Chapter 21
I grabbed the towel on the floor, holding it in front of my body. But it was too little, too late.
“I told you not to look,” I whispered as I rushed by him toward the pile of clothes I meant to take with me into the bathroom.
Mikko was still in the doorway, stuck where I’d left him. It took a moment for his attention to follow me, and even then, my words didn’t seem to register. He kept right on looking.
“Sorry.” His voice was rough, blue eyes heavy lidded as they lingered on my chest, even with the towel back over me.
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“That’s because I’m not.”
I huffed a laugh.
Embarrassment should have gotten the better of me, but the way his gaze traveled every inch of my body, his throat working to swallow… none of that left me feeling ashamed. Heat pooled low in my belly beneath his attention, especially when I noticed how affected he was.
Like earlier this week, the thick outline of his cock strained against his pants, making it perfectly clear where his mind was. My eyes dropped, my throat going dry as I remembered what had happened after—standing outside his closed door, listening to him moan my name.
I tried and failed to swallow, breaths coming quickly the longer we stood there, silently taking each other in.
The adrenaline from the game still clung to us both—I could feel it in the air between us, that electric buzz of victory mixed with something far more dangerous. My heart hammered against my ribs, my skin tingling like it had after every game.
But this was different. More.
Mikko dragged a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. “Tell me what to do, Shannon. Do you want me to leave? Turn around? Go downstairs?”
That question had my eyes snapping up, jealousy flaring to life at the thought of him with the women I’d seen waiting in the lobby. “Don’t you dare leave. Don’t even think about going downstairs.”
Fire lit behind his eyes, his hand falling to his side. “I told you I have no interest in anyone but you, wife. And I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
“What about when you said my name?” I said, the words tumbling out before I realized what I’d admitted to. But I couldn’t stop, not when my body felt like a live wire and my mind was lost to thoughts I had no business thinking about my temporary husband. “What did that mean?”
Mikko stepped inside the room, shutting the door behind him. “You heard me?”
I nodded, pulse so loud in my ears everything seemed elevated.
He took a step closer, not quite crowding me, but close enough I could barely breathe without inhaling the clean, crisp scent he always had. “You already know the answer, then. Whose name it was I said when I came all over my hand? Whose body I imagined?”
He tucked a finger into the top of the towel, running it through the valley between my breasts before dropping his hand back down.
“Mine.” My voice was rough, hardly sounding like me I was so turned on by this conversation.
Mikko’s eyes raked over my body again. “No one but you, Shannon. Even before we were married, it was only you in my head.”
The words landed like a spark on dry kindling, sending a wave of heat over my body that was so sudden, I finally understood the phrase weak in the knees. I sank down on the edge of the bed, towel clutched against my chest, barely breathing from the intensity of it all.
He clocked it, a smirk pulling at his lips.
“Tell me what to do, Shannon,” he repeated.
The way he kept looking at me had me feeling brave. “I want to see you. Only fair since you got a free show, right?”
His eyes lit with that same fire that was burning me from the inside out.
I lifted my chin, trying not to let him see how affected I was. But the moment his eyes flicked down to my chest, I knew he saw right through the facade. Saw how my chest rose and fell with quick breaths.
Mikko reached behind his neck and pulled off his t-shirt in one smooth motion, revealing miles of pale skin stretched over powerful muscles. My breath caught as he toed off his shoes, then shoved down his jeans and boxers in one go.
This time it was my turn to stare, taking my fill of him.
And good god, there was a lot to take in.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and carved like a statue.
A few faint scars marked his torso, but they only made him more real, more him.
Blond hair, sharp jaw, those striking blue eyes watching me the entire time.
My eyes dropped lower, and I swear his dick twitched the moment I truly looked down.
He was perfect—thick, hard, and flushed.
I could hardly breathe, imagining what it would feel like to be with him.
Before I realized what I was doing, I stood from the bed, closing the distance between us like I was drawn in by some invisible force.
“This is a bad idea, right?”
“Only if you think it is.” Mikko’s voice was like gravel, his eyes fixed on my face. “Anything you want is yours, wife.”
I stood out of arm’s reach, still clutching my towel like it held the last scrap of sanity. “I am your wife.”
Mikko’s chest inflated at the word. “Tell me what you want, Shannon.”
Again, he said it, his chest rising and falling with each word. And again, I heard that this man who loved to control every minute of every day was handing that control over to me. Asking me what I wanted, instead of telling me what he needed.
“Touch yourself.”
His eyes flared, but he moved to the chair in the corner of the room and sat, legs spread, completely unashamed.
Without breaking eye contact, he wrapped one large hand around his cock and stroked slowly from base to tip.
A low sound rumbled in his chest as he moved it up and down in steady motions, squeezing at the top.
I backed up until my legs hit the bed and sank down onto it, towel still clutched in front of me, unable to look away. I drank in the sight of his abs flexing, his thighs tensing, the slow, deliberate pumping of his fist. Every detail burned into me until I felt like I was about to combust.
“Drop the towel, rakas.”
The words were so commanding, so full of desire, I couldn’t stop myself from obeying. The towel fell, pooling around my hips until I was naked again beneath his gaze, the air between us crackling with raw desire.
I couldn’t even count the number of romance novels I’d read that had detailed similar scenes to this, but the reality in front of me surpassed every fantasy I’d ever imagined.
The way Mikko’s cock throbbed in his grip, visibly affected by the sight of me…
intoxicating. The way his eyes trailed over my body…
addicting. The way his voice rumbled from his chest… empowering.
“Fuck, Shannon,” he rasped, voice low. “You are so damn gorgeous. Spread your legs for me. Let me see that pussy.”
Maybe I had some sort of submissive kink I wasn’t aware of, because whether or not I meant to, my thighs parted. Trembling fingers slid down, brushing over slick, sensitive skin. A soft moan escaped the instant they found my clit.
“That’s my good girl,” he growled, picking up the pace. “Rub that pretty clit. Play with yourself while I stroke my cock for you, like I imagined.”
“I thought we were doing what I wanted.” The words slipped out, laced with a hint of snark even through the haze.
Mikko’s eyes darkened, a mix of heat and amusement flickering across his face. His hand slowed as he leaned forward. “I wondered if you’d be bratty.”
A laugh rumbled out of me, but I didn’t apologize.
“Is this not what you want, Shannon?” His voice dropped, filthy and intense. “To feel the same way you’re making me feel?”
I nodded, surprised by my compliance. But when Mikko looked at me like he wanted to devour me whole, when he told me exactly what he wanted…
I couldn’t have stopped myself even if I wanted to, and I did not want to.
“Look at what you do to me,” Mikko said, his hand moving in steady strokes while I circled my clit again like he’d told me to. “I’m so fucking hard it hurts, and it’s all because of you.”
The raw honesty in his words sent another wave of heat rushing through my body. My fingers moved faster, circling and pressing as a moan built in the back of my throat. The pressure built quickly under the weight of his attention and filthy praise.
“Oh, god. Mikko…”
In a flash, he rose from the chair. The bed dipped under his weight as he climbed over me, his big body caging mine. Before I could draw another breath, his mouth sealed over mine.
Our first kiss crashed through like a storm—hungry, deep, and claiming. Firm lips met mine, his tongue sweeping in as he swallowed the cry tearing from my throat. The taste of him, the solid heat of his body so close, the low groan vibrating from his chest into mine…
It pushed me right over the edge.
Pleasure slammed into me hard. My whole body shook beneath him, fingers still pressed between my legs, wave after wave crashing through my body. He kept kissing me through every tremor, drinking down every sound, one hand cradling the back of my neck like he never wanted to let go.
When the shaking finally eased, he pulled back enough to rest his forehead against mine, both of us breathing hard.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, voice wrecked. “So beautiful when you come for me, Shannon.”
I pulled him down to me, kissing him again, feeling too good to pull away.
It was soft and deep at first, then hungry again as the aftershocks faded. Before I let myself overthink it, I slid my hand down his body, tracing the hard planes of his stomach until my fingers wrapped around his thick, throbbing cock.
Mikko groaned into my mouth, hips jerking into my grip as he rolled us onto our sides.
“That’s it,” he rasped against my lips. “Stroke my cock like that. Fuck, your hand feels perfect.”