Page 29

CHAPTER 28

EMERY

I don’t sleep well at all, so when I wake up for the third time and it’s almost six in the morning, I roll out of bed and put workout clothes on. Might as well make the most of the pre-Inessa hours of the day.

The house is completely still. I use a bottle of water I filled last night to brush my teeth, lest the running water through the pipes wakes up my tiny and adorable-but-dictatorial charge, then I pad down the hall barefoot, grateful for the thick carpeting that allows me to glide silently past her bedroom.

At the other end of the hall, I’ve just turned the doorknob to go upstairs when I hear Alexei murmur my name from his room.

Surprised that he’s awake already, I turn, thinking he’s seen me, but his door is pulled to—not shut, but not ajar, either.

Frowning, I lift my hand to knock, wondering how he knew I was in the hallway, and then I freeze.

Because he says my name again, but it’s not…

It’s not like he’s calling out for my attention.

It’s low, it’s growly, and it’s private.

“That’s it,” he breathes. “Ride me.”

What the fuck?

If the house wasn’t so completely still, I wouldn’t hear him at all. He probably thinks everyone is still asleep.

My ears turn hot as the next thing I pick up is the unmistakable sound of skin slapping.

He’s…

I need to move, but my feet are made of lead. I sway forward, straining to hear what he says next. My hand comes up to brace myself, because all the blood rushing to my head means I can’t think straight, and I don’t remember that the door isn’t latched.

My palm connects with the panel and the hinges squeak.

It’s the loudest sound in the world, worse than a shotgun going off, and in the crack that forms between the door and the frame, I see Alexei’s body arch off the bed, his horrified gaze meeting my prying eyes.

He’s almost naked, a pair of black boxer briefs pushed down around his hips.

His hand is wrapped around his straining erection, which stands out like a spotlight is on it, shining wet at the tip.

“Emery,” he chokes out, and his whole body convulses, his cock erupting in his hand. My eyes go wide as his release sprays up his torso.

My head spins, feeling faint now, and suddenly my feet can move. They move so fast, spinning on the spot and darting for the stairs, yanking the door shut behind me as I flee to the third floor and stumble to my knees.

My thighs are shaking, my hands too. Everything. Shaking. Panicking.

I can’t hear anything over the pounding of my pulse in my ears.

And then it fades, slowly, and my cheeks are so, so hot, but the house is…quiet.

Maybe it’s okay. Maybe Alexei is cooler about sex than I am, and it’s no big deal that I stumbled across a private moment and invaded his space and watched him?—

Watched him?—

It replays through my mind like black and white art prints. The long stretch of his body spread out on his bed, legs flexed, cock in his hand. The taut contractions of his muscles as he sat up, his hand still…there. The shape of his cock, how hard it was in his hand, straining and big.

And the way he said my name again…

That’s not a photo. That’s a moving video clip, seared into my mind. It makes me short of breath and achy even thinking about it for a second.

The choking sound. The uncontrollable spurts.

There was so much?—

Downstairs, a door opens. Closes. Another door opens, and then there are footsteps on the stairs. Coming up.

I turn, still kneeling, bracing myself for the world’s most awkward conversation.

Alexei turns the corner. He’s pulled on a t-shirt, something softly worn, a logo faded beyond recognition, and a pair of jeans that are pulled on but not zipped up. His hair is sleep-tossed and standing on end, but his face is a careful, blank mask.

His chest rises and falls, and we just stare at each other for a long beat.

“Why did you run?” he finally asks, his voice tight.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. There’s a fierce buzzing in my ears.

He takes two slow steps towards me, then stops again. “I didn’t know you were awake.”

“Same,” I whisper.

“Are you okay?” His brow pulls together and his mouth draws into a firm line.

“What?” I practically gasp the word.

“I—” His frown deepens. “Are you upset with me?”

I laugh in disbelief. “Could have been my question to you.”

His chest rises in a deep inhale. He’s so tall, always, but especially when I’m kneeling.

And from this angle, it’s hard to miss the bulge of his underwear in the open fly of his jeans. His cock is still pretty big, even after a climax that tore the roof off.

“I’m not upset with you, Emery.” His frown deepens. “I like you watching me. You didn’t need to run away if you wanted to see what I was doing.”

“I didn’t…” But I did. I stood there and wondered what he was doing, what it would look like. I was deeply curious and I tried to hear more, see something…and then I ran as soon as I was detected. “I thought it was private.”

A slight smile tugs at the corners of his mouth, even as his eyes darken and grow more intense. “We can share private things.”

It’s a flash back to two years ago.

And he thinks I’m so much more experienced now.

“Do you want that, Emery?” His voice is silky now.

I swallow hard.

His hand comes to rest over his thick, straining erection, his fingers curling into his open fly. “Do you want to see how hard I get when I think about you?”

“You already came,” I say inanely.

His eyes flash. “But you’re on your knees in front of me, sunshine. So I’m aching all over again. And if you keep looking at me with that hungry gaze, I’ll probably embarrass myself again, too.”

It was shocking, yes. Intimate…oh yeah.

But embarrassing?

I lick my lips. “It was actually hot, and I’m sorry I interrupted you. Did I…ruin it?”

He groans and squeezes himself. “No. You just surprised me. And then I couldn’t help myself.”

Because of me .

“Can you do it again?” That lightheaded feeling is back again. “You said you’d show me. I want to see you, Alexei. I want to see how hard your cock is.”

And if my voice wavers on cock , I pretend it doesn’t.

“Fuck.” He goes to push his underwear down, then stops. “Can you touch yourself, too?”

He steps closer again, until his toes bump against my bare knee.

That’s it. That’s all the contact he makes with me, but it’s enough to light me on fire.

I was already hot inside, but now I feel burning desire licking all over my skin.

“Slide your fingers into those tight little shorts. Touch your pussy for me.” He exhales hard. “That would make me come again. Just seeing your hand moving inside your clothes. Knowing you are touching yourself. Seeing that secret pleasure.”

His words are hypnotic.

This hardly feels real, and maybe that’s what makes it possible for me to ease my fingers into my shorts, then into my panties.

The fabric tents over my knuckles as I push my middle two fingers down over my cleft. I gasp as I feel how warm and swollen and wet I am already.

Above me, Alexei groans. “Fuck, Emery, I can hear how wet you are.”

Oh, God.

He pushes his own hand into his underwear, obscenely straining the limits of the fabric.

“You promised to show me,” I pant. My fingertips find my clit, and I shudder at how sensitive it already is.

Maybe if I wasn’t such a scaredy cat, I could have crawled onto his bed and he would have fucked me.

My breath picks up.

But I’m not scared now. By following me upstairs, Alexi has unlocked a deep desire inside me, to see and be seen.

He growls as my hand moves faster, my fingers swirling now.

With my other hand, I tug at my sports bra, wanting my breasts to be free, needing to pluck at my nipples.

His gaze darkens. His pupils dilate, and he pushes his underwear down.

His cock is right in front of me now, and if I thought it looked big through the crack of his bedroom door, that’s nothing compared to how beautifully, terrifyingly large it is right in front of my face.

I don’t think I would be able to wrap my fingers all the way around him, and I seriously doubt that thing could fit inside me. But at the same time, his scent swirls through my senses, imprinting in my memory in a special way. I’ll never forget this.

My mouth from falls open, my tongue slicking against my bottom lip.

Alexei moans and his stroking hand speeds up. His voice, when he speaks, is heavy with lust. “Do you know how much I want you?”

I blink up at him.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” He pumps his cock. “I don’t think I can stop.”

“Don’t stop,” I beg.

“You have to keep touching that pussy,” he growls. His gaze slides from my face back to between my legs. “We don’t need to have any secrets between us, Emery. You can show me how pretty you are when you come.”

My knees shift wider, my hips tilting up. My clit is so hard now. I wish I was naked. I wish he could see?—

We don’t have any secrets between us.

“Nothing is off limits,” I breathe.

He nods. “That’s right. No secrets. No limits. If you want something, all you have to do is ask. Or show me.”

Show me.

Those two words are so powerful.

I slide my legs out from under me and lie down, shoving my shorts down my hips as fast as I can, before I lose my nerve.

I want him to see me like this, aching and on fire for him.

Alexei makes a desperate sound low in his throat as I spread my legs for him, and he drops to his knees, yanking off his t-shirt.

If he tried to take me like this, right now, I would let him.

Bare cock, nothing between us. It would be stupid, and I would still let him.

But he doesn’t.

He just bites his lip and strokes harder and faster, his eyes locked between my legs.

“Never seen anything more beautiful than you,” he says. His free hand ghosts over my thigh, and that’s all that it takes for the tight coil in my belly to snap.

As my clit starts pulsing against my fingertips, I press my lips together, my back arching, and I swallow a scream.

I come hard against my fingers, my whole body shaking, wetness slicking my fingers and the tops of my thighs.

I recognize the next sound he makes, a choke low in his throat, the same sound he made when I opened the door,.

This time, his seed splatters all over me. My bare thighs, my hand between my legs, and up onto my belly.

“Oh, fuck. I’m sorry,” he groans. “I’m so sorry.”

“No…” I catch his hand and interlace our fingers as he tries to wipe it off me with his t-shirt, even as he’s still coming.

“Nothing is off-limits between us,” I repeat breathlessly.

He curves over me, his cock wet against my belly, and he presses his mouth against mine, so close it’s almost a kiss, and I can feel his next words more than hear them.

“Moya polovinka,” he murmurs. The unfamiliar Russian words roll right through me, followed by the deepest kiss he’s ever given me.

And in this moment, it feels like it might actually be true that there’s nothing I couldn’t ask of him, and nothing I wouldn’t give him.