Clasping my waist, he turns me to face him and slowly goes down on his haunches, dragging his big, warm palms over my arms, my thighs, and finally, my calves. I swallow as I hold his gaze, taking in the dark, hungry intent in those magnificent blue pools.
Tenderly, he removes one sandal and then the next. When I stand completely naked in front of him, he straightens. Cupping one of my breasts, he rubs a thumb along the undercurve. My nipples harden instantly. I want him so much I’m aching. His hand is big enough that half of his palm covers my ribs. He holds me like this for a moment, simply caressing the underside of my breast as he stares into my eyes. He likes to read my reactions when he touches me. He likes to learn how to make me scream.
Seeming to have had his fill of my eyes, he drops his gaze to my lips. His eyes cut a slow path over me, pausing on my breasts. I grip his shoulders for purchase when he lowers his head, aiming for a nipple. The moment he closes his lips around the hard tip, a moan escapes my mouth. His tongue is hot, his teeth wicked. He knows how to make me come undone by doing nothing but caressing my breasts, but tonight, he doesn’t make me beg. He goes lower, kissing his way down my body until he’s crouching in front of me again.
I gasp when he hooks my leg over his shoulder. I already know where this is going. Still, I’m unprepared for the onslaught of pleasure that slams into me as he goes straight for his prize. He licks and nips, and in a matter of seconds, I come. My legs are like jelly in the aftermath of that quick and intense release, but he doesn’t give me a reprieve. He strips with lightning speed, baring his hard male body and sizable arousal.
We don’t make it to the shower. He catches my face between his hands and kisses me like he needs my air to breathe. I taste myself on his lips, the evidence of how badly I want him. When I fist a hand around the velvet flesh of his cock, he grips my hair in a ponytail and pushes me to my knees. I reciprocate, taking him into my mouth and licking the crest until his breathing speeds up and he pumps his hips as I suck him in deeper.
Like always, I swallow every drop when he comes, owning his release just like he owns mine. Coming like this takes the edge off, but it doesn’t slow him down. If anything, it makes him greedier for me. Hauling me to my feet, he swings me into his arms and carries me into the shower. He holds on to me with one hand, splaying his fingers over my waist as he opens the tap with the other. While the water heats up, he kisses me, making sure to shelter me from the cold mist of the drops with his body.
When the spray is warm, he takes me underneath it, entering me with one thrust and then pausing to let me adapt. The heat that burns me up inside is different, greater than the pleasure of earlier. It’s the kind of ecstasy that steals my mind. It robs me of my senses and makes me forget everything else.
After a few beats, he starts moving slowly, working himself deeper. My moans spur him on. My whimpers make him punch his hips harder, but it’s when I scrape my nails over his shoulders that he plunges inside and owns me. The tiles are cool against my back. Every thrust moves my body up the smooth surface. The ridges of the tiles’ corners grate my skin, but I’m barely cognizant of the discomfort. As long as he’s driving me toward an unbearable peak, every other sensation is mere background noise.
He palms a breast and tweaks my nipple. The sensation ignites more sparks in my core. He stops kissing me to look into my eyes. Drops cling to his dark lashes, glistening like diamonds against the backdrop of his blue irises. The color is arresting, but it’s the fierceness of the possession sparking in their depths that I focus on. It’s the all-consuming love reflecting back to me that holds my attention as he slips a hand between our bodies and finds my clit. He rubs the pad of his thumb in the way that always brings me to my knees, and when my legs buckle, he pivots his hips and comes just as I break and my inner muscles lock around him.
To say I see stars is a cliché, but that’s what he does to me. The pleasure ripping through me is like an explosion of meteorites blasting through the atmosphere. When I close my eyes, the white-hot pinpoints of the stars as they burn out in the sky are like the static noise on a television screen. But that’s not what causes the height of my euphoria. What drives me to that point is the bond between us. It’s always present, no matter what we do, but I feel it strongest like this, naked in his arms, vulnerable and exposed. This is when both our bodies and our souls are bared.
Pressing his forehead against mine, he says with a tremulous breath, “Katyusha.”
The endearment washes over me, filling me with warmth.
He kisses my lips, catching the bottom one with his teeth. “You make me crazy. Sumashedshim.”
“Sumashedshim,” I agree.
His voice is gruff. “Say you want me.”
“Vsegda.” Constantly, always, eternally, forever.
A glint of satisfaction lights up his eyes when he pulls away to look at me. “Your Russian lessons are paying off.”
Lethargic, I lean against him, letting him carry my weight. “Mm.”
“Come on,” he says, his voice tender. “Let me take care of you.”
After he’s washed my body and my hair, he wraps me up in a fluffy towel and pats me dry before taking me to bed. He serves me dinner there, feeding me small bites and petting my hair as if I were the kiska—the kitten—he calls me.
When I’m sated, he pours us each a glass of wine. After a few sips, he lets me nap. It’s close to midnight when he wakes me with a kiss on my shoulder.
“Katyusha.” His deep voice penetrates my sleep. “Wake up, my love.”
Blinking, I rub my eyes. “Is it morning already?”
“No,” he says with a quirk of his lips. “It’s almost midnight. Come.”
He helps me from the bed and holds my robe open for me. When I’m protected against the cooler air of the night, he takes my hand and leads me to the rooftop terrace.
Folding his arms around me from behind, he rests his chin on the crown of my head.
“Look,” he says.
I take in the vista. The colorful domes of the baroque-style buildings shine in the copper light of the sunset. Like a ball of gold, the sun hangs on the horizon. Above it, the sky is a fragile, delicate white, like the veil of a bride.
“A white night,” I say in awe.
He kisses the top of my head. “A midnight day.”
Turning in his embrace, I look up at the sharp angles of his face.
He chuckles. “The view is over there.”
“No.” I cup his cheek. “What I want to see is right here, in front of me.”
“Yes,” he says softly. “So it is. You. It’s always been you.”
When he lowers his head, I offer my lips, letting him kiss me under the midnight sun.
Alex and Kate’s journey ends here. Thank you for following their epic love story!
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Craving more edgy, suspenseful romance? Check out Tormentor Mine by Anna Zaires and Diamonds in the Dust by Charmaine Pauls. And don’t miss our action-packed enemies-to-lovers collaboration, Darker Than Love!