by Lori Sjoberg
He cursed again, this time in Russian. Jaw clenched and eyes squeezed shut, his face twisted in a look of pure torment.
“Dmitri, I—”
Raw yearning burned in his eyes when they flew open. His hands were balled into fists, his fingernails biting into his palms. “You what?” he snarled, and the heat of his words blew across her cheek.
“I … I …” She swallowed hard, struggling to find the right words to say. The future of their relationship hinged on her answer, and she desperately didn’t want to screw it up. She knew he wanted her, could see the evidence bulging against the fly of his jeans, but there was something holding him back. Their past. She could see it clearly in his eyes. Before moving forward, she needed to make amends for the damage she’d inflicted. To do that, he’d want—and more importantly, he’d need—something far more powerful than pleasure.
Control.
She’d stolen that from him all those years ago. Restrained him. Drugged him. Stripped him of his dignity and humanity. He’d borne those scars for over half a century. And while she could never erase those memories, she could surrender some of that lost control.
“I need you, Dmitri.” She could barely hear her voice over the pounding of her heart. “Please.”
He stared at her for the longest time, warring emotions playing over his face. Desire and distrust. Pain and longing. A low growl rumbled in his chest right before his mouth claimed hers, stealing her breath and making it his own.
Oh, yes. Heat swelled between her thighs as his tongue stroked hers, sparking a need so fierce she almost whimpered. He grabbed her hips and held her close, his erection pressing against her: hard, hot, and ready to take her right where she stood. Head spinning, she fisted his shirt to keep her balance.
The kiss ended as abruptly as it began. Dmitri pulled back, his pupils so dilated the blue of his irises was barely visible. His chest expanded with each ragged inhale, straining against the confines of his shirt. Then his eyes locked with hers, his mouth curving up into something too feral to count as a smile.
His voice was almost a growl when he said, “Take off your clothes.”
Dmitri watched as Gwen’s mouth dropped open. Threaded between the layers of desire, there was a wild look in her eyes. She wanted this as badly as he did. Maybe more. “What are you waiting for? Strip. Now.”
A dark flush worked its way across her high cheekbones. She licked her lips, and he couldn’t help but imagine what they’d feel like wrapped around his cock. With her gaze riveted to his, she toed off her shoes. Eager fingers unbuttoned the fly of her jeans and yanked the zipper down.
“Not so fast,” he barked.
A puzzled expression crossed over her, but then she regained her composure and nodded in compliance.
Slowly, deliberately, she pushed the denim past the swell of her hips. The material slid down her toned legs and pooled around her feet. The shirt came off next, an inch at a time, and when it hit the floor Dmitri’s self-control began to unravel.
All that smooth, bare skin. All his for the taking. The bra was black, the panties were blue, and all of the thoughts in his head revolved around tearing them off. With his teeth. He stuffed his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t give in to the urge to touch her.
“Now the rest,” he said, his voice thick in his throat.
She licked her lips again and his dick strained against his jeans.
Reaching behind her back, she unfastened the clasp to her bra. The straps slid down the length of her arms, and then the garment dropped to the floor. Before long, the panties followed, the scrap of fabric coming to rest on top of her jeans.
Holy shit, she was sublime. Dmitri walked a slow circle around her, inspecting every square inch of her body, from head to toes and back again, drinking in the sight of naked flesh and long, lean muscles. The curve of her waist. The flare of her hips. Her breasts were small yet more than enough to fill his mouth, her ass firm and nicely rounded.
She watched him watching her, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Do I pass inspection?”
“Did I say you could speak?”
Her mouth opened, but she closed it without saying anything.
“Good girl. Don’t move a muscle until I say you can.” He couldn’t decide where he wanted to begin. Normally, he was an ass man, but her breasts were making his mouth water. A light dusting of freckles dotted her chest, and he found them oddly arousing. He wanted to suck her nipples until she cried out his name and begged him to fuck her brains out. But instead, his fingers tenderly stroked the soft skin along the side of her neck. It was the place where he’d hurt her a few nights before, and he felt compelled to replace the memory with something more pleasant.
Gwen gasped when his mouth replaced his hand, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin just below her ear. He traced a line with his tongue and she trembled, a soft moan brushing past those lush lips.
Her skin tasted as sweet as he’d imagined. Every muscle in his body hardened. A part of him wanted to drag her to the floor and take her hard like a mindless animal. But a much larger part wanted to savor this moment of absolute control, making her submit to his every demand before giving in to the pleasure.
Leaning close, he took in the scent of her arousal. He couldn’t wait to taste that as well. “Wall or bed?” he rumbled into her ear.
She swallowed so hard he could hear it. “I get a choice?”
“It’s the only one you’re getting, so make it count.” When he palmed her breast, she moaned and arched against him.
“Bed,” she breathed.
“Good choice. I doubt you’ll have the strength to stand by the time I’m finished with you.” He felt her tremble, and he shivered in response.
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. Without bothering to turn down the sheets, he laid her on the bed and stared down at her naked body.
“Leave them open,” he barked when she started to close her legs.
A crimson blush colored her cheeks, but she followed his command without complaint. He drank in the sight of her in all her glory, so breathtaking in the morning light. The toned skin, those slender lines, it was enough to make a grown man weak at the knees.
Eyes never leaving hers, he reached for his belt, and it was her turn to stare as he stripped off his clothes. Gwen watched him with unwashed hunger in her eyes, her tongue darting out again to wet her lips. It pleased him to know she found his body attractive and was probably imagining how he planned to fuck her. A few ideas ran through his mind as well, and by the time he tossed his boxer briefs to the floor, his dick was harder than concrete.
Dmitri stretched out on the bed beside her and claimed her mouth in a demanding kiss. When her lips parted, his tongue slipped inside, and oh, she tasted like heaven. He took the kiss deeper, sinking into her taste, her scent, her softness. Driven by desire, he slipped his hand between her thighs, and when his fingers brushed her sex, she gasped.
“I’m going to take you so hard you’ll feel me for a week.” He slid two fingers inside her wet heat, and she made a soft keening sound. “Every time you move. Every time you breathe. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Yes,” Gwen said on the heels of a sigh. Her hips bucked against his hand. “Please.”
It was the “please” that did him in, the total desperation filling her voice that made his heart lurch. Part of him reveled in making this strong woman beg, but the rest of him … he wanted her, yes, but not like that. In truth, he preferred an active partner in the bedroom, a woman who gave as good as she got.
And he suspected that’s what he’d get with his Gwenya.
He paused.
My Gwenya. The notion hit him like a brick between the eyes, and it pleased him more than he cared to admit.
“What’s wrong?” A pair of creases formed between her eyebrows.
“Nothing, zaika moya. Just enjoying the view.” His fingers played, spreading her, stroking her, and he relished her throaty moans of pleasure. The way sh
e responded, the look in her eyes—it was almost more than he could bear. Normally, he used sex to blow off steam, an act to banish the stress of the day without the rigors of emotional involvement. But this … this was different. What was it about Gwen that stripped his defenses and made him ache at the same time?
Giving in to temptation, Dmitri dipped his head and sucked one of her nipples between his lips. Gwen arched her back to meet his mouth, her palm cradling the nape of his neck. Those slender fingers raked through his hair, digging with just enough pressure to skirt the border between pleasure and pain.
The need to take her spiked in his blood. He wanted her mouth on his skin. Her legs around his waist. But most of all, he wanted to be inside her.
“Come for me, Gwenya.” He rubbed her clit with his thumb in small, gentle circles, loving the way her moans grew louder and louder. Consumed by lust, he drove her higher, until at last, she threw her head back against the pillows as her body erupted in orgasm. He watched with a sense of wonder as euphoria swamped her body, her face, her eyes. She ground against his hand, riding the pleasure until it finally began to recede.
Unable to wait any longer, he positioned himself between her legs. His aching shaft rubbed against her wet core, and he almost lost the ability to form coherent thought. “Ready?” he asked, his voice rough.
Her soft hands on his body made him even harder. “What are you waiting for?” She gave him a satisfied grin. “Let’s see what you got.”
Dmitri couldn’t put a name to the way he was feeling, so he gave in to his animal instincts. He surged into her so damn hard she must have felt it in her throat.
Gwen groaned out loud, her hips rising up to meet his thrust, and the sweet heat of her body engulfed him.
With his teeth clenched and sweat beading his forehead, Dmitri began moving his hips. He pulled almost all the way out of her before thrusting all the way back in. She felt so good, so hot, so tight, that he lost himself in the blinding pleasure. He pushed one of her legs higher, farther apart from the other, and she whimpered when he hit a good spot. His rhythm quickened, his hips pumping faster, harder as the pressure built in his body. The ache in his balls turned into a throb when she scored his back with her nails.
“Lower,” he growled through gritted teeth.
Gwen did as he asked, her short little nails digging into his ass the way he loved.
Heat rose in his blood and spiraled tight, and he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. Already, he felt the surge mounting in his shaft, like a wall of water about to burst through a dam. He dipped his head and licked the hollow of her neck before grazing his teeth along the sensitive skin.
Her hips jerked off the mattress when she came this time. She let out a piercing cry, the sound so garbled he barely recognized his own name. A look of pure ecstasy washed over her face, filling him with masculine satisfaction and emotions he couldn’t deny. Her inner walls squeezed and pulsed around him, and he lost all sense of control.
Deeper and deeper. Harder and faster. A few more thrusts and he surrendered to the sea of sensations, lost in the waves as the orgasm swept through his body like a flash flood. Mindless, breathless, his hips pumping until the exquisite agony in his body subsided.
Dmitri collapsed onto his elbows, his face buried in Gwen’s hair. Reluctantly, he pulled out of her, and the slide of his shaft made them both groan. He rolled to the left, taking her with him, relishing the feel of their sweat-slicked bodies stuck together.
Now that his breathing had returned to normal, he noticed how silent she’d become. It wasn’t like her, and that dulled his euphoria.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he stroked her hair. It felt like silk between his fingers. “Did I hurt you?”
Satisfaction softened Gwen’s eyes when she lifted her head to peer up at him. “I’m fine, Red. Just enjoying the glow.”
Her fingers toyed with the hairs on his chest before moving lower. Lower. Lower. Ah, yes. His balls tightened as desire spiked his blood, and he rolled her onto her back.
She grinned up at him, her laughter low and rich. “Pretty fast recovery time you got there.”
“It’s one of the benefits of being a reaper. Think you can handle it?”
Her grin broadened to a smile. “Only one way to find out.”
There wasn’t a spot on Gwen’s body that Dmitri hadn’t licked, sucked, stroked, or filled. Like a man possessed, he’d fucked her so thoroughly, so completely, so fiercely, that for a time she wondered if she’d live through it. Even now, she felt the echoes of pleasure rippling through every molecule in her body.
Sometime after the third—or was it the fourth?—round of lovemaking, they’d stripped the covers off the bed and made a nest in front of the fireplace.
Dmitri ran a hand down the length of her back, tracing the curve of her spine. “Again,” he murmured, the timbre of his voice low and seductive.
Lying facedown on the covers, Gwen twisted her head and cracked her eyes open. As much as she loved the feel of him inside her, she needed to refuel her body. “Food first. Then again.”
“A break? So soon? But I’m the one doing all of the work.” His hand slipped farther down her back until his calloused palm cupped her ass.
“All?” Her eyes narrowed as she reached back and swatted his arm. “Keep it up, and I’ll demand a nap, too.”
“Oh, no, zaika moya. There’ll be no sleep for you tonight. I’ve got plans.”
The promise in his voice made her body hum. “What kind of plans?” She wasn’t sure if anything could top what he’d done with the shower curtain rod, but she was willing to give it a try.
Dmitri shook his head, his lips curving up in a sensual smile. “It’s a surprise.”
The look on his face made her entire body burn. But even though she craved his touch, her stomach growled with a different kind of hunger. “Sounds promising, but I hope those plans include food. And we need more wood for the fire.”
The flames had died out, leaving smoldering embers in the hearth. Good thing Dmitri had brought in more firewood from the tiny shed behind the cabin. Outside, temperatures still hovered around freezing, but inside it was toasty warm.
Who knew what would happen once the weather improved and they resumed their quest to stop Patrick. Would things between them go back to the way they were, or would their relationship continue down their current path? Honestly, she had no idea, so she chose to push the thought from her mind and live in the moment.
With a sigh, Dmitri stood. “Very well. I’ll build your fire while you make us something to eat.”
Even buck naked, he carried himself with an air of confidence few men mastered. He deftly loaded a few more logs into the fireplace, and then stoked the embers until the flames reignited. The light of the fire played across his skin and caught in the dusting of dark hair on his chest and arms. His muscles flexed and bunched with the movements and somehow managed to make her heart skip a beat.
Tearing her gaze away, Gwen got up and padded to the kitchen. She grabbed a pot out of the cupboard, poured in two cans of soup, added some water, rice, and spices, and set the heat to medium. It wasn’t much by ordinary standards, but today it would count as a feast.
“Looks good,” Dmitri said as he came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. He smelled faintly of wood smoke and sex. Dipping his head, he nipped her earlobe, and her brain nearly blew a gasket. “How long before it’s ready?”
Before what’s ready? Oh yeah, that’s right, the soup. “Mmm, twenty minutes, maybe thirty.”
“Good.” Reaching over, he took the spoon from her hand and set it down on the counter. He scooped her up in his big, strong arms before turning back toward the fire. “That leaves plenty of time to enjoy an appetizer.”
Chapter 16
The rest of the day whipped by in a blur. They ate the fish Dmitri had caught and Gwen cooked. Had sex. Brought in more wood for the fire. Had sex. Took a shower. Had sex in the shower. Sated and satisfied, t
hey fell asleep that evening by the fire in a tangle of limbs.
The next morning, Dmitri ventured outside, leaving Gwen asleep beneath the covers. Dark gray clouds concealed the sun and cast a gloomy shadow over the landscape. It wasn’t snowing yet, but the air felt raw like a storm was about to cut loose. His breath fogged with each exhale, and the freezing cold had crept into his bones. And even though the fish weren’t biting, he planned on staying outside until he caught something to eat or until the weather grew too bitter to bear.
Truth be told, he needed some time alone to pull himself together. He hadn’t expected his encounter with Gwen to be so emotionally charged. He’d wanted her, yes, but in a physical sense only, at least that was what he kept telling himself. But what he’d experienced was something much different. Deeper. She’d awakened emotions he long considered dead, and their intensity scared the living shit out of him.
The notion of love crept into his mind, and the harder he tried to banish the thought, the more insistently it latched onto his heart. He kept circling back to the way she made him feel, his response to her touch, and how his heart swelled every single time she cast a smile in his direction.
Shit.
When love whispers, reason shuts up.
After half a century of guarding his heart, a honey-blond vixen had snuck under his radar and knocked him flat on his ass. Even worse, he didn’t know what to do about it. Denying his feelings was an exercise in futility, but he also knew they had no chance for a future. When their assignment was over, he’d go back to Orlando while Gwen returned to her post at the Mexican border over a thousand miles away.
Frustrated, he reeled in the line. Nothing had nibbled in over an hour, and his toes were frozen in his boots. He grabbed the tackle box and the empty bucket and headed back to the cabin. A steady stream of white smoke rose from the chimney, like a beacon welcoming him home. He tried—and failed—to ignore the fact it soothed his soul to know Gwen was inside. He stepped onto the porch and wiped his boots on the mat before opening the front door.
A wall of warm air greeted him when he walked inside. He found Gwen sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the fire, surrounded by stacks of papers and the artifact. She was wearing jeans and a dark green T-shirt that brought out the color in her eyes. A look of complete concentration marked her face while she chewed on the cap of a pen. She looked up and met his gaze, the smile on her lips so genuine it went through him like a bolt of electricity.