Chapter 21 Holly
HOLLY
Something tugs at me from the edge of sleep, and my eyes flick open, and it takes me a moment to get my bearings. That I’m in Nikolai’s bedroom where it’s dark and quiet and impossibly still.
The storm has passed.
I feel for the space beside me, but it’s empty.
My gaze drifts around the frost-hazed room, and I see him, standing tall and motionless at the window. He’s shirtless and in nothing but sweatpants, the hard lines of his body outlined in a faint green-blue light.
Aurora Borealis.
The Northern Lights.
They shimmer in the sky beyond the glass, ethereal and impossible, casting long glows across the floor and Nikolai’s bare skin. His breath fogs faintly against the cold pane of glass. He doesn't move. Just watches, lost in thought.
My heart does a slow twist.
Wrapping the blanket around me, I rise and pad barefoot across the room. He doesn’t look back, but I see his shoulders tense when I stop behind him.
“You should be sleeping,” he says.
“So should you,” I whisper, my voice small in the hush between us.
Silence as the Aurora dances green-gold over the trees outside.
Everything in Nikolai’s body is rigid, like he’s containing something that doesn’t want to be caged.
I lift my hand before I can stop myself, and my fingers brush the plane of his back.
His breath catches, and I feel him tense up.
He doesn’t turn. But his voice lowers to an unsteady growl.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, Holly.”
“Yes, I do.” I step closer, the blanket slipping from my shoulders and pooling at my feet. The cold bites instantly at my skin, but I don’t care. I run my fingers down the curve of his muscular back. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Slowly, he turns, and our eyes meet in the glow of the Aurora. He lifts a hand to cup my cheek, and his thumb brushes along my jaw.
“I could ruin you,” he says. It isn’t a threat. It’s a warning. Almost a plea for me to stop this because he can’t.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I whisper.
“You should be.”
I shake my head and give him a soft smile. “Never.”
With a growl, his mouth crashes into mine.
Heat surges like a fire reigniting all at once, wild and greedy.
His hand buries in my hair while the other curls around my waist, dragging me up against him.
I gasp into him and his tongue pushes in.
And there’s nothing soft in the way he’s kissing me.
It’s desperate and starved, like he’s been dying for this, and now that it’s finally here he can’t control it.
I kiss him back just as hard, my fingers digging into his shoulders, clutching the muscle like I need him to hold me upright.
I rise to my toes and press every part of me to him until there’s no space left between us.
He lifts me without a word, and I wrap my legs around his waist instinctively, my mouth still locked to his as he carries me across the room like I weigh nothing and lays me down in the giant bed.
The Northern Lights pulse across the ceiling above us, casting ribbons of green across his skin as he crawls up my body, looming over me, and pausing long enough for me to wonder if he is having second thoughts.
I reach up and pull him down. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
He doesn’t.
Bending his head, he kisses down my neck, over my collarbone, down to my breast where his tongue teases over my nipple before he sucks it into his mouth. I arch and moan and push my fingers through his hair.
“Oh Nikolai…”
He growls against me, his voice rough. “You like that, solnyshko?”
I nod, whimpering, wanting more.
He keeps going. Sucking, licking, teasing each nipple until it’s almost unbearable. One hand slides down my belly and beneath my panties, and when his fingers find me slick and ready for him, he groans.
“So wet already.”
“Yes,” I moan breathlessly.
He takes my hand and drags it to the front of his sweatpants where his cock strains against the fabric. “See what you do to me? See how much I want you?”
His mouth returns to mine as his fingers circle my clit, slow and exact, sending electric pleasure spiraling up my spine. I can hear the slickness with every stroke of his finger, and it makes me want to combust with pleasure.
“I want to hear you unravel, malyshka,” he rasps. “I want to know what you sound like when you come.”
I buck under him, gasping and writhing beneath his touch. And when I start to come under his expert caresses, he kisses me harder and swallows every cry until I’m a boneless heap.
Through the haze, I hear the tear of silk. Feel the shiny fabric slip away. Feel him remove his sweatpants and line himself up. Then every sensation as he pushes his cock in slowly. I gasp into his mouth, my legs spreading wider around his hips.
Finally.
The stretch is sharp and delicious. And fucking perfect. My nails rake down his back as he sinks deeper into me, inch by slow inch, filling me completely. My head falls back, my eyes fluttering shut.
“Fuck, solnyshko,” he growls. “Your pussy is so tight. So fucking tight. This is going to kill me.”
He pauses and rests his forehead against mine. And we breathe together. It’s a connection like I’ve never felt before.
Then he starts to move.
Slow at first. Deep and purposeful. Each stroke of his cock sending a surge of pleasure through me.
The bed creaks beneath his rhythm, and the Northern Lights flicker green and pink fire over his shoulders. I hold on to him like I’m afraid if I let go, I’ll fall out of whatever spell this is. Because this is crazy. Him. Me. Us. It’s insanity.
But I’m not going to question it. Because right now, this is everything.
“Nikolai… please… I need more.”
His control shatters with a groan. He drives into me harder and deeper, the sound wet and obscene and perfect.
“You feel so good. So sweet.” He moans. “So fucking sweet.”
I cry out and dig my heels into his back, meeting every thrust. I’m drowning in him. All of him. The way he moves, the way he sounds, the way he looks down at me like the pleasure has caught him completely off guard.
“Come on my cock.” He moans. “I want to feel your sweet pussy coming. I want your cum to coat me.” Every word drips with desperation. “Grip my cock, malyshka. That’s it. Tighter. Don’t stop…fuck… you’re so tight… you’re going to make me come so hard…”
I do, but it’s too much, and my orgasm hits like a crashing wave, wild and unstoppable, and I come undone beneath him.
With a cry, I clench around him, and he groans like he’s in pain. He thrusts once, twice, then spills into me with a deep, guttural growl.
His body shudders, and his hips jerk, and he collapses over me, breathing hard. His weight pins me, and I don’t care. I want it. I want him.
I turn my head and my gaze drifts to the large window.
Outside, the lights ripple over the snow in shimmering green and pink like something magical.
Inside, we lie tangled and bare beneath the covers, our bodies slick and still connected.
It’s like a dream.
And I don’t ever want to wake up.