Page 60 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Fifty-One

Dimitri

We’d bounced around the truth and my secrets easily.

I could tell she didn’t want to push me too far.

It made my chest ache considering I wasn’t afraid of pushing her too far.

We hadn’t even made it through the third course, and I didn’t care at all.

I hardly had an appetite for food anyway.

I’d done it so we could talk and hopefully fight through these raging feelings between us, but none of that mattered.

My hand found the small of her back as I led her through the intricate hallways, which was what the restaurant was somewhat known for. It was private, elusive. We could slip out the back, and before I knew it, I was hailing a cab.

Scarlett raised a brow as I guided her toward the curb, her breath coming out in soft puffs in the cool night air. “A cab?” she teased. “I thought you were all about luxury.”

I smirked, sliding my hand lower on her back, fingers pressing into the soft fabric of her dress. “I don’t want to wait for Don. I don’t want to be trapped in the back of an SUV with too many reasons to behave myself.” My grip tightened. “And I don’t want to wait a second longer than I have to.”

Her pupils dilated, her lips parting slightly, but she didn’t protest. She wanted this just as much as I did.

The cab pulled up, and I helped her inside, sliding in next to her. The driver barely glanced at us before pulling away from the curb. I gave him Scarlett’s address, my voice low.

Scarlett shifted beside me, and I felt the warmth of her leg brush against mine.

I turned my head, watching her through hooded eyes. “Behave,” I murmured.

Scarlett tilted her chin, her expression all challenge. “Or what?”

I leaned in, my lips brushing against the shell of her ear. “Or I won’t be gentle when we get back to your place.”

Her breath hitched, and my lips curved against her skin.

I could hardly contain myself. The city lights blurred past us, but I didn’t see any of it.

The only thing I could focus on was her—on the anticipation crackling between us, on the way she subtly squeezed her thighs together like she was trying to control herself.

As the cab pulled up in front of her place, I tossed the bills onto the seat in front of us and practically threw Scarlett from the cab.

She let out a startled laugh, stumbling slightly in her heels, but I caught her—my hands firm on her waist as I pressed her against me.

“Impatient?” she teased, breathless.

I didn’t answer. I just tightened my grip, my fingers splaying over the silk of her dress as I guided her toward the entrance of her building.

Her doorman greeted us with a polite nod, but I barely registered him. My pulse was hammering, my entire focus honed in on the way Scarlett’s body fit against mine as we stepped into the elevator.

The moment the doors slid shut, I had her caged against the mirrored wall, my palms flattening beside her head. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to sit through that dinner and not take you right there on the table?”

Scarlett’s breath shuddered, her lashes lowering. “That would’ve been quite the scandal.”

I dipped my head, my nose brushing against hers. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Letting the whole city see you fall apart for me.”

Her lips parted, but she didn’t deny it.

I smirked. “Maybe next time.”

The elevator chimed, and I stepped back, letting her catch her breath. The doors slid open, and she led the way, glancing at me over her shoulder, the challenge still burning in her gaze.

I followed her into the penthouse, my control hanging by a thread.

The second the door clicked shut behind us, I snapped.

My mouth claimed hers quickly. The first taste of her was like heaven.

I hadn’t realized I’d been a starving man until my lips claimed hers.

My hands grasped her hips as we stumbled through the entryway.

There was no way I was going to make it up three flights of stairs to get to her bedroom.

It was torture enough getting through dinner.

Scarlett gasped against my lips, her fingers tangling in my hair, pulling me closer. She matched me, stroke for stroke, her body pressing into mine like she couldn’t get enough.

I backed her up, not caring where we were going as long as it was close. My hands skimmed down her sides, feeling the silk of her dress bunch beneath my fingertips. She moaned as I lifted her, her legs wrapping around my waist. The sound sent a bolt of heat straight through me.

My lips trailed down her jaw to the delicate curve of her throat as she let out a moan that made my toes curl. She unleashed my hair to trail her fingers down the back of my neck while I continued my perusal.

“I never thought I could ever want anyone as badly as I want you,” I whispered against her skin.

The only response I received was another moan. “Everything about you is magnificent,” I continued as I kissed her. “But do you want to know my favorite thing?”

I squeezed her hips gently as I peppered kisses along the cleavage at the top of her dress. “Hmmm?” Her head tilted back against the wall, her heavy eyes watched me carefully.

“Your mind.” Kiss. “Your strength.” Kiss. “Your resilience.”

Her chest heaved with every breath as she watched me with glassy eyes.

“Your beautiful self? Just an added bonus.”

She grabbed either side of my face and claimed my lips in a searing kiss.

Her nails scraped against my scalp, and I groaned into her mouth, pressing her harder against the wall. The silk of her dress pooled higher around her waist, her legs tightening around me, her body heat searing through my clothes.

I pulled back just enough to look at her, my breath coming fast, my fingers still gripping her hips. Her lips were swollen, her pupils blown wide, her chest rising and falling in sharp little gasps.

“Do you really think that?” Her fingers dug into my shoulders, her voice husky.

I pressed my forehead to hers, my fingers trailing up her sides.

“You are the most brilliant, formidable woman I’ve ever met.

” My lips skimmed along her jaw. “You’re dangerous, and beautiful, and I can’t get you out of my head.

” I tilted her chin up with my thumb, forcing her to meet my gaze. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The need was still thrumming through my body, but now there was a different kind of urgency.

An urgency to be slow and gentle. To show her I could take care of her.

I pulled her away from the wall and walked her to the couch, where I laid her down.

Her legs fell open, her dress just barely covered the lace panties she was wearing.

I knelt between her legs and dragged my hands up her thighs. The fire between us was still there, still burning hot, but now it was tempered with something deeper—something that had my chest tightening as I looked down at her.

Scarlett, in all her sharp edges and guarded glances, laid out before me like this, vulnerable and trusting, was the most devastating thing I’d ever seen.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of my shirt, tugging me closer, her breath uneven. “Dimitri…” My name on her lips was a plea.

I pressed a kiss just above her knee.“Patience.”

She let out a soft, frustrated sound, but her body arched into my touch anyway, her pupils darkening as I slid my hands higher, tracing the delicate lace at her hips. I could feel her pulse beneath my fingertips, a frantic rhythm that matched my own.

I pressed another kiss to the inside of her thigh, then another, dragging my lips along the sensitive skin. “I need you to know something,” I murmured against her.

She swallowed hard, her fingers threading through my hair. “What?”

I met her gaze, my hands tightening around her thighs.

“You’re more than just a beautiful face.

” I kissed her again, higher this time, feeling the way her breath caught.

“You’re fire and fury. You’re the smartest person in any room.

You’ve survived things that would have broken anyone else.

” My fingers slid beneath the lace, tugging slowly.

“And I don’t just want you in my bed, Scarlett. I want you in my life.”

I slid the lace down her thighs, taking my time, watching every shift of her body, every shallow breath.

She kept her gaze locked onto mine, heat and anticipation darkening her irises.

I tossed the fabric aside carelessly and leaned in, my hands tracing her curves, savoring the warmth of her skin beneath my palms.

The dress—this masterpiece that clung to her like it was made for her—deserved another night on the town. So I didn’t tear it. I eased it away just enough, baring what was mine to worship.

I dragged my lips over the soft plane of her stomach, just above where silk met skin. "I want you to remember this," I murmured, the words rasping from deep within me. "You’re not something to be used, Scarlett. You never were.”

A tremor ran through her as I pressed another kiss lower, my mouth mapping out the places I wanted to know, the places I wanted her to feel me. She exhaled sharply, her body arching into me—surrendering.

"Look at me," I said, my voice thick with hunger as I pushed a finger inside of her pretty pink pussy.

She writhed beneath me as I dipped my head and lapped at her clit first. I wanted to take my time, I really did, but the more I tasted her, the more I had to have her.

I pulled my finger free from her and replaced it with my tongue.

While my tongue fucked her, I ran my thumb up her clit gently and she jolted beneath me.

A strangled sound escaped her lips as I worked her with slow, careful strokes, dragging my tongue along every sensitive inch of her.

I groaned against her, and she squirmed.

“More,” she whispered.

I did exactly as she commanded.