29
Grace and I have spent the whole day at the mall, looking for clothes for my date with him, and, to be honest, my feet are not very happy about it.
“We’re supposed to be looking for clothes for you, not me,” I say, looking at the sixth set of lingerie she shows me.
“I never said that. Plus, you need to look good today too.” She rummages through some lace bras until she finds a black one. “Do you like this one?”
I grab it in my hands, looking at the holes in the set with confusion. Being naked and wearing that is practically the same thing. However, just as I’m about to say something, Grace snatches it out of my hands.
“As soon as he sees you wearing this, he won’t hesitate to try to rip it off you,” she says in a singsong voice as she heads toward the cash register. “I won’t allow you to waste any more chances.”
Her stubbornness and my desire to have him on top of me, fulfilling my darkest fantasies once and for all, lead me to accept without batting an eyelid. The second store we enter is less daring.
We both browse through some clothes until we find some that catch our attention enough to go into the fitting rooms. My nerves make my fingers move quickly, pulling the zipper at my lower back with agility.
I smile smugly as I admire how the tight black dress I’ve chosen looks on me.
Then I look down and see a piece of white paper on the floor.
I bend down to pick it up and immediately feel myself go pale as I read it.
If you’re not mine, you won’t be anyone else’s. S.
I frown when I see Sergei leaning against the car door, looking at me with displeasure.
“Hi,” I greet with a smile. He ignores me completely before opening the door and getting into the car. “Are you always this rude?” I ask, sitting down next to him.
“Are you always this annoying?”
“I just greeted you.”
“And I just ignored you.” I press my lips together at his sarcastic tone.
Letting the conversation come to an end, I turn my gaze to the window. The silence between us is uncomfortable and tense. The kind you hear in horror movies when someone is about to be killed.
“Can I put on some music?”
“No,” he says without even looking at me.
“Why not?”
“Because I said so.”
“That’s not even a reason.”
“Will you ever shut up?” he asks, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
“What did I ever do to you to make you dislike me so much?”
“Do I need to remind you about you and your little friend?” he mutters under his breath.
“We’ve already apologized,” I whisper, my cheeks turning red at the memory. “Besides, if we’re going to keep seeing each other, I think it would be good if we had a truce.”
“No,” he quickly replies, and I remain silent. It’s a waste of time and breath.
After what seems like an eternity, he stops the car in a place full of trees and grass.
“Where are we?” I ask as I watch him get out of the car. “Hey, I asked you a question,” I complain, getting out of the car quickly as he starts walking somewhere.
“Walk and shut up, will you? I’ve heard enough from you.”
“Where are you taking me? Are you going to kill me and bury me here?” I ask sarcastically, trying to follow his footsteps.
“I’m not that lucky,” he says without a hint of mockery. I’m just joking, but he really didn’t want to get rid of me, did he?
With those doubts, I resume walking, this time at a more prudent distance.
In a few minutes, I find a helicopter parked at a base, and when my eyes meet his, I can’t help but smile.
I quicken my pace until at some point along the way I start running.
My body collides with his and soon I am caught by his arms, which then lift me up and envelop me in an embrace.
My legs wrap around his waist, digging the wedges of my sandals into his backside.
Then he tilts his head, brushing our lips together.
A fake cough behind us interrupts us, but before we can find out who it is, Sergei says something in Russian to Alek without even looking at me.
His brown eyes finally lock onto mine with a smile that doesn’t match his usual demeanor at all.
“Have a good time, Lena. It had been nice bringing you.” I raise my eyebrows at his sudden kindness, but when I notice the tense curve of his lips and Alek’s direct gaze, I think I understand the reason for his change of attitude towards me.
My attention is drawn to his blue eyes when he grabs my chin and forces me to turn my head until our lips meet. His hands squeeze my arse as I run my fingers through the back of his neck, eliciting a hoarse moan from him.
“I’m still here. Witnessing everything.” I glance quickly behind me, finding the owner of that voice. The blond guy.
“Where are you taking me?”
“If I tell you, it won’t be a surprise anymore, beautiful.” My lips stretch into a smile that I hide by biting my lower lip.
Before setting me down, he kisses me again, causing the blond man behind us to snort in resignation and get into the helicopter.
Inside, it looks luxurious and spacious, with leather armchairs and a table in the middle trimmed with gold.
I can’t look any longer, because his arms hold me and place me on his lap to fasten our seatbelt.
The way he massages my scalp and the views of Los Angeles from above don’t stop me from thinking about that note.
I don’t have many options other than to unleash chaos.
If my father finds out, he’ll probably lock me up until I grow gray hair, which would mean being away from him.
It wouldn’t sit well with him. They would end up fighting, and my attempts to hide our relationship would result in a pool of blood.
If I tell Alek, the result wouldn’t be much different.
My thoughts are interrupted by the blonde guy telling us that we are about to arrive. As we descend, the first thing that greets me is the sea. We have landed on the roof of a house.
Alek interlaces our fingers and leads us into a fairly spacious room with large windows overlooking the beach.
I gaze in awe at the vegetation surrounding the sand and the crystal-clear sea.
Everything is so clean that it’s as if no one has ever set foot on the sand.
It’s strange that there’s no one else here but the two of us, but it’s not something I’m complaining about.
The soles of my sandals sink into the sand, the sea breeze ruffling my hair as we walk towards a Balinese bed. I smile when I see the red petals on the mattress and cushions. In the middle is a tray of appetizers next to a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket.
“I guess we’re a little far from the city,” I say as I sit down on the soft mattress.
He tilts the corner of his lips and puts his arm around my shoulders, resting my head on his chest.
“We’re on an island.”
“Island?” He nods, resting his head on mine.
“Where are the others?”
“It’s just the two of us, lyubov’. It’s private. Ours,” he explains simply. My nose wrinkles at his statement and my insides seem to turn upside down.
“Ours…?” I murmur, still processing his words.
“Do you not like it?” His eyes look at me anxiously.
“Yes! It’s beautiful. A little exaggerated, perhaps. That we’re here alone, I mean… On your island…”
“Ours,” he hastens to correct, frowning. “And it’s not exaggerated. I want your whole attention.”
“You already have it, you don’t need to bring me to a desert island,” I say with a sly smile. He shakes his head slowly before grabbing my waist and pulling me onto his lap.
“I always want more of you,” he murmurs, our breath mingling as he speaks.
He ends up joining our mouths in a desperate, suffocating kiss. My lungs can barely recover when he pulls away enough to let me breathe.
“I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like you’ve gotten under my skin and I can’t get you out.” His hands touch the bare skin of my lower back. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t. I don’t think I could live without you. Doing so would be like having every drop of blood drained from my body.”
“I believe you,” I say, trying to ignore the twinges in my lower abdomen. Because even though I wouldn’t admit it, and as stupid as it was, I was starting to feel that way too.
We both melt into a kiss that lasts until we start to lose control, and he pulls away with his heart beating wildly in his chest. Just like mine.
“We should open this before it gets warm,” he murmurs, opening the bottle with somewhat clumsy fingers.
“Thank you,” I whisper as he pours me some champagne into a tall glass encrusted with diamonds. He pours some into his glass too, and I smile a little when I see him take a small sip. “I thought you didn’t drink.”
“With you, I do,” he replies without a hint of doubt in his voice.
The rest of the time I’m too distracted in his arms, talking while he pays close attention to everything that comes out of my mouth to notice the warm colours that now dominate the sky. Disappointment grips my gut as I realize what that means.
“We have to go back.”
“Everything is fine with your parents.”
“What do you mean, everything’s fine?”
“I want us to spend the night together.” My stomach clenches. “If you want to, of course. We won’t do anything you don’t want to,” he adds, stumbling over his words. I smile as I watch his cheeks turn red. I’ve been waiting years for this, and he’s still hesitating.
“I do,” I reply with a smile, interrupting whatever he was about to say.
It doesn’t take him long to get up with me wrapped around his body. Lately, I find it impossible to be more than two minutes away from his skin, but I don’t think that’s a problem for him.
The tension is unbearable when my hands fiercely grab his neck.
My throat tightens with the desire to have his lips between my teeth again as I surrender to the sparkle in his eyes and his almost unreal features.
When he puts me down and goes to open the refrigerator, my skin protests at the loss of his touch.
“What would you like to eat?”