by Bethany-Kris
Masha went so far as to laugh with Claire as they heaped what remained on the platters to the couple in the middle for whoever wanted them. Leftovers were just as much a treat as the main course in his mother’s home—no matter where she was currently calling home.
Karine, in her long yellow dress, teasing him with thin spaghetti straps that showed off the delicate line of her shoulders and dipped deliciously in the front to give a peek at her breasts, enjoyed herself, too. Roman was sure he’d never seen her as happy and carefree, engaging in conversations and jokes with the others, as she was during the dinner. As much as it killed him not to constantly have her attention on him, he liked to watch her just as much.
He toyed with a strand of the dark hair resting prettily over her shoulders while she sipped on a drink one of the guys had made her with soda to make the liquor more palatable to her tastes. She passed him one of those demure smiles that always set his cock off, throbbing in his slacks with little effort.
How could she be shy?
With him?
In the two weeks that she’d spent at the lodge, safe away from the influences that certainly hadn’t aided in her situation, another side of her apparently emerged. A side he had figured was lurking somewhere under the surface, if only because she had dared to show him the occasional peek.
She had made friends, too.
Another bonus.
It wasn’t just Masha and her, anymore. By the way she made easy conversation with nearly everyone at the table, Karine had formed a bond with the others as well. Even her doctor. Michelle, in particular, treated her like a younger sister whose well-being she genuinely cared about if the secret, playful smiles the two women shared was any indication.
Despite the fact that she had been forced there, he hoped the doctor didn’t look at their circumstance as only that, but as an engaging challenge. With the bonus of Karine, whose magnetic soul seemed to keep dragging people in closer and closer.
It wasn’t only Michelle and his mother who’d developed a deep fondness for Karine, but the bulls, too. The handful of men had clearly become friends with her as well. He didn’t miss the friendly affection Jimmy, in particular, offered Karine when only one sweet was left on the table, and the two reached for the pastry at the same time. He let her take it with a shrug and a chuckle.
If it were other men—or maybe a different woman sitting beside him—then Roman might have felt jealous seeing the woman he was in love with getting attention from others, and reveling in it. It wasn’t like that with Karine; her ability to draw out someone’s softer, fonder side was her nature.
And the fact she beamed under the attention of everyone around her ... shit, it hurt to know she’d probably been craving moments like this her entire life.
What business did something petty like jealousy have messing with that?
Roman honesty hadn’t expected to see the progress he found in just two weeks, but he couldn’t deny the relief, either.
And there was something ...
Something about knowing she fit here—found herself a spot at a table that, before now, hadn’t even existed. With these people. His mother.
In his life.
He was also relieved that his mother had seen a different side of her. One that she’d only revealed to him before. Now, it was evident to everyone why he felt the way he did about Karine. What drew her to him. Underneath that hazy exterior she used to sport—the one that was muddled, confused and suspicious of the outside world—lay a young woman who was funny, charming, perilously sweet, and maybe needed just a little bit of help with her confidence every now and then.
He wasn’t surprised that she shined in front of others—beautiful things always did, though. Karine was certainly that. There was no doubt about it.
While Roman’s thoughts whirled in his mind, keeping him silent and unwilling to draw Karine’s attention away from the rest of the people at the table, she and Michelle were in the middle of a new conversation. Apparently, the two had found a secret trail in the woods and wanted to show him. Claire interrupted everyone’s chatter by turning on music in the room, the sound filtering out from built in speakers overhead and all around.
“Now, nobody said anything about dancing, Claire,” one of the bulls joked, making Roman’s mother reply with a laugh.
He knew the truth.
“She’s playing this music because she misses my father,” Roman said softly to Karine when she turned, and pouted those pretty lips of hers at him. “It’s their favorite thing to do at night—he listens to music, and she reads beside him.”
Karine’s pout bloomed instantly into a smile. “That’s ... sweet. You should have brought him.”
Maybe.
Some shit couldn’t be helped.
“He was busy,” Roman replied.
He wound an arm around her waist, and pulled her closer to him until she was practically on the edge of her chair. The rest of the room drifted away, even his mother’s attempts to get a shy Masha to sway to the beat with her, faded with Karine so close to him. Michelle chose that moment to head away from the table, and he was silently grateful.
“You seem happy,” Karine said in a whisper, the tips of her fingers raising to trace the smile playing on his lips.
“I am. Are you?”
She nodded. “Very. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun before.”
“A shame, that.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Roman lifted a brow. “Oh?”
Karine shrugged. “It’s just better with you.”
The way she said it so unabashedly was music to his ears. Roman kissed her, then, leaning between them to close what distance remained, and he didn’t care who watched. From the way the room silenced, but for the music, of course, he didn’t doubt that everyone’s eyes were on them. Karine must have sensed it too, because she broke away from the kiss, blushing.
The prettiest pink.
All the way down her throat, too.
Goddamn.
They needed to be alone.
Soon.
“It’s too bad if you want more of that apple pie because I’m going to take you away now,” he told her, unable to tear his gaze away from the sensual curve of her mouth.
She bit down on her lip. “I’ve been waiting to hear you say that all night.”
“Really? I thought you were enjoying yourself.”
“I was.”
Roman smirked. “But you’re not even going to make me feel bad about taking you upstairs for the rest of the night, are you?”
Karine didn’t hesitate. “Not at all.”
He weaved their fingers together, pulling her toward the doorway hand-in-hand, and not bothering to check over his shoulder as he went.
Roman had some important things to say to Karine, but first, he needed to take that dress off her.
• • •
He was kissing her before they even made it through the door of his bedroom because he just couldn’t help himself. The door flung open under his chaotic, searching hand once it finally found the knob to twist, and they tumbled through the threshold in one other’s arms. Both out of breath, tangled in each other, nothing separated the two from what they wanted the most.
Roman loved the taste of Karine on his lips. All hot, and sweet. Like warm honey. She coated him, every inch of him. He weaved his fingers tightly through her hair, angling her face exactly the way he wanted to keep her still, so he could kiss her deeper.
She stared at him with heavy lidded eyes when they finally parted, their fingers knotting together. With the bedroom door still open, they could faintly hear the music filtering up the stairwell from downstairs. He couldn’t be sure if his mother had turned it up, but certainly sounded a little louder.
“You know, I might have liked to dance,” Karine whispered through a smile.
“Okay, so dance.”
Roman lifted her arm up and twirled her around, making Karine giggle before she fell on him again
, pressing herself to his chest. He certainly wasn’t the type to dance, but he would for her. Hell, he’d do anything if she smiled at him like that again.
Kept smiling at him.
For the rest of her life.
Pressed tight to his chest, Karine’s one hand still weaved with his while his arm held her around the waist, they swayed on the spot to the slow melody that just barely reached their spot. But it was perfect, too.
Just him and her.
He’d missed that.
When he kissed her the next time, she stilled, wanting his mouth more than she wanted his feet to keep moving. He pulled the straps of the yellow dress down her arms to slip them off, marveling in the way his hands covered her delicate shoulders.
“I like this dress,” he said.
“I got a red one, too, but I couldn’t say no to this one on the way out. I really loved the market.”
His stare slammed into hers.
Karine lifted one bare shoulder, adding, “I heard you liked red.”
He did, yeah.
“I can’t wait to see that one, too.”
Karine’s quick grin had him ending the conversation so he could tug the dress lower until her perky, bare breasts came into view. He sunk down, enjoying the tickle of her blunt nails scratching over his scalp when he took her breasts in his hands. His lips lined dotted kisses down her chest, over her cleavage.
The softest sigh echoed over his head when he sucked on her nipples, one by one. Rosy and peaked, he used his teeth. All that breathiness of hers came out in a moan next.
Deep, and loud.
His cock throbbed hard in his pants, a selfish urge to get those moans of hers vibrating around his dick while fucked her mouth, but he shoved it down. Roman wanted to make her come first, and he wanted a taste of her while she did. Lifting her dress up, he got down on his knees in front of her while his fingers spread wide and flexed over her thighs.
“Roman ...” she hissed when her muscles twitched under his touch, his name coming out sultry on her lips. Like she knew exactly what he was going to do next. He gave her a hint by pulling her panties down.
“I just want a little taste, babe.”
“Only a little?”
Well ...
He pushed her back on the bed, making her body bounce on the springy mattress. Karine’s wriggling legs came to a still when Roman grabbed her knees and yanked her forward in the position he wanted her, spreading her thighs wide apart.
“We’ll see what I can do,” he returned.
Her pussy was right there for the taking—pink and already damp, ready for him. Her swollen clit peeked out from under the hood.
Roman kept his eyes on her, holding her stare as he covered her clit with his mouth. Karine raised higher on her elbows, watching him with fast pants of breath passing between her parted lips. The harder he flicked against the throbbing bud, the quicker her breaths came, melting in moans and rolling hips.
Karine dropped back to the mattress, her back arching high as her eyes slammed shut. He was relentless, but fuck, he had to be. Roman wanted that taste of her, hot and heady. Needed it. He wouldn’t stop until she came for him.
When his cock jerked painfully in his pants, angrier because the pressure between his weight and the mattress did nothing to offer relief for him, he rammed two fingers into her without warning. He found that fleshy, wet wall of her pussy that had Karine whining in a way he hadn’t heard before.
But damn, he wanted to hear it again.
His mouth remained on her clit, licking slower in contrast to how hard he fucked her with his fingers. She was begging him to let her come in less than a minute like that, her high pitch keen unmistakable with every airless, “Oh, my God ... please.”
He felt her shudder when she finally found the edge of whatever cliff she’d been balancing on. His fingers slowed only enough to massage her now swollen G-spot while she gushed enough fluid to wet his hand and the sheets. All the while, he sucked her clit in between his teeth while she rode that wave, watching her orgasm take over.
His cock protested hard in his pants. She wouldn’t even care—he knew it. Lost in the intensity, he could have her bent over and be fucking her hard enough to take her breath away until he came himself, but not yet.
Roman beat down that urge, too.
Barely.
Her wetness stained his lips by the time she was done. Karine was flat on her back on the bed, her breasts heaving steadily as she tried catching her breath, a single hand reaching down between her thighs to press tightly against her clit. Sensitive, he knew. Roman had a feeling she’d never come like that before.
He gave her pussy one last lick before he straightened up, his hands finding her trembling thighs to squeeze again.
“I’ve missed that, too. But that was ...”
“A lot,” he replied with a husky chuckle.
“A lot,” Karine agreed.
Her laugh floated through the room, and what he heard made him smile all over again. There was confidence in the sound now, he noticed. There were so many positive changes in her to celebrate, and he was more than ready to do just that.
“But if you missed that, then you’re going to love this,” he said roughly.
Before she could react, he’d crawled over her, covering her completely with his body.
Karine watched him with a sly grin when he straightened her arms up, curling her fingers around the ornate wooden bars at the head of the bed. Stretched out underneath him, spread open for him, she was perfect.
He sat up on his knees, tugged her dress down her waist and then the rest of the way, shoving it to the floor before he started pulling off his belt and undoing his shirt.
Karine didn’t take her eyes off him, watching him like she was in some kind of daze.
Naked and waiting, her eyes roamed over the tattoos on his chest, then lower to his abs, and his stomach. Finally, her stare landed on his rock-hard cock between his muscular thighs when his pants came down, too, once he’d stood up from the bed.
“I’m definitely going to love this,” she murmured.
Roman leaned over the bed between her thighs, keeping one hand to the mattress and using his other to give her pussy a wet swipe with the pad of his thumb. “Will you let me use you—will you come if I use you, Karine?”
She shivered.
Her sigh echoed.
He needed to hear her say it, so he waited even as his hands came to rest on her bent knees and he fitted himself between her widened thighs. She regarded him under lowered lashes, wetting the seam of her lips with a pink tongue. And then she whispered, “Of course. Please use me.”
He sunk into her, his thumb guiding the head of his cock between the swollen, wet lips of her pussy. It’s where he found heaven—the best kind of oblivion as he fucked them both to bliss.
What could be better?
• • •
“Are you happy here, Karine? And I don’t just mean tonight with the dinner, or my mother’s little party.”
They were still in bed, side by side. He’d made his way to his back while she had rolled over to her stomach, using her arms as a pillow while she’d angled her face his way to watch him. There wasn’t a single woman from his past that had managed to keep him in a bed with her after the deed was done, but he couldn’t seem to move whenever Karine was in one with him.
Would it always feel like this?
Like she was home?
There was no smile playing on her lips as she replied, “I think I am. I didn’t expect to be, you know? I was worried about not seeing you for a while, and ... everything I didn’t know. But I trust you. So, yeah. I think I am.”
Someday, he wanted her to say it without the maybe qualifier—he didn’t want her to think about it at all, just know. For now, though, he’d take what he could get.
She drew circles on his bare arm with her fingertips, and it sent teasing, dancing shocks racing down his spine. Roman hooked a finger under her chin.
/> “I’ll always come back to you. You didn’t ask me to say it, but I will anyway. As many times as you need to hear it, and maybe someday you can tell me to stop because you won’t need to hear it anymore. You’ll just believe it.”
He wound some strands of her hair around his fingers, enjoying Karine’s sweet murmurings in his ears when she said, “Funny—your mom said the same thing about Avdonin men always coming back. Sharing similar traits.”
Roman laughed darkly, urging on Karine’s softer giggles. “More than I care to admit.”
He could get used to this. Lying naked in bed with her, legs tangled with hers, and nowhere to go, nowhere to be. A lingering scent of sex in the air, soft skin close enough to taste, and sleep creeping in.
Could they have that?
In the future, maybe—could they could spend all day and even longer nights together like this? When he wouldn’t have to worry about the shadows chasing them? Would she want that, too?
All he wanted was to protect her with his body, keep her in that bedroom forever, locked away from the world. But it could all change in a minute, too.
Roman didn’t know what Leonid and Dima’s plan was, but he wasn’t naive enough to assume they’d forgotten about her. Or the fact that she’d been stolen from them—how long until they knew it was him who did it?
Or did they already?
It instantly reminded him of all the things he hadn’t told her yet. About her father, the fire where she had spent all her life, or even how Dima and Leonid were still nowhere to be found.
All bad news.
Roman couldn’t do it, though. He just couldn’t bring himself to change the topic of conversation to what would inevitably ruin a good night for them. One of the only they might have for a while.
So, he told her something that was even more important. The thing he wanted her to know the very most.
“I’m in love with you, Karine. I love you.”
She blinked at him, long lashes fluttering fast like she had to take in the sudden words she clearly hadn’t been expecting to hear. The seconds ticked by. One after another, matching the beats of his crazy heart.
But then she sighed, and shrugged those delicate, creamy shoulders almost casually. “Good, because it would be strange for me to love you and get nothing in return, but I wasn’t sure how I should say it.”