12. Lindsey
12
LINDSEY
T he heat blossoming inside me makes my pulse quicken, and my back bows, my chest arching into Maks as his arms tighten around me, pulling me closer. The sexual tension that has been building between us feels explosive as my lips part and his tongue strokes between them. He’s a dangerously good kisser—adamant and possessive and at the same time achingly soft. Desire throbs between my thighs as I vividly recall his tongue bringing me to climax in his office at the club.
Gaining even a small insight into what has been driving Maks helps me understand him so much better, and that makes it far harder to deny my attraction to him. His violent tendencies might terrify me. His willingness to kill someone is completely outside my ability to comprehend, but none of those brutal urges seems to apply when it comes to me. He has gone out of his way to keep me alive and safe. He’s put in considerable effort to ensure my comfort. Even his punishment brought me more pleasure than pain, and his motives feel so much more understandable after what happened today. His fury on behalf of his niece is kind of moving, and the lengths he went to in order to protect me from Costanzo make me feel unreasonably safe. Today didn’t just validate Maks’s behavior these past few weeks. It made me like him so much more.
The intensity in his kiss now, after so many days without even so much as touching me, sets my body on fire. His hands trail down my waist, following my curves, and as he reaches my hips, he pulls me firmly against him, trapping his hard cock between us. Anticipation coils in my stomach, and I crave the brush of his skin, the heat of his body.
A soft moan rushes up my throat, and Maks devours the sound, then nips my lower lip as he pulls back to look at my face. His gaze is ravenous, the need in his eyes matching my own intense arousal. “What do you want, little rabbit?”
“Are you asking if I want you to stop?”
“I’m giving you the option,” he murmurs, his voice ragged.
Considering our last conversation on the matter—and the fact that I have so few options in my current situation—that means a lot. “What if I say I want you tonight?”
A low growl rumbles up from his chest, and his fingers press into my skin. “Feel how fucking hard I am for you, zaya ?” he rasps, grinding his hips against me and holding himself there tightly. “Say the word, and I’ll have you screaming my name until sunrise.”
My breath catches, my lips parting as my core tightens. All the familiar reasons I shouldn’t let this happen flood my mind, but none of it seems to matter. I don’t care if he’s too old for me or capable of murder. I don’t care that he’s keeping me prisoner. I believe Maks when he says he can deliver that kind of pleasure, and as long as I’m throwing my convictions out the window, I want to know what a night like that is like.
Combing my fingers into his hair, I curl them and bring our mouths back together. “Take me to bed,” I breathe against them. Then I run the tip of my tongue along the seam of his lips. He tastes sharp and minty as our tongues brush together.
His fingers curl, bunching my skirt at the bend of my hips as he guides the fabric up my thighs. As soon as I have the freedom to do so, I brace against his shoulders and jump up, wrapping my legs around his waist. A low moan vibrates from his chest, releasing butterflies in my stomach, and his warm hands grasp my thighs, his fingers sliding beneath the hem that’s ridden all the way up.
Without breaking our kiss, he moves toward the bedroom, and my pulse flutters, my breaths quickening. What happened between us in his office was unexpected and frantic, a necessary release after the explosive tension from my punishment. But this feels entirely different. This smoldering attraction has been building since we met, and finally, I feel like I understand what drew me in. The electric connection between us has been sitting unacknowledged, waiting for the catalyst to spark a fire. All it took was a glimpse of the real Maks, the man behind the ruthless pakhan , for me to know that my attraction isn’t completely irrational. Something about Maks keeps luring me in. He’s not at all the man I envisioned falling for, but as he carries me to bed, I’m shocked to realize my feelings for him are more powerful than anything I’ve felt before.
The bedroom doors slam against the wall as he shoves them open blindly, and he doesn’t bother closing them as he steps forward, spilling me onto his luxurious bed. His weight presses me into the mattress, his hips spreading my thighs as they pin me down, and I grind against him, needing friction to satisfy that aching desire pulsing in my clit.
Maks’s fingers lightly circle my throat, making my pulse stutter, and his thumb tips my chin up, granting him better access to the sensitive flesh. Trailing hot kisses down my neck, he works his way toward my collarbone, his fingers blazing a trail as he opens the buttons of my blouse, exposing my breasts and the wire he so carefully tucked inside it.
I sit up as he tugs the fabric free of my skirt, and he guides the shirt over my shoulders as he undresses me. Reaching for the clasp of my bra, I help while he lowers the zipper on my skirt, then he presses me back onto the bed so he can peel off the rest of my clothing. Once again, I’ve been laid bare for Maks to see while he’s still wearing all his clothes, and my fingers itch to take them off so I can see what’s underneath. But as soon as I start to drag the hem of his shirt up, exposing a hint of his tattoos, his fingers circle around my wrists, and he pins them against the bed above me.
“I want to tie you down and claim each of your holes, little rabbit,” he breathes, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, and I shudder as my stomach flip-flops nervously.
Transferring his grip to keep my hands trapped above me with one hand, he reaches between us to unbuckle his belt, and I gasp as it hisses free of his belt loops. I swallow hard, tensing as I think about what he just suggested. I might have enjoyed his punishment with the belt, but I’ve never done what he’s suggesting before, and I’m not so sure I would like it.
“Maks,” I say, anxiety lacing my tone, as he wraps the soft leather around my wrists and fastens it to the headboard. “I don’t know?—”
But Maks’s lips feel so good as they travel down my body inch by inch. He looks up at me as he palms my breasts, his lips brushing across the sensitive skin, and he rolls my nipples lightly with his thumbs, coaxing a moan of pleasure from me.
“Have I given you any reason to think you wouldn’t enjoy what I do to you, zaya ?” he asks, his lips continuing toward my navel.
“No,” I breathe, my back arching beneath his expert touch.
“I promise you’ll like everything I do to you, and I won’t push you farther than what you can take. Do you trust me?”
Surprisingly, I do. Maks might seem capable of killing a man with his bare hands, but when it comes to my body, I believe him if he says he won’t hurt me. But I’m not quite sure I’m ready to give him more power over me. It feels like he has too much already.
“We could use a safe word,” he murmurs.
“Would I need a safe word?” I ask, my skin prickling with fear and overstimulation as Maks continues to trail kisses down my abdomen.
He shifts his weight, straightening to kneel over me, and my mouth goes dry, my thoughts scattering, as he grips the hem of his henley and pulls it off over his head in one fluid motion. The glimpse I got of him in his office is nothing compared to the work of art I see now. He looks like he’s carved from marble, his rippling abs ending in a deep V that vanishes into the top of his joggers. His broad, muscular chest is covered in black ink. Tattoos snake up his arms and over his shoulders, all intricate, haunting depictions of death and destruction shrouded in curling smoke.
“If it will make you more comfortable,” he says huskily. “It’s an assurance that if you say your safe word, I’ll stop what I’m doing immediately.”
I’m so distracted by the perfection of his body that, at first, I can’t make sense of what he just said. Then my eyes snap to his face as he lowers himself between my thighs, hooking my knees over his shoulders.
“And ‘stop’ wouldn’t do the trick?” I breathe, straining against the belt around my wrists as his hot breath washes across my clit, making my core clench with the need to have something inside me.
His eyes are black with desire as he inhales deeply, like the scent of me is driving him wild. “‘Stop’ is too common, something you could use without meaning it literally. A safe word should be something you wouldn’t normally say,” he says darkly.
Maks is dangerous. The more I’m around him, the more alluring that danger becomes. It feels like he’s Hades preparing to carry me down to the underworld, but unlike Persephone, I’m not so certain I want to resist. Because with each dark promise he makes, I know the pleasure will be exponentially better.
“Like ‘pomegranate’?” I suggest, humor bubbling up in my chest when the theme fits perfectly with the comparison that popped into my head.
He chuckles, soft and low, the sound vibrating through my skin, and I gasp as he runs his tongue from my wet entrance to my clit, the tip sliding between my folds. “Exactly.”
I breathe heavily, my skin buzzing with anticipation, and my fingers curling into fists as my clit throbs. Maks’s mouth leaves me aching with desire, his breath teasing me to the brink of insanity, and I can’t seem to find my voice through the haze of arousal clouding my thoughts.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he says playfully, his breath whispering across my clit and making me squirm. “If I can make you come in less than a minute with my mouth, you’ll let me show you my kind of pleasure.”
Torn between fear and exhilaration, my heart hammers against my ribcage. But something about Maks tempts me to try the forbidden fruit and damn the consequences.
“Okay,” I whisper, and I cry out as Maks’s lips wrap around my clit without warning.
Heat floods my core as his tongue swirls around the sensitive point, sending bursts of electricity up my spine. My back arches off the bed, my head falling back as my arms strain against the leather confining me. It makes me feel helpless, and at the same time, it’s oddly liberating to have my pleasure so completely in his hands.
Maks hums approval, his fingers pressing into my thighs as he licks my slit, picking a pace that makes me squirm beneath him. My knees quiver as the pleasure intensifies, and I grind forward against his lips even though I know he’s going to win the bet if I can’t get ahold of myself. I’m starting to think I don’t want to.
“Maks!” I cry as he slides two fingers inside of me, nearly pushing me over the edge.
He thrusts them in the same rhythm as his tongue strokes my clit, and I jerk and twitch as I hover on the precipice. He sucks my throbbing flesh, and I mewl, unable to hold out any longer. As I tighten around his fingers, I arch up against his hand and mouth, writhing as I topple over the edge. Head falling back, I yank at the belt as he curls his fingers inside my fluttering pussy, thrusting them harder when I grind against his lips. When I collapse back onto the bed, I know it didn’t take him a minute, and I pant as my skin tingles with nervous expectation.
As Maks releases my clit and lifts his head, his smile is smug, and his eyes burn into mine with anticipation. “You drive me crazy when you cry my name, little rabbit,” he murmurs.
He grips my hips, flipping me onto my stomach with such ease it makes me dizzy and I yelp. Then he lifts me, putting me on my knees so my arms are stretched above my head, my cheek pressed to the bed and my back arched with my ass in the air. I’m completely on display for him, my legs spread enough that I can balance, and Maks parts my folds with his fingers as he runs them from my clit to my wet entrance and keeps going.
I gasp, my cheeks flaming as he circles my ass, spreading my arousal around the tightly puckered hole.
“Has anyone ever fucked you here before, little rabbit?” he asks.
“ No. ” Just the thought of it mortifies me, but the satisfaction in Maks’s gaze makes my stomach tremble.
“We’ll have to change that,” he murmurs, and his finger teases my back entrance, pressing against it with just enough force that the muscles start to give.
The thrill of trying something taboo releases a blast of cold adrenaline that makes my heart race, and while the intrusion feels foreign and almost painful, the flutter of nervous excitement overrides it.
“Mm, so tight,” he groans. “I don’t think you could take all of me if I fucked your ass tonight, zaya .”
The pressure eases, and I shudder as his hand disappears from my skin, leaving cool air to fill the void. Relief mingles with a surprising disappointment. I can’t imagine how bad it would hurt to have something as large as his cock in my ass if just the tip of his finger stung. But I also want to learn more about the kind of pleasure Maks enjoys. If what he’s shown me so far is just the tip of the iceberg, I’m curious about how good it could get.
Maks leans over me, his soft chest hair tickling my back as he reaches for his side table and opens the drawer. Then the bed shifts as he rocks back onto the mattress behind me. The sound of a condom foil tearing makes my heart skip a beat, and I look back over my shoulder to watch him put it on. He managed to take his joggers off at some point, and for the first time, I get a proper look at the older man who is more chiseled than anyone I’ve seen in real life. He’s spectacular, each bulging muscle and etched line a work of art beneath his ink.
His cock is hard enough to brush his abdomen as he releases it, and my stomach trembles when I see just how large he is. I knew it the moment he buried himself inside me, but seeing it is something else entirely. He grasps the base and rocks his hips forward, stroking the tip between my folds. I jerk back, seeking relief, as he brushes against my sensitive clit. Then he lines up with my entrance and shoves inside me, burying himself to the hilt in my pussy.
I cry out, the intense fullness overwhelming my senses as tingling electricity races up and down my spine.
“So fucking wet and ready for me,” he groans, reaching around my hip to circle my clit with his fingers as he starts to slide in and out of me with his cock.
The stimulation is intense, and I roll my hips back, chasing the relief that’s making my walls pulse and my clit throb. His free hand reaches forward, his fingers combing into my hair, and a whimper rushes from me as he grips it just hard enough to lift my head off the bed. Then his hips pick up the pace as he keeps me in place with his hands. The tug against my scalp with each forward thrust creates a dull ache at the roots of my hair, and at the same time, his fingers circling my clit make the relief outweigh the discomfort. I’m incapable of moving, completely there for Maks to use however he pleases. With my hands tied firmly to the headboard and my back arched so I’m on full display, I’m at his mercy.
The power he has over me is terrifying, but his fingers tease my clit until I’m dizzy with need, and his cock fills me so completely, driving into a secret spot that makes me scream with pleasure.
“Come for me, zaya ,” Maks commands, his voice strained with lust, and the sound of his desire pushes me over the edge.
My walls ripple along his length, and my clit flutters against his fingers. I’m not sure I’ve ever come so hard, and as Maks’s fingers relax in my hair, slowly lowering my head back to the bed, tingling relief prickles across my scalp.
“Good girl,” he praises, rocking inside of me to chase the last waves of my orgasm.
His hand travels, soft and slow, down the length of my spine, raising goosebumps in his wake, and I shiver as my pussy clenches around him. A low groan tells me he can feel it, and he’s closer to his own release than I had realized. My core throbs again. For a fleeting moment, I have the irrational desire to know what it would feel like to have him come inside me without a condom. But I couldn’t risk it. Especially when he’s said he doesn’t do relationships—and I’m not sure I want to be a part of his world anyway.
“Now that you’re good and warmed up, let’s see how well you can take me here,” he murmurs, his palm stopping at the base of my spine as his thumb brushes my puckered hole once again.
I’m too satisfied to tense right away, but my stomach knots with a fresh wave of nerves, and I shudder as he collects a generous amount of slick arousal from my folds. Then his fingers slowly start to tease my clit as his thumb circles my hole. My hips jerk back as I grind against him, and his thumb presses inside of me. I whimper, the pain intense, but as his cock starts to rock into me and his fingers continue to tease my clit, I can relax around the intrusion. Slowly, he increases the pressure, inching further inside my ass, and each time my muscles tense and release, a tingling anticipation builds in my core. It hurts, but it also feels strangely intoxicating—to be so completely possessed by Maks, to have him touching me where no one has ever touched me before.
“Maks!” I moan as the dizzying excitement drives me toward another orgasm at an alarming speed.
“Fuck, I love the way you say my name,” he growls, his hips thrusting forward as he starts to finger my ass more adamantly.
He feels like he’s on the brink of losing control, his movements powerful and possessive as he claims my holes without mercy. It might scare me if I weren’t so turned on, but as he slams inside me, his cock swelling, I rise to meet him. Falling apart around him, I milk his throbbing length as he comes hard at the same time as me. My ass grips his thumb, pulling him deeper inside me as my body begs for more. I want all he has to give, and as stars burst behind my eyelids, I know that no one else will ever be able to make me feel like this.
Slowly, he eases out of me, and when he reaches up to unbuckle my makeshift restraints, sensation prickles at my fingertips as the blood returns to my hands. I hadn’t even realized they’d gone numb, but even that adds to the relief as I sprawl across the bed, raking in deep lungfuls of air. This world Maks lives in is so different from mine. I only need a taste of it to recognize it’s so dark and twisted that our age difference would be a mere drop in the bucket to the bigger challenges we would face to be together.
The thought blindsides me, and heat floods my cheeks as I realize I’m thinking about us like a couple. I’m not sure exactly when it started, but somewhere along the line, I began to care about Maks, to think of him as more than just my captor. I lost sight of the fact that our physical connection can’t erase the reality of our situation, and even if it could, I don’t know that I would want to be a part of his world. He’s said himself that he doesn’t intend to marry, so whatever we have together is temporary.
My chest aches hollowly when I think about it, but it’s probably for the best. His world isn’t safe for a person like me. I’m not sure I’m built to survive it. So I’ll enjoy what we have for the time we have it, and count it as a blessing if I live to see the other side.