by L. P. Rose
“Hetty is not just anyone, she is my girlfriend. I’m not going to keep secrets from her,” Petra retorted through gritted teeth. I caught her bring her hand on top of the table and she covered it over Hetty’s and squeezed.
“Who you’ve known for a week!” I replied disgruntled at the public show of affection between them. It was jealousy. Jealousy that I couldn’t do this with Raine, that I couldn’t take her out on a proper date and be affectionate with her in public because she was married. Our hand holding and kisses had to remain to behind closed doors or in the confines of my car.
“Says you, Niki. How about you climb down off your high horse. Haven’t you only known Raine for a week too?”
I glanced around Lavkas and signaled the waiter, “Can I order a double vodka, please? And whatever these two want,” I asked when he came to a standstill at our table and waited patiently for me to speak.
With a smile and a mumbled of course he left and my attention swiveled back towards Petra. “Yes, you’re right, I have only known her a week, but that still doesn’t give you the right to repeat what I tell you in confidence to anybody else, even if she is your girlfriend!”
“Can you please stop talking about me like I’m not here!” Hetty grumbled as she leant her bosom onto the small space of free table and fired daggers in my direction.
“Look, no offence, Hetty, but Raine has nothing to do with you for now. Once she’s a free woman, I’ll gladly introduce her to you. Whatever my sister has told you, you keep to yourself,” I snapped, pushing my plate away.
Petra looked at my plate than jolted her head back towards me, “You haven’t finished your meal!”
Throwing her a sarcastic smile, I shrugged my shoulders childishly. “I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”
Her eyebrows met and her face contorted as she muttered obscenities in Russian, then slammed down her napkin onto my half-eaten Pelmeni. “You can be such an ass sometimes, Nikoli. It’s your birthday let’s not fight, not today,” she said sternly with a dark look of warning.
“You have my word, Niki that what Petra told me will not be repeated, and I also promise you that I won’t mention her again. I’m sorry for causing you upset,” Hetty said quietly.
I fleetingly closed my eyes and folded my arms across my chest, “Thank you I’d appreciate that. Raine is a sensitive subject for me right now and the fewer people that know about my involvement with her, the safer it is for her. So, I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable.” Hetty grinned widely and proceeded to talk about tonight’s celebratory drinks as if the last ten minutes of bitching between us all hadn’t happened. My annoyance and frustration at my sister’s blatant betrayal, faded away. I was a sucker when it came to women, I could never stay mad at them for long no matter what the reason and Hetty’s eagerness to forgive me so easily only added another feather in her cap at her suitability to date my sister.
“Thank you,” Petra mouthed. She removed her napkin from the top of my meal and pushed the plate back towards me silently. My guts instinctively grumbled letting me know plainly, that it wasn’t yet satisfied. Reluctantly, I picked up the cutlery and continued to eat.
“I’ve got you a present,” announced Petra as she leaned towards the floor to retrieve her purse, unceremoniously dumping it on the table.
“We, Niki, we have you a present,” laughed Hetty as she waved her hand back and forth between herself and Petra.
“You didn’t have to get me anything, Hetty. I appreciate the thought,” I replied gratefully, then diverted my attention to my cell phone when Petra and Hetty shared an intimate kiss, making me suddenly feel like the third wheel.
My cell lit up, vibrating in my hand. My sour face broke out into a lazy smile and my insides danced for joy when I saw RP flash up on the caller ID. Raine. Mumbling my excuses to the two women still playing tonsil hockey with each other, I headed outside to take the call away from Petra’s supersonic ears. “Raine,” I gushed.
“Happy birthday, Nikoli. How is your day going?”
Leaning against the widow of Lavkas I sighed. I battled against the dancing sensation that gripped my guts when her voice came through the speaker. “It’s okay, but it’s even better now you’ve called,” I replied, sounding, and feeling like a love-sick puppy. “Where’s Max?”
“He’s just left about ten minutes ago.”
“Did …Uhm, was he okay when you got back last night?” I asked hesitantly.
“He was working in his office and I went straight to bed. This morning he’s been acting like nothing happened as usual. Flowers adorning the lounge, chocolates on the table, jewelry on the pillow, you know the usual suck-ass apology gifts,” she replied.
The dancing feeling in my guts swirled into simmering anger when I envisioned Max trying to creep his way back into her good books, touching her, kissing her. I would give my right arm to have the chance to beat ten bells of shit out of him, just once. Just once would be all it would take to put the prick in hospital. I pushed the taunting thoughts of his hands touching her from my head and made a mental note to never buy flowers, chocolates, or jewelry in the future for Raine. I’d stick with Russian gifts of affection. Things that would make her smile and she’d remember each one for a specific reason.
“Anyway, the reason I’m calling you, is about tonight.” Something in her voice made my anger now give way to concern. Was she calling because she had changed her mind? Did she not feel comfortable spending the night?
“What about it?” I rasped. I heard my voice crack and prayed Raine hadn’t heard it.
“I won’t be able to make it, I’m so sorry, Nikoli.”
“You can’t make it or don’t want to make it?” I asked sharper than I intended.
“I understand you’re mad. I want nothing more than to be with you tonight, but I physically can’t. Max has one of his colleague’s wives coming over to babysit me whilst he’s out of town,” she explained, “I’ve been racking my brains all night for a plausible excuse to get out of it, but I can’t.”
My brain was struggling to digest what she was telling me. I was crushed. I stood on the sidewalk grasping at the neck of my top, I felt like I was being strangled, like all the Manhattan air had suddenly turned to dense smog and was stifling my breathing and crushing my chest. I knew I wasn’t being fair. It wasn’t her fault she had to cry off. A week ago, I knew she was married, but I still went after her. I knew it would be hard to spend time with her, but it didn’t put me off, but what I didn’t know was how much of an effect this woman was going to have on me. How much I was going to crave to be around her.
“It’s fine, honestly. It can’t be helped, maybe another time?” I asked casually, trying to keep the crippling disappointment from my voice. We said goodbye and I ended the call unable to continue talking for fear of making her feel worse than she already felt.
I strode back into the restaurant in a daze. Pulling out my wallet, I yanked out a load of bills and dropped them onto the table and grabbed my coat from the back of the chair. I just wanted to go home and drink myself into a stupor.
“This is on us,” smiled Hetty as she held the money back out towards me.
“No. Russian tradition is that the birthday person is the one that foots the bill for birthday parties, meals and the like. This is on me,” I replied in monotone as I threw Petra an apologetic look. She smiled and stood to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll see you later, Niki,” she said with a stern look like our mother used to given us when we were kids. With her parting words to me, I half smiled, turned, and left, already knowing I had no intentions of meeting up with them all later for drinks.
After going home, I spent over two hours venting my anger on the punching bag in the communal gym in my apartment block. I’d had a hot shower in a bid to ease the tension that was vibrant throughout my body, and now dressed in black satin lounge pants and nothing else, I was currently pacing around my apartment, drinking vodka straight from the bottle.
Raine’s cancellation had affected me more than I thought possible. Her staying over had nothing to do with getting intimate with each other, but it had everything to do with holding her in my arms, falling asleep next to her, having her company for one whole night, and now I was alone, miserable and wallowing in self-pity.
Grabbing the matches, and cradling the vodka bottle in the corner of my arm, I lit some candles, switched on some low, smooth sounds of R&B on the CD player and after knocking out the main lights, I stretched out on the couch and tried to relax. I could hear my cell vibrating on the kitchen counter and I knew it was either Petra or Jared calling to see where I was. I ignored it. Ten minutes later there was knocking at the front door. I ignored that too, until the persistent knocking began to grind on me.
Dragging myself to the front door I swung it open as I took another swig on the vodka. Letting go of the door I rubbed my eyes in case I was seeing things. There she still stood, her hair curled and flowing over her shoulders, her face painted with minimal makeup, baring a wide smile, and she looked stunning. “Raine?” I whispered. She barged passed me, leaving me stood at the door baffled by her appearance. “What are you doing here?” I asked shutting the door.
When I turned around to face her, her coat was unbuttoned and it was sliding back from her shoulders to reveal her sexy body encased in black skin-baring, lacy lingerie. My eyes popped out on stalks, my jaw hung low to the floor, my dick exploded to life in my pants and I lost my grip on the vodka bottle as it dropped to the floor. I was completely enthralled at the sight of her.
“I’ve brought you your birthday gift,” she announced with her hands on her hips and a sinful smile.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.
I stood with my heart beating at a tremendous pace, my hands sat on my hips, a sheen of sweat built up as I waited nervously for him to say something, anything. He stood like a giant statue staring wide-eyed at me. I was struggling to read his expression. I couldn’t work out if he liked what he saw or if I was making myself look like an idiot. I swallowed hard and my confidence started to shrink under his scrutiny. My hands slowly fell from their stern grip. Embarrassed, I clasped them in front of my body shyly. I was grateful that his apartment was dimly lit, helping to hide the red hue currently spreading across my cheeks.
“Say something,” I whispered. I lowered my gaze to the floor, unable to look his way a moment longer. I waited out the silence contemplating doing a cut and run at my idiocy, when he finally spoke.
“I..I… can’t,” he rasped in a whisper.
Pulling my bottom lip into my mouth, I silently nodded and bent down to the floor to retrieve my coat. Mortification washed over me and a pool of tears started to form at the corners of my eyes as I slipped it on and pulled it around me. I didn’t realize Nikoli had moved until I felt his hands-on mine, pulling back my coat with force and pushing it from my shoulders. “Please don’t,” he whispered.
Confused, I raised my head to look up at him, I was unprepared for the onslaught his lips bestowed upon mine. His hands clutched my hips and pulled me in against his muscular body, my arms slid around his neck and I melted under his gentle, seductive touch. He kissed me as if I was all his, taking possession over all my senses and I could feel the stirrings in my groin ignite.
“What are you doing here?” He whispered when his lips finally detached from mine and slowly made their way along my jaw.
“Savannah cried off, she has been sick most of the day and wanted to stay at home.” I let out a small moan when his hands left my hips and roamed down to cup and squeeze my naked behind.
“That’s too bad,” he murmured, nipping at my ear sending jolts of unadulterated pleasure to dance through my body. His head fell to the crook of my neck and he inhaled deeply. “You smell divine.”
I smiled to myself. The lengths I had gone to, to surprise him, seemed to be paying off. I’d been a bag of nerves as I preened and pampered myself, wondering if this was going to be a good idea, wondering if this is what I really wanted? Selfishly, for every question I asked myself, my head and heart screamed yes.
Nikoli let his obsessive grip on me go and he took a step back, “I need to ask you something, Myshka.” With bulging eyes, I nodded eagerly. “Are you sure this what you want?” He asked. He walked away and grabbed a chair from the table then swiveled it around and took a seat, facing me.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“You need to be a hundred percent sure and you understand whatever happens here tonight between us, you’ll be breaking your marriage vows, and committing adultery.”
I looked away briefly towards my heeled feet and took a deep breath. I nodded then looked back at him, “I know,” I replied. He sat watching me intently and I could feel my embarrassment return as I stood scantily-dressed before him, his eyes slowly taking in everything I was offering. Leaning forward he motioned me towards him with his forefinger. I smiled and walked the four steps to close the distance between us.
He reached out and his hands trailed up the outside of my thighs, his eyes followed in what I could only describe as fascination. “Turn around,” he said when he pulled his hands away. Slowly, I turned around. My breathing was starting to come hard and fast as the anticipation began to build. My eyes closed and I found myself holding my breath when I felt his fingers sensually caressing the sensitive skin on the back of my knees then trailed higher and higher. When he reached the curve of my bottom, he growled lowly and pulled his hands away again.
“Dance with me?” His question came out as an order and before I had the chance to feel uncomfortable, he was stood up behind me, his hand sliding over my hip and settling on the lower part of my stomach, just above my groin, pulling me impossibly closer to him. With his ragged breathing, heavy in my ear and his erection prominent behind me, my hips slowly began to move with his to the sultry sound of the music, just like we had done in the club, only this time at an even agonizingly, slower pace.
I murmured when his hands began to move over the silk material of my see-through camisole, lifting it up and baring even more of my skin. With my head nestled back into his shoulder, I closed my eyes and softly moaned when they reached my breasts and his fingers grazed roughly against my nipples sending them hard and taut in an instant. Every fiber of my body was awake, his touch sending excitement to course through my veins and I shuddered when his tongue traced along the contour of the side of my neck. “You don’t even realize how fucking sexy you are, do you? He said huskily in my ear, “That makes me crave you even more.”
My reaction was a silent one, a plea with my body as my arms came up behind him and locked behind his neck, I arched my back away from his chest forcing his hands to slip from the undeniable pleasure they were causing in my nipples and move them lower towards the pulsating heat in my groin. Teasingly, his fingers gently skimmed over the black, triangle of lace that was covering my womanhood and I let out a deep moan, letting him know that’s where I was desperate for his touch. He chuckled lowly in my ear and nipped his teeth on the skin of my lobe then repeated the move of his hand causing my hips to jerk further to it as my desperation began to soar.
I was in awe of his expert touch, this was an intensity I had never experienced before and when his hands reached back up to cup my breasts and his thumbs started their teasing over my nipples again, I felt myself pool with arousal. He pulled me backwards with him and sat down on the chair, my body automatically found a comfortable position against his strong chest. My legs fell open and draped themselves over his shut ones and as I threw my head back on his shoulder, his legs opened, forcing mine to open even wider.
I turned my head towards him and my lips captured the tasty essence of his as they stroked against mine, his teeth gently pulling on my bottom lip whilst his hands continued their assault on my breasts and nipples, pinching and pulling, causing soft moans, that I seemed to have no control over, to fall from my mouth. The dampness between my legs became even slicker when his fingers met with
the junction of the top of my thighs, causing me to meet his continued kissing with pure hunger. My body erupted into flames when his fingers brushed over my vagina, my mouth pulled from his and his name flew from my lips in a breathy whisper.
My backside rubbed against his straining erection as I gyrated slowly against him, letting the feel of his commanding hands consume me. “Raine,” he whispered before his mouth clamped on to my neck, he bit lightly and tenderly along the damp skin, causing the passion and the need to feel fulfilled, to burst through my veins. His fingers traced the outline of the tiny piece of material sat between my thighs and the distortion of my heavy panting and whimpering resounded in my ears when he dragged them firmly, once along my soft folds, coating them in my arousal.
My chest felt like it was going to cave in from the manic thrums of my heart when I watched his fingers come up to his mouth. I gasped as his jaw slackened and he sucked on them, dragging them slowly back and forth in and out of his mouth. His dark, lust-filled eyes stayed firmly locked on mine and he smirked, “You taste like honey, Myshka.”
My breath caught in the back of my throat at the eroticism of it all, my hand untangled from his neck and I quickly brought it down between my legs and squeezed, trying to dull the searing ache he had left. He moaned, then tutted and ran his nose up the side of my neck. His hand gripped around my wrist gently moving it away, “What are you doing?” He asked when I tried to clamp my legs shut again.
He resisted against me, pushing them back open further than before with his knees, “Please, Nikoli,” I cried, unable to take his teasing any more.
“I’ll give you what you want,” he replied when he straightened my back up against his chest and brought his left hand around to rest next to his right, “but this is as far as we go for tonight. When I make love to you, Myshka it will be with you as a free woman,” he rasped as his fingers began to slide their way into the confines of my G-String. Unable to register what he was saying as my hunger to come undone to the tune of his fingers intensified, I grunted and moaned as my own hand reached behind me and balled tightly in his hair. My body shook when his fingers simultaneously rubbed against my folds, one of them spreading my arousal, the other teasing and stroking my swollen clit until my panting was unbearably wild.