“Please,” she whispers, her hands fisted in the sheets. “I need you inside me.”
I use my mouth and fingers to bring her to the edge, focusing on her clit and the bundle of nerves inside her to make her whimperwith need. I pull back just before she can fall over. She makes a frustrated sound that goes straight to my cock, lifting her hips off the bed as she chases the friction I’ve denied her.
“Yarik, please, I need?—”
“I know what you need.” I move up her body, settling between her legs. “I’m going to take care of you.”
When I enter her, she gasps, her back arching off the bed. There’s no barrier between us, just skin against skin, and the sensation is incredible. She feels different somehow, tighter and more sensitive, and I have to grit my teeth to maintain control.
“You feel so good,” I murmur against her neck, my voice rough with need. “Perfect.”
She responds by rolling her hips, taking me deeper, and I groan at the exquisite friction. She moves her hands down my back, digging nails into my skin as she tries to pull me impossibly closer.
We move together slowly at first, savoring the connection. Each thrust is designed to draw out the pleasure for both of us. I watch her face in the lamplight, memorizing every expression that crosses her features.
“Yarik.” My name falls from her lips like a prayer.
I lean down to capture her mouth in a kiss that’s deep and consuming. “Tell me what you need.”
“You. Just you.” Her voice breaks slightly on the words. “Always you.”
The vulnerability in her tone undoes something inside me. I begin to move faster, driven by the need to show her with mybody what words can’t express. She meets me thrust for thrust, her legs wrapped around my waist while her breath comes in short gasps against my ear.
I kiss her again, pouring twenty years of loneliness and fear into the contact. She responds with equal fervor, tangling her hands in my hair as she holds me close. She arches beneath me, her inner walls fluttering around my cock in a way that makes me see stars. “Yarik, I’m close.”
“Come for me.” I reach between us to stroke her clit, applying just enough pressure to send her over the edge. “I want to feel you fall apart.”
She does, her orgasm crashing over her with an intensity that takes my breath away. Her back arches off the bed, my name spilling from her lips in a broken cry as her body clenches around mine. The sight and sensation of her coming undone pushes me past my own breaking point.
I follow her over, my release tearing through me with devastating force. Her name becomes a litany on my lips as my cock twitches before I spill my release inside her, marking her as mine in the most primitive way possible. The emotion of it overwhelms me, leaving me shaking and vulnerable in ways I haven’t been since I was thirteen years old.
Afterward, we lie tangled together, both of us struggling to catch our breath. She traces lazy patterns on my chest while I run my fingers through her hair, neither of us willing to break the spell that’s settled over us.
Afterward, we lie tangled together, her head on my chest and my arms wrapped around her like I can shield her from the world.She traces patterns on my skin with her fingertip, and I watch the play of shadows on the ceiling.
“I meant what I said,” I tell her quietly. “I’ll keep you safe from him.”
She’s quiet for so long I think she might have fallen asleep. Then she speaks, her voice small and uncertain. “What if it’s too late? What if Alex really is here?”
“Then I’ll handle it.”
“How?”
I press a kiss to the top of her head, my voice carrying all the deadly certainty I’ve learned in twenty years of violence. “However I have to.”
She shivers against me, and I tighten my arms around her, determined to shield her from the world and anyone who might harm her. Whether it’s Alex, Katya, or some threat I haven’t even envisioned, I’ll keep her safe.
fully relaxing against me, she falls asleep first, her breathing evening out against my ribs. I watch her in the dim light, memorizing the way her hair fans across my chest and the peaceful expression on her face. She looks more vulnerable when she sleeps, and something fierce and protective rises inside me.
I can’t give her or this up. I have to figure out how to extract myself from the Nikitin alliance without starting a war. I also need to find out if Alex is really here and deal with him if he is. I’ll have to navigate the political fallout and the inevitable violence that comes with choosing love over duty, but right now,I savor having Sarah safe in my arms and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.
21
Sarah
Iwake to the smell of coffee and the quiet clatter of pans from the kitchen. For a moment, I forget where I am, then the memories of last night come flooding back of Yarik’s hands on my skin, the way he looked at me like I was something precious, and the words he whispered in the dark that felt like promises he wasn’t quite ready to make.
I pull on a robe and pad barefoot to the kitchen, where Yarik stands at my small stove wearing only his pants from last night. He’s making eggs and moving around my cramped space with an ease that suggests this is something he’s done a hundred times before.
