The Devil's Beauty (Crime Lord Interconnected Standalone Book 2)

by Airicka Phoenix

  And you’re too close, she wanted to say. All she could do instead was tilt her head as far back as was possible and find his eyes in the shadows.

  It struck her that she could be wrong. What if she was and everything went to hell because she was an idiot?

  “Now you’ve left me.” His free hand slipped beneath her chin and held her prisoner while her mind came tumbling back. “Tell me what you want.”

  Ava gulped. “You.”

  If she’d expected shock, he never showed it. There was nothing but a solemn consideration in his eyes that told her nothing.

  Bolder, she tried again. “I want to be with you … sexually.”

  That got him moving. He shifted. His mouth quirked on one side.

  “I know what you meant.”

  Of course he did.

  “You didn’t say anything,” she muttered, cheeks burning.

  “No.”

  Ava stiffened. She blinked. But neither helped filter his refusal properly, nor did it stave away the crash and burn of her heart as it dropped into her stomach.

  “What? Why…?” She lowered her head to peer down at herself in the cut of light sifting in through the windows. “Is it me? Am I not what you want?”

  “I want you,” he murmured. “I’ve wanted you for longer than I should have, but I want you.”

  “Then … why?”

  “Paris.”

  Ava frowned. “What?”

  “Rome,” he went on slowly. “China. Turkey.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He smoothed back a lock of escaped hair off her cheek. “I don’t want you to stay here. You have dreams, Ava. It’s on your wall in your room, all the places you want to go.”

  It was so ridiculous, she laughed. “To visit and I can still do all that and you can come with me.”

  “You know I can’t leave.”

  She shielded herself from the negativity of his reminder. “You can for a couple of weeks. We don’t have to go to all those places in a day. Maybe two or three trips a year, or—”

  “Ava.” Both hands framed her face, silencing her. “I can’t leave, myshka.”

  “That’s fine. I don’t have to go right away. Those places won’t just disappear if I wait a couple of years—”

  “Stop.” He pulled her closer. “You’re not putting your life on hold for me.”

  “Well, I’m not living it without you!” Her hands lifted and closed into the material of his shirt, just on either side of his waist. “I love you, Dimitri. I’m in love with you. I always have been.”

  She’d said it to him before during quiet nights while they lay facing each other on her bed. She’d peer deep into his eyes and will him to see just how much she meant it. But she wasn’t sure he ever figured out that she’d meant more than just her best friend.

  “Fuck, Ava!” His mouth was a hair width away now, so close they shared every breath, so close she felt the faint hint of his lips against hers. “Lyubb-lyu tebya vsem sertsem, vsey dushoyu.”

  He’d taught her a few phrases in Russian, enough to swear at him and occasionally ask for something. It took her a few seconds to work out the rapid speech.

  “You love … pie?”

  He burst out laughing, the sound a beautiful crash of an angry storm, violent, deep, and mesmerizing.

  “What?” She chuckled. “What did you say?”

  He sobered, but the amusement continued to ring through his voice when he spoke. “I love you,” he stressed you, “with all my heart, with all my soul.”

  “Oh.” She struggled with her breathing, but it was all too much. Her stomach had become an explosion of fireflies clamoring in an excited dance. Her lungs ached. Her heart was a mess thumping wildly against her chest. “I really like that.”

  He hummed quietly, still quietly chuckling at her. “Ne magu zhit’ bes tebya.”

  Ava gasped. “I know that one!” Lightheaded like the time he’d made her go on the tilt a whirl, she reached for him. Her hands went around his neck. Their fronts aligned and she wondered if he could feel how perfectly they fit. “If you can’t live without me, does that mean you’ll be mine?”

  He shook his head slowly, eyes dancing in the pale light. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

  Heart escalating in ferocity, Ava drew back. She let her arms slip from his shoulders and gingerly took a step back. She held his gaze, unwavering in her decision as she reached for the straps and peeled them over the curves of her shoulders. The material glided the length of her naked body in a cool, rippling wave to form a crimson puddle around her ankles.

  She stood before him, dressed in nothing but light from the patio outside and his eyes. They roamed along the dips and valleys of her most private parts in a slow caress, the thoroughness of a man drinking in a sight too precious to take in all at once. He relished in her with an attentiveness that made her feel every second he wasn’t physically touching her.

  “It’s all yours,” she told him. “It always has been.”

  “Ava.”

  The world seemed to rush out of him in that single exhalation of her name. It seemed to deflate and fill him simultaneously.

  Without another word, he reached for her. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until his skin had melded with hers, until his fingers had curled into her sides. Her stomach pitched, a violent jerk that caught in her chest. She gasped, but it was shortened by the tug of her fully into his arms.

  She was lifted seamlessly and hauled up the stairs to the first bedroom. He dumped her down on the bed without a shred of grace and stood over her, the calm gone, replaced by a furious darkness that was both frightening and exciting.

  He cast off her sandals, then tore off his coat. The leather rustled as it struck the ground to the side. His top followed and she was given full view of his hard, chiseled torso, the solid cuts of his chest, the violently carved grooves of his abs, the steely bulges of his arms. He was a specimen of a man, rugged and ruthless. Every flex of muscle as he discarded his clothes made her feel that much smaller, that much more vulnerable and aware of everything around her. Her senses had become a beckon of sensations, feeling everything simultaneously until she was sure she’d go insane with the sensory overload. The world was a cacophony of sights, sounds, and smells and they all raged for attention.

  “Dimitri…”

  His buckle clattered as it was torn from his pants. It hit the ground next to his top, sounding impossibly loud despite the carpet.

  “Open,” he ordered. “Your legs,” he clarified when she couldn’t think past the blood drumming between her ears. “Show her to me.”

  Mortification swelled in an angry, hot wave up her neck and flooded her face. It wasn’t enough to make her call stop, but she did hesitate.

  “You shaved her for me,” he went on, undoing the snaps on his cargos. “Made her soft and visible for when I put my mouth on your lips and taste you.”

  Christ. Who was this person? Not once in eight years had he ever been so vulgar. God help her, but she loved it. Her body loved it. It melted in a hot, sticky puddle against the cool sheets. The heat of her desire had her forgetting all about her apprehensions and doubts as her knees dropped apart with a willingness that showed zero modesty.

  He groaned, a deep, almost animal sound that speared her straight where she wanted him. She felt it as surely as though he’d penetrated her. Her hips lifted involuntarily and he smirked.

  “Patience, my little mouse.”

  She wanted to touch the swollen crest of her mound. She was so close that it would take only a brush of one finger and it would be over, but he’d discarded his pants. The soft material dropped down his legs and he stood before her gloriously naked … and hard.

  His cock bobbed proudly from the center of his beautiful body, a rugged, intimidating force taunting her with its length and girth. She’d never seen one up close. She had no idea if they were all that size, if they all had that thick, purple head and
sleek, fat body. But it seemed impossibly enormous for what he intended to do with it.

  “It’ll fit,” he promised. “Once it does,” he went on slowly, bending over her. “Once I fill you all the way, you will never want me to leave.”

  Despite her hesitation, her doubts, and worries, Ava met his gaze squarely. “I want him,” she whispered. “I’ve wanted him for so long. It’s all I could think about sometimes.”

  A deep rumble escaped his chest. He stopped, suspended over her with his hands flat on the mattress on either side of her head, and his knees keeping her legs apart wide, and peered down at her.

  “Open wider.”

  She couldn’t, but she tried until he was satisfied.

  He cupped her. No warning until the heat of his palm had settled possessively over her sex, his fingers prying open her lips and delving straight for her core.

  She cried out.

  “Already so wet.” He circled her opening with the tip of one finger. “Do you feel it?”

  He ran her juices from center to clit in a sticky figure eight. He circled the cap before dipping back down to give just the tiniest pressure to her opening before swooping back up again.

  The torment had her writhing beneath him, mindless and desperate for every little bit he was allowing her. He watched her. His eyes never left her face.

  “Should I?” he taunted, pressing one finger inside her to the first bend in his knuckle.

  It wasn’t much but the pressure had her delirious.

  “Please!” she blurted. “Yes!”

  His finger was so much bigger than hers, so much longer. It invaded the unused part of her body with a swiftness that stole her breath away. She dropped back against the bed, spine arching as he worked in quick, deep thrusts. She was just getting used to the foreign assault when a second finger pushed past the tight ring. Her cries of discomfort were gently shushed by him.

  “Don’t stiffen,” he murmured softly. “Let me in.”

  “It hurts,” she choked out.

  He pulled out, much to her surprise. She expected him to tell her she wasn’t ready if she couldn’t even take two fingers. But he bent his head and kissed her. The sweet lock of his lips against hers melted her into the sheets. He gathered her up close and deepened the kiss. Ava’s head swam in a delicious swirl of colors. Her senses tingled with every loving caress of his fingers following the curve of her side.

  Carefully, he pulled away. His eyes had become dark pits banded by a thin circle of gold. They peered down at her, void of the annoyance or anger she’d been expecting.

  He kissed her again, lighter, before following a slow path down her throat, along the plane of her chest to the swell of her breasts.

  Ava’s breath caught and wheezed out in a moan when he took the tip of one into his mouth. His firm lips closed around the shriveled peak and a lance of raw fire skittered through her. It tore her open, that single, simple gesture and she balked. Lights sparked behind the eyelids she squeezed shut tight. It blocked out the hand he lifted to cradle the second breast until he was rolling the nipple and drowning her in a pool of pleasure. He pinched it between his thumb and index finger. He tugged.

  Ava swore, viciously and violently, her mind no longer working properly.

  “Don’t stop!” she panted, practically hysterical in her command. “Whatever you’re doing…” she broke off with a low, lusty groan with the first nip of his teeth. Her head dropped back. Her fingers fisted into his hair, holding him while he soothed the sweet pain with light flicks of his tongue. “Other one…” She forcibly dragged him to her other nipple. “Again. Please.”

  He complied. He caught the bundle of nerves between his teeth and tugged, adding just enough pressure to send her world teetering. The ferocity was so severe that she didn’t even stop him when his fingers returned, pushing past the slight resistance of her virginity to fill her. She was so lost in the approaching storm she didn’t even notice the discomfort.

  Her release sang through her with violence that had her legs flailing and her hips lifting off the mattress in wild bucks. She might have screamed, but only the roar of her own blood filled her ears. Then the tides quieted. Her heart slowed and she could feel her toes again as they uncurled.

  “Ava.” His warm breath tickled her skim. “Do you have anything?”

  In the blissful hue of her aftermath, she couldn’t be sure he’d heard him correctly. The outrage and hurt swamped the pleasure he’d just given her.

  “Of course not!” she snapped, still panting. “I’ve never been with anyone else.”

  He kissed her, which wasn’t the best idea, in her opinion, when she wanted to bite him.

  “Condoms, myshka,” he murmured against her mouth. “I need to be inside you.”

  Slightly embarrassed, Ava shook her head. “I’m on the pill,” she told him softly. “I started five months ago.” To prepare for this moment, she didn’t say. “But I think there’s some in the bathroom. I saw a box there a while back.”

  He rose off her and padded into the bathroom. The light flared on, temporarily blinding her before it was snapped off and he returned, a square foil in hand. She watched as he pulled it on, encasing all that rock hard length in rubber. Her stomach muscles fluttered. She licked her lips, partially in anticipation.

  Then he was back, a warm, familiar weight draped over her. She welcomed him with her arms around his shoulders and her knees cradling his ribs. Her fingers combed into his hair and tugged his face down to hers. She kissed him, loving the taste of him slipping over her tongue, the way he softened above her. He held her tight, crushing her between him and the mattress as he returned the painfully gentle coaxing of their lips.

  “I’ll be gentle,” he promised quietly.

  Ava could only nod, then wait as he tucked one hand beneath her hips. She was lifted to him, to the solid length of his erection tucked between her thighs.

  He kissed her again, harder, preoccupying her with the subtle pain of her lips pushing against her teeth, when he plunged his hips forward. The unexpected assault startled the shit out of her. He’d said he’d be gentle and yet the thrust had been anything but. His cock ripped up into her body with the same authority and dominance as its owner. It took what it wanted as it settled deep inside her heat.

  “It’s done,” he whispered against the side of her face. “Okay?”

  She was. It was like when she’d gone to get her ears pierced. There’d been the initial anticipation, the clap of the gun, and then it was over with only a mild burning afterwards. Part of her was relieved he hadn’t gone slow or told her when. It was done and over with, and he was inside her.

  “You’re inside me,” she breathed, marveling at the feel of him nestled within the confines of her sex, filling her impossibly tight.

  He chuckled unsteadily, but said nothing. He raised his weight slightly, pulling back his hips and then pushing forward.

  Ava gasped as the friction worked against her walls. Her nails bit into his shoulders, urging him on.

  “Feels so good…” She shut her eyes tight. “Don’t stop.”

  She loved the feel of him pumping inside her and the way his body flexed beneath her hands and the glide of his chest rubbing against her nipples, teasing them. She had never realized how sensitive they were until now. She never knew how much she loved having them toyed with. All the times she’d given herself orgasms, she’d focused only on her clit. Her nipples had never even crossed her mind. Now, every whisper against them had her liquefying.

  “I think I’m coming again,” she choked into the length of his shoulder, her voice wavering as the dark waves rose higher over her.

  “I know,” he raised his head and met her wide gaze. “I can feel it around my cock.”

  Ava swallowed hard. “You can feel it?”

  He nodded. His pace slowed to smooth, even glides.

  “Your pussy gets tight and wet, and … feel that?” he asked in a strangled gasp when her core clenched around him,
gripping him as the first wave rippled through her.

  “Yes…”

  “That’s how I know.”

  It was such a rush, being walked through it even as it took claim of her.

  “Are you coming?”

  “Yes.”

  “Come with me” She dug her nails into the taut globes of his ass cheeks, forcing him in deep as her world began to splinter. “Come with me, Dimitri.”

  He snarled something and quickened his pace. His thrusts angled and deepened. There was an urgency in his movement, a coiled tension across his back that roped the muscles. She felt the heat of his pants against her neck, felt the thundering of his heart meeting hers. But it was the insistent and demanding assault of his shaft rubbing against her clit that did the trick.

  She came a full second before him. Her pussy clamped down hard even as he continued to drive inside her viciously, ferociously. Then he slammed up once, hard enough to hurt before breaking apart in her arms.

  “I love you,” he whispered when the world righted itself once more.

  Ava smiled against the side of his neck. “Are you saying that just to get into my pants?”

  With a sound between a laugh and a groan, he rocked his hips, pushing his semi flaccid cock in deeper. “Already in your pants,” he panted. “Already in your tight pussy. God, I want to fuck you again.”

  She could feel it. His cock had begun to harden and the thrill that knowledge brought on drew a smile. But she was assessing the possibility that her body could handle another go when he pulled out. The unexpected abandonment of the part of him she was quickly becoming very fond of elicited a startled yelp from her.

  “Don’t leave!” she pleaded, reaching for him.

  He rose up on his knees, chuckling, his cock full and hard again inside the blood stained and used condom. “You’ll thank me in the morning when you can walk properly.”

  Her brows puckered in deliberation. “I don’t think I’d mind not walking properly.”

  His smile vanished so suddenly, it was like the sun dropping into the ends of the earth and plunging the world into darkness. It was replaced by a baring of his teeth and the clasp of his hand in her hair as he yanked her to him.