by Lauren Dane
“That’s worth being cheerful over.”
“I like to think so. Not that living with a roommate forever in a craptastic apartment where the halls smell like cat pee isn’t super attractive and all.”
He’d offered to let her live in one of his spare rooms but she’d balked at the reality of living that close to their parents so she and Rada had rented a place in a fun neighborhood with no parking and sky-high rent.
His frugal parents were mortified but to Vic’s mind, she was just being a young person. Learning lessons was part of being an adult and the harder they frowned at her and disapproved, the more she wanted to do it.
But he wasn’t going to tell his parents that, even if they had been able to hear it. Nor was he going to tell Evie that their mother and father only wanted the best for her and living with them rent-free would have given her an even bigger down payment.
He planned to stay the hell out of that altogether to support her and be her big brother. A safe space to vent, because she didn’t need another father.
“How are things with Rachel? Mamka said she helped unload after a trip to the warehouse store.”
Vic snorted at the memory. “As you can imagine, it was several trips to and from the garage and pantry to store everything. She was in fine form, snapping her fingers and ordering everyone around. Rachel just let it roll off her back. And then? She rearranged the shelves.”
Evie’s brows flew up. “No way! What did Mom say?”
“I was worried I’d have to tackle her, but she thought it was awesome. Started adding her own twist.”
“Mamka really likes her. Which is nice because I like her too. You’re more serious with her.”
“I’m a very serious person,” he said, defensive.
“Many layers down, yes. When it’s necessary, yes. But you’re also lazy. You’re cute and well groomed and you’ve had yourself quite a nice little romantic life for many years with a variety of pretty women who made you happy enough but you never had to work for a single one of them. You never bothered to. None of them made you more serious. More thoughtful of them and whatever they needed.”
All the women in his life were far too insightful and free with their opinions. Vic frowned until he had to leap away from the snap of the towel she’d had in her hands.
“It’s too bad they don’t have a brother, or a close male cousin, eh? Just make the whole lot of us a matching set.”
Vic snorted a laugh. “No more siblings or male cousins that I know of, sorry.” The world could only handle so much Dolan and he figured Rachel and Maybe took it all up and then some. “There’s dinner at their house tonight. You should come.”
Evie was an important part of his life. He saw her every day at work, but also as part of his extended social circle, which he loved. He’d never had a girlfriend included in that in more than a surface way.
Rachel was different on so many levels. He already knew his parents approved of her, he wanted his sister and his woman to get to know one another better.
“Can I bring Rada?” At his frown she forged ahead quickly. “She’s part of us. One of our family. It’s hard for her with Maybe. Not that she wants Alexsei back, but she’s afraid to lose us.”
He sighed. “Ask Alexsei, but I’m a yes as long as Rachel and Maybe are okay.” And he figured they would be because the Dolan sisters understood the importance of your chosen family.
As long as Rada kept her distance from Alexsei and got to know Maybe a little, things would be all right. When his cousin’s ex-girlfriend wasn’t being a protective bitch, she was pretty likeable.
Evie grinned. “He’s fine with it. Said to ask you. I guess Maybe is cool with it and as long as she is, you know Rachel will be.”
He groaned. “Sometimes you can all be mercurial. I’ll just keep out of kicking range and agree with everything my woman says.”
“You’re very smart. Which is why Rachel is so into you.” She kept working for a bit before speaking again. “She didn’t get the protection order extended for her dad? How’s she doing?”
He finished up the first knead on a batch of dough, turning it into a bowl where it would rise again.
“She likes to put on a tough face. But it’s no fun to have the court not take your side in any situation, much less when you’re asking them to help protect you.”
He was grateful she had Maybe and Cora to lean on, grateful too that she let him take some of the weight as well.
That nap on her couch had felt like they’d moved forward a year in their relationship when it came to intimacy level. She’d trusted him enough to sleep in his arms. That was huge. He wanted to make sure she knew he understood and that it meant so much to him. But he didn’t want to spook her by making a big deal of it.
“She has you now. You’re a good hugger. And you listen. It’s not a thing most people do very well. You’re pretty enough and you have a good job. You do also have a bananapants family. But we come with bread.” Evie shrugged while filling a piping bag with the cream.
“Rachel places great emphasis on that too. I may get some sort of complex that she only wants me for the bread.”
“I highly doubt it. You’re too confident for that.”
And his Rachel liked the way he delivered her carbs.
“For dinner tonight it’s sandwiches and chips. So you can bring dip. Maybe likes dip. We’ll eat at seven.”
* * *
SHE LET HIM back her against the sink in the hall bathroom. “We’ve got a houseful of people, you rogue.”
The smile he gave her was rather roguish indeed. “I just needed a small taste.” He dropped his mouth to hers until she was all jelly and goose pimples.
She gasped his name and he nipped her bottom lip just shy of pain.
“Much better. For now.” He looked at his phone for the time. “I’ll meet you in your bedroom in forty-five minutes. That gives us both enough time to wrap things up with everyone.” He kissed down the side of her neck.
They’d already been done eating for a while by then. Watched Jeopardy while shouting out answers, followed by a double episode of their favorite cooking competition show, so plenty of time had elapsed. She could sneak away and not be considered rude.
Even though they’d all know she and Vic were running off to have sex.
“You’ve got a deal,” she promised.
“Hey.” He took her arm before they left the room. “Thank you for being so cool with Rada.”
Rachel had understood that Rada came along with the rest of the Orlov family as Evie’s best friend. Rada and Maybe had started off on the wrong foot, but each time they all hung out and no one acted up, Rachel had liked Rada a little more.
The other woman had a sharp wit that fit in just fine. A dry sense of humor and a sweet affection with the Orlovs Rachel found touching.
A totally platonic sweet affection toward Maybe’s boyfriend.
“She’s actually pretty cool.”
He slung an arm around her as they headed back to the living room, where Mario Kart was loading up and people were getting ready to play.
They’d be around for hours more.
Whatever. Everyone else was free to play whatever they wanted. Rachel had a game she’d far rather play with Vic so she quietly told Maybe she was going off to bed and would see her the following morning.
She tried to take her time and be casual about saying good-night, but she rushed it, wanting to be alone with him.
He must have as well, because when she got to her room, he was naked and stretched across her bed. He’d turned off the lights and lit her candles so the right kind of sexy shadows danced around the space.
“Damn. How lucky can I be?” she asked.
“Let’s test that, shall we? Get rid of those clothes and come over here.” He crooked a finger her way.
As he moved, his muscles did all sorts of visually arresting things so she nearly tripped over her pants as she stepped out of them like a toddler and left them there on her floor as she hurried his way to take him up on that very fine offer.
He’d gotten to his knees on her bed as she’d been stripping and when she nearly hit the ground he swooped in and pulled her to the mattress, laughing as he rolled atop her body.
Her laughter wisped away as his weight settled in, warm and solid.
Yet her heart remained light. Strange to feel anchored and free all at once.
“Hi,” she said, stretching up a little to kiss him.
“Mmm, hello. You locked the door, right?”
“She knocks!” Rachel dissolved into laughter at the memory of the day before when Maybe burst in to tell her something as Vic was getting dressed.
“It doesn’t count if she won’t wait to be told to come in first,” he groused.
“I locked the door. And the squeal you gave when she came in and saw your ass probably ensured she won’t ever burst in like that again.”
“She must be sad Alexsei isn’t as good-looking as me,” Vic told her as he kissed her throat.
“If I were her I would be. But I have you so I don’t need to feel sad. My life works out pretty well.”
“Give me a few minutes to make it even better.” He nuzzled her just below her left ear and made her slightly dizzy as the blood rushed to her nipples and clit.
This sent her into a fit of giggles.
“There you go again, trying to give me a complex,” he said, a smile in his voice.
“Do you need me to kiss it and make it better?”
“The opposite. I want to kiss you, make you better and then I’ll feel better.”
“You’re full of it,” she said, but it was all breathy and sex-drunk so it wasn’t entirely convincing.
He traced the tip of his tongue around her nipple and a full body shiver broke over her skin. It was like he knew every single one of her buttons and he pushed them. Every touch set her aflame.
He wanted her with such raw greed, there’d never been anything hotter. It made her feel like a queen.
“Your tits are fucking magnificent. Perfect,” he said, lips against her skin as he moved to the other nipple to scrape the edge of his teeth against the sensitive flesh.
She arched into him on a cry.
With slow, thorough attention, he paid homage to each breast and nipple until she was flushed and tingly all over.
He kissed over her belly, around her belly button and down again. Down to the heart of her as he paused to breathe in deep, his mouth hovering just above the skin of her pussy.
A long hum of satisfaction before he danced his tongue around her clit. The way he held her open for his mouth, his strong, wide palms nearly scalding the inside of her thighs.
More nuzzling, brushing his mouth over her as he continued to lick and suck at her pussy like he was starving. He built her up until she splintered apart, back bowed, two handfuls of the comforter in her hands as orgasm sucked her under.
Moments later he was back, pushing into her body.
She opened her eyes to stare up at him, to watch the muscles in his neck and shoulders, the sheen of the sweat on his skin.
Her body, ready from the climax, still stretched nearly to painful and then it was all pleasure. All heat and fire but in the right kind of way.
There was a sense of abandon with him. That she could let go and fly.
If she fell, he’d catch her. Like he did just minutes before.
Restless, needing more, knowing he’d give it to her but when he wanted to, she writhed, arching against him to take him deeper.
He hitched her knees up and out, changing her angle, sliding home with one last push.
She gasped, nails digging into his sides as she held on. Panic rose a moment and she fought it. He was big, his body resting against hers, pressing her to the bed. Held down. Captured. Her system wasn’t sure whether to break free or wallow in it.
If it had been anyone else, she’d have been across the room, pulling her clothes on, but it wasn’t anyone else. It was Vic.
He pulled back a little, concern on his features.
“Don’t stop,” she gasped. Normally she’d have rolled her hips or pushed against him harder, but she was pretty immobile so her words had to do.
“Are you sure?”
Swallowing back the panic, she nodded.
Taking care to not put any more of his weight on her, he continued those slow, deep thrusts. She focused on the way his skin smelled, how he felt against her in all the amazing ways. Pushing the fear aside for the slow build to another orgasm.
* * *
VIC WAITED FOR the unbunching of her muscles before he dared move again. Need beat at him with closed fists, but he wasn’t going to harm her and he’d maim himself before he’d ever take her anywhere she wasn’t totally on board with going.
He’d looked into her eyes, making sure she’d meant what she’d said and then, gathering his control, pulled back out and slid back into all that velvet heat.
Her trust that he’d never hurt her was humbling.
And sexy as hell.
Her body hugged his so tightly the ghost of it echoed up his spine. He wanted to bury himself in her, forget everything but the moment, wrapped up in this.
This warrior wearing the skin of his favorite woman on the planet. This siren beneath him, open to him, trusting him with her flaws.
She held his heart and while it should have terrified him, it filled him with pride. She chose him. Of all the people she came across, it was him she gave herself to. Him she trusted with this part of herself.
Not only had she chosen him, she wanted him.
Over and over, he slid deep, the relentless beat of climax pounding in his ears. He had to have her. Needed to wring every bit of pleasure out of her. Nothing felt like making her come while he was inside her.
Her inner muscles spasmed and grasped his cock, nearly blinding him with a burst of white-hot sensation.
He cursed, teetering right on the edge. “You first,” he snarled.
“I already did,” she gasped. But her body didn’t mind.
“You’re hot and wet and so ready to come again,” he told her. “You were made to come for me.”
She moaned low and frustrated, not getting enough contact in their current position. He shifted his weight so he could reach down and give it to her. The moment his fingers brushed her clit she gasped.
Sweat broke out over his brow as he held on with the barest of control. She felt so fucking good around him it took everything in him not to wallow in it. Wallow in her.
She grunted, still pinned by his weight, but not afraid. Her gaze held his, passion-blurred, but clear. She was with him all the way.
Before he had to say anything else, she splintered around him, coming in a heated rush and dragging him right behind her with claws dug deep.
He managed to stumble into the bathroom to get rid of the condom before joining her in bed once more with a happy sigh.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ON THE EDGE of a strangled scream, Rachel came out of a nightmare, hands out, fingers curled into claws. She was there, again, in that tiny little cell Price had made just for her in his basement. The stench of fear and pain didn’t go away even with copious amounts of the perfume he sprayed on all his captives every day.
Bile rushed up as the sensory memory hit and she fought through the panic. Needed all her wits when he was around.
In the midst of that state, it was the sound of Vic’s voice that led her back. She grabbed on to it.
“Rachel. You’re safe. Rachel, I’m here with you. It’s Vicktor. You’re in your bedroom. Everything is all right. I’ve got you.”
He said it
over and over, staying close but not restraining her. His hands running over her back, petting her as the rhythm of his voice lured her back, enabling her to put the memories away.
“I’m awake,” she croaked, licking her lips.
He helped her sit up, propping pillows at her back before handing her a glass of water.
He didn’t ask her what had happened. That seemed pretty obvious. And the expression he wore told her he was worried but would put her well-being first. Instead he waited for her to tell him if she chose to.
It’d be a lot easier to hold him back if he wasn’t such a great listener. That and the shoulders. And the forearms.
The scent of him in her bed and on her skin helped her rebuild her armor against the memories.
They were just memories. Dreams. Things that happened in the past and she was not there. Not helpless.
She made her choices.
Thomas Price would never harm her again. She had made sure of it when she killed him.
Feeling a little better, she put her glass aside and snuggled back under the blankets. After a moment, he settled in beside her so she could curve into him. When his arms came around her, she felt a thousand times better.
“How often do these nightmares plague you, tigryonak?” The rumble of his voice vibrated against her back.
“Not nearly as often now.” For a year they’d been relentless. They came and went, usually triggered by something she’d encountered during the day. “And what did you just call me?”
“Little tiger, because you are. Now, do you want to talk about it?”
Little tiger? Gah, why the fuck was he so perfect? “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you,” she said. Jeez. He’d fucked her into a sound sleep. Probably in midsentence as they’d been talking in that lazy, after sex way.
“That’s a stupid apology. I do not accept it.” He broke off in Russian for a few sentences, the angriest she’d ever seen him be with her.
It wasn’t scary at all. Just the opposite, it fascinated her. And flattered her that he’d come to believe she was strong enough to take his being mad at her.