Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 76915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“Ah. Higher then?”
A pause. I nodded.
He held my gaze as his fingers traveled up towards my knee. He raised his eyebrows as they crept higher. I could feel my chest rising and falling in an exaggerated motion.
I felt lightheaded. Dizzy. Nervous.
Curious.
Most of all, I realized suddenly, I was curious. Curious what he would do next. Curious what he was thinking. Curious why he cared who had touched me, and where.
But I knew. In a flash of insight, I knew.
He wanted me. This whole thing was a ruse. A game.
He had brought me here for that reason. To entrap me. To use my soft feminine emotions to make me fall for him. To beg him to take me… to do all the forbidden things that happened between a man and a woman.
I was a pawn to be played with. He was doing more than playing with me. He was toying with me, like a Siberian panther at the Moscow Zoo might play with an unlucky mouse who wandered into its enclosure.
But somehow, I couldn’t force myself to care.
His fingertips slid higher. My breath came faster. I dared not move. I was afraid he would continue. But more than that, I was afraid he would stop.
And I did not want him to stop.
He neared my mid-thigh, then made a little swirl. I nearly groaned at the pleasure of it. No one had ever touched me in this way.
His lips slid into a knowing smile. But his eyes were serious.
“Was it higher?”
I swallowed and said nothing. He nodded thoughtfully and looked down at my thigh. His fingers moved upward again.
“Here?”
I nodded.
“Inner or outer?” He asked, his hand sliding inward, then slowly out. Then it started to move up again.
Dangerously close to the hem of my uniform. Then beneath it. I nearly fainted.
I grabbed his wrist, our eyes locked, boring into each other’s. He didn’t move. Didn’t look away.
“Mishka.”
I released his wrist. He moved his hand. But not away from me. He grabbed my waist and hauled me to my feet. He pulled me all the way forward so that our bodies were pressed together. My head fell back to stare up at him.
A heartbeat. Another. My chest felt like it was vibrating from the force of it. The crazy thing was, I could feel that his chest vibrating, too.
His eyes were on my mouth. My eyes dropped to his supple lips, a split second before his mouth crashed down on mine. He groaned, nudging my lips apart and driving his tongue inside my mouth.
I froze, not knowing what to do. I had never been kissed at all, let alone like this. I’d been asked out before, by boys in school, and men at cafes or at the symphony. I had been approached, even pursued to a degree that made me nervous, despite my lack on encouragement.
But I had never gone through with any of it. I had never wanted to. Until now. Until this impossible moment.
Until this impossible man.
I did not stop the kiss. Could not stop the kiss. It was all encompassing, wild, and primal. It was romantic, sweet, and passionate. He angles his mouth over mine, arching my back, until I was nearly horizontal, my feet barely touching the floor.
Finally, he lifted his lips from mine and straightened us up. I held onto him for dear life, certain that I would collapse in a puddle if he released me. His hands came up to sooth me, rubbing his large, warm palms over my back and arms.
“Relax, little Mishka. I won’t devour you. As much as I want to,” he murmured into my ear.
I exhaled and looked down. I wanted him to kiss me again. But I knew that would lead someplace that I did not want to go. Would never want to go. Not with him.
Not with a monster.
I shook my head and stepped back.
“I can’t…”
I turned to go but he grabbed my arm.
“Is there someone else?”
My eyes met his. I saw something unexpected there. He was afraid. I was stunned. This man who feared nothing and no one, feared me. Feared my answer to this question.
And then the flash of emotion was gone. He narrowed his eyes.
“Because if there is, I will kill him.”
He wasn’t joking. I knew he was not. My eyes grew wide. I had been tempted by his touch. By his gentleness.
But this brutality revolted me.
I tore my hand away and walked stiffly towards the door.
“I did not dismiss you, Mishka,” his voice rang out coldly.
I stopped, then looked over my shoulder at him.
“I don’t care.”
And in that minute, I didn’t.
Chapter 15
Anton
The bottle of vodka was half empty. I’d been drinking steadily since she left. Since I had destroyed the tender truce that had sprung up between us.
I could not help it. I wanted her. I needed her.