Chapter 39
Cassandra
“Quit fussing! You heard the doctor; it’s just a bad bruise. Nothing’s actually broken.” I bat away Mikhail’s gentle touch and stretch out onto the comfy couch beneath me.
From the corner of my eye, I can see his hand reaching for the glass of water sitting on the nearby coffee table.
“Mikhail, I’m fine. I promise.”
“Just let me take care of you, Menace.” He says, lifting the glass to my lips.
I humor him, taking a small sip of the cool water. He nods his approval, setting the glass back down and settling onto the couch by my side. My legs are scooped into his lap in one smooth motion, his soothing touch brushing circles on my bare skin.
“You scared me tonight, sweetheart.” He says with a sigh, gaze focused on where his fingers trace my skin.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I whisper, covering his hand with mine.
“I’m just so glad you called me.” He looks up at me.
“Me too.” I brush my thumb over his inked wrist, tracing the intricate lines. “What happened earlier with the explosion?”
He stretches his legs out, exhaling a tired sigh. “I received a text shortly after. Cassio wants me to step down and hand over my territory.”
“Cassio? He’s the one who told you I was the informant, right?”
“Mhm. My father fostered his hate for many years, up until the day Cassio ended him. Cassio thinks his revenge won’t be complete until he takes down the entire organization.”
I hate knowing he’s still suffering from his family situation, with those events constantly thrown back into his face.
Part of me understands now why he was so quick to blame me for the information getting out.
It must be hell, knowing someone close to you, someone you trust with your business and livelihood, is lurking in the dark corners of your organization, feeding information to your enemy.
Who wouldn’t struggle with trust after that?
I crawl over, sliding my thigh over his to perch in his lap. His hands immediately reach for my waist, settling me close.
“You’re going to find them, whoever it is,” I say. My knuckles lift, brushing against the stubble covering his cheeks. He leans into the touch, closing his eyes and pressing a soft kiss to my wrist.
“All I want is you, safe and close and happy. I’d deal with IEDs and threats every day if I could just have all of that.” He trails another kiss down my arm, his hands sliding down to my lower back. His teasing touch tingles down my spine.
The ring of truth in his sweet words settles somewhere raw and exposed.
When his eyes flutter open to meet mine, I can’t stop myself from leaning forward, invading his space with shallow breaths.
My nose brushes his, and the fading red scar I left across his cheeks is the last thing I see before my lashes shut, my lips pressing to his.
He immediately deepens our kiss, sliding his tongue across mine in a sweeping, hot motion that sends a wave of electricity down my stomach. Then his teeth latch onto my bottom lip, biting softly before sucking it between his own.
A low moan falls from my throat, and my hips rock up against his, finding him already hard and thick against my core. My fingers helplessly search for the hem of his shirt, my mouth still captured in his.
“Needy little thing,” he chuckles against my lips in that low voice of his, only increasing my arousal.
Thankfully, he helps me pull his t-shirt off his body, revealing planes of hardened, muscular skin.
Each beautiful inch is covered in intricate ink, and if I were feeling less desperate, I’d take the time to run my tongue over every damn line.
Instead, I greedily run my hands over the hard outlines of his chest, rocking myself into him with another sigh.
His wandering fingers start pulling at my shirt as well, and I relish the groan that rumbles out of him when he realizes I’m not wearing a bra. My hem drags up my ribs at a torturous pace before the garment joins his on the floor.
Then his mouth is trailing hot, wet kisses down my neck and over the swell of my breasts, causing my head to fall back in bliss. His mouth finds my nipple, sucking and biting until I’m a squirming, aching mess in his lap, begging for him to put me out of my misery.
“Please,” I moan out, digging my fingers into the soft strands of his hair.
“Please what, baby?” He says, trailing more kisses down my ribcage.
“More. I want more,” I whisper, pulling his lips back up to my mouth with my grip on his hair. He laughs at the action, obeying my request and returning his attention to my swollen lips.
Then he suddenly lifts me up into the air, tongue still moving languidly against mine as he walks us to his bedroom. My hands are everywhere; his hair, his arms, his back. I can’t make up my mind on what I want to touch most.
He lays me onto the bed gently, purposely avoiding any pressure on my injured arm. The subtle gesture makes my heart swim.
I reach up with my good arm and pull his lips back down to mine. He collapses down with zero resistance, slipping his skilled tongue back between my lips. My next breath comes out as a high-pitched moan.
This time, when he traces soft wet kisses down my throat, he continues his descent, licking and biting across my breasts and down my ribs. His massive hands spread across my waist, holding me down while I squirm and gasp.
“You are so perfect, baby,” he murmurs against my skin, before spreading his teeth in another soft bite below my ribs that has my back arching up into his hands. “Beautiful.”
The wet trail of his tongue crosses my stomach lower and lower, until I can feel his fingers sliding under the band of my shorts and panties and dragging them down my legs. Only when I’m completely bare do I feel the first glide of his soft tongue through my slit.
“Fuck,” I moan, fingers seeking out the strands of his hair once more. My legs try to snap closed around his head, but his hands are already gripping my upper thighs, dragging them back open.
After completing a thorough exploration of licking and sucking that drives me crazy, his tongue slips back where I need him most, one hand releasing my thigh to rub a slow circle on my clit. I gasp, my entire body tensing with pleasure.
“Fuck, Menace. I’m never letting you leave again. You’re mine, now,” he says against my folds, before restarting his ministrations and setting a brutal pace.
“I can’t—”
“Yes you can, baby. Take your time, come for me.”
His tongue dives deeper, fingers increasing speed.
The sensation is so much that I forget to breathe, but he doesn’t let up, making my entire body short-circuit in his hands.
This time, when my thighs close around his head, he doesn’t pull them back apart.
I chase the high, feeling wave after wave until I finally collapse back into his soft sheets.
Sweat trails across my chest as he slows to a gentle lick, lifting his head to look at me.
“More?” He asks, reaching for the clasp of his belt.
“Yes. I need you.” I gasp out, my need resurfacing. The words seem to set Mikhail’s restraint on fire, and he rushes to kick off his own pants and climbs onto my body from the end of the bed. Reaching my hand down, I can feel him against me, hot and swollen, a bead of precum dripping from the tip.
I wrap my hand around his cock, rubbing the seeping head through my slick folds. Then his mouth dives into mine, running my own taste onto my tongue.
“Fuck, baby. You’re trying to kill me.”
“I’m on the pill,” I rush out to say, realizing I didn’t even think about a condom.
“I’m clean,” he says, pressing his lips to mine like he can’t bear keeping them away.
“Me too,” I gasp out, rubbing him against my heat again. “Fuck, I need to feel you inside me,” I gasp out, trying to line him up.
“I’ll take care of you, love,” he says, notching himself into me and sliding in, so fucking slowly. My eyes roll back into my skull.
“I’m going to enjoy making every fucking part of you mine.”
He continues to slide in. I whimper, the stretch of him causing my walls to sting with pressure. Once he’s finally fully seated inside me, I hiss out a breath, trying to acclimate to the insanely full feeling.
“You okay, Menace?” He asks, rubbing his nose gently against mine as he holds still inside me, letting me adjust. I nod, experimentally rolling my hips. The action has us both groaning in tandem.
Legs wrapping around his waist, I press my heels into his ass, urging him further into me again.
“Fuck, you’re so fucking tight,” he breathes out, thrusting into me again and again, building up in intensity. I fall back against the pillow, moaning loudly and clawing my nails into the round muscles of his shoulders. His hand grasps one of my thighs, lifting it to spread me even further.
“Look at me, baby. Watch what you do to me.”
I fight to keep my eyes open, refocusing on the view before me.
Bracing his arms on either side of my head, he starts ramming into me harder, hitting a deep spot inside that has me seeing stars in my vision. I trail my arm down between us, fingers wandering to where the base of his cock slides into me again and again.
Mikhail lowers his lips down to my breast, enveloping nearly the entire swell in his hot, wet mouth. All of a sudden, I’m drowning in pure stimulation, zips of electricity flying through me. His mouth pulls off with a soft sucking sound, and his lips move to my ear.
“Touch yourself, Menace. Let me watch you rub that swollen clit.”
His filthy words have my eyes rolling all over again. My fingers spur into action, tracing the small mound as he fucks me harder.
I lock eyes with his deep, possessive gaze, and a wave of mindless need crashes into my body.
Too overwhelmed to do anything but chase the high, I grip onto his bicep, a soft whine erupting from my lips.
Mikhail instantly takes over where my fingers left off, rubbing my clit with the rough surface of his thumb until I can’t think about anything but climbing this high.
“I’m gonna—” I gasp out, pulling him closer.
“Good girl, come for me, baby,” he breathes against my ear, thrusting into me erratically.
Then he hits that deep spot again, and that coil inside me snaps, darkening my vision until all I can do is breathe through the deep pleasure pooling through me.
Heat and energy swarm my vision, laced with the addictive smell of the man on top of me.
His thrusts speed up, losing all sense of pattern before a deep groan pierces the air, and suddenly I can feel him drip into me, hot and warm and perfect.
We stay lying like that for a few minutes, Mikhail peppering my skin with small, light kisses as I work to catch my breath.
“You okay, sweetheart?” He asks, tilting my face up to his.
“More than okay,” I laugh softly, curling my limbs into the hard warmth of his body. He pulls me closer, tucking my head beneath his chin.
My lashes flutter closed, only opening briefly at the swipe of a warm, damp towel against my overstimulated skin. Then they shut again, overtaken by peaceful, steady exhaustion as I curl into the warm body beside me.