Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Millie removed her boots and socks as she watched Shadow under her lashes. Again, he seemed relaxed, but there was an air of something. Like he was waiting. Watching. Her?
When she lay back on the sleeping bag, before she could pull the top over her, Shadow rolled, wrapping his arm around her waist, scooting his other arm under her head to pillow it.
“Shadow?”
“Shh,” he said, finding her neck with his face. “Like sleepin’ with you like this.”
Millie sighed. Trying to deny him would be futile. “I like sleeping with you, too.”
Shadow pulled her in closer, tucked her against his body. With a sigh, she relaxed against him, bringing a hand up to his brawny forearm. His skin was hot. His body soothed the chill inside her. It also made her want more.
They lay like that for a long while. Neither spoke, but they didn’t drift off. Finally, Millie turned over to face Shadow. She reached up and stroked his strong jaw. He raised an eyebrow.
“Whatcha want, sugar?”
“Will you kiss me?”
He grinned. “Been hopin’ you’d want that.” Rolling slightly, Shadow lowered his head to hers, his generous mouth taking hers gently, then with more fervor. Millie whimpered, gripping Shadow’s shoulders tightly, pulling him more fully over her.
How far would he take her? Millie knew she wanted it all. For the first time in her life, she’d met a man who could make her feel more than a passing interest. The first time she’d seen him standing with Venus, she’d thought for sure her sister had a claim on him. She’d tried to ignore him even to the extent of ignoring a potential enemy, which she’d never done. Not since she’d left Belarus. But Shadow called to her on an elemental level. Even if he did belong to her sister, she had no idea how she’d resist him.
“Shadow,” she whispered between kisses.
“Not sure what you’re thinkin’,” he rumbled, “but put it out of your mind. This is happenin’.”
Millie cupped her hands around his face, forcing him to look at her. “Just tell me you have nothing to do with my sister.”
He tilted his head to the side as if to process what she was asking him. “You mean, like a relationship?”
“Personal.”
He leaned down and took her lips once more for a soft, slow kiss. Millie could feel the fire hadn’t died down -- he simply held it back until he could unleash it again. That was the danger of Shadow. He could hold in all that aggression in a calm pool, letting it simmer just beneath the surface. When it finally forced its way through, it would do so with explosive fury. As much as Millie wanted that answer, she wanted to keep kissing him. To let him take her on a sensual adventure unlike anything she’d ever dreamed of. Because, if he admitted to having any kind of relationship other than strictly platonic, she knew this interlude would end. Regardless of what Venus thought of her, Millie would never let a man come between them. Not for something as frivolous as sex.
“Venus is a member of Salvation’s Bane. I’m a member of Bones but am accepted in Bane since Bones is a sister club. I’m also friends with several of Bane’s members, including your sister. But I have never had even one sexual thought about Venus.” He chuckled. “She’d have my balls hangin’ ‘round my neck if she even thought I’d had a sexual fantasy about her. When we’re back, you can ask her. She’ll tell you that exact thing.”
“Then why was she so upset earlier?”
“Couldn’t tell you, sugar. Maybe it had something to do with how she thought you and Mikhail had something going on.”
“She loved him,” I said. “He loved her, too. But she was FSB. They are very careful who they single out as friends or family. As woman, she’d be expected not to marry, though that’s not something that’s actually spelled out. It’s unspoken, yet they all know it. Very few women are let in, and certain measures are taken. At least, that’s what we were told.”
Shadow brushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead, rubbing the strands between his fingers for long moments as he gazed down at me.
“Tell me something, Lyudmila. Do you have a man in your life?”
She was silent for a long time. She didn’t but was afraid to answer him. “My life is far from simple, Shadow. But no. There is no man. I don’t wish there to be.”
“Oh? And what about me? Hm?”
“Just because we play together now doesn’t mean it’s anything other than one-time thing. Or maybe just way to pass time.”
That got a grin from him when Millie didn’t even get the joke. “You think not?”
She blinked up at him. “No. We can fuck. Doesn’t mean anything afterward.”
He chuckled. “You keep tellin’ yourself that, sugar. It means somethin’ to me.”