The crash of our bodies feels like a new experience. Different than the first time, different than any other time I’ve ever had in my whole damn life.
She’s giving herself to me because she’s finally seen what I’ve been hiding from her.
What she does to me.
What she undoes to me.
And I can see clearly what I do to her, as if I didn’t already know it in explicit detail. It’s written everywhere: in the lost, frantic way she tries to cling to me.
In the way she still struggles with her desire, biting back her cries and going silent, only for her pent-up passion to be unleashed in high, desperate screams.
In the way she arches her back towards me, as though she’s trying to bridge the distance between our bodies. As though even an inch of separation is as painful as death.
I push back my orgasm two, three, four times. Only when her walls begin to seize greedily around me do I know I can no longer resist the release I’ve been craving.
I thrust into her hard. So hard that she jerks up towards me.
Her arms wrap around my neck as my lips find hers. For one wild moment, we’re melted into each other. One single sphere of the most intense clench imaginable.
Then the tide breaks and we both collapse beneath it. I destroy her the way I always swore to, unloading again and again with my cock buried to the hilt. Her moans cascade down until there’s no more breath left to give.
When it’s finished, I fall at her side. She curls into me at once. The thought of distance is still painful, even now.
And not just for her.
I wrap my arm and tuck her against my side with her head on my chest.
“If that’s what it feels like to get burned,” she whispers, “I’ll jump right into hell.”
I smile. “Careful what you wish for, little hellraiser. Fire is exciting. But it’s also unpredictable.”
38
ALEKS
I wake up feeling like something is off.
My mattress feels different. The light is all wrong. I normally sleep in pitch darkness, but there’s sunlight streaming in.
That’s when I sit up and realize that I’m not in my room at all.
“Blyat’。”
When was the last time I spent the night after fucking? I try to remember, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember any night with a woman at all.
As if none of them existed before her.
Olivia sighs in her sleep. I turn to look at her.
It’s nice seeing her like this. When her eyes are open, her guard is up. She’s trying to control everything around her. Always checking over her shoulder for monsters in the shadows.
But in sleep, there’s an abandonment that’s endearing. A vulnerability.
Her eyelashes flutter and her hair is strewn all around her pillow, curtaining her face. I barely restrain myself from reaching over to sweep it from her eyes.
I can’t stop looking at her, though. Even though I know I ought to.
I am not this kind of man, the one who sits awake and stares at the woman in the bed next to him and writes sonnets about the shape of her fucking nostrils or whatever.
My cock is rising slowly, but I halt that desire in its tracks. It’s one thing to fall asleep with a woman; it’s another thing to wake up with her.
Some lines cannot be crossed.
So I slip out of bed, making sure not to jostle the mattress too much. She tosses and moans slightly, but it’s clear she’s not going to wake up anytime soon.
The sheet slips down a little and I catch the curve of her breast and a tiny peek of her nipple. She looks delicious. It’s all I can do not to wake her up by sticking my cock between those luscious pink lips.
“Blyat’，” I curse again.
I grab my shit off the floor, including my phone. I’ve got two missed calls from Demyan and a bunch of text messages.
Hey bro, where are you? We need to talk.
Aleks? Seriously… where are you?
If you don’t call me back in five fucking minutes I can’t be held responsible for my actions.
I check the time on the last message—twenty-five minutes ago. “Fuck me,” I growl under my breath as I step into the bathroom quickly and push the door shut.
I dial Demyan’s number. He answers immediately.
“Yo,” he says, his tone devoid of any real concern.
“What’s happening?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing. Just got worried when I didn’t hear from you this morning. You’re usually up at the crack of dawn.”
“What time is it?”
“Let’s see… 9:40.”
Fucking hell. I can’t remember the last time I slept so late. Or so soundly.
I decide that it means nothing. I was just tired.
Demyan laughs. “You alright there, Sleeping Beauty?”
“I had a late night,” I mutter.
“Yeah, I heard a little something about that,” he says, sounding far too pleased.
“Who did you talk to?” I demand.
He cackles. “I was getting ready to throw out a full-fledged search party when you didn’t reply to my last text. Had your picture ready for the side of the milk cartons and everything. But then I ran into Jen.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic.”
“She told me you were holed up in Olivia’s bedroom. Not just that—she did a walk-by about an hour after you two went gallivanting off, and it seems as if there were some pretty telling sounds coming from the room.”
“What the hell is she doing spying on me?”
“Well, for starters, that’s literally her job title, so if you’re surprised she’s good at it, that’s your own damn fault. But in this one instance at least, she wasn’t actually spying; she was just checking to make sure Olivia was doing okay. No need to worry, it seems. Apparently, you were taking very good care of her.”
“Fuck you.”
Demyan just laughs again. Fucking hyena. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he warns.
“She knows how this works,” I say. “She wants me. I’m not going to deprive her of that privilege.”
But my bravado rings false, even in my own ears. Just yesterday, I could have said it confidently. She means nothing to me. Just a means to an end.
It would have been a lie back then, but a bearable one.
Now, though?
It’s a fucking fiction and everyone knows it. Demyan included.
“If you’re sure that’s all she wants from you,” he says cheerily.
“Where’s Jennifer?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Not sure now. She was looking for you again this morning,” he informs me. “I think something’s come up.”
“Did she tell you anything?”
“Fuck no. That girl saves the best information for your ears alone, no matter how hard I try to coax it out of her.”
“It’s why she’s my favorite,” I say. “And why you’re at the bottom of the list. Although the spying last night certainly knocked her down a peg or two.”
“Heaven forbid. Although I do appreciate her giving me some room to move up the rankings.”
“You are stuck in dead last for as long as you live, sobrat,” I drawl. “Where are you?”
“In your office. I’m going over a few plans for the warehouse projects.”