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Rolling my eyes, I smile indulgently as I think about Viktor. “My brother’s a terror.”
“Yeah, but actually, those guys were looking for a fight. They’re the reason we could find you in time, when it comes right down to it.”
“Viktor said they mentioned something about the men… in the basement?” I swallow hard, knowing that broaching the subject will bring up a hundred and one questions between us that I’m not ready to answer.
Without a word, Mishka seems to understand, and he simply pulls me closer, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Yeah, the guy I was fighting was trying to get a rise out of me. Talking crap. It’s what made me think to start there when we went looking for you. Looking back on it, after what they said to you, those guys must have intended to snatch Viktor.”
I nod against his chest, a shudder running through my body. Mishka’s hands instinctively start to rub up and down my arms, as if trying to warm me. It works, though not in the way I imagine he intended.
Heat blossoms in my core, and lying here, wrapped in the arms of the man I love, all I want is to be close to him, to wipe what happened from my brain and replace it with a good memory. An overwhelming need to relieve my stress consumes me.
I lean onto my forearm, drawing away from Mishka so I can press a kiss to his jaw. His eyes sink closed, as if soaking up the sensation, and I press another kiss to his black eye. Then his lips.
His eyes open when I pull back, and while one arm continues to encircle and hold me, the other hand reaches up to gently comb a lock of my hair behind my ear.
“I thought I might lose you today,” he confesses, the words barely more than a whisper. “It nearly killed me. I would have done anything to get you back. Anything. You know that, right?”
I nod, my heart swelling. How can I love this man so much? “I’m right here,” I promise him.
He gives me one of his rare smiles, his eyes lighting with pride. “My little zlyuchka. Those bastards couldn’t keep you for long, could they?”
I laugh, reveling in the way he admires me, and I lean in to kiss him again, slowly and sensually, showing him exactly what I need from him right now.
16
MISHKA
It was a terrible idea to sneak into the Sakharov house in the first place, and it’s an even worse idea to sleep with Sergio’s daughter right under his nose. Viktor’s threat was not made idly, and I know that.
But when I’m with Alina, I lose all my common sense.
When she touches me, it drives me wild.
After coming so close to losing her not once, but twice in the last twenty-four hours, I’m not about to miss an opportunity to hold her if she’ll let me.
Her full lips are soft and inviting as they caress mine, telling me that despite everything she’s been through, she wants more from me tonight.
And God, but I want all of her.
It feels so good to feel her safe and warm and alive in my arms. I want to worship every inch of her, to thank her for protecting the person I cherish most in this world.
Her tongue traces the seam of my lips, requesting access, and I grant it readily. Deepening the kiss, I cradle the back of her head as I stroke my tongue into her mouth, tasting her fresh, minty breath.
Alina gasps, the sound awakening a fire inside my chest, and as she kisses me more urgently, I roll until I’m hovering over her, letting her lie flat on the bed while I frame her with my arms.
The softest moan rushes past her lips and down my throat, making my pulse pound. As her knees bend, her legs spread to invite me closer. My already raging boner presses against the zipper of my jeans, and she rolls her hips, feeling my hard length.
“God, I want you,” she breathes.
And though I’m throbbing to be inside her, I hesitate. She’s been through a lot, and I don’t want to take advantage of her if she’s in a vulnerable state.
Breaking our kiss, I peer down into her clear blue eyes and find them filled with a desperate kind of heat. “You’re sure?” I ask.
She nods as a sheen of tears makes her eyes gleam. “Please, Mishka. Make me feel alive.”
The sound of my name on her lips blasts through my trepidation, and her plea makes my heart ache because she came far too close to not being alive for my comfort.
I kiss her with renewed energy, pouring every ounce of my desperate love and devotion into it. Alina is an all-consuming fire, and like a moth, I’m drawn to her without hesitation or regard for my safety. I need her with every fiber of my being, and to show her that by making love to her is all I want to do right now.
