Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
The ride back to the apartment was quicker than I’d expected. Lina and I talked the entire way. We shared stories and talked about memories from our childhood, and by the time we pulled into the garage, I felt like I knew her even better than before.
I grabbed her bags from the back, and she followed me upstairs. I unlocked the door, and we both made our way to her bedroom. I placed the bags carefully on the floor as I told her, “Thank you for going with me.”
“No.” She whispered, stepping closer. “Thank you.”
Before I could respond, she eased up on her toes and pressed her lips to my cheek. The touch was light, tentative, but it lit a fire under my skin. When she pulled back, her eyes met mine, and for a long moment, we just looked at each other, caught in a spell that felt inevitable.
I moved without thinking. One step forward and my hand was behind her neck, pulling her toward me as I crashed my mouth against hers. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t gentle. It was nothing of the sort.
Instead, it was hard, full of hunger and need, and she gasped against my touch. I swallowed the sound, pouring weeks of restraint into that single kiss. Her hands glided up my chest as I deepened the kiss and pulled her even closer. Heat and need rolled through me, consuming me, and it was all I could do to keep my footing. Her touch was undoing me in a way that nothing else ever had.
It was too much. Too soon.
Angered by my lack of control, I stepped back and broke the embrace. Disappointment flashed through her eyes as I took a step back and said, “I’m sorry, Lina. I shouldn’t have…”
Before she had a chance to react, I turned and forced myself out of the room. I started down the hall and silently cursed myself as I made my way into the bathroom. I turned on the shower and started peeling off my clothes, tossing them furiously to the floor.
“You’re a fucking jackass, Sergei Volkov.” I shook my head as I stepped under the hot water and continued to berate myself. “It was too soon. You knew that. She trusted you, and you fucked it up. I shouldn’t be surprised. You could never have a woman like her.”
I was still giving myself hell when I thought I heard Lina say, “You’re wrong. You’ve had me all along.”
But when I whipped around, there was no one there.
Just me and my wasted, hopeful thoughts.
Damn.
16
ALINA
It has been hours,
and the feeling of your mouth still lingers on mine.
Like a temptation meant just for me.
My lips remember the way you claimed them.
Like I was yours.
Like I have always been yours.
Your scent clings to me.
It’s settled deep in my skin.
I breathe it in, and I am lost again.
I’m caught between the woman I was
and the one you pulled from the ashes.
Forever more.
I should be afraid,
but I am not.
I feel alive in a way I never have before.
I stared down at the poem, hoping that the words would quiet the thoughts in my head. They didn’t. Instead, they only seemed to taunt me. There was no denying it. Sergei’s kiss had left an ache, and with every line I wrote, I felt like I was living it again.
His mouth crashed down on mine hard enough to steal my breath. His hands were possessive and firm, like he’d been holding back for far too long. Even now, I could feel his arms around me, his lips pressed against mine, and God help me, it made me want to kiss him again. When he stepped back and broke the embrace, he looked down at me with fire in his eyes. The man was holding on by a string, and I wanted nothing more than to yank it, forcing him to let go of his restraint and kiss me once more.
I wanted to be in his arms and feel his heart beat against mine. I couldn’t believe I actually wanted such things. I didn’t even know it was possible. I thought Alek had taken all of my wants and desires and crushed them with his cruelty and rules. I thought they no longer existed, and yet, here I was.
Unraveled in ways I never dreamed possible.
It scared me, but underneath the fear was something stronger.
Longing.
It was a dangerous thought. I knew that, but it didn’t stop that ache in my chest. There was only one person who could help with that, but he wasn’t here.
He’d left well before I’d gotten up, and he hadn’t done that in weeks. And there was no note. No coffee. No toast. Nothing waiting for me in the kitchen. There wasn’t even a hint of his cologne lingering in the air. He’d been gone for hours, and I had no clue where he was or when he’d be back.