Page 148 of Bratva Jewels Box Set

Oh.

Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Does that mean he isn’t giving me to Dmitri? Or does that mean I’m never seeing my family again?

Silence falls between us again as I take in Maxim’s confession. Getting up on shaky legs, I unlock my bedroom door and open it.

Maxim falls back but catches himself as the door falls away from him. He springs up and dusts himself off. A look ofuncertainty falls across his face as his teeth sink into his lower lip.

Maybe it’s unhealthy, maybe it’s crazy, but I need this man. I want nothing more than to be wrapped in those strong arms and have his plush lips all over my body. I need to feel the prickles of the stubble against my thighs. I need those dark eyes on me. My heart is beating uncontrollably in my chest, my palms are sweaty, so I drag them down along my legs as I step into Maxim’s personal space.

“Maxim,” his name comes out in a needy whisper.

Those dark eyes widen and begin to swirl with need, desire flecks across them. “Grace.”

The way he says my name as if I’m the most precious thing in the world. As if he can’t quite believe I’m standing in front of him, asking for more. I reach out and place my hand on his hip, my fingers touching his bare skin. Heat radiates through my fingertips, then all over my body until it pools between my thighs. I’m still in my swimsuit and feel like I’m standing naked before him, vulnerable, exposed, and one hundred percent needy. My grip tightens, and I pull myself closer to him.

“Grace,” he says my name again, but this time, his large hand reaches out, his fingers cup the back of my neck as his thumb slides up and down my spine, sending goosebumps over my skin.

“Kiss me.”

“Are you sure?”

I nod. “Yes.”

His hand wrapped around my neck pulls me to him. My chest hits the hard muscles of his chest, my nipples are tight little peaks pressed against the taut fabric of my swimsuit. I can feel the bulge between his legs thicken against my stomach. He wants this. And he wants me. There’s no denying the physical response he’s giving me.

Maxim tilts my jaw as he stares down at me hungrily before leaning forward and kissing me. My mouth opens for him as soon as our lips touch, and it’s as if a match has been thrown on top of gasoline. The first swipe of his tongue is the spark, and the first nip of my teeth is the boom that comes from the ignition. He then pushes me up against the corridor’s wall, my back hitting the cool surface as he presses his hard body against me. Grinding his cock against me, pulling a moan from my lips. He still has his hand wrapped around me, controlling my position, letting me know he’s in command, and I’m okay with that.

“Fuck, you taste like heaven, Grace,” he curses as he reluctantly pulls his lips from mine, and they descend against the sensitive skin of my throat. Feather-light nips and licks pepper my skin as his lips travel over it. “Every fucking morning, I wake with your perfect little ass against my dick. And every fucking morning I have to relieve myself in the shower to images of all the dirty things I want to do to you.”

I gasp at these words as my breathing increases with my own dirty thoughts of Maxim jerking off in the shower over me. Why did he never tell me? I would have been happy to assist. Reaching down between us, I wrap my hand around his dick and give it a squeeze.

Maxim curses in Russian before his teeth sink into my shoulder, probably leaving a bruise. “Don’t fucking tease me, Grace. I’m holding on by a thread.”

“Don’t hold back.”

Maxim shakes his head. “I don’t want to scare you.”

Looking up at him, those dark eyes swirl with so many unanswered questions. “You could never scare me, Maxim.”

“You should fear me, Grace. I’m not a good man.”

“But you are to me,” I reassure him.

“I never thought I’d …” Maxim halts his words unable to voice what is going on in his mind.

I don’t need to hear his words. His actions have proved to me that whatever is happening between us is more than some fucked up Stockholm Syndrome. That in the darkness, two broken people may have found their light. Maybe he was sent to fix what Dmitri broke inside of me. And maybe I was sent to help fix what Elena did to break him.

Wrapping a leg around his hip, I show him how much I want this, no, need this between us. I want Maxim to wipe away everything Dmitri and his men did to me.

Maxim’s hand moves from my throat as both hands land on my ass, lifting me into his arms. My legs tighten around his waist. Next thing I know he is striding through my bedroom and toward my bed. Slowly, he lays me down against the soft sheets until my back is pressing against them, my legs still wrapped around his waist as he hovers above me.

“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he says, running his thumb down along my cheek.

My heart swells hearing his words because this man looks like a God, with his olive skin, taunt muscles, and mysterious aura around him. Women would be throwing themselves at him everywhere he went. Yet he thinks I’m the special one.

Maxim’s fingers slide along the strap of my swimsuit, teasing me. Then they travel down the deep V, puckering my nipples even harder than they are.

“You sure?” he asks as his hand hovers over the material.