His gaze made her hot, her core throbbing with desire. Her muscles quivered with the craving to feel him inside her. Reaching back, she unclasped her bra and let it fall. Her breasts hung heavy, nipples puckered with the need for his touch. Hooking her thumbs into her panties, she shimmied them down her legs and kicked them aside.
“Leave the stockings.”
His voice was gravel, rough with arousal. The sound sent a chill dancing across her skin. She felt bold, beautiful, like a woman who had everything she could ever want in the man before her. “It’ll be easier to get you naked if you lie down.”
Every movement he made was powerful. Muscles bending and flexing, he lay down on the soft floor. He braced his weight on his elbows, watching her with dark eyes full of fire.
She tugged his boots off and tossed them over her shoulder where they thumped to the floor. Grabbing hold of his pockets, she peeled jeans, boxers, and socks off in one long pull. Hard and hot, his cock bounced against his belly as it was freed.
“I’m naked. What now?”
The devilish gleam in his eyes sent a wicked rush of arousal through her system. He wanted to know what now? She didn’t even have to wonder. Straddling his hips, she ground her bare pussy across his shaft. Nicolai groaned and grabbed her hips to steady her rhythm.
“You’re so wet, wild girl. Hot and slippery and ready for me.”
His words drove her higher. Her movements slid the length of his cock against the hood of her clit. Friction built to a point just below pain, and her pussy clenched with the need to be penetrated. She closed her eyes against the onslaught, flinging her head back to ride out the pleasure.
“I want you. I need to be inside you.”
Her eyelids fluttered open, and she looked down into his face. His features were drawn tight with restraint. Every detail was precious, something to be cherished.
She shifted her hips, using her knees to lift her body. The head of his cock caught against her cleft, slipping into her wet opening and penetrating in slow, deliberate increments. She moaned at the sensation, her cry mingling with his deeper sounds of pleasure.
She moved her hands to his chest, fingers splayed against his piercings as she let him control the pace of their lovemaking. Every stroke sent him pushing hard against the sweet spot inside her body. She arched her back, wanting more and getting it with each plunge. She spun toward ecstasy, aware of nothing but the man inside her. She knew the swelling of his shaft, the pulsing of its head, the friction and thrust of each movement as she rode him toward orgasm.
He gripped her chin, forcing her to look down into his face. “Come. Come for me.”
As if she were waiting for his command, her body convulsed into climax. Heat swept through her limbs, her hips jerking with each wave of ecstasy. Beneath her, Nicolai roared, his back arching as he poured his seed into her body.
Weak with release, she collapsed on him, her ear pressed against his chest. The thundering of his pulse kept pace with her runaway heart.
He stroked one palm down her sweat-dampened back. “I owe you a hundred apologies.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love to hear an apology, but I think we’re probably even by now.” She lifted her head and propped her chin on her hands so she could see his expression.
Groping around above his head, Nicolai found a plush blanket and pulled it around her quickly cooling body. “Your brother explained your relationship to Harmon.”
“You mean the lack of a relationship?”
“I was such an ass.” His chest rose and fell beneath her body with a heavy sigh. “I just couldn’t understand why you’d chosen me.”
“And yet I keep doing it.”
He brushed his fingertips down her cheek, sending a thrill of delight through her body. “I didn’t follow you here tonight because you needed a babysitter. I just wanted to make things right.”
“About that—how did you know about this place?”
“Your brother told me where to find you.”
“But you knew this place. I get the feeling you’ve got some experience with the fine print. You knew Dante, and you knew his house rules well enough to get me out of a mess.” The idea of waiting for the other shoe to drop ghosted through her mind. But she was through thinking Nicolai was less. He was more. Much more.
“I’ve told you about Asylum before. When I told you about my gambling. I spent a lot of time here. Your brother didn’t know what this place was called, but he knows Dante Torres. Dante is the man he had to pay off to put me back on the straight and narrow.”
Her mind was busily running back through the conversation between Nicolai and Dante. “When he said you knew the rules better than anyone else?”
“He was reminding me of the night I lost Katie.”
“You were one of Dante’s ‘high rollers.’” The price he’d paid to get her out of the mess she’d created hit Desiree all at once. Her breath grew short, cutting through her lungs as she tried to process what she’d done. Tears stung her eyes, burning a path down her cheeks.
“Hey now, don’t cry.” Nicolai made a growling noise in his throat, rolling to his side and wrapping his body around hers. “I told you before, I’d go through everything again just to know you’d be on the other end of it all.”
“You hadn’t gambled since that night.” She choked back a sob. “And you broke your recovery because I went and did something reckless.”
His lips brushed across her forehead, but that only made her feel worse.
“You were right. I’m nothing but trouble.”
It felt good to cry, the tears releasing tension she hadn’t even realized she was carrying around. He let her vent, rubbing her back and murmuring something in a language she didn’t understand. Was he actually speaking Greek? The storm receded as quickly as it’d hit, leaving her with swollen eyes and that nasty hiccuping feeling.
“Do you feel better?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You told me from the very beginning that taking control of my addiction made me strong.”
She traced his jaw with her fingertips. Lying on their sides, face-to-face, she could see his strength etched in the lines of his expression. “It does.”
“I didn’t believe you until today.” A smile at the corner of his mouth. “I played one hand, and it went well—exceptionally well. But I have no desire to sit at another card table or play another slot machine ever again. The stakes are too high. You mean more to me than anything I could ever win, and I’m never going to do anything to screw that up.”
It felt as if the whole world had ground to a standstill. His words were painfully close to slapping a label on their relationship. She didn’t want to be that woman—the one who needed a piece of paper, some jewelry, or a ceremony in front of witnesses to make it real. But deep inside, she needed to know he wasn’t just talking about the present. She wanted to know beyond doubt that she wasn’t alone in what she felt.
“I love you.” His chuckle reverberated in his chest. “There’s a good word for you. And here’s another one: mine. As in, you’re mine. You belong to me and I belong to you, and that’s all that matters to me.”
Her heart was full to bursting with emotion. “I love you too.” She brushed his lower lip with her thumb. “And I think I’ve belonged to you since the night you taught me what a real kiss was.”
He laughed, rolling her onto her back and dipping his head to cover her mouth in a passionate reminder of exactly what a real kiss should be. She clung to him like he was her anchor in a storm. Being with him was a little like walking on the edge. It was exactly where she wanted to be.
NICOLAI TRACED THE delicate contour of Desiree’s shoulder blades with his fingertips. “Your sister is really going to marry that asshole tomorrow?”
“You mean, are we really going to let her go through with it?”
He tried to imagine letting someone he loved marry a man like Jackson Wilhelm, who would have happily raped Desiree the night before he
married her sister.
“Selena is a grown woman. Erik and I can’t make her decisions for her. Besides, our mother is happily blind to his faults.”
It didn’t take an empath to sense the worry Desiree harbored for her sister. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to watch her take her vows and wait for the moment when he shows his true colors. She’s going to need me and Erik more than ever when it happens.”
She threw one leg over his body and laid her cheek against his chest. Her beauty took his breath away. Her dark hair was tousled from their earlier lovemaking. It made a gorgeous frame for her elegant face and expressive green eyes.
The sounds of the casino had grown fainter as night faded into the small hours of the morning. Soon it would be dawn. Dante’s staff would begin moving through the club, releasing the patrons so they could return to their regular lives. They would leave the decadent club for the real world of societal rules.
Snuggled into the pillows and blankets of their borrowed suite, Nicolai had the satisfaction of knowing that what he held in his arms was all he could ever want in any reality. Whether they were letting time pass in a club or making love in the bed they shared in his apartment, it was more than enough.
“Nicolai?”
He picked up the thread of their conversation. “So you’re going to a wedding this afternoon.”
“So are you.”
“You shouldn’t put me in places where I might break your idiotic society rules.”
“That’s why I need you there.” She tweaked the silver bar in his right nipple, the sensation snaking right to his groin and making his cock sit up and take notice.
“Not sure I understand.” He had to remind himself forcefully to keep his mind on the matter at hand and not on the sexy woman curled up against him. “If that snot-nosed piece of shit makes a pass at you, I will lay him out cold.”
“If he’s still standing when I get done with him, I fully expect you will.”
“If you’re going to whip his ass, why do you need me there?”
“I want you there for me, Nicolai. You’re mine, and I want everyone to know it. I don’t care about my mother or Harmon or even my brother for that matter. I want to be with you. This is a family event, and you are my family.”
Her words undid him. Nicolai rolled her over, nudging his way between her long legs. She made soft sounds of desire when he captured her lips in a possessive kiss. He molded their mouths together and showed her how much he needed her. His shaft thickened, hardening to a point just below pain. She spread her legs wider and tilted her hips, inviting him without words to enter her body.
The sensitive head of his cock brushed her wet slit, delving into her folds and slipping past her entrance. She was unbelievably hot and tight. Her slick embrace welcomed him, pulling him in and holding him close as he thrust into her core.
He matched the rhythm of his kiss to the slow, relaxed strokes of their sex. She grew hotter with arousal, and their bodies made wet noises of pleasure. Her sweet cream coated his balls, soaking his shaft and creating the intoxicating slide of his flesh against hers that sent Nicolai spiraling toward climax.
Wanting her to come, needing to feel her orgasm, he reached down and pulled one of her legs over his arm. The new position sent his shaft sliding across her clit. She gasped and arched her back with the increased sensation.
Dipping his head, Nicolai took one of her nipples in his mouth. He rolled the bud between his lips and scraped his teeth across its delicate surface. She cried out, her eyes closed as she raced toward completion.
She grew tighter, her muscles clamping down on his cock as he continued to thrust into her pussy. His climax nipped at his heels, pooling in the small of his back as he fought to stave it off. He wanted just a little longer to feel her sweet release.
She cried his name when she came, her channel convulsing around him. He slammed his cock into her as he lost control and poured his release into her welcoming body. Bracing his weight on his forearms, he watched the emotions flicker over her face.
Finally she smiled, reaching up and brushing his face with the lightest touch. “So will you come to the wedding with me?”
“Wild girl, I’ll go anywhere you ask me to as long as you’re there with me.”
And he would.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Do you take this woman, forsaking all others, cleaving to her so that you might be joined in holy matrimony, until death do you part?”
Jackson gazed at Selena with an earnest expression on his face. “I do.”
Seated between Erik and Nicolai in the second row of folding chairs, Desiree wondered if lightning would come snapping out of the sky and zap the bridegroom dead. She half expected it to, despite the fact that the weather was a perfect balance of bright, clear sky and warm fall sunshine.
A cool breeze rustled through the drapes adorning the Greek revival columns that surrounded what would eventually become the outdoor dance floor. Across the lawn, tables and chairs surrounded the caterer’s tent. Delectable smells danced through the air, giving the guests a tantalizing idea of what was to come. Three bartenders prepared for the rush that would happen after the happy couple finished their “I dos,” and Leslie Hampstead’s Trio Dolce waited for their cue to play the couple back down the aisle once the deed was done.
Nicolai squeezed Desiree’s hand, gently drawing her attention back to the ceremony. She met his dark gaze and knew she would be fine. When this insanity was over, she was going home with the only guy at the party who was really what he seemed.
“Selena Adriana Aasen, do you take this man, forsaking all others, cleaving to him so that you might be joined in holy matrimony, until death do you part?”
Selena was the picture-perfect bride. Desiree could almost believe her sister had somehow managed to custom order the textbook dewy-eyed expression fixed on her face. She gripped Jackson’s hands, her bosom heaving up and down beneath the low-cut bodice of her dress. A strangulating bra several sizes too small had finally given her sister enough cleavage to make the dress work.
“I do.”
Finally!
What might it be like to stand up there with Nicolai and promise to love him forever? Did they really need a ceremony to make it real? It wasn’t as if she didn’t already know she’d love him forever. She tilted her head to get a look at his profile, marveling again at how she’d managed to find someone so utterly masculine, real, and in-your-face honest.
He’d worn black dress slacks and shoes, and a steel-colored dress shirt that made his dark eyes just that much more intense. Hammered silver rings hung from his ears, and she knew the ones bisecting his nipples matched. Every time he took a deep breath and his shirt drew taut against his chest, she could see the faintest outline of what lay beneath. It was a constant teaser.
“If you keep staring at me like that, we’re going to have to excuse ourselves.”
His low murmur made her cheeks blush red-hot.
On her other side, Erik made a low sound of disgust. “Seriously, would you two get a room?”
She couldn’t deny the satisfaction of giving her brother a taste of his own medicine. She’d felt like a third wheel to his and Talia’s perfect match more than once. Now it was his turn.
“You may kiss the bride!”
Leslie’s violin swelled into song, punctuated by Niles and Jen on the viola and cello. The assembled guests stood and clapped as the newly married couple turned to walk back down the aisle, hand in hand.
“Thank God that’s over.” Desiree gave a halfhearted clap of her hands.
Nicolai pulled her into the circle of his arms and glanced around at the other guests. They’d already started to mingle on their way to the bar and buffet tables. “I feel like I’m watching another species in their natural habitat.”
Erik snorted. “Give it a few months and we’ll be watching you walk down the aisle.”
Leaning to one side so she could look up
into Nicolai’s face, Desiree tried to evaluate his expression. He didn’t seem to find the suggestion offensive, but she knew how he felt about conventional labels.
“Well?” Erik poked Nicolai in the arm. “Are you going to make my sister an honest woman or not?”
Desiree reached up and smacked her brother on the back of his head. “Actually, Erik, I think I’m more honest with Nicolai than I’ve ever been with my family or friends. I don’t think we need a piece of jewelry and a ceremony to make it official. He’s mine. I’m his, and that’s all that matters.”
Joshua Breckenridge appeared next to Erik. “And that is the most insightful thing I’ve ever heard come out of Desiree’s mouth.”
“Thank you, Joshua.” Whether she’d been permanently mellowed by Nicolai’s presence in her life, or the situation with Jackson had created peace between her and Josh, his words seemed genuine instead of trite or sarcastic. “I’m glad you and Seth could make it.”
Seth Overton nudged his friend, his dark good looks the perfect complement to Joshua’s blond hair and blue eyes. “We never miss a chance to hear Leslie perform in public.”
“Besides, Erik, Seth, and I go way back.” Joshua watched Selena and Jackson soak up their moment of triumph as the photographer ushered the wedding party away for photos. “And friends should always support friends in times of need.”
“Or when their baby sister leg-shackles herself to the biggest asshole on earth,” Erik muttered.
Her brother’s expression was one of barely controlled disgust. Desiree’s heart gave a sympathetic lurch. Selena might have been the spoiled brat, but she was still their sister.
Joshua shifted his stance, his posture growing tense. “Game faces on, team. The lioness approaches.”
Desiree’s mother had spent a lot of time choosing what she considered the perfect mother-of-the-bride dress, finally settling on a strapless bustier gown with a full skirt and a chic jacket that put it just over the edge of appropriate. Annaline might have enjoyed inviting the crème de la crème to her daughter’s wedding, but she didn’t want them to think of her in terms of a future grandmother. The combination of dove-gray designer gown, upswept blonde hair, and smoky green eyes told the whole world that Annaline was still a sexy woman to be reckoned with. To her eldest daughter, who’d worn an understated lavender suit, it looked like she was trolling for her next ex-husband. Joshua was right. She definitely qualified as a lioness. There was something in her walk that seemed almost predatory.
Boston Avant-Garde: Impetuous Page 18