by Maisey Yates
And yet he felt captivated.
He couldn’t understand what it was about this one woman that appealed to him so. Couldn’t understand why she brought out desires that had been buried for so long. But he didn’t want love from Madeline. He wanted sex. He wanted satisfaction. And that day, she had wanted the same.
She wanted the same now. He could see it written all over her beautiful face. Could see that her entire body was taut with the effort it took for her to hold herself back, to keep from reaching out and touching him.
Her need mirrored his own. And the last time they had given in, it had been explosive. He wanted to give in again. He wasn’t a man given to vices. He wasn’t a man who gave in to temptation.
But he was considering the benefits of becoming that man.
“You look beautiful, Madeline.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, the hollows in her neck deepening. “I don’t need to hear that from you, Aleksei.”
“Because I’m your boss?”
“Because I dislike it when men use compliments to try and seduce me.”
“Happen often?”
She narrowed her eyes. “A couple times that I can think of. I much preferred it when you said you wanted sex, without trying to cushion it with flattery. That was honest, at least.”
“So is this. You are beautiful, Madeline, and it has to be said. Even if I never touch you again, I had to say it.”
Her breathing increased and she blinked rapidly. He thought he might have seen tears in her eyes. But as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone. No, his prickly Madeline wouldn’t cry in front of him.
When had he started thinking of her as his?
“Just…don’t, Aleksei, please,” she whispered.
Seeing Madeline vulnerable did strange things to him. It made him feel…responsible. It made him feel.
“You don’t think you’re beautiful, Madeline?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I think. I just don’t trade compliments and lies for sex.”
“That wasn’t my goal. If I decide to seduce you, you’ll know exactly what I’m doing. I would kiss you again, press you back against my desk. I would never lie to get you into bed. I think we’ve both proven that I don’t have to.”
She turned red, from the base of her neck to her cheeks. “True,” she bit out.
“That’s one thing you can count on from me, Madeline. Honesty. As your boss, and as a lover.”
She swallowed. “I want to believe that.”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean, and I don’t manipulate to get what I want.”
“Then…thank you. For saying I’m beautiful.” She edged away from him before turning and making her way back to the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
He noticed, after she’d left, that she hadn’t promised him honesty in return.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“HOW is it looking over there, Madeline?”
That voice. That voice that haunted her dreams. Issuing rough, explicit commands, and, more disturbingly, sweet, soft words. That voice that she heard every day on the other end of the phone issuing work-related commands.
Why did his voice have to make her nipples hard and her body ache for him to be inside of her again?
The why didn’t really matter. It was that it did, that was the problem. It had been over a month since she’d last touched Aleksei. Two weeks since she’d seen him, since he’d returned to Moscow to take care of some work there.
And she still wanted him.
“Everything looks great, Aleksei,” she said, burrowing under the plush covers.
She was at the castle in Luxembourg, preparing everything for the exhibition that was taking place in four days, and she was very fortunate to be staying in one of the castle’s many fabulous guestrooms.
It was all very medieval, but with every modern convenience imaginable. It also catered to some latent princess fantasies Maddy hadn’t been aware she’d been harboring. But the four-poster bed, complete with gauzy swaths of fabric and lavish bedding, was certainly fit for a princess. And, for now, she was owning it.
Getting the ballroom sorted out had been a big project and she was in bed early in anticipation of working on the smaller displays for the other rooms bright and way too early in the morning.
“And you have the team climbing ladders for you?” he asked, his rich voice sending a little shiver through her.
She squirmed beneath the heavy comforter, wishing that she was still dressed in her work clothes and not in bed in a silky nightgown that barely covered the tops of her thighs.
“I promise my Manolos haven’t so much as touched a ladder rung.”
“Good.”
She shifted and tugged her covers up higher. “What about you, Mr. Petrov? Are you still at the office, burning the midnight oil? Burning the candle at both ends? Burning out?”
“Very nice, Madeline,” he said, the humor that laced his voice unexpected, making pleasure curl in her stomach. “And, no, as it happens. I’m at home. In bed.”
Her heart lurched and she tightened her grip on the phone. “Really?”
“Yes. Even I have to sleep sometimes.”
It was strange to think of Aleksei as a mere mortal. Not when there were so many times he seemed like a lot more than that. “Nice to get…comfy and in your pajamas, I guess.”
He chuckled, a sound that made her already tight nipples burn. “I don’t wear pajamas.”
Her heart hammered hard and her breath was coming short and harsh. And before she could censor herself or think anything through, she asked him the next question that came to her mind.
“So that means you’re wearing nothing, I suppose?” Her left hand was curled into a tight fist, gripping a chunk of her thick, down-filled comforter.
“Nothing at all,” he responded, his accent thicker, his voice deeper, huskier.
A muffled moan escaped her lips and he chuckled again.
“Madeline, what are you thinking?” he asked.
About pleasure. About the way he had looked, naked and unashamed in his office. About hot, wonderful sex like she’d never known existed before she’d met him.
“About you,” she said, her words rushed. “About your body.”
There was a slight pause. When Aleksei spoke his voice was rough, strained.
“What about you, Madeline? Do you wear pajamas?”
She bit her lips and brushed a hand over her silky nightgown. Did she continue the game? Or let it end?
Her heart was pounding hard, her body aching. Just a little more.
“I’m wearing a nightgown. It’s really silky and short. Pink.”
“Perfect. But I think I would like you better without it.”
Oh, things were getting out of hand. She shifted beneath the thick comforter, her hand still clinging to it as if it was her lifeline. A link to her sanity. Never mind that it was failing. Never mind that she couldn’t think of anything when Aleksei spoke but naked limbs tangled together and the desire for that deep satisfaction only he had ever given her.
It was too easy to imagine him in bed beside her, him without pajamas, his hand exploring the skin beneath her barely-there nightie.
She wanted him to keep talking. Wanted to ask him if he was hard. If he was as turned on as she was. Her throat was completely dry and her palms were slick with sweat. Her hands were shaking now with desire, nerves and a healthy shot of adrenaline.
She wanted him. She wanted him so much she could barely breathe. It was crazy. Ridiculous. Stupid.
What was she doing? Oh, heaven help her, what was she doing?
“I should go,” she choked out.
There was a long pause. The tension nearly killed her. Would he say more? Would he ask her if she was aroused? If she wanted him? And if he did, would she have the strength to hang up?
“Goodnight, Madeline.”
Disappointment and relief flooded her in equal measures. Her throat was so tight she couldn’
t speak. She snapped the phone shut without saying goodbye and buried her face in her pillow. Not even the phone was safe anymore. She couldn’t talk to Aleksei, couldn’t think about him, and she certainly couldn’t share a room with him, without wanting to have a reenactment of those hot, heady moments in his office.
Why not?
They weren’t getting back to normal. She’d practically subjected him to a heavy breathing call just now. There was nothing professional about that. She’d had sex with him once already. And nothing dramatic or horrible had happened. She wasn’t in love.
Why not do it again? Why not let it run its course?
A jolt shook her body at the thought. Could she do that? A no-strings fling? Well, she wasn’t doing one-night stand very well, so why not try a brief fling?
More of Aleksei, his magic hands and lips and tongue. Her whole body heated at the thought. Then she shivered a little.
She was actually thinking of being a normal woman. Of chasing after what she desired. Of letting go of that horrible mistake she’d made that still controlled so much.
There, she was doing it. She was committed. There was no way to have her relationship with Aleksei be normal, so she might as well have it be what she wanted.
Now all she had to do was re-seduce her boss.
The entire ballroom of the castle had been made to look like a fairytale. The real world was totally absent from the fantasy Madeline and her team had spun from the gorgeous architecture. Glittering gems were displayed on velvet pillows, placed on pedestals.
The only thing that was missing was the gem of the hour. And the woman that was supposed to be wearing it.
Madeline had been noticeably scarce since Aleksei had arrived.
That phone call. Her breathy voice, the moan of desire she’d made when he’d confessed to not wearing anything…it had caused him more sleepless nights than were excusable for a grown man with his level of experience.
He had been so close to embarrassing himself, simply from the sound of her voice.
There were a lot of women at the exhibition. Beautiful women. He hardly saw any of them.
He tightened his hand into a fist and took a slow breath in. Madeline, his experience with her, it was so tied up in fantasy that he must be remembering it as more than it had been. No sex was that good. No woman had that kind of power.
His arms prickled and he looked up. Madeline was descending the wide marble staircase and entering the grand ballroom. Her hair was curled and captured in a ponytail that was fastened low and cascaded over one shoulder. Her eyes, her beautiful blue eyes, were enhanced with the perfect amount of makeup. And those lush lips were painted red.
He wanted to kiss every bit of that red off her lips. See them swollen and pink as they had been that night. He stood from his table and began to walk to her. Her eyes caught his and held. And she didn’t turn away.
Heat churned in his stomach. Need. Desire. Lust.
And it was all reflected in her bold stare. Her tempting body was on display, but it was her eyes that held him captive. Her eyes that held the explicit invitation he wanted to accept.
She stopped in front of him and her tongue darted out, slicking over those red lips. “You were right about the dress,” she said. “It looks perfect with the necklace.” She touched one of the emeralds with her delicate fingers.
“And I was right about you being beautiful.”
She looked down. “You don’t need to say that.”
He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her face up so she had to meet his eyes again. “I told you, Madeline. I always tell the truth.”
Maddy took a deep breath and extended her hand, touching Aleksei’s. “Dance with me?”
His dark gaze was hot and her body responded instantly. Yes, this was the right choice. Otherwise, their one time together would always live in the realm of fantasy. A few heady moments too incredible to be real. There would be no closure.
It needed to be put firmly in reality, rather than being this mythical moment forever frozen in time, and much more important than it needed to be.
It would always be important for one reason. It was the moment she’d chosen to take control back. But it was about her. Not him. And so was this.
Of course, that didn’t mean it couldn’t be mutually pleasurable. She fully intended it to be. Part of the rush of power and euphoria from last time had been seeing how she’d affected him.
“Are you asking me to dance as my employee?”
She took a step closer. “Hopefully as your lover.” It took every ounce of her courage to meet his eyes as she said that, but she did. She wasn’t going to be ashamed of her desire. If he said no, then he said no.
“Come,” he said, gripping her hand and leading her to the dance floor.
He placed his hand low and flat on her back and drew her to him. She went willingly, wrapping her arms around his neck, exulting in his touch, his warmth, his scent. She’d missed him.
That realization sent a shock through her system before she shook it off. Of course she’d missed him. Even if the attraction between them wasn’t based on love, it was natural for her to miss his touch. That was just the way it was between lovers.
A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she rested her head on his chest.
“Madeline,” he said, his voice vibrating against her cheek. “If you keep clinging to me like that I won’t make it through the evening.”
She lifted her head and drew back slightly. “Well, I worked too hard on all of this for you to miss it. Do you approve?”
He smiled down at her, just a slight curve of his lips. Aleksei didn’t do full-blown grins. There was always reserve there. “It’s perfect.”
Suddenly, her heart felt too big for her chest. She cleared her throat. “Thank you.”
She wanted to believe it. Wanted to believe him when he said she was beautiful too. But…it was hard. It was hard to stop looking for the ulterior motive.
He touched her face, brushed his thumb over her bottom lip before leaning in to drop a light kiss on her mouth. It wasn’t hot, or hungry, or any of the other things kisses from Aleksei usually were. Of course, kisses from Aleksei tended to result in nudity and they were in a public place, so it was likely for the best.
He rubbed his nose against hers and she nearly melted. Then he pressed a kiss to her cheek, her jaw, the spot just below her ear.
“Oh, Aleksei, please. I won’t last through the party if you keep doing that.”
“I’m not seeing the downside to that.”
“I’m selling the necklace, remember? And I’m supposed to circulate, and overhear conversations, and…”
“Somehow it’s slipped my mind.” He kissed the curve of her neck and she felt goosebumps break out over her arms.
He pulled his head back and looked at her, his dark eyes unreadable. “What changed your mind, Madeline?”
“I just… Our relationship isn’t going back to normal. Why add sexual frustration to the awkwardness?”
He laughed, the most genuine laugh she’d ever heard from him. It made her stomach flip. It was the strangest sensation, as though she could feel his amusement in her. She wasn’t sure if she liked the feeling at all.
“That’s a good point, I suppose,” he said, not missing a beat. Not experiencing the same surreal thing she had just been experiencing.
“It’s practical.”
“Are you sexually frustrated?” he asked, and this time she could read his eyes. She could feel the heat.
“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have shortcircuited on the phone with you the other day.”
“Is that what that was? A glitch in internal wiring?”
“Something like that. Or maybe just…well, it comes back to the sexual frustration.”
“And you’ve decided to relieve that.”
“I can’t think of a better way.” She moved her hands over the broad expanse of his shoulders. “Believe me, I tried.”
“That does wonders for my ego.”
“Your ego is fine.”
“No thanks to you,” he said. He nipped the tender skin of her neck and then soothed it with his tongue.
“Aleksei,” she said, the warning she’d intended to inject into her tone noticeably absent.
“All right, maybe dancing is a bad idea.”
“A very bad idea. But then, since when was any of this a good idea?” She laughed, a nervous, unnatural sound.
Aleksei studied Madeline’s face. Her color was high, eyes bright. She looked aroused and nervous and beautiful. And she was right. It wasn’t a good idea. Looking at her…it made his heart beat faster. That his heart was affected at all was far too dangerous. She was a flame, and he was captivated, and even though he knew it was a bad idea, he wanted to reach out and touch her.
He couldn’t turn her away. He wouldn’t. There was no real danger to his heart. That was an illusion. His heart was too hard. The injuries he’d sustained had healed over and left scars too tough for anyone to penetrate. As he liked it. As he intended.
This was simply desire. Strong desire, consuming desire. But it was limited to lust, nothing more.
Aleksei was dimly aware of the fact that there were photographers near them, and that they were discreetly taking pictures. He was also dimly aware that it was a very good thing. That the photos would evoke romance and show the necklace Madeline was wearing to perfection. But he was only dimly aware of those things. Most of his body was consumed by the need to get across the ballroom and up to his suite as quickly as possible.
“I think the party’s over for us,” he said.
She met his gaze. He saw her confidence falter. Then she took a breath, tightened her hold on his shoulders. “I think you’re right.”
He took her hand and led her from the dance floor to the foot of the broad staircase. Madeline looked sideways at the paparazzi. They blended in pretty seamlessly, nothing like the gutter press that charged people in the street, but she still noticed them.
“I was thinking we could find a side entrance and…sneak out,” she said.
“Oh, yes, that’s kind of your thing, isn’t it?”