14. Savanna #2
His fingers trail along my skin, first washing me and then massaging my muscles so I’m not only clean but also thoroughly relaxed.
“That feels amazing,” I tell him when he angles me so he can rub my bottom and thigh.
The side of my face rests against his chest, and I let out a sigh of pure bliss when his fingers dig in a little bit harder, hitting the part of my lower back that always gets sore when I’ve sat hunched over a book for too long.
“It does,” he agrees, sliding his hand down my ass. “Fucking incredible.”
“I’m glad you like my body. You can massage it anytime you want,” I tell him before kissing his chest.
“I’m definitely going to remember that.”
Reaching out, I run my finger over his wet inner forearm, sliding along the Grim Reaper tattoo that I know marks him as a member of his family’s Bratva. I trail along the Russian words beneath it. “What does this mean?”
“Brothers in blood, in life, and in death,” he says.
“Say it in Russian.”
I close my eyes as he effortlessly switches to Russian, the sexy cadence of the language has me turning my face so I can kiss his chest again.
“Interesting,” he muses while I drag my tongue along his skin. “I need to start speaking Russian in front of you more often.”
“It’s not just the Russian,” I tell him. “Everything about you turns me on.”
“You do the same to me, in case you couldn’t tell.”
“It’s really hard to miss the giant dick jabbing into my side,” I tell him with a grin.
“Entirely your fault.”
I give his chest another kiss and then sit up. Taking the soap from him, I say, “My turn.”
“I swear sometimes you just try to see how hard you can make me.”
I don’t deny it. Instead, I grab the soap, give him my best innocent smile, and ask, “So where should I start?”
Niki looks like he’s torn between wanting me to touch every part of him and wanting to make things easier on himself by insisting we just get out and go straight to supper.
I take pity on him and switch places with him so I can start on his shoulders.
My legs wrap around his waist and he grabs my calves while I start to dig my fingers in, rubbing all the tension from his neck and shoulders.
“Jesus, that feels good,” he groans, dropping his head to give me better access.
While I work out the knots, I lean down and kiss the tattoo on his shoulder. It’s shaped like a skull, but it’s all in zeros and ones, the design fractured like it’s glitching. It’s incredibly well done, and I’m not sure why exactly, but there’s something so sad about it.
“What does this mean?” I ask him, working my fingers lower so I’m getting into his upper back and the tense muscles in between his shoulder blades. “The repeating numbers, what is that?”
“It’s binary.”
I laugh. “You say that like I should know what that means.”
He looks over his shoulder and gives me a wink. “It’s the language of computers.”
“So this actually spells something out?” I take a closer look at all the numbers, but there’s no way in hell I’ll ever be able to decode it. “What’s it say?”
“The same word over and over again. Nobody.”
I press my lips to the sad image and then I kiss every inch of it. “As long as you know you’re everything to me.”
With his head still turned to the side so he can see me, he says, “I hope you always feel that way.”
“I always will,” I say, and I hope he can hear the confidence in my voice, because there’s a lot in life I’m not all that sure about, but this is not one of those things. When it comes to Niki, I’ve never been more certain of anything.
I cup his face, pulling him closer so I can kiss him before I start rubbing his back again, wanting him to feel as relaxed as possible.
I may not be able to spoil him with money, but I can spoil him like this.
With my hands running over his sculpted body, it feels more like a gift to myself, but I can tell he’s enjoying it, so I keep going.
I massage him from top to bottom. He lets me, only stopping to give me an amused look when I insist his thick shaft also needs a bit of love.
By the time I get to his feet, he’s resting with his head back, looking like he’s minutes away from sleep.
I’ve never seen him look so at ease. Even when he’s relaxed, he seems like he’s carrying around more than his fair share.
I get the impression he’s very hard on himself, and I’m hoping I can help ease that burden for him.
He smiles when I kiss the bottom of his foot, and then he groans when I slide up between his legs and rest my chest against his.
His fingers dance along my back, and when the water gets too cold to ignore, he gets out to grab me a fluffy towel.
While I get dressed in a comfy pair of yoga pants, he pulls on a pair of black sweats that sit low on his hips and a white T-shirt. He notices me staring and grins.
“Feel free to stay just like that,” he says, eyeing my bare upper body.
I think about it, but I’m kind of cold, so I eye his closet and ask, “Can I borrow one of your hoodies? I promise I’ll take it off again later.”
He walks over to his large closet and turns on the light. “Help yourself, baby. You can have anything you want.”
Excited, I step in and look around. I’m not surprised to find it organized. Everything is folded on a shelf or hanging up, and when I spot one of the black hoodies I’ve seen him in before, I grab it to show him. “This okay?”
He nods while I slip it on. It’s way too big on me, but it’s the kind of soft that only happens when you’ve washed a shirt a million times.
I pull the neckline up and take a big inhale, disappointed when it just smells like detergent and not him.
Unsatisfied, I take it off and hang it back up before walking out into his bedroom.
He watches me with curiosity but makes no move to stop me when I find the hoodie he’d been wearing earlier and put that one on instead.
This time when I give it a sniff, I’m rewarded with the subtle spice of his cologne and the scent that’s just him.
The only way to describe it is that it smells like home to me, familiar and safe and perfect.
“Better?” he asks.
I open my eyes to see him staring at me. “Much,” I tell him. “The other one didn’t smell like you.”
When I see his sweet smile, I pull him closer and kiss him. Before it can lead to both of us getting naked again, I say, “Food. I really need food. We need to replenish calories before we burn them off again.”
He grins and scoops me up. “In that case, let’s order a ton so we can replenish again in the middle of the night.”
We decide on pizza, and the menu is too much of a temptation for my empty stomach, so we end up ordering a few different ones, plus a large order of cheesy bread, and to assuage my guilt about all the greasy food, we add in a Greek salad that’s big enough for us to share.
As soon as it arrives, we both fix a huge plate and carry it to the couch.
Niki scoots the large square ottoman over and as soon as I’m settled, he grabs the remote and sits down next to me.
I see the corner of his mouth quirk up when I scoot in even closer so we’re touching.
This is the first time we’ve gotten to really hang out like this, and I plan to make the most of it.
We choose a comedy we’ve both been wanting to see but haven’t had the time to yet, and then we relax and do what thousands of other couples do on a nightly basis.
We eat and laugh and watch a movie together.
It seems so simple, but it feels like such a huge thing.
I keep looking over and stealing looks at him, and after several times, he laughs and turns his face to give me a quick kiss.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he tells me.
“At this point, I’d just chase you down if you did.”
He smiles at that, but I can tell he thinks I’m joking.
I’m not. I would stalk his ass for the rest of eternity.
I don’t want to go back to a life without him, and the idea of him ever being with anyone else makes me feel like I’m going to be sick.
Refusing to let my fears ruin this moment, I set my empty plate aside and cuddle in next to him.
While we watch the movie, he plays with my hair, gently running his fingers through it and then trailing them along my neck.
Every touch reminds me of how badly I still want him, and it reminds me of how good it had felt to have him inside me.
When I slip my hand under his shirt, I hear the soft hitch of his breath. “This is the first time I’ve been soft since I picked you up this afternoon,” he says, “and you’re about to ruin it.”
“What made you soft?” I ask, trailing my nails along his abs. “Decide you’re done for the night?”
He laughs and points at the TV. “It’s because I was watching other women that aren’t you.”
My hand stills at his words. I raise up so I can see his face. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious.” He gives a soft shake of his head. “You have no idea how much I love you, Van. There’s no way in hell I can maintain an erection if I’m looking at someone else. It’s impossible.”
I smile at the sweetest man on earth and then quickly shimmy out of my yoga pants. I hadn’t bothered with panties, so when I straddle him, I’m naked from the waist down. My body obscures his view of the TV, and I feel him quickly harden beneath me.
“Ruined it,” he says, giving me a soft smirk. His hands run up my thighs before gripping my hips and pulling me closer. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”
I shrug and say, “I thought maybe I’d just go really slow.”
He groans when I gently grind against him. “I like slow,” he says. “I really like slow.”
When I reach down to pull his hoodie off, he stops me and says, “Keep it on. I want to watch you ride me while you wear my clothes. I love seeing you in my things. I want you to touch every part of my life. I want to see you everywhere.”
I cup his face and kiss him while I lift up so he can tug his sweats down.
He also hadn’t bothered to put anything on underneath, so within seconds, I feel his thick head at my entrance.
I don’t sink down onto him, and he doesn’t force me to.
His hands slide under the hoodie, stroking my stomach and breasts and teasing the hell out of me while I kiss him slowly and deeply.
By the time I start to take him in, we’re both breathless and soaked.
Keeping my face close to his, I stare into his grey eyes as I very slowly lower onto him.
The stinging pain reminds me that I may have jumped the gun on this, but the look on his face and the pleasure that I feel starting to rise to the surface makes it clear I made the right choice.
He’s worth a bit of pain. He’s worth everything.
It takes me a few awkward attempts, but once I get my rhythm, I relax and lose myself in him.
I force myself to not speed up, not even when my thighs start to shake and I know I could push myself over the edge in seconds if I wanted to, and not when he groans and digs his fingers into my ass, using all his willpower to not lift and lower me in a relentless rhythm that would have us both screaming each other’s names.
I make us wait for it, squeezing him tightly with every stroke, moaning his name when he lifts my shirt so he can suck on my breast. It’s beautiful and I never want it to end.
I hold out for as long as I can, but no matter how hard I try to fight it, my body eventually makes the decision for me.
The orgasm rips through me as I tighten around him.
Every part of me clings to him while I kiss him and whisper that I love him.
As soon as he hears those three words, he groans and empties himself inside me.
I kiss him through it and then rest my forehead against his while we catch our breath.
Neither one of us is in a hurry to move, so we don’t.
I run my fingers along his jaw, noticing the stubble that’s coming in.
I want to watch him shave in the morning.
I want to know what he eats for breakfast and what clothes he decides to wear, and I want to see his smiling face whenever I glance up from whatever schoolwork I’m doing.
I want a life with him, not just pieces here and there.
Tiny stolen moments with him in between our busy schedules will never be enough.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I’ll move in with you.”
His smile is so sweet, and he’s so obviously thrilled by what I’ve just said that I easily return it before giving him another kiss.
“If you still want me to, that is,” I say.
He laughs and stands up, keeping himself inside me while he kicks off his sweats and then walks us back to the bedroom. “Of course I want you to,” he says. “I don’t ever want you to be anywhere else. My home is with you, Van.”
Lowering me onto the bed, my eyes widen when I feel him growing hard again.
“How is that even possible?” I ask, making him laugh.
“It’s possible because of you.” Reaching back, he grabs a fistful of his T-shirt and then pulls it over his head so he’s fully naked again. “You, too. No shirt blocking my view this time.”
I wiggle out of his hoodie, and I’m rewarded with a hungry look in his eyes that makes me feel like the most beautiful woman alive.
“Stop me if you feel too sore,” he says.
“I will,” I promise him, and then his mouth is on mine and he’s driving into me again, reminding me with each thrust that I will only ever be his.
We spend the night exploring each other’s bodies, and even though it’s close to dawn when we finally fall asleep, I assume we’ll spend the next day doing the same thing. I imagine waking up and having morning sex before we even get out of bed.
The last thing I’m expecting is to wake up to a blinding pain in my head.