9. Nikolai
NIKOLAI
I had her back in bed before she could even think about fighting me again.
Kira twisted under me the second her back hit the mattress, with sharp elbows and furious little kicks.
Her nails raked down my forearm as she tried to shove me off, but I was already settled between her thighs, pinning her wrists above her head with one hand.
The thin T-shirt she was wearing had ridden up, and my boxers were twisted around her hips. She was breathing hard, chest heaving, eyes blazing with that perfect mix of hatred and heat I couldn’t get enough of.
“Get the fuck off me,” she hissed, bucking her hips, but it only ground her pelvis against my dick, turning me on.
I leaned down until my mouth was right beside her ear. “I said I was trying to be nice.”
“I don’t want you to be nice,” she snapped, turning her face away. But her body didn’t get the message. Her thighs clenched around my waist like she was torn between shoving me away and pulling me closer.
I shifted my weight, letting her feel exactly how hard I was for her.
All this wrestling around had stirred me up and after sitting in my office drinking, thinking about coming to bed to this, I couldn’t fight it anymore.
A small, involuntary sound escaped her throat before she clamped her lips shut. I smiled against her skin.
“You’re lying to both of us right now.”
“Fuck you." She yanked at her wrists, but I held them steady. With my free hand I traced the edge of the T-shirt, sliding my fingers underneath to brush the soft skin of her stomach. She jerked like I'd burned her.
“Don’t,” she warned, but there was a tremble in her voice that wasn’t there a second ago.
I dragged my fingertips higher until I cupped one breast. Her nipple was already tight against my palm. I circled it with my thumb and watched her eyes flutter despite herself.
“Tell me to stop,” I said quietly. “Say it like you mean it, and I will.”
Her breath hitched. She glared up at me, lips parted, cheeks flushed dark, but she couldn't bring herself to tell me to stop. I knew she enjoyed me. I just thought she didn't know how to admit it to herself.
“I hate you,” she whispered.
“I don’t think you really do… I think you're lying to yourself, Princess."
I pinched her nipple lightly and she arched, a choked moan slipping out before she could swallow it. The sound went straight to my cock.
She tried to twist away again, but I followed her movement, pressing my hips down so she could feel every inch of me. “So, do you want to fuck me or kill me?"
“Both,” she bit out.
I chuckled and leaned in to kiss the side of her neck. She tilted her head away, but not fast enough. My mouth found the spot just below her ear and I sucked gently, then bit. Her hips jerked up against me.
“Stop making me feel this,” she gasped.
“Feel what?” I murmured against her skin.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she yanked one wrist free and shoved at my shoulder.
I let her, curious whether she'd actually pull away from me, and she used the momentum to roll us. Suddenly, she was on top, straddling me, breathing like she’d just run a mile.
Her hands pressed down on my chest as she glared down at me.
I settled my hands on her hips, thumbs stroking the bare skin where her T-shirt had bunched up. “This better?” I asked, pulling her down onto my lap.
“Shut up.” She rocked forward experimentally, then caught herself and froze. The heat of her core dragged along my length and her eyes widened slightly.
I didn’t move. I just watched her face, letting her feel the power she thought she had right now.
Her hands curled into fists on my chest. “I don't know why you get me so worked up and why I let you do this to me."
“Look at me," I told her, gripping her jaw so she had to look at me.
She did, reluctantly. But her eyes were glassy with frustration and pain.
“I’m not going to take anything you don’t give me, Kira." I cleared my throat and brushed my thumb over her lower lip, pulling it down until it sprang back. "I would never do that to you. But I want you to know what I'd like to do with you, if you want it." I ground upward again and she whimpered.
Her body was definitely voting for sex even if her mind hadn't caught up yet.
“I want…” She stopped and swallowed. Her hands slid up to my shoulders. “I want you. But I hate you for making me want you.”
Her consent made a primal growl vibrate up out of my chest as I flipped us again, laying her back down.
This time when I kissed her, she didn't turn away.
She met me halfway, teeth nipping at my bottom lip hard enough to sting.
I groaned into her mouth and she swallowed the sound, kissing me deeper, like she was trying to punish me with how good it feels.
My hand slipped under her T-shirt again, pushing it up until I could pull it over her head. She lifted her arms to help, then immediately tried to cover herself like she was embarrassed by how much she wanted this. I caught her wrists and pinned them to the bed beside her head.
“Don’t hide from me.”
“I hate this,” she whispered, even as her back arched when I lowered my mouth to her breast.
I licked over her nipple, then sucked it into my mouth, rolling it with my tongue until she was panting. Her legs wrapped around my waist again, heels digging into my back like she was trying to pull me inside her already.
I moved to her other breast, giving it the same attention while my free hand slid down her stomach and into the waistband of the boxers. She was soaked. The moment my fingers brushed her folds she whimpered and rocked into my touch.
“Fuck, Kira,” I breathed against her skin. “You’re dripping for me.”
“Shut up,” she moaned, but I got the sense it was her asking for more, not really pushing me away.
I circled her clit slowly, teasing, learning exactly how she liked it. Her hips chased my fingers every time I pulled back. When I slid one finger inside her she clenched around me. It did things to my mind. I wanted to be in her.
“More,” she demanded, voice breaking.
I added a second finger, curling them just right, as her head fell back against the pillow. She rode my hand, chasing the pleasure while I watched her face the whole time—flushed cheeks, parted lips, eyes half-lidded with lust and frustration.
“I hate how good you are at this,” she gasped.
I thrusted my fingers deeper, thumb pressing firm circles on her clit. “Then tell me to stop.”
She didn’t though. Instead she reached down and shoved my boxers down just enough to free my cock. Her hand wrapped around me and I hissed at the sudden heat. She stroked me impatiently, like she was angry at my dick for existing.
“You’re so hard,” she muttered.
“Because of you.”
She pumped me faster, thumb swiping over my head, spreading the precum that was already leaking. I kept working her with my fingers, matching her rhythm, until she was trembling and clenching around me.
“I’m close,” she admitted, like it was a confession she didn’t want to make.
“Come for me first.”
She shook her head, stubborn even now. “Oh, God…"
I curled my fingers harder, pressed my thumb down firmer. “Now," I said again.
Her back bowed off the bed and she exploded into a broken cry, pulsing around my fingers, thighs shaking. I kept stroking her through it, drawing it out until she was whimpering and trying to push my hand away from oversensitivity. But it was too good, she was too slick and wet.
When I pulled my fingers free and shoved her boxers down her legs, she kicked them off the rest of the way, then reached for me again, guiding my cock to her entrance.
I braced one hand beside her head and pushed in slowly, inch by inch, letting her feel every bit of me as I sank.
She was tight and so fucking wet I had to lock my jaw to keep from slamming all the way in, though it was what I wanted to do.
When I bottomed out she let out a long, shaky moan and her nails dug into my back.
“Move,” she ordered hastily.
I pulled back and thrust in again, harder this time. The sound she made was pure sin, and she met every stroke, hips rising to take me deeper. Her legs locked around me, heels digging into my ass like she was trying to fuse us together, which only angled her pelvis upward so I could go deeper.
“Harder,” she demanded, even as tears of overwhelming pleasure leak from the corners of her eyes.
"Shit, you're incredible. This body was made for me."
I gave her what she wanted. I fucked her harder, the bed creaking under us, skin slapping against skin.
Every thrust dragged a new sound from her throat—moans, curses, my name.
And I leaned down and kissed her, swallowing her cries as I ground against her clit with every stroke.
She was clawing at my back, biting my shoulder, anything to keep from admitting how much she needed this.
“You feel so fucking good,” I growled against her mouth.
“I hate you so bad,” she sobbed, clenching around me. But in the next breath she whispered, "More… So close…"
I shifted the angle, dragging along her front wall, which made her eyes roll back and her mouth fall open in a silent scream. “Don’t stop,” she gasped. “Please don’t stop.”
I fucked her through another orgasm with her walls fluttering and squeezing me so tight I almost lost it right there. But I held on, wanting to push her higher, wanting to hear her break completely.
When she came down she was shaking, tears streaking her temples, but her hips never stopped moving with mine.
“I hate you for this,” she whimpered, but her body said the opposite, pulling me deeper, fluttering around my cock like she never wanted me to leave.
The feeling of her coming around me was too much. Pleasure coiled tight at the base of my spine, my balls drawing up, every muscle locking as I chased my own release. And when it came, it was worth it.
I glided in and out of her feeling my dick pulsing, dumping every drop I had into her body.
She was so perfect, so very incredible. I couldn't wrap my mind around it.
I stooped to kiss her and this time she didn't push me away at all. The kiss was soft and lingering, the way those kisses she gave me our first time were. I was almost convinced we could have this permanently, but things were so messy I didn’t know if she'd ever forgive me.
I pulled out, dropping to the mattress beside her as she shoved the hair off her face, and I curled around her, pinning her to my body again.
She was still catching her breath when I decided now was the time to tell her my new plan.
Maybe that was poor timing, but I'd never been good at waiting for some perfect moment when I already knew what I wanted.
"I want you to marry me."
Kira went very still beside me. Her hand was resting on my chest and I felt her fingers curl slightly, like she was deciding whether to pull away or dig in.
"What?" she asked with a hoarse voice.
"Marry me. As soon as I can arrange it."
She sat up and the sheet fell to her waist, and she stared at me like I'd just spoken a language she didn't recognize. "Are you insane?" she asked, shaking her head.
"Probably." I tucked my arm behind my head and looked up at her. "But it's what needs to happen."
"It's not happening, Niko. You can't force someone to marry you. That's not how any of this works."
"Your father won't negotiate for you, so I need a different approach. A marriage makes this public. Every one of his enemies will—"
"What the hell!" she hissed, glaring at me. "Now you want to use me to force his enemies to attack him?" The pain in her tone seemed exaggerated, but after what she'd been through, I couldn’t blame her.
"Among other things."
"What other things?" She shoved off the bed and grabbed my T-shirt off the floor, pulling it over her head roughly. Her hands shook with anger as she yanked the boxers up over her hips.
"Kira—"
"You don't own me," she hissed through her teeth. Then she turned and walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. The lock clicked and then I heard her crying.
And I lay in bed staring at the ceiling feeling like a heel.
There was never any chance she would take that well and her reaction was understandable.
The problem was, now I had to force her to go through with it because I'd botched the setup so badly.
I thought we'd made a connection during sex, but it was obvious to me that I had been the only one to feel it.
It was just sex to her, not a connection.
But regardless, it was my only play.
Her father had to back off or I was going to lose everything. If I had to use her to do it, I would, though the more I did, the worse it made me feel.