AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I love that Alina talks about running away with me as soon as she has her degree, but if she sees the state of my living accommodations, she might realize how far-fetched the notion is. Because she couldn’t possibly be satisfied with so little when she’s lived such a cushy life. And while I know our relationship is a fairy tale—one that won’t end happily—I’m shockingly reluctant to give it up. Even if I’m living on borrowed time.
“Please, Mishka?” she presses.
“Don’t you want to go dancing or something fun like that?” I hedge and press a kiss to her lips in the hope that it will distract her.
She accepts it willingly, but when I draw back, her eyes are tinged with sadness. “Why do you always seem so reluctant to let me into your life?” she asks, her voice revealing a hint of hurt and disappointment.
Sighing heavily, I cup her chin, running the pad of my thumb along her cheek. But I can’t bring myself to tell her my insecurities. And I can’t refuse her anything. “Alright, if that’s really what you want to do, we can go back to my place. Just… it’s not in the safest neighborhood.”
“I think I’ll survive so long as I stick with you,” she says, her eyes lighting with excitement.
Though a sense of dread still sinks in my belly, it makes my chest swell to see her happy. Stealing a last quick kiss, I grab her hand and lead the way down the rest of the fire escape steps.
My 4Runner is parked just around the corner, and I open the passenger door to help her slip inside. Then I round the front of the car and hop into the driver’s seat. It’s a short drive to Roxbury from Alina’s friend’s place, and she seems perfectly happy to chatter about school and Boris and Katie and what she’s been up to since I last saw her all the way until I pull into the parking lot of my complex.
Her eyes scan the dark lot as I put my SUV into park and kill the motor, but when I come around to let her out, she seems perfectly at ease. Despite the trio of guys lurking in the alley nearby.
I wrap an arm possessively around her waist, steering her toward the stairwell leading up to my flat.
“Hey, Orlov, who’s the smokin’-hot blonde?” My neighbor who lives in the apartment one floor beneath me leans casually against the wall on the landing outside his apartment. He has a cigarette pinched between his finger and thumb, a leer on his dark face.
I bristle defensively and secretly enjoy it when she presses a little closer into my side, but she doesn’t say a word.
“She’s none of your goddamn business, Rob,” I snap, scowling as I pull her firmly against me, my arm claiming her as mine.
He chuckles, raising his palms in surrender as he lets us pass without further issue. “Just playin’. Didn’t mean to cause trouble. You kids have fun,” he says, giving me a salacious wink before we round the stair railing and keep climbing.
I flip him off over my shoulder. Then, as we reach the fourth-floor landing, I slip my key into the lock of the nearest door. Letting us into my flat, I guide Alina in first, then release her waist to close and lock the door behind us.
Turning to face her once more, I brace for her reaction—disappointment, horror, disgust. That’s what I picture finding in her expression as she takes in my clean but rather Spartan and minimalist studio apartment. Instead, I find her gaze full of curiosity as she scans the space.
Then she focuses her attention on me with a smile.
“You’re so tidy,” she observes, stepping close to hook her fingers in my belt loops and lean into me.
I quirk an eyebrow. “Did you expect me to be a slob?”
“Well, after growing up with Viktor? Kinda. His room’s always a mess.”
Humming distractedly, I grasp Alina’s hips and guide my hands back around them to palm her perfect ass. “My father thoroughly engrained the habit of cleaning in my head,” I explain. “That way, he didn’t have to do any of the work, and he got to box me around the ears if I let any of the chores fall behind.”
It’s getting easier to talk about my past with Alina—not Sascha, so much, but at least my experiences with my father. She doesn’t get that look of pity in her eyes anymore or fall into an uncomfortable silence like most people do.
Instead, her expression softens, and she simply rises onto her toes to reward me with a kiss for opening up. It’s a rather effective training technique, I’ve come to realize. One so subtle that I didn’t realize it was happening until after I’d started to talk more freely about my old life.
Not that I’ve told her anything about my time with the Nezhit.
That information has to remain under lock and key. Because when push comes to shove, I have no doubt that Alina will be loyal to her family. That’s the kind of close they are. And my secret isn’t a small one, by any means.
My troubled thoughts vanish as her delicate kiss slowly heats the space between us. Wrapping my arms around her, I trap Alina against my body. And when I deepen the kiss, she sighs contentedly.
“So, radnaja, what did you have in mind when you asked me to bring you here tonight?” I murmur against her lips, then I trail kisses down her neck. Pausing at the hollow of her throat, I softly tease the tender flesh, sucking it between my lips and stroking it with my tongue.
Alina gasps, her fingers pressing more firmly into my shoulders at my playful attention. “I think you’ve already got the gist,” she breathes, arching into my chest.
A low, rumbling growl issues from me at the thought that her sole purpose for coming here was to fall into bed with me—an actual bed, for the first time. The temptation is too great. I can’t say no to that. Even if I wanted to romance her tonight, the thought of having her between my sheets, and somewhere entirely private, drives me wild.
With one arm around her waist, I run my other hand down her leg and hoist her up off the ground, guiding her legs around my hips. She complies willingly, gripping me with her thighs and hooking her ankles behind me.
