Page 13 of The Healing Touch (Manwhore #3)

“You’re welcome.” She sat back down in her position in the middle of the stack of books. She opened her own box and snatched a piece, not bothering with a plate. “Mmm, so good.”

“Hungry?”

“Starved.” She stuffed more pizza in her mouth, and he laughed as he started in on his own box.

Starved wasn’t even the word. The last time either of them had eaten had been around four o’clock or so.

He’d passed out soon after that and slept straight.

It was good pizza, but he’d still take Papa John’s over it.

“Do we have to do all of this tonight?” He eyeballed the mess surrounding her. She’d driven for hours and had to be dead tired.

“Most of it.” She put the pizza box aside and pulled over the next box she had stacked up beside her. “You have to go over to the event location tomorrow night and get your table set up.”

“ We have to go, you mean.”

Her head snapped up, eyes wide, like those of a deer who’s just realized the headlights are coming for her and there’s no time to move to safety. “No, I mean you. You don’t need me to help you set up.”

“Becca.” He kept his tone patient. “Do you think I have any idea of how to do that? Do I just pile the books up on one end? Where does all this stuff go? I have no clue what I’m doing.”

“And I know any more about it than you do?” Her eyes dared him to say yes.

“Yeah, you do. You pay attention to all that shit. Tell me you don’t.”

“I hate you.”

“You’ll love me again in five minutes.”

They worked in silence after that, but it wasn’t forced or awkward. Another first for him. Usually, women felt the need to fill up the silence with useless chatter. This was so comfortable, it started to make him uneasy. He’d check tomorrow to see if they had a room open up.

He tossed down the last of the vile paper a few hours later and noticed Becca had fallen asleep, slumped against the chest of drawers.

Her mess looked more organized, with the empty boxes now lined up and bags laid out, Post-it notes on the top one, and he assumed each bag would have one.

She’d done a hell of a lot of work, more than he had. All he’d done was sign some paper.

Cracking his knuckles to help relax his fingers, he stood, pulled the blankets down, and picked her up, careful not to jostle her too much.

She never so much as roused or even murmured.

The girl was dead to the world. He smiled when he pulled the blanket up and she flopped onto her side, her blonde hair spread out behind her. God, but she was magnificent.

His watch confirmed his suspicion. It was a little after seven. The sun would be coming up soon. He put the “do not disturb” sign out then did his business in the bathroom. The small couch was the only other place to sleep. His legs would murder him if he even tried.

Grinning like the devil himself, Dimitri made up his mind. He might yet decide to resist the temptation that was Rebecca Rhodes, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the ride until it came to a stop. Pulling the blackout shades closed, he turned off the lights and got into bed.

She’d kill him when she woke up, but it would be worth it.

Becca cracked open blurry eyes, burning up.

Had she forgotten to turn the heat down last night?

For a cheap apartment, her heating and cooling was better than decent.

She preferred the cold to the heat, and it helped to keep her bills down in the winter.

She’d better turn it down before the place got so warm she’d be dying later.

Even though it was still early May, they’d been having some really warm days in Chicago.

When she tried to move, she became aware of the heat source currently surrounding her. It wasn’t her thermostat. No, it was one Dimitri Kincaid wrapped all around her, his leg thrown over hers and one arm around her stomach, his hand curled right beneath her breasts. What the hell?

“Dimitri!”

He didn’t move. She wiggled and tried to throw his arm off, but he only tightened his hold.

“Dimitri, wake the hell up!”

He muttered something, and instead of moving, his lips found her throat. Warm kisses trailed up until they met her jawline. Becca shivered as the same desire from yesterday rolled back up and parked, her subconscious flipping her off and saying, “Screw you, Becca, we’re content right where we are.”

Dimitri’s hand uncurled, and those long fingers of his flattened against her stomach, inching upward. Asshole . “Dimitri, please…”

“Shh, Krasivaya .” His questing fingers found her breast, and she let out a low moan when he pinched her braless nipple. She twisted, trying to get away, but his other arm, which her head had been resting on, anchored her in place, his leg immovable. “Stop moving.”

The sleepiness in his voice confused her.

Was he dreaming? Or did he assume it was one of his other women in his bed?

But he’d called her Krasivaya . He had to know it was her.

Or he called them all that. It was a new word to her.

She didn’t know what it meant. When his fingers left her nipple, she let out of sigh of relief.

Only it kept traveling downward. Oh, hell no . She caught his hand in both of hers.

“Wake the fuck up, Dimitri.” She all but screamed it at him, and she felt him go completely still, his fingers already at the top of her underwear.

“Fuck.”

“Fuck is right,” she snarled at him. “Now, let me up.”

He didn’t release her right away, and it only pissed her off further. She dug her fingernails into his arm, and he groaned.

“Don’t do that.” His muscles tensed up under her hands. “That’ll get you good and fucked this morning, Rebecca, so unless you want to end up with my cock inside you, be still.”

“I want to get up.”

Dimitri ignored her, enjoying having her in his arms. God, this felt way too good.

She fit him perfectly. He’d gone to sleep, determined to be platonic, but somehow during the night, he must have pulled her close.

Or she’d rolled into him. When she’d dug her fingernails into him, it made his dick jump to attention.

He loved that sharp bite of pain. It got him sexually aroused faster than almost anything else.

Kade had been shocked when he discovered Nikoli’s bedroom activities.

It seemed his little brother had taken after him more than he’d thought.

Dimitri loved to be the dominant one in the bedroom.

He refused to hurt a woman, but he enjoyed a little pain himself.

If his partner did too, all the better, but even then, he’d never cause them harm, not even real pain.

That did absolutely nothing for him. If someone asked him to physically hurt them, he ended it then and there.

Not a game he would play. It sickened him, but tying his partner up, making sure she was dependent upon him for all her pleasure? It was his high.

Having Becca trapped, unable to move, her fingernails digging into him flipped a switch in him.

One that urged him to roll over and take her, but he fought it.

He wouldn’t. At least not yet. That switch?

It just said, “Fuck friendship.” He wanted her, and he’d have her.

He just had to go about it in a way that would convince her to say yes.

She wiggled, and he hissed when her ass rubbed against his very hard, very sore dick. “Be still.”

“Let me up.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I do.”

The anger in her voice teased at the edges of his lust-infused mind, but still he ignored her and let his lips enjoy the soft lobe of her ear. “No, you don’t. You just think you do.”

“I swear to God, Dimitri, if you don’t let me up right this minute, I will kick you in the balls so hard you won’t screw anyone for a good month.”

The desperation in her voice confirmed his suspicions. She wanted him. “Let’s make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” Wariness flared in her words.

“A simple thing, really.”

“Nothing’s ever simple with you.” She stopped struggling, and he sent a prayer upward in gratitude.

“If you want up, you have to kiss me.”

“Asshole, I’m not kissing you.”

“It’s just a kiss, Rebecca.”

“But?”

He cackled. Yes, cackled. This seduction of one Rebecca Joyce Rhodes was going to be fun.

“But nothing. If you want up, then kiss me.”

“This isn’t a good idea, Dimitri.”

Yup, there was that desperate tone again. He rubbed his leg up and down hers, causing her even further sexual tension. It was a low blow, and he knew it, but he did it anyway.

“We already talked about this last night. We decided…”

“No, we didn’t decide. I just agreed it was a bad idea.”

“And now you think it’s a good idea?”

“No.” He nuzzled her neck. “It’s a fucking stupid idea, but it doesn’t change the fact I’ve wanted to fuck you since I saw you yesterday morning, all sleepy with that freshly fucked look.

Had you just gotten done pleasuring yourself, sweetheart?

Is that what had you so flushed, your hair everywhere? ”

Holy hell. Becca had no answer to that. Her face was heating up to epic proportions. She could feel the flames licking at her.

“That’s it, wasn’t it?” he purred. “Just think, Krasivaya , what it would feel like if my fingers filled you instead of some sterile piece of plastic. Close your eyes and think of my cock filling up that pretty little pussy of yours.”

She took a deep, steadying breath. This was not happening. She had to be dreaming. She was trapped in a wet dream. That was it. This was all a dream.

His fingers slipped beneath the waistline of her panties, and she pulled at his arm, panic riding up her spine. “Fine, you can kiss me, just stop…this!”

The laugh that rolled through him shook her. “I don’t think you’ll want me to stop soon enough, Krasivaya .” He flipped her faster than she could blink and settled on top of her, his body covering hers.

“You said just a kiss.” His eyes were full of the devil, and she knew it wasn’t going to be just a kiss. He was going to make her remember this.

He nodded and dropped a tiny kiss on her nose. “Relax, sweetheart, it is just a kiss.”

Dimitri propped his weight on his elbows, and the lust in his eyes made her look away, but he was having none of that. “Eyes up, Becca. Look at me. I want those eyes.”

This was a side of him she’d never seen before, this demanding, dominant side.

It caused her to tense up, but in places that shouldn’t be tensing.

It turned her on, and that was something she’d never admit to him.

Best to let him kiss her then beat the shit out of him.

She’d sleep in the Jeep tonight if she couldn’t find another room.

When she finally managed to meet his gaze, she wanted to hide from what she saw. They burned with a desire that lit the cooling embers of her own.

“Good girl.” He dipped his head and trailed feather light kisses over her face, teasing her even as she forced herself to stay still, to show no reaction to something she’d dreamed of for years.

The reality was so much better than the fantasy.

The heaviness of him, his smell invading everything…

oh, yeah, definitely better than the fantasy.

His lips finally met hers, but they weren’t hard and demanding like they’d been last night.

They were gentle, even hesitant as they learned the feel of hers.

Dimitri took his time, his tongue darting out to trace her lips before sucking her bottom one into his mouth.

It was odd. She’d never had someone do that before, but a good odd. She liked the sensation.

This time when his tongue slipped into her mouth, she was ready for it. And still, it did her no good. Tingles broke out along her skin, the slow burn that started earlier erupted, and she gasped, her hands automatically going around his neck.

He pulled away, gathered her hands in one of his, and jerked them over her head. “Sweetheart, if you touch me right now, more than a kiss is going to be happening.”

His lips recaptured hers, and he began an assault in earnest. Before, he’d been teasing, playing with her, but now he meant it.

He deepened the kiss, his lips mastering hers with ease, and she let him.

She’d wanted to resist, but there was no resisting Dimitri.

Why she thought she could was beyond her.

He had her good and truly trapped, all avenues of escape gone.

So, she did the one thing she promised not to—she gave in and kissed him back.

His groan matched her own when her tongue started to duel with his.

She tried to pull her hands free, needing to touch him, but his hold tightened.

Two could play that game. Her leg was wedged between his, and she rubbed it up against his cock.

She felt him go completely still before finally pulling his lips from hers.

“Do you want me to fuck you?”

Yes . “No.”

“Then don’t do things that will make me do exactly that.”

“You wouldn’t.” This much she was certain of. A kiss was one thing, but Dimitri would never force himself on her, no matter how aroused he might be. It wasn’t his way.

He dropped his head in the crook of her neck, breathing hard. “This was a bad idea.”

“I told you that already, asshole.”

He pushed himself up off the bed. He didn’t say a word as he walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Asshole.