Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Something happened.
The rage that had sent me marching in here was dying away. But it had melted the chains that had kept things in check. I looked down into those big green eyes and I was just...overcome by her. She’d been through hell, and she was still worried about other people. She was honest and good, and I nearly lost her—
She blinked up at me. “Radimir?”
I took her cheeks in my hands, leaned down and kissed her.
10
BRONWYN
I had time for one little mewl of shock as his lips came down on mine. Then the mewl turned to a groan as my brain caught up and heady pink pleasure rolled through me.
He broke the kiss for a second, looked at me and breathed something in Russian, a word so delicate and pretty it sounded like it was made of tinkling, fragile glass. “Krasavitsa.” I didn’t know if it was a nickname or a compliment or both but it made a warm rush of pride flood my body.
Then he was kissing me again. His kiss was warm and surprisingly gentle: it lifted me, comforted me, and his hands on my cheeks anchored me in place and stopped me drifting back to the two men. But there was something else, a trembling undercurrent like the rumble of a massive machine that’s being held at an idle. I could feel how much he wanted me, even if he was only letting one percent of it out, right now. It throbbed down from my lips and raced through my body, turning to raw, liquid heat as it hit my groin.
My lips parted. And everything changed.
His lips spread mine, his tongue tracing them before plunging inside. He twisted our bodies around, the kiss growing and rising. I grabbed for him, my hands climbing his back. I needed handholds because it felt like the bookstore was dissolving around me, leaving me in a hot, dark world where I couldn’t think at all and there was nothing solid except him. His lips pressed and moved, tasting me, while his tongue sought me out. And the instant the tip of my tongue brushed his, I heard him growl, deep in his throat…
He broke the kiss, panting. I opened my eyes, confused. He dropped his hands from my face and grabbed my hands instead, lacing his fingers with mine. He was on the very brink, wrestling for control.
I was still kiss-drunk and I had to swallow and work my lips before I could speak. “You don’t...want to?”
His hands tightened on mine. “I’ve wanted to since the first second I saw you.” His accent carved the words into silky-smooth ice that seared my mind. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “But…” He glanced at the ruined bookstore. The counter where the British guy had tried to—
He was saying it was okay. He was saying he understood. He was saying he’d wait. “Do you want to stop?” he asked quietly.
I took a deep breath, thinking. What I wanted was to chase the memories away. “Fuck no,” I panted.
His hands squeezed mine and I saw his whole body tense, an animal ready to pounce. His white shirt pulled tight over his pecs, and I saw the shadows of his tattoos. What the fuck did I just do?
Then he tugged me against him and his lips were on mine again. This time, he wasn’t gentle. This time, it was about releasing the pent-up need, kissing me before he burst with it. And I understood because I needed him that much too. I kissed him like he was giving me breath, like I’d die if we disconnected again. He was pressed against me, a wall of warm granite that I crushed my softness to. The brutal energy of him throbbed down into me with every hard press of his lips, crackling streamers of pleasure arcing down inside me and filling me up. The heat of him soaked into me, washing away the memories until all that existed was now.
However hard we kissed, it wasn’t enough. Panting and breathless, we started to move, shuffling away from the door, pinwheeling blindly as we bumped into tables. My hands broke free of his: I had to feel him. My hands grabbed his forearms and slid up the deliciously solid contours, up to his biceps, his shoulders, feeling the broad swells of muscle through his suit and shirt. Too many layers.
He must have thought the same because I suddenly felt his fingers working the top button of my blouse. I could still feel the bright burn of the store’s lights on my closed eyelids: anyone walking past would see whatever happened next.
I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I had to check where we were. I opened them and found our whirling dance had taken us to the middle of the store. Radimir was on me: oh, God, he was so on me, hulking over me, and the size of him, so close up, made me go weak. I didn’t want to break the kiss, but I had to, just for a second. I wasn’t strong enough to drag him where I needed us to go unless he cooperated. I dragged my lips from him. “One sec,” I panted.