Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Dimitri
I check my watch for the tenth time in a minute. I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen into a vortex where time stopped. The instructions were simple: wait until 4:32, walk to the elevator, push the up button, get off at the fourth floor, and go to room 432. She did it so it would be easy for me to remember. But it’s been 4:31 for like ten hours now.
4:32! Finally!
I stand in the elevator with a man in a polo drinking a beer out of a glass bottle, talking on the phone about short sales. There’s also a white-haired old lady who smells like flowers and cigarettes, and her purse is taking up half the room in the small space. She presses the button for the fourth floor just as I’m about to press it. I bounce on my toes, earning me glares from the polo guy.
Floor two, floor three. There’s an outrageously long pause for floor number four. The doors creak apart. The damn old lady steps in front of me and her body-bag-sized purse blocks me. Fuck, does she have to move so slow? The door closes on my shoulders when she moves and says, “I’m sorry dear, my knees aren’t what they used to be.”
Yes, getting old sucks, but at least you’ve lived long enough to complain about it. Right now, I just need Baba Yaga to take one step to the left so I can get past her. She swings and hits me with her purse one more time as I sidestep out of the elevator and down the hall.
It takes a second for me to get my bearings. Room 432 is on the left—great. Oh, for fuck’s sake. There’s five turns and a fucking minotaur I need to fight to get to the room. Minotaur, cleaning cart, whatever. It’s another obstacle in my way.
My heart beats in my ears, and my back is so hot I might’ve sweat through my shirt. My stomach tingles and gurgles, and I’m not sure what that means. And yes, I’ve had plenty of time to sort out my feelings for Katya, but there are so many unknowns.
My knuckles rap against the door. Was that too soft? Too loud? I strain to hear movement on the other side. Then there’s a gentle padding of feet against the floor. The door opens.
She’s stunning. A short black dress, classic and beautiful, her hair is up, exposing her long graceful neck. Is she wearing makeup? Her smile distracts me because I know ours are matching.
“Hi.” Katya steps back to let me into the room and launches herself into my arms as soon as the door locks behind us.
Her legs wrap around my waist as she kisses me, my hands firmly on her ass, lifting and protecting her.
“Did you want to talk for a few minutes?” I ask.
She blinks at me. “Dude, I haven’t had sex in nine months. Can we fuck first and talk later?”
Nine Months. Helsinki.
“Absolutely,” I say and add, “I haven’t touched anyone since you.” My lips brush against her neck.
She moans but stops short, looking me in the eye. “Um, you work in a sex club.” Well that kinda killed the moment, but only barely, more like it grazed the moment. I lower her until her toes touch the ground and she’s secure.
“I’ve seen a lot of shit, but you’re the only one I want to be with.”
“Still, that must be rough.”
I laugh. “My wrist is fucking killing me.”
She tilts her head and smirks, yanks on my belt, and pushes my pants to my knees. “Let me take care of that for you.”
Her hand strokes my raging cock and I groan. She sinks to the floor and licks me from the base to the tip, moaning as she takes me in her mouth, so warm and wet. Each movement of her mouth sends me closer to the edge. I wrap my fingers through her hair, guiding her along the way. She looks up at me with adoring but watery eyes.
“God, you’re so amazing,” I mumble as I slowly lift her to her feet.
I don’t want to make her stay on her knees for too long, but I have no problem with it myself. I kick off my pants as she takes off my shirt, and she squeals as I lift her to the bed.
She squirms and shimmies, but the dress gets stuck on her head. “Not exactly the sexy removal I imagined.” She says exactly what I’m thinking.
I’m already pushing her thong past her knees, teasing her with kisses on her thigh. She moans impatiently as I get closer to her center. She’s already wet, and one long lick sends me into a frenzy, like a man who’s walked a thousand miles in the desert and her body is the one oasis. Her moans and pants spur me on as I slide two fingers inside while I devour her clit. She screams and shakes with pleasure.
Between pants she says, “Can we do the multiple soul-crushing orgasms later?”
“Um, that’s sort of our thing,” I counter.
“Yes, I agree.” She nods, but her eyes blaze with passion and anger. “But if your dick isn’t inside of me in the next five seconds, I will murder you.”
Who am I to deny this woman? I position myself at her entrance and pick up her legs. “Put them on my shoulders,” I demand, but she pauses. “I’m all healed up and I want to feel you like this.”
She grins and complies. And fuck, she feels even better this time than she did back in Europe. She’s amazing and everything I want. When we’re connected, everything feels right. She’s a joy to fuck, and I can’t help it, all my feels come rushing in. I want her. Now. Tomorrow. Forever.
We climax at the same time, and fall together too. I need to hold her to keep myself grounded. To keep her grounded in the moment. And I don’t want her falling asleep.
I sit up in bed with her back pressed against my chest, my arms around her body and our fingers laced. She breathes slowly as we sync up together. All the stress and tension that’s racked my brain for the past year is gone. Right now, at this moment, she’s mine.
She makes a little happy sigh and nuzzles into my chest. “Worth it.”
“The wait?”
“All of it—the risk, the loneliness, the constant stress to make sure you’re alive and safe. It’s all worth it.”
“Really?”
“The small moments we get together are completely worth it.”
I hate to ask, but I have to. “How much longer do you think you’ll be…er…busy?”
She’s silent for a few minutes. “I don’t know. It could be a few weeks, it could be a few years.” She twists her body around and meets my gaze. “The Four Families made a dangerous and elusive enemy. As soon as we get close to even figuring out his identity, data is deleted, witnesses turn up dead, or someone on the team is reassigned.”
“But not you?”
“No. And I don’t know who I can trust. Well, other than Alana and you.” She rests her head on my shoulder. “I can’t give you any hard definitive answers. God, this must be doing a number on your trust issues.”
I huff. “You have no idea.”
“I would understand if you want to walk away and start a new life. Honestly, I never expected you to stay faithful to me.”
My stomach knots, my body reacting faster than my brain does. She wants to break up with me. Or at least give me an out.
I pull her close. “Our vague, mysterious relationship isn’t keeping me from living my life, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. There’s no other romantic prospects on the horizon. Between Ian adjusting to life in America and Uri being a general pain in my ass, I don’t have much of an interest in the dating world. Besides, after you, everyone else is bland and bitter.” But a new thought hits me. “But if you’re feeling trapped and you want out of our vague relationship, then I’ll understand.”
“NO!” She jolts back and almost slams her head into my chin. “We’re so close to getting this right, for us to be real. And I don’t know if you’ve met men before, but they kinda suck.”
I laugh. “Honestly, I have no idea what you see in us.”
Her cell phone beeps and she groans. My stomach knots up. “Do you have to go?”
She nuzzles up closer to me and doesn’t answer. “I hate this.”
“Me too.” I press my lips to her head. “How many times can we use the burner to contact each other?”
“Two more times, then we need to get new ones.”
I lift her off my chest. “So the only thing keeping us from talking is getting new phones?”
She pauses. “I guess.”
“And can we keep meeting up like this as long as there’s no pattern to it?”
Katya pushes her hair out of her face. “We’ll both have to be super careful.” She grins like an otter with a new toy.
I grab my phone off the table and turn it back on. “Ok. How does the third Tuesday of next month sound? Joey has a cabin, we could meet there.”
Her eyes light up and my stomach flips. Her lips crash into mine, and between hasty and rushed breaths she says, “Yes.”
It’s not much of a plan or a solid future, but for now, it’s enough.