Page 13 of Devious Truth (Vicious Sinners #3)

He silently waits for my response. Maybe he’s thinking I just need a moment to get my mind right, but that’s not going to happen with him this close. With the horrific memory burning so bright to the surface.

“Okay. I don’t want to tell you.”

Tense silence fills the space between us. I can tell he’s fighting the urge to push the issue. He’s Ivan Volkov; I doubt he’s ever been denied before.

Then he nods, like he’s just made an agreement with himself.

“All right.” He cups my cheek, running the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “You don’t have to, but when you’re ready I want to know.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you, Vivienne. And for that, you need to feel safe with me. To know you can trust me. So I won’t force you to tell me.” A ghost of a smile touches his lips. “Yet.”

“I thought you said you were a patient man when the situation called for it.”

“Everyone has their limits.” He leans in, bringing his lips just a breath away from mine.

“And if I tell you I don’t want you to kiss me?” I ask, my words barely making it past my lips.

“Being a smart ass is one way to find yourself over my knee; lying is another.” His hand slides behind my neck at the same time his mouth crashes down over mine.

The kiss is untamed, fierce, and possessive. Everything he is and more. It’s like he’s putting his entire self on the line, showing me exactly who and what he is with a kiss.

My heart beats so hard and so fast it’s almost painful. But I don’t want it to end. It’s been so long since I’ve felt alive.

If a person can get drunk from a kiss, I’m going to be hung over for a week.

When he breaks it off, he presses his forehead against mine, inhaling me. He makes a guttural sound, something I’d expect a lion to make when finding pleasure in the kill.

“You’re intoxicating, Vivienne.” It doesn’t sound like a compliment, the rough way he says it. “Since I saw you, I knew I wanted you.”

“Do you know how insane that sounds?” I breathe, or at least, I try to. It’s so hard when he’s this close.

He pulls back, lining up our gazes. The bottom of my soul reflects back in his eyes.

“I do.”

I wait for him to say something else. Where’s the ‘but’ that will turn this insanity around?

“And if I don’t want you back?”

His hand slides beneath the slit in the dress, brushing across my thigh. Electric heat blazes beneath his touch as he drags it further up my leg, to where the slit ends.

“Ivan?” I grip his shoulders, but he’s not done with his exploration.

His fingertips graze over the elastic of my panties.

“Are you going to lie to me again? Tell me you don’t want this, don’t want me?” His lips touch mine in a barely there kiss.

It’s enough to send shivers of desire through my body. His hand dives between my legs, pressing his hand against me as his mouth covers mine.

He’s all heat and sex and dominance, and it’s enough to make my brain shut completely off. When his teeth scrape against my lip, I moan. It’s soft, but he hears it. I can tell, because it makes him growl with satisfaction.

“Your panties are soaked through.” He shoves the wet material aside. “Do you want to tell me a lie, or do you want me to make you feel good?”

Breathlessly, I stare at him, unsure of what to say, of what to want. Every bit of my body, my soul tingles.

He pushes me back against the counter, running the tip of his finger through my folds up to my clit.

A sound, something like my resolve dying, escapes me and I lift my leg, hooking it on his hip. It gives him better access.

I’m too needy, too hungry for his touch to care how wrong this is.

I’ll mourn my morals in the morning.

When he kisses me again, it’s with such fierceness, I have to grip the edge of the counter to keep from crumbling against it. He wraps his arm around my waist steadying me, rubbing me harder.

Pulse pounding, skin burning, I rock my hips into his touch.

He smiles against my cheek. “Such a beautiful girl, fucking my hand. Do you want my fingers?”

No! I shouldn’t! Stop!

“Yes.” I breathe the word before any part of my brain can get involved and ruin everything.

“Do you want to come for me like a good girl?” He runs his tongue along the shell of my ear. “Do you want to be my good girl?”

I’m going to die on this very spot if he keeps this up. Good luck to him explaining how he killed a woman with just his words.

“Vivienne, answer me.” He bites down on my neck, sending a new shockwave of arousal through me.

“Yes!”

“Good girl,” he says hotly.

His finger slides deep inside me. The pad of his thumb strokes my clit.

I suck in air, unable to make a sound, to feel anything other than the life-altering pleasure of his fingers. His breath is hot against my ear.

“Such a pretty girl.”

Gripping the counter edge tighter, I push my hips toward him, needing more. Unsure if I can handle it.

A second finger thrusts inside of me, and I cry out. I’m delirious with sensations.

I grip his shoulder, needing to hold onto him, to keep from floating away.

“Ivan,” I gasp his name, which seems to please him.

“Yes, sweet girl, I’m here, always here.” The pad of his thumb rubs circles into my clit while his fingers rhythmically pump in and out of me.

He kisses me again, and this time I melt right into him. The taste of him is electric; the scent of him fills me, all spice and sex. It’s too much and not enough.

“That’s my girl. Let go.”

His voice is raw, rough in my ear.

He thrusts his fingers faster, curling them in exactly the right way while his thumb dominates my clit.

I throw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest as my body tightens.

I’m a loaded gun. And his finger pulls the trigger.

My orgasm tears through me. Mini explosions pulse through me. I throw my head back, falling away from him and crying out his name. Aftershocks shoot through me as my vision finally clears.

“So fucking beautiful.” He kisses me.

It’s tender—sweet even. And when he breaks away, my mouth tingles as much as the rest of me.

I swallow, unsure of what to say, to do.

The hard length of his erection presses into my hip. Someone help me, it makes my body want him all over again.

The bathroom door bursts open.

“Ivan, you in there?” Yosef’s voice echoes in the bathroom.

Ivan moves to put himself in front of me, shielding me from Yosef’s eyes.

“Yeah.”

“There’s been an attack. We have to go.”