious way. Digging her nails into his shoulders, she now chased her orgasm.
