When he remained quiet, she grumbled, “See? Silly.”
“Nyet,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “You have a tender heart. There’s nothing silly about that. I think it’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
He reached over again and grabbed her hand, pressing another kiss to the center of her palm. The feel of his warm lips on her skin was nothing short of panty-melting.
And having his mouth in the same sentence with her panties had her heart fluttering.
“And the homeless man you visit?” he asked.
“Lester is a war vet,” Violet told him. “Iraq. He has stories that are absolutely heartbreaking. I’ve been covertly giving him PTSD therapy for two years now. I don’t think he realizes what I’m doing, and I kind of feel bad about it because he never asked for my help, but…”
“It’s what you do,” he whispered. “If someone is hurting, you help them.”
She shrugged. “It’s in my DNA, I guess. Didn’t you have one more thing you always wanted to know? Something about why I wasn’t with anyone?”
He smiled. “Ah, that’s the really tricky question, isn’t it?”
Violet swallowed hard. “Not really. I’m starting to think…maybe I was just waiting for the right person. Maybe I was waiting for you.”
He sucked in a deep breath. “Thank God. Because I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you tell me to go.”
Chapter Twenty
They didn’t talk much after Violet spilled her guts. Mostly, Nikolai completely clammed up when she put her hand on his thigh. She couldn’t help it. She just had to touch him. After that, his jaw clenched and no more words were exchanged. Violet was fine with that. It gave her time to think.
And what she decided after all that thinking was that she was done thinking.
When they finally got home, Nikolai threw the car in park and shifted in his seat to face her. “I know we still have a lot to talk about, and—”
“No.”
He frowned at her. “No?”
“No, we’re not talking. Not right now, anyway.”
He ran a hand over his jaw, which already sported some impressive five o’clock shadow. Violet could only imagine how wonderful that would feel against her skin. “I’m not looking for more heavy conversation right now. We can do that later. Right now I just want to be with you. I’m tired of thinking. I just want to feel. Don’t you want that, too?”
His gaze heated and tingles shot through her entire body, right down to her toes. “There’s nothing I want more in this world.”
Was it her imagination, or was he starting to lean ever so slightly closer to her? If so, thank you, Jesus. “Really?”
“Really. I’ve never wanted to kiss anyone as badly as I want to kiss you right now.”
Those fiery tingles shot up her thighs. He closed the distance between them then, his eyes locked on her lips. “But we should definitely talk more first.”
Frustration nearly choked her. “Look, I know it’s a good idea to talk first. It’s the right thing to do. But I’m tired of doing the right thing—the sensible, logical thing. I want to do what feels good, and what feels good—what feels right now—is being with you. Please kiss me.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice. His strong hands angled her head and his mouth captured hers, the stroke of his tongue against hers nearly causing her to melt into a puddle of lust right there in her own car.
Violet pulled back just enough to whisper, “Come inside with me. Now.”
He groaned when she slid her fingers up to the top of his thighs. When he didn’t make any attempt to stop her, she brushed her thumb over the impressive ridge of his erection, shocking even herself with her newfound boldness.
“Fucking hell,” he whispered.
Her heart pounded as they practically sprinted from the car into her building. Violet fumbled with her keys, hands shaking, while Nikolai slid his warm hands under her skirt, fingers skimming up her thighs. She let out a choked gasp as his mouth descended on her neck, his lips hot on her skin.
By some miracle, she managed to get the door open and Nikolai kicked it shut behind them. They moved as one through her tiny foyer and into the living room, Nikolai at her back, making quick work of the buttons on her coat, all while his tongue did things to her neck that wobbled her knees.
When her coat was unbuttoned, he tossed it onto the couch before spinning her around and crowding her against the wall. There—right there against her living room wall—they made out like teenagers, feeding each other hot, open-mouthed kisses, groping and grappling until they were both panting and breathless with need.
Time seemed to stand still. It could’ve been minutes or hours that they writhed against each other—Violet didn’t know, and she wasn’t sure she cared.
He pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against hers, his breathing as labored as her own. “Are you sure?” He sounded like he’d swallowed broken glass. “No turning back. I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you. Dreamed of you, imagined you every night.” He bit his bottom lip and she had an inexplicable urge to replace his teeth with her own on that lush, plump flesh. “So, yes or no, Violet. Either way is fine with me, but you have to be sure.”
He was giving her every opportunity to back away, to put on the brakes, all while looking like a rejection from her could kill him. But still, he was handing all the power, all the control, over to her. It was a beautiful gesture that proved just how well he knew her.
A beautiful gesture, but an unnecessary one. There was really only one answer she could give him. She’d been ready for this moment since the first time she saw him outside that coffee shop all those months ago.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m sure I want you. I need you.”
Then his mouth was on hers in what could only be called a claiming, and she was more than willing to offer him everything she had, everything she was.
Just to make sure her intentions were perfectly clear—and since she’d gotten such a perfect reaction from him in the car—Violet reached between them and rubbed her palm over his erection. He spit out a tangle of urgent-sounding Russian, then slid his hands down to cup her ass and pull her against him. She shifted and opened her mouth against his throat, flicking her tongue against his skin.
And, God, he tasted amazing.
Violet was so turned on she could barely breathe. Or maybe the electricity and heat between them was sucking all the air out of the room? She wasn’t sure. But if the foreplay was nearly killing her, how was she supposed to survive when she finally got this man inside her?
He must have seen the questions in her eyes because he flashed her a wolfish grin that all but screamed you can take it and you will take it all. Then he spun her around, pressing her front into the wall.
Before she’d processed the change in positions, her dress hit the floor, pooling at her feet. Violet let out a nervous gasp and flattened her palms against the wall for support. The new, bold, and wild Violet fled the building for a moment, and the old Violet took over, feeling a little embarrassed.
Underwear hadn’t been possible with her dress if she wanted to avoid panty lines. It made sense while she was getting dressed, but now that she was completely naked against the wall in front of the most physically perfect man she’d ever seen, with the lights on, for God’s sake.
All her self-consciousness scattered when Nikolai pressed up against her back, sliding his hands down her thighs, then nudging them apart.
“You’re so beautiful, Violet,” he whispered in her ear before gently nipping her earlobe. “I’ve never seen anything so perfect.”
He slid his hand down and pressed the heel of his hand against her swollen clit. “You feel perfect, too,” he murmured. “So hot and wet.”
She bucked back against him as he slowly—so, so slowly—slid a finger through her wet folds and into her, pinning her against him. Violet pressed against the wall again to keep her balance when her knees threatened to buckle. �
��Oh, my God. Please, Nikolai. Now,” she cried out.
“No. I’ve waited far too long for you to rush now.”
He was trying to kill her, she decided. There was no possible way she could take much more of this. Then he slid a second finger into her and she bit down on her lower lip to keep from letting out what would surely be a wail, quickly followed by more begging for him to put her out of her sensual misery.
But by now, the new Violet was back in control and she wasn’t about to just sit back and let Nikolai do all the work. She intended to make him every bit as crazy as he was making her.
Violet laid her hand over his, arching back into him again. He moaned as she bucked against his questing fingers and turned her face into his neck.
As his fingers moved, she reached back and threaded her hands through his hair so that she had an anchor to reality. Every stroke of his tongue against hers, every slide of his fingers, every time his hand tightened on her hip, pushed her higher and higher until she was so wet and ready he could probably make her come just by ordering her to.
Then he pulled his fingers away and she cried out at the loss.
“I’m not going anywhere, kotehok,” he whispered. “Put your hands back on the wall and arch your back.”
Violet hurried to do as she was told, but glanced back at him over her shoulder just in time to see him grab her ass and bury his face between her thighs to…
Oh. God.
She definitely wasn’t going to survive this.
She choked out his name on a broken wail as his tongue slid down over her folds and flicked against her clit. Violet went up on her toes and spread her legs further apart, arched back a little more to give him better access. This might kill her, but at least she’d die happy.
“Mmm,” he murmured, sliding a finger into her. “You taste so good. Just like I imagined you would.”
He’d imagined this? Jesus, even in her wildest fantasies she’d never imagined anything feeling this good.
She wanted to scream at him to stop teasing her, to slide into her and fuck her senseless, for God’s sake. She wanted to order him to come with her. But words were beyond her. Because right at that moment, as his tongue stroked her, his finger curled up and hit a spot—the spot—that had her entire body seizing and clenching as she came harder than she’d ever come before.
And through it all, Nikolai’s tongue and fingers kept stroking her, prolonging her orgasm until she was so spent, so thoroughly wrung out, that she could do little more than slump forward, resting her forehead against the wall.
“Oh my God,” she said through heavy, panting breaths. “That was…oh my God.”
“Yes,” he murmured before nipping her shoulder. “And that was only the beginning.”
She shivered both in anticipation and at the rough rasp of his voice.
Yep. She wasn’t going to survive this.
But what a way to go.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nikolai’s heart hammered harder than it ever had before. His senses were overloaded. The sweet, warm scent of her, the sounds of the breathy moans and whimpers that fell from her parted lips, the satin-soft feel of her under his rough fingertips, the incredible taste of her flesh…it was almost too much to take in all at once.
He couldn’t wait much longer. He had to have her. Soon.
Violet let out a squeal when he chucked her limp, sated body over his shoulder, stalked into her bedroom, and dumped her on the bed.
In the back of his mind, he knew this was all going too fast. They still had so much to talk through, to work out. He hadn’t meant for this to happen tonight.
But she was impossible to resist. And if he was being totally honest with himself, there wasn’t really a single fiber of his being left that wanted to resist.
And looking down at her now, he had no idea how he’d ever been able to keep his hands off her.
Flushed and satisfied, she gazed up at him through lids that were only half open, waiting for him to join her in bed. Waiting for him. Nikolai had no idea what he’d done in this life—or a previous life—to deserve her, but he damn sure wasn’t going to question it. He supposed he was due for a little luck in his life.
He stripped off his clothes, his movements jerky, as she watched him through lids that were at half-mast.
Nikolai had never really appreciated fine art. But right now? Looking down at Violet’s naked body? He had a much better understanding of what inspired artists to paint and sculpt the female form.
Violet was perfectly proportioned. Firm, round breasts just large enough to fill his hands, a waist so tiny he could span it with his hands, gently rounded hips, trim, toned thighs and calves…Jesus, her body wasn’t inspiration for art, it was art.
When she blushed under his scrutiny and moved to cross her arms over her chest, he shook his head. “Nyet. Don’t you dare hide from me now.”
She squirmed on the bed, but didn’t try to cover herself again. She reached a hand out to him. “Now. Please.”
He briefly wondered if he’d died and gone to heaven. Why else would he be here, with the woman of his dreams laid out before him like an offering from God?
And apparently, he spent too much time wondering, because she shocked the hell out of him by sitting up, grabbing hold of his erection, and dragging him to the edge of the bed so that her face was even with his groin.
He hadn’t known what desire really looked like until she tipped her eyes up to his and wrapped her gorgeous lips around him. He swallowed a shocked gasp when she grabbed one of his hands and guided it to the back of her head, giving him permission to show her exactly how deep he wanted her to take him.
“Jesus Christ, Violet, your mouth is perfection…”
He shivered as the vibration from her answering moan hit him. Need, raw and pure, had him fisting her hair, tangling his fingers in the thick blond strands, but he resisted his body’s demand to thrust into her mouth. He wanted her to control this. And besides, there was no way he was going to come in her mouth. When he came, he intended to be balls deep in her tight, wet heat.
But if he didn’t stop her soon…
He pulled back, gently tugging on her hair, urging her to let him go. “I’m going to lose control if you keep that up.”
The smile that stretched across her wet, shiny lips was full of self-satisfied confidence, and damned if it wasn’t the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
“Maybe I want you to lose control,” she said.
He smirked, then dropped to his knees on the mattress between her spread thighs.
“After you,” he ordered, leaning down to capture her mouth again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Twenty minutes (or maybe an hour…she wasn’t sure) later, Violet didn’t think she’d be ever be able to walk again. She couldn’t even feel her legs. Her entire body had the strength of a wet Kleenex. She’d come so many times she was pretty sure she was dehydrated.
And Nikolai hadn’t even been inside her yet.
“Please,” she begged, her voice hoarse from all the screaming and begging she’d done already. “Now.”
The smile he gave her as she came down off her fifth orgasm—or maybe it was her sixth? She’d lost count—could only be described as wolfish. “Yes, now I think maybe you’re ready.”
Violet sent up a silent prayer of thanks to whatever gods might be listening as Nikolai crawled up her body slowly, raking his gaze over every part of her along the way. Given the heat in his eyes, she fully expected him to thrust roughly into her. So, what he did next came as a complete surprise.
He leaned down and gently kissed her nose.
Her heart clenched. She let her fingers trail lightly over a scar on his shoulder, then over the tattoo on his forearm—the one that had branded him as property of Sentry when he was just a child. So much pain and violence in his life, and yet he was still the kind of man who could be so achingly gentle and tender with her.
“Protection?” he asked.
That was really all the discussion that was needed. As a dhampyre, he was incapable of carrying or transmitting human disease, and she’d been on the pill since she was a teenager.
The thought of making love without a condom was thrilling in and of itself. It was something she’d never even considered doing before. She’d never really felt the need to experience that kind of closeness with another person, or put that much trust in anyone else.
Until now.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he slid an arm under her hips and lifted her just enough that he could ease into her, inch by hot, hard, throbbing inch. Her eyes fluttered closed as she reveled in the sensation of him filling her, surrounding her, claiming her as his own. She slid her hands down his back, then grabbed his ass and urged him deeper.
He pulled her leg up and hooked it over his hip as he pressed in deeper. He moaned low in his throat. “You feel amazing.”
She arched her back and clutched at his shoulder. “Oh my God, so do you. I…”
He stilled, studying her face as she trailed off. She hoped he couldn’t see the blush she felt rising to her cheeks.
She’d almost blurted out that she loved him.
But she couldn’t say that now! Not while he was inside her. That was the kind of declaration that was best saved for when level heads prevailed and both parties were fully clothed.
And while she knew that Nikolai had strong feelings for her, he’d never said that he loved her, either. It was just too soon to say those words.
Harper Hall Investigations Complete Series Page 91