But that wasn’t his plan.
Nope.
He stood up and offered his hand to me. I took it automatically because whatever he was going to do had to be better than sitting in a chair staring at the blinding lights of the city.
When it comes to a classroom setting, I’m always right. My track record reading social cues wasn’t nearly as solid. But this time I was right.
Oleksander had something much, much better planned.
When he brought me to my feet, he shifted his body closer to mine. And when I say it was a big body, it was an enormous body. I can’t emphasize that enough. He could crowd out the sun. I craned my head to stare up at him and he stared back, drilling me with those pale blue eyes. He was unreadable, a solid mass of granite, cool and hard and impenetrable.
His hand rose and slid into my hair by my ear. It was a soft touch, at odds with the width and strength of him. His thumb caressed my cheeks, up and down, hypnotically, while he stared down into my eyes. At six foot five, easily, he was towering over me, despite the heels, and instinctively I went on tiptoes, thinking he was going to kiss me.
But he didn’t.
He did something even better.
With his free hand, and with no real effort on his part, he reached down and wrapped his arm around me beneath my ass cheeks. And lifted me off the floor. Just right up off the floor.
I almost broke the rules right then and there. I almost asked what the hell he was doing or squeaked out a protest, but I bit my lip at the last second, determined to show him I could play his game. He wanted me to be quiet, fine, I would be quiet. Instead I wrapped my arms around his neck so I wouldn’t lose my balance. Not that he was in any danger of dropping me. Nope. None. He was only holding me with one arm and it didn’t look like it was straining him in any way.
But he still didn’t kiss me. He held me there, up to his chest, so that we were closer to eye level than when I had been craning my neck to see him. He studied me. His gaze wandered over my face and his free fingers followed, tracing the outline of my lips. Back and forth. Back and forth. I sucked in a breath, everything inside me going tight and achy. I had no idea what he was doing or thinking but I did know that it was making me very, very wet.
He wasn’t looking at me like a puzzle he needed to solve. It was more like he was learning the contours of my features. Like he was mapping me out to revisit later.
His concentration was impressive, intense, unbreakable. I watched him watching me, his touch now doing a counterclockwise circle from chin to cheek to temple and down the other side. It drew a shiver from me, the feathery touch making me aware of my skin, my breathing, my core. My nipples grazed against his chest and I eased up my hold around his neck, wanting to touch his shoulders a little, explore all that hardness.
Letting my hands drift, I wandered across the hard plane of his shoulders to his biceps. They were absolutely rock solid. I had never in my entire life, had the opportunity to touch a man who had such little body fat. I opened my mouth to ask him how many hours he spent in the gym, then I realized I couldn’t speak. I brought my gaze back to his face. Still staring. We locked eyes, and I felt a slow melt starting in on my insides. I was the polar ice caps and he was global warming.
It was amazing, and at the same time, it was too much. I couldn’t have held the weight of myself up for anything, my grip on his arms loosening, my body relaxing. It didn’t matter though, because he held me up entirely.
My legs were straight, but I decided I would give him a break and wrap them around his waist so my weight was better distributed. Besides, I wanted to rock against his cock. I could feel the teasing shape of it, but it was on my abdomen, not where I really wanted it. I wanted to press against that hard erection and ease the ache between my thighs.
“No,” he said, pushing my legs back down so my toes were pointed at the floor still.
I opened my mouth to ask why, then I realized it was a test. There was just a glint of humor and savagery in his gaze that told me he would take great pleasure in starting the timer over again. I clamped my mouth shut and raised my eyebrows.
I wasn’t going to lose. Not a chance. I never failed a school test.
Besides, I couldn’t really get angry because he wasn’t actually baiting me all that much. If he had goaded me by talking excessively, I would have been annoyed. But he had only spoken that one word. The rest was all his eyes and his hands, both exploring me.
So I emulated him. I brushed my thumb over his bottom lip. His reaction was minimal. Just the briefest hint of an exhalation from his nostrils, but I already sensed that was a victory on my part. He worked hard to be fully in control at all times, that was very clear. I traced his jawline, before sliding my hand around the back of his neck and applying just the smallest amount of pressure, wanting him to move closer to me.
“Nod if you want me to kiss you,” he murmured, and his voice was even gruffer than before.
Wanting to show him I could exhibit control too, though nowhere near at his level, I restrained myself from nodding rapidly. Instead, I gave a slow, small nod, and parted my lips in an obvious invitation. He made that sound again, that exhalation of air, accompanied by a low growl deep in his throat.
That sound… I had never heard anything that primal before and I closed my eyes, overwhelmed as his mouth descended onto mine. I expected him to be controlled, and he was, but it wasn’t a soft kiss. It wasn’t a teasing brush, or a gentle caress. It was a powerful, commanding kiss that took me by storm. I gasped, kissing him back as desire shot through me. He kissed me the way he looked at me—with intensity and purpose. A continuous onslaught of his lips on mine, his tongue sweeping over my flesh.
Whatever I had expected, this was so much more. It was fire from a man who had such an icy stare. It was all-consuming, making me forget everything but this moment, right there, right then.
When his teeth sunk into my bottom lip, just a small, tiny nip, my eyes flew open as a pit of heat swirled deep between my thighs. I heard my moan, was shocked by it. I sounded like a different person. Like a woman who had great sex, that’s what I sounded like. I parted my lips for his tongue, and he took full advantage.
His hand cupped my cheek as he kissed me again and again, like I was something both precious and tempting. I slid my fingers up into his hair, needing something to hold, to tug, overwhelmed by the rising tide of passion. Arm firmly under my ass, he used his palm to grind me against him. My dress was so short it had rolled up over my thighs, leaving only my lace panties and his pants as a barrier. At first contact of that hard press of my clit against his hard cock, I gasped.
I almost said his name then. Almost breathed it on a sharp cry of need. Almost begged him for more. But somehow, despite the fact that I was drowning in desire, my brain was still functioning and I stopped myself. I couldn’t do another twenty minutes of silence.
Besides, I wanted to prove to Oleksander that I could follow his rules, that I could learn from him. If this was any indication, I had a lot to learn.
That was made even clearer when he finally broke away, his own breathing not nearly as labored as mine. Either he had better lung capacity or he wasn’t as destroyed as I was. Probably both. He carefully, slowly, lowered me to the floor, watching me as he did. My head slowly tilted back further and further as I descended back to earth, not wanting to break our eye contact.
Finally, it became impossible, and as my feet reached the floor, I lowered my head so that I was staring at his chest, holding on to his biceps for support. His big hands shifted around behind me, and before I could blink, he had my dress unzipped. Easing both hands inside the shoulders and sleeves, he had it off my arms and chest and in a pool on the floor in a matter of seconds.