Kostya

by Roxie Rivera

  “I have time for you now,” she said, stepping aside. He walked into the salon and waited for her to lock the door before following her out of the employee areas at the rear of the salon onto the cutting floor. She led him to her station and motioned for him to sit. “Vivian’s bracelet is locked in the safe in my office. Remind me to get it for you when we’re done.”

  “I will.”

  “Let’s see what we’ve got to work with…” She began to examine his hair, using her fingers to separate the strands. He experienced a wicked thrill of pleasure that settled right in his groin as Holly combed her fingers through his hair.

  She tilted her head to the side as she studied him in the mirror and dragged her fingers through the dark strands that ended at his shoulders. “You have really nice hair.” She tugged lightly on the ends, and a strangely pleasurable tingle shot through his scalp. “The ends definitely need a trim. How short do you want to go? Do you want something that you have to style?”

  “I’m a simple guy, Holly. I want to shower and go.”

  “I like it kind of long and messy,” she admitted, her fingers still driving him crazy as she combed through his hair. “Let’s clean it up and give it some shape. I won’t go too short.”

  He held her gaze in the mirror. “I trust you.”

  Her hand fell from his hair to his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s go to the shampoo station.”

  In no time at all, he was on his back, his head resting comfortably along the lip of a sink and a cape draped around his upper body. She wet his hair with soothingly warm water. The peppermint scent of the shampoo and the incredible sensation of her fingers massaging his scalp helped him relax.

  Even in this vulnerable position and even with her hands so close to his neck and eyes, the places he had been trained since childhood to protect from attack, he experienced no anxiety or fear. No woman had ever touched him like this. He simply hadn’t allowed it. His interactions with them were almost transactional. Drinks. Fucking. A quick goodbye. He didn’t like kissing or long foreplay. He just wanted to get off and go. No strings. No feelings.

  He understood now what he had been missing as Holly’s soft, gentle hands sent shivers of heat and need through him. When she began to massage the back of his neck, he felt some of the tension that always plagued him begin to disappear.

  “You need to book a massage. Your neck is so tight,” she murmured with concern. “This kind of stress isn’t healthy.”

  He bit back a laugh. If she only knew… “I’ll think about it.”

  “If you won’t let one of our therapists do it, I can,” she offered as she began to rinse his hair. “I’m not a trained masseuse, obviously, but I know the basics.”

  The thought of Holly running her hands along his naked body made his dick throb. Just having her fingers combing through his hair and massaging his scalp was enough to make his heart race. If she touched him all over, he would be reduced to a melted, worthless heap of man.

  “You really need to add a good conditioner to your haircare routine,” she gently admonished. “What kind of products are you using?”

  “Whatever is cheapest at Target.”

  She clicked her teeth as she worked the conditioner into his hair. “Well, not anymore. I’m sending you home with some handpicked products.”

  He wanted to argue that he wouldn’t use them and he didn’t have time for so many steps, but that would be a lie. He would use them because it would make her happy. “All right.”

  Holly rinsed the conditioner from his hair and then squeezed out the excess water before reaching for a towel. She stepped in front of the sink, her hip against his shoulder, and carefully towel-dried his hair. Their gazes clashed as she worked, and he swallowed hard, his body reacting in the expected way at her closeness.

  One of her hands moved from his hair to his forehead and then trailed long and slow along the curve of his cheek and jaw. The bracelet he had given her glinted in the bright light coming from overhead. She wore it every day, the act one of silent but steady commitment.

  He had been a fool to ever doubt her affection for him. She had been trying to tell him every day since he had given her that Christmas gift. He just had just been too blind to see it. “Holly…”

  “I’ve made my decision.” She touched his lips, quieting him for a moment. “I want you.”

  He carefully dragged her hand away from his mouth. “I’ll hurt you, Holly. Not physically,” he clarified. “But I’ll break your heart someday.”

  “Probably,” she said a bit sadly, “but I know what I’m risking.”

  He was a selfish bastard, but he couldn’t stop himself. It was a terrible idea, and it would all end in tears, but he didn’t care. He was done denying himself these brief moments of happiness. Holly was a grown woman, and she had made her decision with eyes wide open. If she wanted him, he was going to let her have him.

  Sliding his hand to the back of her neck, he tugged her down for a kiss. It was an explosive moment when their lips finally met. A burst of anticipation and need rocked him. With a hand on her hip and the other at her nape, he sat up and stabbed his tongue against hers, desperate to taste her. She grabbed the cape and yanked it free before tossing it aside.

  To keep her balance, Holly put her hands on his shoulders as their tongues tangled, but as their kisses grew more passionate and almost desperate, she used her hand position for leverage. Slinging a leg over his, she pushed up on the reclined shampoo chair and climbed on top of him. The chair was a tight fit, and she wiggled her hips until she straddled his left leg.

  “Fuck, Holly,” he groaned against her mouth at the feel of her hot body pressed against the denim along his thigh. Her greedy hands slid under the thin fabric of his shirt and glided over his stomach and up toward his chest. He was taken aback by how quickly she had assumed the role of aggressor, taking control and reveling in it. All his life, he had been the one who chased. It was a novel experience to be on the other end of that equation. All he could do now was lean back and let her have her way with him.

  “Touch me,” she begged, her lips still ghosting across his. “I need your hands on me.”

  “Holly,” he whispered in between kisses. “If I start touching you, I won’t be able stop.”

  She nipped at his lower lip, that sharp sting of pain going straight to his dick. “So, don’t stop.”

  Burning up with lust, he rocked his hard cock against her body, aching for stimulation to ease the throbbing, and slipped his hands under skirt. His fingers trembled with the shot of adrenaline that saturated his bloodstream. He pushed the stretchy fabric of her pencil skirt up her thighs until it was bunched around her trim waist. He discovered the tiniest little black thong on her body and had to bite back a groan.

  Cupping her bare bottom, he shifted her toward him and met her ravenous kisses with equal fervor. A small voice in the back of his mind told him to put on the brakes and slow this down. She deserved something better and classier than a quick, rough fuck on a chair. “Holly, we should stop.”

  “Why?” She was already tugging on his belt buckle. “I don’t want to stop. Do you?”

  Quickly losing control, he admitted, “No, I don’t.”

  She unbuttoned and lowered the fly of his jeans. Her small hand brushed against the hard ridge of his erection, and he saw fucking stars. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”

  “This chair is too small for us this way,” he stated the obvious. “You’ll sprain something trying to ride me like this.”

  She grinned “Then I’ll ride you tomorrow night.”

  Blown away by this sexy, confident woman grinding atop him, Kostya let those animal instincts overtake him. He helped her slide off his lap and stood. Without warning, he grabbed her by the waist and deposited her on the chair so that she was in the perfect hands and knees position. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she wiggled her bottom in an enticing way, and he gave each cheek a good slap before jerking down the tiny scrap o
f underwear guarding the place he most wanted to see and taste. Her pale skin was flushed with excitement and desire, and the light smacks he had landed left rosy imprints on her bottom.

  Wanting to shock her, he bent down and swiped her already wet slit with his tongue. Holly inhaled a sharp breath and squealed with surprise before trying to wriggle away from him. He gripped her thighs and held her in place, teasing her clitoris with the pointed tip of his tongue for a few good flicks before grazing his teeth along the curve of her perky little ass.

  He pushed down the front of his jeans and freed his cock. Running his hand up and down the stiff length of it, he used the fingers of the other hand to trace the seam of Holly’s pussy. She was soaking wet, so hot and slick and ready for him. He guided the ruddy head of his shaft into place and pressed into her on one slow, easy thrust. Holly let loose a sound that was a mixture of a laugh and whimper before pushing back against him, urging him to slide deep and right to the hilt.

  Taking a handful of her hair, he lifted her onto her knees, forcing her back to his chest, and noisily kissed her neck. He had been waiting so long for this moment, had been fantasizing about it and more for months, and now he wasn’t sure how long he would last. He hadn’t been with a woman in almost a year, and he was operating on a hair trigger.

  Wanting this to be good for her, he slid one arm around her waist, resting his forearm between her breasts and lightly gripping her neck. His other hand snaked down to the spot where their bodies were joined. He framed her clitoris between two fingers and began to massage it.

  Holly shuddered at his touch and reached back to grip his hip, her perfectly manicured nails scratching and marking his skin. He pumped into her pussy, his thrusts shallow and quick while he listened to her breathing and paid attention to the clench of her slick walls around his cock. She was close. He nipped at her earlobe and kissed her neck again and kept fucking up into her, faster and deeper, while rubbing her clit in the way that she seemed to like.

  “Konstantin!” She shouted his name, her voice echoing throughout the empty salon as she came. His tenuous control snapped at the sound of his name and the feel of her pussy squeezing him in rhythmic bursts. His hands moved to her hips, gripping them tightly as she fell forward onto her hands and knees. He took her hard and fast now, chasing his own release and relishing the way she shoved back to meet each thrust. “Kostya! Kostya!”

  That familiar buzz started low in his belly and spread along his spine and down his legs. He started to pull out, but Holly shocked him by pushing back until her perfect ass was flat against his pelvis. With his cock sheathed in her wet heat, she pleaded, “Come inside me. I want to feel it.”

  “Holly,” he growled, his voice rough and low. She controlled him in that moment, ordering him to give her what she wanted and not allowing him to refuse her demand. She rocked back against him, milking him for each drop and then lowered her forehead to the chair. Shaking and shuddering, she panted just as hard as he did.

  Trying to catch his breath and feeling lightheaded, Kostya bent forward and pushed up her shirt. He kissed a meandering line along her spine before ending at the curve of her neck. Standing up straight, he snatched up the damp towel that was hanging precariously along the edge of the sink. He tidied them both up before tugging her thong back into place and pulling down the hem of her skirt.

  Turning her around, he cupped her face in both hands and kissed her. His kisses drifted along her cheek to her neck and back to her mouth. He couldn’t ignore the guilt that gripped him as he thought of the way he had just ravished his best friend’s sister on a salon chair.

  “I don’t regret it,” she said, as if reading his mind. “I don’t need romance and candles and music for our first time together. This was perfect.”

  “It was rough and dirty, and I should treat you with more respect.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes a girl wants rough and dirty, Kostya.” Rising up on tiptoes, she kissed him again. Smiling impishly, she said, “Tomorrow you can treat me with respect all night long, okay?”

  “Holly.” He laughed softly and shook his head at her silly come-on. Brushing hair behind her ear, he tried to figure out how this incredible woman was still single. He couldn’t understand it. She was smart and sexy, talented and funny, kind and patient. There wasn’t a man in Houston who wouldn’t jump at the chance to be her man.

  She’s been waiting for me.

  It was a heavy realization, and one that made him reconsider so many things he had accepted as inevitable. What if he didn’t break her heart? What if he told her the truth about him—about everything—but in small, easily digested pieces? She already accepted that he was part of a shadowy underworld. Would she accept what he did? Could she still care for him if she knew that he was a cleaner? What would she think of his little spiders and of Lobo, in particular?

  Could she learn to accept his past? To understand his old life as a covert operative? Would she understand the need for secrecy and accept the possibility that all the terrible, dark things he had done in his past might hurt him? Hurt them?

  “Are you okay?” she asked quietly. Seeming uncertain, she wondered, “Are you second-guessing this? Us?”

  “Never,” he answered truthfully and stridently. “The only thing I regret is making us wait so long for this.” He traced her full lower lip with his thumb. “This feels right. It feels good.”

  “I know that it’s going to be complicated, but I want to try, Kostya. I want to see if we can make this work.”

  “And if we can’t?” he asked, more worried for himself than her. Holly would never have a problem finding a better man, someone who could offer her the world, but she was his only chance at this kind of happiness. Now that he finally had this chance in his hands, he experienced a possessive and overwhelming need to hold tight and never let it go. He wanted to keep her in his life forever, no matter the cost.

  “Then you’ll have to sell your house and move,” she deadpanned. “Because, obviously, Savannah and Nisha will make your life a living hell if you break my heart,” she laughed. “They’ll run you out of town if you make me cry.”

  “I would deserve it.” He kissed her again, taking his time and enjoying the sweet heat of her mouth. Please let me figure out how to make this work.

  “You’re never going to get your haircut if we keep this up,” she teased playfully while touching the still wet ends of his hair.

  Back at her station, she sprayed his head with some concoction in a chrome bottle and took a comb from one of her many drawers. “Are you tender headed?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Is your scalp tender? Like when you’re combing?”

  “Oh. No. It doesn’t hurt.”

  Even though he denied any pain, she combed gently, holding the strands of hair in her hand before tugging the teeth through the tangles that had accumulated during their wild ride in that salon chair. When she was done, she set aside the comb and dragged her fingers through his hair and tilted his head left and right. Once she had decided on a plan of attack, she opened another drawer and removed a straight razor with a menacingly sharp blade.

  He warily eyed the fatal instrument. “Holly…?”

  She touched his shoulder. “Trust me. It will look better this way.”

  He did trust her, but he was still nervous about having a gleaming razor that close to his face. She worked quickly and with such skill, flicking and slicing. Cutting hair was more of an art form than he had understood. He had always just assumed this was a straightforward technical skill that anyone could master, but as he watched Holly work, he could see that it was a creative endeavor.

  “There. See?” She set aside the razor and dragged her fingers through his still damp hair. “Look at how natural this looks.”

  He nodded even though he couldn’t really tell the difference in using scissors versus a razor. She was pleased with it and that was all that really mattered. She stepped away to a wall of products and came back wit
h a tube and a bottle. She spritzed his hair and then applied some kind of serum. “I took a little of the weight out with the razor.”

  “I can tell.” That was the first thing he had noticed about the haircut. The shape and length were fine, but it was nice to have some of that extra weight off his neck.

  She raised up on tiptoes to grab the blow dryer dangling from a cord and made quick work of drying his hair. When she was finished, she tousled his shorter hair and smiled at him in the mirror. “Well?”

  “I like it.”

  “Only like?” she pouted dramatically.

  “I love it,” he amended.

  “That’s a better answer.” She unfastened the cape and brushed off his shoulders. “We’re all done.”

  They weren’t done. They weren’t even close to being done.

  When he stood up and turned to stand in front of her, she placed her hands on his chest. As she gazed up at him, he wanted nothing more than to take her home and spend the night doing wicked, dirty things to her. Her dilated pupils and deeper breaths told him she wanted the same thing. Sliding his hand along the curve of her waist, he pulled her close and captured her mouth.

  Just as things began to get interesting, the pocket of his jeans started to vibrate. He silently cursed the cell phone tucked away there. The call ended before he stopped kissing Holly. Five seconds later, the vibration started again. After two rings, it stopped. Five seconds later, the pattern began again.

  “That sounds important,” Holly murmured against his lips. “Maybe you should answer it.”

  “I don’t need to answer it. I already know what she wants.” He tried to kiss her again, but she leaned back and stared up at him with confusion.

  “She?”

  He might have been imagining it, but he thought he detected a hint of jealousy in her voice. “Not like that, Holly,” he assured her. “She’s one of my little spiders.”

  “Your little what?”

  “My spiders,” he repeated. “They crawl all around Houston and gather up information or do little jobs for me.”