50
“So, Arcadi, did you do okay?”
It’s Monday morning, and we’re coming out of the exam.
“I didn’t turn anything in, and I don’t care.”
“I suppose you don’t care about turning twenty-one today either?”
“Not at all. And I don’t want to celebrate it. No gifts, no party, no cake. I don’t want anything!”
I kiss the old grouch on the cheek, then whisper a few words in his ear. “How about a quiet evening, just you and me?”
“I’m okay with that.”
He doesn’t smile, just places a quick kiss on my lips.
“It’s our last night of freedom, you know… My parents will be back tomorrow.”
“We’ll go to my place, then. It would be just like them to show up earlier than planned.”
“You know what I like best about you, Arcadi?”
“Hmm?”
“Your unfailing sense of romance.”
He chuckles briefly—very softly, but the sound makes me feel incredibly good.
“I’d love to shut you up with a good comeback, Lancaster, but what I like best about you… I can’t say in public.”
***
By the time we reach his apartment, Vadim has grown gloomy again. I know what’s bothering him, but I was hoping to put a smile back on his face, at least for tonight.
The moment he walks in, he tosses his keys aside and collapses face-first onto the couch. I watch him lying on his stomach, his T-shirt slightly riding up from the fall. And silently, I take in the view. The curve of his backside. The golden skin showing above the waistband of his boxers.
“Stop checking me out, Lancaster.”
“Never. I like what I see too much.”
“Stop grinning—I can hear it in your voice!”
“Again: never!”
I swing a leg over him and climb onto his back.
“Alma…”
I slide my hands under his T-shirt.
“I’m going to make you stop complaining, you rebel…”
I lean over him and bite his neck.
“And you really think I’m going to let you?”
He suddenly rolls over and kisses me. I burst out laughing before being silenced by his lips. By his eager, parted mouth. By his warm, intoxicating tongue. By his firm yet playful hands.
After a thousand kisses, a thousand sighs, and some chaotic tumbling on the couch, our clothes end up scattered all around us. Some things are lying on the floor, others have landed on the coffee table, and a few even managed to knock over the bedside lamp.
But none of that matters.
This guy overwhelms me. His nakedness overwhelms me. His mix of strength and delicacy, his smooth skin and defined pecs, his visible abs and the dark line trailing beneath his navel. His gaze overwhelms me.
Vadim watches me, and I know he likes what he sees, that he wants me.
That spark in his eyes, unique to him, brings out my playful side.
I leap off the couch and sprint across the living room.
It only takes him three or four strides to catch up with me, just as I reach the counter of the open kitchen.
One strong arm wraps around my waist from behind and pins my back firmly against his body.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
His hand slides down between my thighs and stops there.
His deep, murmuring voice and hot breath make me shiver.
His middle finger slips slowly between my lips. I place a hand over his to increase the pressure a little.
“Tell me,” he whispers in my ear. “Why did you run away if you want me, Alma?”
“To make you chase me, Arcadi…”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing for months, Princess? Making me lose my mind over you?”
He starts caressing me, just how I like it.
Maybe even better. I try to slip a hand into the narrow space between our bodies and reach for his erection, but he stops me and quickens the rhythm of his touch.
My moans synchronize with the rhythm of his movements.
They grow closer together, become impossible to control, threatening to carry me away.
I have to grip the kitchen counter so I don’t fall.
A wave of pleasure crashes through my body when Vadim enters me.
His thrusts send me soaring. I reach one hand back into his hair, while the other grips the counter.
I no longer know where I am, where he ends and I begin, or what he’s even doing.
I can’t get enough of it, the way his hands feel on every part of me.
I tremble, I cry out, I want more… I come.
Our exhausted bodies slowly slide down to the ground, and we curl up together on the wood floor.
“Happy birthday, guy of my dreams.” I breathe these words into his neck.
“With you, life hurts a lot less, Alma.”
I sit up so I can gaze into his eyes. “Vadim, how can people not love you as much as I do?”
“I don’t care. I have you.”
I stroke his cheek while holding back my tears.
“You’ve changed me,” he continues. “For the better. Made me less selfish. Less broken. I think I could spend my life looking at you, listening to you, watching you live, watching you shine…”
“No, you’re going to make movies,” I whisper, playing with his messy curls. “But you’re too good-looking to stay behind the camera all the time.”
He shrugs and gently kisses my palm. “Before, I didn’t want anything. And now, I want to be someone. Because you believe in me.”
We stay there for a long moment, wrapped up in each other, trading little kisses on our lips, cheeks, and the tips of our noses, laughing like kids, challenging each other with our eyes, holding on tight. Incapable of letting go.
“What is it?”
“I love this beauty mark,” he whispers, tracing it with a finger. “Right here, under your breast.”
“And I’m in love with your scar…” I run my tongue over the pink line that crosses his full lip.
“Your belly button, too. I think it’s the most perfect one I’ve ever seen.”
“I could say the same about your body, but I’ve never really seen any other naked men before,” I admit, burying my face in his neck.
“I’ve been with other girls, but you’re the only one I’ve ever truly made love with.”
His words undo me. So does his soul.
He wipes away the tear slipping down my cheek with his finger. “I don’t know what lies ahead for us, Alma, but thank you for believing in You + Me.”