His lips found her skin, skirting over her jaw, his tongue, caressing the skin there, as if he was trying to calm her.
“I won’t be gentle.” It was as much of a promise as it was a threat.
She could even sense how he held back, for her sake, but as she pulled him closer, she gave him the permission he sought. “Give me everything.”
And he did.
Grabbing hold of her wrists, he pinned her arms to the floor, and no matter how she struggled, wanting to touch him, he held firm.
With each punishing thrust, she drew closer to an end she hadn’t sought. Never, not even with the two lovers she’d had previously had she ever cum twice in one night, but she was hurtling toward it. And this time, she wanted to take him with her.
He was so busy concentrating on her that he wasn’t taking anything for himself.
Grabbing his face with both hands, she drew him up for a kiss, making sure to convey exactly what she felt for him when she did.
Words fell from her lips before she could stop them. She knew he understood the French, could sense it in him, but it wasn’t until he responded in kind that she gave herself over to the tide, lost in the sea of everything he was making her feel. Seconds later, he followed.
Luka was careful to keep his weight off her though he dropped down onto one arm.
They were both sweaty and sticky, and he was slowly softening, but he stayed where he was. Her limbs felt like jelly, and if it were not for the feel of him on top of her, she might have thought none of this was real.
But then he lifted his head, looking down at her with the sweetest of smiles. “Finally.”
27
____
A Merry Christmas
Finished applying a layer of red lipstick, Alex eyed her reflection in the mirror, pleased with the results though on the inside she was nervous as hell. Three days had passed since she and Luka had ended up on her living room floor. Trying to focus on anything else was impossible, not when the only thing she could remember was his hands on her, the feel of him inside her, and how it felt never ending. She might have been worried about not talking to him in so long, but she had overheard Mishca talking about him being gone on Bratva business. He was supposed to be there at the dinner tonight, but she had no idea what that was going to entail. While he hadn’t seemed to regret their night together…that didn’t mean he wasn’t rethinking it now.
Grabbing the bags of presents she’d bought and her bag, she headed out, hailing a cab to the penthouse.
Snow was falling in earnest, blanketing the streets of New York in bright white. Wreaths and string lights hung from streetlights, various decorations including a giant Christmas tree in the middle of Times Square made the city come to life, and for once, Alex was in the holiday spirit.
Traffic was even worse the deeper into the city they went, but she couldn’t begin to care about that as they sat in a long line of taxis. In the distance, she could just make out Mishca’s building, so instead of waiting, she paid the cabbie and climbed out, walking the last few blocks.
She nodded to the doorman who smiled in return, slipping inside the warmly lit interior and heading for the bank of elevators. Inserting her key, the light next to ‘P’ lit up as she turned it, the doors closing after her.
His car hadn’t been anywhere in sight as she had passed the street coming into the building, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t already waiting inside. With each floor she passed, her heart beat just a little bit faster.
Alex knew she was overreacting a bit. It wasn’t as if anything had truly changed between them, not officially or anything. They just had sex.
Mind-blowing, mind-numbing sex.
She was so screwed.
The bell chimed, the doors opening to the foyer. She didn’t have to step out of the elevator to know that Lauren had gone all out. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon was strong in the air, not to mention the big ass tree that Alex could see from where she was.
The towering thing stood tall before the floor-to-ceiling windows. Interchanging white and blue bulbs decorated the pine, ropes of twinkling white lights wrapping themselves up around the tree until it reached the very top where a glittering star rested. The penthouse apartment looked particularly festive, and Alex doubted that Mishca had done all of this.
Alex smiled at the sight of all the decorations, surprised at how much care had gone into making it feel welcoming. The manor had been lavishly decorated as well, but in a way that was only meant for show. This room felt comfortable.
Setting her bags near the tree, she shrugged out of her coat, folding it over her arm as she turned the corner to head toward the noise she heard in the other room.
“Alex!” Lauren exclaimed as she came around the island in the kitchen, brushing her hands off on her jeans.
While Lauren was all smiles and in the holiday spirit, she seemed to be the only one. Klaus was sitting on the couch glaring at the ceiling as if it had personally pissed him off. When his eyes flickered to Alex, he did, at least for a moment, smile, though it was gone just as quickly. She was used to him being a grump, though he was much more fun to be around when he was arguing with Mishca, who—as Alex looked around—was notably absent.
Alex returned Lauren’s hug, looking over her shoulder toward the kitchen to see what she was cooking, but with the light inside the oven off, she couldn’t make it out. Whatever it was, it smelled nice.
Lauren pulled away a lot sooner than Alex was expecting—in the past she was a serious hugger—not getting too close either, but with the way she was fluttering around, Alex just figured she was too excited to stay still for too long.
“Where is everybody?”
“Mish is in the bedroom on his last call for the day. Amber’s on her way. Tristan and Matt wanted to come, but…” She glanced over to Klaus. “I can’t be sure what’s going to happen tonight. I don’t know about Luka. He only mentioned that he was on his way, said he had to make a stop first.”
She briefly wondered where he had to go, and why he hadn’t called her or even sent a text. And though she had no reason to, she considered the idea that maybe he was coming with Natasha. It wasn’t as if he had ever mentioned that he had stopped seeing her.
“He didn’t say he was bringing her,” Lauren said softly, reading her expression.
“It’s fine if he does.” As long as she kept saying that, it would be.
She had no claim on Luka. He could do whatever he wanted.
Dropping her coat off in one of the spare bedrooms on the first floor, she left Lauren to her cooking and went to join her sort-of brother. Collapsing down next to Klaus, she mimicked his posture as she slouched back. She waited until she felt his eyes on her before she spoke.
“Why so glum?”
Klaus kicked his legs up, and with little care for personal space, he dropped his legs on her lap. “Wanna profile me?”
She and Klaus didn’t have much of a relationship, and that was mostly her fault since she made it a point to avoid him whenever they happened to be in the same vicinity. It didn’t matter that Mishca hadn’t treated her any differently since Klaus had come into their lives, but she always had an irrational fear that he would choose Klaus over her since he was actually his sibling.
But it seemed Klaus didn’t care whether she wanted a relationship with him or not. He was going to force one.
“Just trying to make conversation so you’ll stop plotting the murder of plaster.”
When his eyebrows drew together in confusion, she laughed. “You’ve been glaring at the ceiling since I got here. Could have been longer.”
He smirked and leaned back against the couch. “Or you’re just waiting for the Albanian to get here and I’m meant to entertain you.”
Rolling her eyes, Alex deflected. “What’s your problem with using people’s names? Would it be so hard to say Luka or Mishca?”
“Names equal attachment and I don’t do those.”
“No? You’ve used
my name before. Lauren, too.”
He frowned, looking away. “Neither of you did anything that made me want to kill you.”
Sometimes it was almost uncomfortable how blunt he could be. One of the traits he had in common with Luka. “What did they ever do to you? Mishca, I can assume that it was probably something along the lines of mistaken identity. Am I right? But what did Luka do?”
He downed the rest of his drink, reaching for the bottle on the table. “He turned me into this,” he said cryptically.
“What does that mean?” she asked, genuinely wanting to know. Normally his dark musings dealt with Mishca being the reason he was a mercenary, but now it was Luka?
“It’s Christmas, Niklaus. Can’t you act like you’re happy for the next hour at least?” Mishca asked as he approached, slipping his phone into his jacket pocket. “You’re with family. You should act like it.”
Klaus, scoffing, tossed the cap of the bottle he was holding at Mishca’s face. “Fuck knows I can’t stand your ass, Russian.”
“Right. You do realize that you’re Russian too, yes? And yes, I’m well aware that it should have been me in your place the day you were taken and tortured. Anything else you would like to lay at my feet?” he asked dryly, sitting across from them. “Maybe when you got shot in Kiev after one of your missions went south and one of your guys got taken? Was that my fault, too?”
Alex didn’t know for sure, but there was something wrong, more than what they were actually saying. She didn’t realize just how close to the truth she had been when she’d brought up Klaus and mistaken identity.
“And what has that ever gotten me?” Klaus asked as he dropped his legs to the floor, setting the bottle down next. He hadn’t pulled a weapon, but there was something particularly dangerous about the way he was looking at Mishca now.
“I could have left you in that building,” Mishca said. “Don’t forget you asked me to kill you, end your misery. I never turned my back on you once, Niklaus. You left. You fell down the rabbit hole on your own. And I’m getting sick of you laying all your shit on me.”
Alex was too shocked to do anything more than sit there and stare at the pair of them. She hadn’t known half of what Mishca was revealing about Niklaus. But she saw it, the moment she was sure Klaus was about to launch across the table and attack Mishca, but as he got to his feet, Mishca doing the same, Lauren was there in the middle of them.
“Not tonight,” she said slowly, looking back and forth between the pair of them. “You can beat the shit out of each other tomorrow.”
Mishca pulled her behind him despite her resisting, but that only managed to piss Klaus off more.
“Fucking classic coming from you, Russian. Despite whatever you think of me, I wouldn’t hurt her. Current condition or not.”
“Why is that, Niklaus? It’s not because of me.”
Neither of them heard the elevator as they stared bloody murder at each other, and while Alex was sure Lauren could handle the two of them, she was more than a little happy to see Luka as he walked into apartment, looking lost.
“No, you’re right about that. I’m done with you. Take your offer and your position and shove it up your ass.”
“Because that’s what you’re most interested in? I’ve been willing to make amends for shit I had no control over, but fucking my wife is not on the table.”
“Oh, fuck you. If I wanted to fuck your wife, then I would.”
Lauren’s cheeks flushed with color, and for the first time since this argument started, there was rage in Mishca’s eyes.
“Careful.”
“Or what, Russian?” Klaus’ smile grew as his stance relaxed. “Is that what you think about when you know we’re alone together? Whether I have Lauren on her back? Or maybe on her knees—”
Mishca didn’t think, he just swung, the sound of his knuckles hitting Klaus’ face impossibly loud.
Luka grabbed the back of Lauren’s dress and tugged her back out of the way of any flying fists as he got in the middle of the foray. He eventually got them apart, and if Alex thought Klaus was angry with Mishca, the moment he realized who stood between him and his target, she could practically feel the fury bleeding out of him.
“This is about her, no?” Luka asked, never taking his eyes off Klaus, at least until Alex stepped in their direction. “Don’t,” he told her. “Stay right there.”
“Say her name.”
Luka turned back to Klaus. “Sarah. That was her name. I didn’t forget.” He kept his hands at his side as he spoke of something only the three of them seemed to understand. “If you want to take it out on someone, then take it out on me. I was there. I did nothing to stop it.”
Klaus was vibrating with rage, so bad that his hands were shaking, but as Luka’s words sunk in, he had his gun out, the barrel tucked beneath Luka’s chin.
“Klaus!” Alex shouted his name.
“No,” Luka said, pointing at her again. He didn’t even seemed fazed by the gun. “I’ve got this. Klaus, it was six years ago. I know what today means to you, and I know what seeing me today does to you. But Jetmir, remember? We chopped him up and threw him over a bridge, yeah?”
Luka had waited a beat before he put his hand on Klaus’ arm, waiting until he willingly dropped it before he pulled his own away.
“Let’s take a walk.”
Stowing his gun, Klaus ignored him, giving him his back as he came back over to where Alex was standing and took a seat on the couch, reaching for the bottle that he’d left behind. Alex, very quickly, grabbed it and kept it close.
He sighed. “I can’t kill the Russian. I can’t beat the shit out of him. And now I can’t even have my drink? Remind me next time to I decline an invitation to these “family” functions, to stick with my gut.”
“Well…” Amber said as she came into the room. “I just got here. Don’t worry, though.” She looked at Mishca, Klaus, and Luka in turn. “I didn’t see anything, or hear anything. Oh, look. Cookies.”
That was enough to ease most of the tension in the room.
Alex was just glad it hadn’t been worse. Luka was staring at her, and the relief she felt at seeing him okay was short lived as Natasha came around the corner, looking at him the same way Alex had.
Mishca and Lauren had left the room, gone to talk it out, Alex assumed.
“When did it happen?”
Alex blinked, looking at Klaus who was watching her in return. “What?”
“You and him,” he said with a tilt of his head in Luka’s direction. “I’m guessing that’s the reason you’re looking like you want to throw up.”
“It’s not what you think.” It was exactly what he thought.
“Hey,” he said with a nudge to her side. “At least it’s better than waking up with someone about to stab you in the back. Literally. Almost didn’t make it out of that one.”
“First of all, gross. You’re like the sketchy, older, angry-prone brother I never had. I really don’t want to think about you doing anything that isn’t…” She racked her brain for something that reminded her of him but didn’t make her want to vomit. “Polishing guns or something. Second, did that seriously happen? Did she get you, or did you get out of the way in time.”
She reached to pull up his shirt, but he chuckled waving her hands away. “It’s all good.”
“So…feeling better now? I’m not in danger of being on the receiving end of all that anger?”
“Not unless you don’t give me my bottle back. I hate holidays, and I would prefer to not remember this one either.”
Because of whoever the girl was who they were talking about. Sarah. Alex was curious, and maybe she would have asked him about her had she not seen the kind of reaction he had at just hearing her name.
She knew all about bad memories though, and if he didn’t want to face them, who was she to force him.
Handing him back the bottle of scotch, the brown liquid glinting in the low light, she watched him take two long swallows. He lo
oked at the bottle, and then held it out to her, his question in the gesture.
“No, thanks. I’ve cut back on my drinking.” Meaning she didn’t drink at all nowadays.
“No shit? Trying to stay sober?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Good for you.” And he actually looked proud of her. “Does that mean I can’t drink around you though? Because I like you, but at the moment, I think I like this drink more.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “Feel free to ruin your liver.”
“It’s good to see you, Alex.”
Her smile froze on her face as she was forced to look at the last person in the world she wanted to see. Natasha wore a dress that accentuated her figure, her long, dark hair hand down her back. If Alex didn’t despise her, then she might have complimented her on the choice.
“Hi.” Alex reached the glass of Sprite she had left on the table, chugging it down as an excuse to not say more.
Her smile still firmly in place, she looked at Klaus. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
“We’ve had no reason to. I like mine freely given.”
Alex, surprised at Klaus’ comment, spit out her drink, covering her mouth as she tried to muffle the giggle that was fighting to escape. He might have just tried to hurt both Mishca and Luka, but at the moment, he was her favorite person in the world.
Though she didn’t want to, Alex looked at Luka. His gaze was on her, yes, but not on her face. They were drifting over her outfit, and if his expression was anything to go by, he really liked what he saw. She knew that look. He’d worn it when he’d gone down on her.
Awareness flushed through her, and as she cleared her throat, his eyes flickered up to her. Yeah, he was thinking the same thing she was.
A door closed in the distance, Mishca and Lauren reappearing. She stopped to greet her friend, but Mishca headed on into the kitchen.
Wanting to escape Luka, and the implications of Natasha being there, Alex left them, escaping to the kitchen where she found Mishca hunting in his liquor cabinets. His back was to her as she entered, but he glanced over his shoulder when she came in.
Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva Book 4) Page 19