Chapter 11 - Sergey
The moment she laughs at whatever lame joke the guy cracks, light and teasing, while her hand barely brushes against his forearm, I know without a doubt that I’ve fucked up.
It hits me hard and fast.
I was having fun poking and needling her like I enjoy doing, pushing her buttons until that fury breaks out and takes over. But seeing his hand on her waist, slowly trying to ease lower to her hip, kills me.
This…watching her willingly flirt with someone else while she has hardly done the same to me…that wasn’t part of the plan. Not at all.
Kat has been incredibly selective about how I can touch her. How she wants to be receptive to my teasing and flirting. And to see her give it away so effortlessly to someone she doesn’t even know has me bordering on the edge of insanity.
I should’ve known better.
I know she isn’t one to back down from a challenge, and when her pride is on the line, she’ll do whatever it takes to win against me.
Mutual teasing is good. Fun. But this isn’t that.
Kat leans in with a sensual smile, and the guy eats it up like he’s hungry for it.
But he isn’t starving for her like I am.
He hasn’t endured weeks of near torture just to try and get close enough to her.
He hasn’t pushed aside all other potential conquests just for the hope of being able to feel her body.
To finally have that pent-up spite and disdain shift into raw passion.
She’s been making me suffer without even knowing it, and that’s especially true now.
Jaw clenching, a darkness I’ve never known before, curls within my chest. It’s sharp and possessive, and I don’t know how much more I can take.
The man says something else, making her laugh with such a soft, sexy sound that I swear it undoes something in me completely.
That should be me. I should be the one she looks at with those tempting eyes. Me, not him.
A loser like him doesn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as her, let alone look in her direction.
Before she can continue, and before I can do something as impulsive as driving my fist into his face, I move.
With a breath, I pull myself in, tempering the rage unfurling beneath my skin. Calm and collected with a smoothness I’m used to calling in, I approach.
Regardless of how much I loathe the scene happening before me, nobody watching would see the absolute tempest happening behind my eyes.
Sliding in next to her, I brush my arm lightly against Kat’s before slipping it around her back. My hand lands on her hip just like he was attempting to do.
“There you are,” I murmur, eyes flicking from her to the guy sharp enough to make him pull back and question what’s going on. “Mind if I steal her?”
He hesitates, likely wondering if he can size up to me. Smart, at least. But he apparently knows better than to argue while putting more space between us. One good look at me and he backs away with a murmured response I don’t care to hear.
Kat lifts a brow at him, but I don’t wait for her permission. Instead, I dissolve the irritating game by using my hand against her hip to guide her away from the bar and over to the main floor, where others dance around us.
Music pulses lowly around us, and the lights cast various colors and shadows along her face while we start to move.
She doesn’t fight me on it. Instead, she goes along with my silent request, and I can tell by the subtle smugness that she’s enjoying this.
I’ve played right into it.
Her lips pull, and a gleam of satisfaction fills her eyes. She’s certainly pleased with herself, and it shows in the light sway of her hips that drags my gaze lower than I should allow it to go.
“I knew you were jealous, but this is something else,” Kat says, just loud enough for me to catch it over the music.
I don’t answer right away while I try to keep my composure, searching for the right words that won’t serve as more fuel to the fire.
My hands settle on her waist while I hold her close. Too close, almost.
“You think I’d be jealous of someone like that?”
She holds my attention, almost daring me to lie. I want to, but at least I can hedge it.
Instead, I lean closer, letting my lips graze the shell of her ear without fully giving in. “I didn’t appreciate how he looked at you…like he had any right to touch you.”
I feel as Kat shivers, and I can’t tell if she even cares to try and hide it anymore.
But she laughs to herself with a hint of mockery in it. “You’re ridiculous.”
Regardless of how rage-inducing the whole thing was, I grin anyway, focusing more on the way she feels under my hands. How the warmth of her feels more like a siren call.
“Maybe I am, but at least I’m not boring.”
“No…I suppose you aren’t.”
Is that a subtle tease in return? It sure seems like it. I take it that way regardless.
Even if I assumed Kat wouldn’t entertain any kind of closeness like this, she proves me wrong yet again.
We dance, bodies brushing while the tension rises with every passing moment. I’m so aware of her that it almost hurts.
She moves like it’s her goal to unnerve me, grinding just enough to tease without following through, and it has me completely on edge.
Heat pools in my gut, turning everything else distinctly hazy. My pants tighten, and if she didn’t realize how much she affects me before, then she sure as hell knows now.
I hate it, yet I love it all the same.
The whiskey doesn’t help as it blurs the lines of what I should and shouldn’t do, but not enough to forget about every point of contact. Of every way I want her to surrender to me.
Not to my demands, but to the undeniable storm brewing between us. To the wants and desires she’s been so hellbent on dispelling.
I need her in more ways than one.
As much as I want to be absolutely coherent to not miss a moment, the club seems to spin around us, and she’s the only thing I see.
The only person I want to see.
Eventually, Kat hooks her arm around my neck and leans in, sparking even more desire in me while her lips brush against my jaw. I can’t decipher if it’s intentional, but it sets me ablaze anyway.
“You’re not used to someone telling you no, are you?”
“Before you, not really,” I admit, finding it strange to concede to.
This gets her. Immediately, her eyes flicker with a noticeable interest, and I catch a subtle hesitation. At the very least, tension.
The same damn pull I’ve been feeling, nestled beneath all the frustration and determination.
I don’t know how long we keep at it. It could be minutes or hours, but either way, it doesn’t matter.
She has me so intoxicated from her presence alone that I only register as we finally leave, stumbling into the back of the SUV like we’re some half-drunk couple on a date. Like this is something real we’ve both more than agreed to.
Kat slides in beside me, leg brushing against mine while her hair falls over her shoulder as she glances out the tinted window.
The driver pulls away from the curb, but I can only focus on the subtle color that remains on her lips. The flush on her cheeks only ups her appeal, and I can’t stop looking at her.
Finding myself needing to fill that space somehow, I ask, voice low, “Did you have fun?”
It feels like a strange question coming from me, but she seems unbothered by it. Instead, she hums to herself, considering her next words. “More than I thought I would.”
It’s not a generous answer, but I’ll take it.
A beat of silence hangs between us, thick and seemingly full of many unspoken things. My hand rests between us on the seat while my fingers absently tap against my thigh, just itching to get closer to her.
I don’t mean to glance at her mouth again, but when I do, she catches me looking. I don’t know how long I allow it to happen, but she doesn’t pull away, and she doesn’t try to put me back in my place either.
“And are you planning on scolding me for actually having fun?” She asks, lifting a brow at me.
Leaning back against the seat, my arm brushes against hers again, and I can’t ignore the subtle shiver that moves through me.
I’ve been given breadcrumbs of her touch and attention all night, and now, I can’t get enough. She makes me feel so greedy.
“No…no scolding. You just made it even harder for me to ignore you.”
Surprisingly, Kat grins. “That’s the idea.”
My pulse kicks up at the sight in front of me, and there’s no stopping my next words.
“It’s sure as hell working.”
At that, she glances away as if the reality of her teasing has finally hit her full force, and more color moves into her cheeks.
But I’m already leaning in, finding it impossible to hold myself back. Not when she looks so carefree after our night together.
“Katya,” I murmur, my tone mostly breathless.
She turns then, and we’re closer than we should be. Close enough for me to feel her light, almost nervous breath against my lips, and close enough for all rational thought to go out the window.
She hums her question in return, and I don’t miss the way her eyes flicker between my eyes and mouth.
“Tell me to stop.”
As much as I expect her to do exactly that, she doesn’t. Instead, her gaze drops again, almost like she’s fascinated by the sight, and that’s all it takes to shatter my restraint.
My mouth is on hers like they’re drawn together magnetically, full of heat, hunger, and pent-up energy that demands to be acknowledged.
Everything I’ve been trying to hold back while she warms up to me comes out in full force while her fingers tighten against my arm as the opposite one slides around her waist.
I pull her as close as I can manage in the back seat, like it’s where she was meant to be all along. My lips glide against hers, taking and devouring every bit of her I can get.
Hers are far softer and more addictive than I ever imagined, and I can’t get enough. I know I’ll never be able to.
I can’t breathe around her, and I don’t want to. I don’t need to—not while her body molds so perfectly against mine. When every curve of hers presses tightly to me while the driver focuses on the road.
Kat tastes like whiskey, fire, and every desire I’ve ever had mixed into one. The kiss is overwhelming yet not enough at the same time.
I feel her quiet hum against my mouth before she gently nips at my bottom lip, sending a jolt of unbridled need through me.
The low growl reverberates in my chest without my permission while I pull her impossibly closer. I need more. I need all of her.
The car jerks slightly as the driver taps the brakes as someone cuts him off, reminding me we’re not alone. But either way, it doesn’t stop us.
Her hand slides just beneath my undone collar, nails lightly scratching against my skin that feels like it’s on fire.
I’m more than ready to surrender completely.
Then I feel her breath against my lips again while she murmurs, “This doesn’t mean anything.”
Despite not believing it, I nod, eager to feel that softness again. Even if it feels like something has changed tonight, and can’t ever go back to how it was.
“Sure,” I say, lying to both of us.
After the briefest of pauses, her mouth finds mine again, dispelling every other thought.
I can’t help the hum of satisfaction that leaves me while I grip her waist to savor how she feels against me, nearly losing my mind at the way she tastes. The way she sets my blood on fire.
Even if Kat doesn’t believe it yet, she is irrevocably mine.