Chapter Two
Sarah
Inside the hotel, the polished marble floor of the lobby reflected the lights from a large chandelier above. There were people moving about the space, guests checking in for the night and bellboys moving luggage carts from the check-in desk to the bank of elevators.
I was distracted by a couple of men nearby having a rapid-fire conversation in French when Dmitri approached the desk and had a short conversation with a man in a blue blazer.
In no time at all he was guiding me to the elevators with a hand on my lower back.
We ended up in one alone, and the sexual tension was thick in the air as we rode up to the top floor.
His hand stayed in place, his body pressed against my side.
My heart was racing, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to get closer to him.
He leaned in close and inhaled, and I looked over him in surprise. “Did you just smell me?”
“What is that scent?” he asked, which I took to be a confirmation. “Your perfume?”
I smiled a little. “Yes. Gardenia and bergamot.”
“Flowers and citrus. Intoxicating.”
His hand cupped my cheek, and he ducked his head, capturing my lips in a kiss that I felt all over my body. Warmth bloomed in my center and longing slammed into me. I slid my hands up his chest, silently marveling at the sculpted planes.
His head tilted to the side as he slid his tongue into my mouth, deepening the kiss. I couldn’t hold back a moan, and he swallowed the sound.
Before things could get too heated, the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open. When we stepped out into the hallway, I was surprised to see only two doors on each side, spaced far apart.
Dmitri led me to the closest door on the right, and my jaw dropped when it opened.
This wasn’t just any hotel room—it was a massive suite.
The ceiling was high with a skylight that revealed the dark sky overhead.
We were in an open sitting area that was about as big as my entire apartment. There was even a little kitchenette.
The decor wasn’t as bland or uninspired as I would expect from a hotel room.
It was elegant, with fine fabrics on the furniture and the gleaming surfaces of the tables.
There wasn’t a scratch or scuff to be seen.
The curtains were pulled back at the big windows, revealing the sprawling New York skyline.
The tall buildings were dotted with light, and there was something regal about the sight.
I’d lived in the city my entire life, but the beauty of this place never ceased to amaze me.
Dmitri’s body was suddenly pressed up close behind me, his hands coming to my shoulders and trailing down my bare arms, making goosebumps appear in the wake of his barely there touch. His mouth came to the side of my neck, and I shuddered.
“The bedroom?” I asked, seeing two closed doors on the other side of the room.
Dmitri took my hand, and I was led through one of the doors, where there was a king-sized bed in the center of the space. Another big window showed the impressive vista we called home. The lights were off in this room, so the only illumination came from those city lights.
But it was enough to see Dmitri as he moved in close to me. It was enough to make out the raw hunger in his dark eyes.
We came together without words. His arms wrapped around my body, holding me flush against his, and I groaned as I felt the hard bulge of his erection pressed into my stomach.
The aching need I felt fueled my actions as I pulled his shirt over his head. Tattoos covered his chest, but I couldn’t tell what the images were in the dim lighting. It didn’t really matter. I wanted to touch.
His muscles jumped as my palms laid flat against his pecs. He was so warm, so big.
I got swept away as he pressed another kiss to my lips, and the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back on the bed, my own shirt and bra gone while Dmitri pressed me down into the mattress. His mouth closed around on one puckered nipple.
“Oh God,” I cried out, my hands in his thick dark hair as I arched into him.
The pleasure of his mouth on me caused a pulsing ache between my legs, and I squirmed beneath him, but he wouldn’t be hurried along. Moving from one breast to the other, he lavished my nipples with his tongue, sucking and grazing the sensitive buds with his teeth.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had such thorough foreplay.
Jason was always in such a hurry to get down to business that he rarely bothered to build the anticipation like this.
It was delicious torture, and I was panting with need by the time he lifted his head.
My nipples were wet, and the cool air in the room made them tighten almost painfully.
But that just served to heighten the pleasure as Dmitri kissed my lips again, shoving his tongue deep into my mouth as he ground his erection into me.
My core clenched just as a thought occurred to me.
“Wait,” I said, pulling away from the kiss. “Do you have protection?”
“I carry a condom in my wallet.”
I didn’t want to think about how much of a habit this sort of thing might be for him if he regularly carried around a condom. That didn’t matter. Nothing outside of this room mattered as Dmitri pulled my jeans down along with my panties. His movements were jerky, as if he’d run out of patience.
Good. I was done with playing around.
He stood at the end of the bed, a looming shadow as he unbuckled his pants.
I popped myself up on my elbows and watched, licking my bottom lip when I saw how big he was.
I’d felt the bulge, and I had an idea that he was larger than average, but I had no idea that he was so long and thick.
A part of me worried about taking him, but my body ached for it.
Spreading my legs, I slid a hand down my stomach and over my mound, a hiss leaving me as I found my clit. Dmitri rolled the condom on in seconds, ditching his pants as he joined me on the bed with a growl that spoke of his hunger for me without saying a word.
“Are you ready for me, temptress? You want my cock?” he asked as he positioned himself between my legs.
I whimpered as I felt the head of his cock notch at my entrance. “Yes! Yes, please!”
That was all he needed to hear. Burying his face in my neck, he nipped at my skin as he snapped his hips forward, driving himself deep into my body in one rough move.
I was stretched in a way I never had been before, and there was a pinch of pain, but that was so quickly overcome by the pleasure of being filled so completely that I cried out in pleasure when he sank all the way inside.
“Oh… it’s so good,” I said, my hands moving to his back and stroking it as his impressive muscles contracted and released with each hard thrust into my body.
He didn’t ease into fucking me with shallow thrusts or easy movements. He moved like a man possessed, pounding me into the mattress in a way that was rough and satisfying and all-consuming.
The bed squeaked and I moaned. Dmitri couldn’t seem to keep his mouth off me, sucking my neck, kissing my lips, and nipping my skin in small ways that didn’t really hurt but caused a jolt of surprised pleasure.
I was pinned beneath him, and it felt so good to be dominated like this. He was taking what he needed from me, but he wasn’t a selfish lover. I was riding high on the pleasure of this right there with him.
Suddenly, he shifted our positions, holding my hips as he rolled onto his back so that I was straddling him.
The transition was so unexpected that it took me a moment to get my bearings.
My hands rested on Dmitri’s chest as I leaned forward, lifting my hips until only the tip of his big cock remained inside me.
Then I slammed myself down, drawing a grunt from him as his body jerked.
I did the same move over and over again, the wet sounds of our bodies colliding in an almost crude way that drove me wild.
I started to feel a tightening deep in my core, the result of barreling toward a climax that I wanted more than anything in the world. I called out his name as I spasmed against him, coming hard.
“Holy fuck,” Dmitri ground out between his teeth. “You’re squeezing me so damn good.”
Jacking his hips up one final time, he went rigid as he found his own release, the tendons of his neck going taut, and his hands squeezing my hips in a bruising grip.
We were both motionless for an extended moment, catching our breath and looking at each other in the dim lighting. It suddenly felt more intimate than sex between strangers had any right to feel.
I didn’t know what to make of that, so I moved off of Dmitri, collapsing on the bed beside him on my back. My legs felt weak, and my heart was pounding against my ribcage.
The room seemed too quiet after everything we’d just done, but I didn’t know what to say now.
Dmitri got up, moving to the bathroom as he pulled off his condom. He flicked on the light and disappeared from sight for a moment. I heard water running and then he reappeared with a wet washcloth in his hand.
I sat up and took it from him, avoiding eye contact. It was probably silly to be self-conscious after what we just did, but there was something awkward about cleaning up the wetness between my thighs, even if Dmitri was the one to get me so worked up.
Despite that, my self-esteem was soaring as I tossed the washrag aside and got under the blankets beside Dmitri. I’d been feeling a bit uncertain about my own sex appeal since I discovered Jason’s cheating, but I felt like a part of me had healed tonight.
Dmitri lay on his back, pulling me close to him until my head was resting on his chest with his arm curled around my back and his hand resting on my bare hip. The steady rise and fall of his chest was relaxing, and I enjoyed having his warmth enveloping me.
“You know, this is all strange for me,” I said. “I know I might have come off as sure of myself at the bar, but I’ve never really slept with a stranger before.”
I wasn’t sure why I was confessing this. Maybe I just wanted to get to know the man that I just screwed.
“I had a feeling that was the case.”
I chuckled. “So, I didn’t fool you with my flirting?”
“Your flirting was just fine, temptress. But I have a way of reading people, and I suspected you’re the relationship type.”
“And yet, here I am.”
My hair was in a messy bun when we met, but it had come undone during our sexy time, and he started to run his fingers through the brown strands, untangling them with a gentleness that surprised me.
“Everyone needs to step out of their comfort zone every once in a while. It’s good for sorting out the shit in your head. Did it help?”
I thought about the powerful orgasm I just had, and heat rushed through me. “Well, it certainly helped with something.”
Dmitri chuckled.
“Are you staying the night?” I asked. “Do you have to work early or anything like that?”
He let out a long exhale. “Nope. I’m in the construction business, but I run the company, so no one’s going to give me shit if I come in a little late tomorrow.”
I was impressed, but somehow, that job didn’t quite fit him in my mind.
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something almost dark about this man.
Something that made me think he’d have a job with some kind of shady element to it.
I couldn’t imagine what that would even be, but he didn’t seem like an ordinary business owner to me.
That darkness intrigued me just as much as it made me wary. I felt a spark between us, but even if this wasn’t obviously a one-time thing, I wouldn’t try to pursue anything further with him. Great chemistry was one thing, but I had a feeling we came from different worlds.
***
When I woke the next morning, it took me a few moments to get my bearings. Instead of being in my bed at home, I was somewhere strange. There was a delicious ache between my thighs I’d not felt in a long while and…
Shit!
It all came flooding back. The man at the bar. The way his smile had unlocked something in me. The drinks I hadn’t planned to have, the laughter that came too easily, the way one reckless decision had tumbled into another until suddenly I wasn’t thinking at all—I was just feeling.
I shifted carefully, the sheet whispering against my skin, and that was when I saw him.
He was still asleep beside me, one arm flung over the pillow I’d abandoned, dark lashes resting against his cheek.
In sleep, he looked younger somehow. Softer.
Nothing like the dangerous, magnetic stranger who had pressed me against a wall and made me forget my own name just hours earlier.
His breathing was slow and even, peaceful in a way that made my chest tighten unexpectedly.
For a fleeting moment, guilt washed over me.
Slipping out like this felt cowardly. Rude, even.
Last night hadn’t been a mistake—it had been fun, thrilling, easily the best night I’d had in longer than I cared to admit.
There had been a connection there, real enough that I felt it now in the quiet morning light.
But connection didn’t erase reality.
I’d just ended a long, messy relationship. My life was tangled up in complications, responsibilities, emotional loose ends I hadn’t even begun to sort through. I wasn’t the kind of woman who woke up in a stranger’s bed and stayed for coffee, no matter how tempting the idea suddenly seemed.
Maybe if I’d met him at another time. Maybe if I wasn’t still hurting from Alex’s betrayal. But right now, staying would only make things harder. Awkward. Complicated. And I’d had enough of complicated.
So I gathered my clothes quietly, stealing one last look at him before I left. He stirred slightly, murmured something unintelligible, and my heart gave an annoying little twist.
I slipped out the door without waking him, telling myself that leaving was the sensible thing to do.
The only thing to do.
Even if part of me already knew that I wouldn’t forget him anytime soon.