Chapter Seven #2
Lena’s breath caught as his dark eyes searched hers. The choice sat between them heavily. Then she lifted her arms silently. Something heated flickered through Maksim’s expression at the surrender in the gesture.
He peeled the shirt off her slowly, like he wanted to memorize every second of it. Cool air brushed her skin immediately afterward, making her shiver.
He lowered his gaze over her naked body with slow, deliberate appreciation that made her heart pound harder. There was no rushed hunger or careless greed. It was as if he was silently worshipping her.
Maksim slid his hands up her sides gently, thumbs brushing beneath the curve of her breasts before he leaned down and kissed each nipple. Lena practically melted as he took one nipple into his mouth, then sucked down on it, before doing the same to the other.
Then he moved his mouth to hers again, savoring her. It was as if he was learning her reactions one touch at a time. Every time she made the smallest sound against his lips, his grip tightened slightly like he couldn’t help himself.
Maksim kissed the corner of her mouth, her jaw. Heat flooded through her as his lips brushed the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
“You’re still overdressed,” she whispered shakily.
A dark sound rumbled low in his chest. Maksim pulled back just enough to strip off his shirt, tossing it somewhere behind him carelessly. Lena’s breath caught outright this time.
Up close like this, he looked unfairly beautiful in a dangerous sort of way. He had broad shoulders, hard muscles, and tattoos that wound across skin that was marked with bruises and scars she now recognized piece by piece. Evidence of every violent thing he had survived.
Her gaze dropped to the fresh bandage she had wrapped around his shoulder earlier.
“You should be resting,” she murmured weakly.
“And you should stop looking at me like that.”
Heat crept into her cheeks.
“Like what?” Lena asked.
“Like you’re thinking dangerous things.”
Lena opened her mouth to deny it, then Maksim stepped between her knees.
The words vanished immediately. His hands settled on her thighs, sliding upward slowly enough to make her breathing uneven. Lena tilted her head back slightly as he kissed her throat, lingering there while his grip tightened possessively against her skin.
The room felt impossibly warm now, every touch seemed amplified. She finally looked at the impressive package between his legs. His cock was already long and hard, and she suddenly felt wet between her legs. Her nipples tightened to points and felt sensitive.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he murmured.
Lena blinked at him, slightly dazed. Her chest tightened unexpectedly. Maksim lifted her legs above his shoulders and she suddenly felt incredibly exposed, yet every part of her yearned for Maksim to take her, to fill her completely. Maksim brushed her hair back from her face slowly.
“You can still stop this,” he said quietly.
“Don’t stop,” she told him.
His body pressed against hers fully now, all heat and muscle and restrained power. Lena could feel his heartbeat beneath her palm, steady despite everything. Then he entered her, slowly and steadily, making her gasp at the length of him.
Finally, he was buried balls deep in her. Lena moaned softly, clutching at the sheets above her. Maksim started riding her with slow and sure strokes, making her feel good.
“Faster,” she begged him.
Maksim complied, picking up the pace, and reducing them both to needy and sweaty animals. Each time he entered her, it felt like a piece of her soul drifted out to brush against his. She’d never felt this way with any other man before and it was exhilarating.
He shifted the angle of his thrusts, making her gasp and her body arch as he hit her sweet spot. Maksim grinned down at her as he aimed for the spot repeatedly. She groaned, as the pressure inside her body continued to build.
“I’m close,” she whispered.
Maksim pressed a kiss to her mouth, then pushed inside her again. The room fell away from her line of sight. She screamed out his name as she came, breasts heaving, mouth meeting his. Several thrusts later, he came inside her, and she didn’t even care they forgot protection.
He collapsed onto the bed beside her, pulling her instinctively against his chest as though keeping her close had already become second nature. His body radiated heat like a living furnace, solid and steady beneath her, and Lena found herself curling into him without thinking.
The room still smelled faintly of smoke, sweat, and the lingering traces of him. Outside, the city continued breathing beyond the cracked apartment walls, cold and dangerous and waiting for them both. Here, however, wrapped in the warmth of Maksim’s arms, it felt impossibly far away.
Lena knew she should have been thinking about the future. About the men who had attacked the safehouse, Maksim’s brothers, and what would happen to her now that she had crossed a line neither she nor Maksim could uncross.
Questions crowded the edges of her mind, restless and sharp. What were they now? Would Maksim eventually decide she had become too dangerous to keep alive? Would his brothers come for her?
But exhaustion dragged heavily at her limbs, and the steady rhythm of his breathing against her hair slowly drowned out every spiraling thought. Right now, none of it seemed to matter.
Not when his arm tightened around her in his sleep-like haze, pulling her even closer against him as though his body refused to risk letting her drift away.