My heart pounds so hard I'm certain the entire restaurant can hear it. Heat rushes to my face, and I quickly lock the screen, tucking the phone into my clutch.
"I need to use the restroom," I announce, my voice higher than normal. I clear my throat. "And I should call Keira, she texted about something important."
"Don't be too long," Ares says, barely looking at me.
Katerina's gaze lingers on me a little too long. There's something in her eyes, knowledge, or at least suspicion. But she doesn't say anything.
God, how I wish I knew if she suspected anything, or if I was just totally overreacting. I've been doing a lot of that under these circumstances.
I grab my clutch and stand, willing my legs to move at a normal pace as I walk through the restaurant.
I nod politely to a server, push through the front doors, and step into the warm night air. The street hums with life. Laughter, motorbikes, the scent of honey-soaked pastries drifting on the breeze.
My pulse pounds.
This is reckless. Extremely risky. Insane. But I can't stay away from him.
I turn down the street, heels clicking on stone. The first alley is dim, tucked between two shuttered shops. It's narrow. Dark. The kind of alley your mother warns you not to walk alone at night.
I hesitate for a second.
"Niko?" I call out in a low tone, like I don't want anyone but him to hear me.
"Here, orea mou." His voice comes from the shadows, low and familiar in a way that makes my skin tingle.
I can just make out his silhouette leaning against the stone wall, hands in his pockets, waiting like a predator in the shadows. Even in the darkness, there's no mistaking him, the broadshoulders, the confident stance, the way he carries power in every line of his body.
I walk down the alley and he steps forward from the darkness like a god, the glow of the city at the edge of his jawline.
Our eyes lock and something electric passes between us. He walks toward me without a word. In three long strides, he's in front of me. His hands grab me by my waist, spin me, and pin me against the wall.
His mouth crashes onto mine.
There's no time for words. We both know time is limited, and we're starving for each other, like fire searching for oxygen to stay alive.
He's kissing me with a hunger that makes my knees weak. It's rough, possessive, addictive. His tongue slides against mine, and I moan into his mouth, my hands fisting in his expensive dress shirt.
One of his hands covers my mouth while the other grips my thigh and hoists it around his waist, hiking my dress up my leg.
This is crazy. Public. But I don't care. I want to be ruined by him.
I feel his fingers trace the edge of my panties, teasing me through the damp fabric. My head falls back against the wall, and I bite his palm to keep from making noise.
He growls low in his throat, removing his hand from my mouth to unzip his pants. I pull him closer.
The thrill of it. Public, forbidden, reckless, it only making me wetter.
His fingers push my panties to the side, and then he's sliding inside me, filling me completely in one hard thrust. The sensation is so intense I cry out, but his hand is back over my mouth, holding my moan in.
He doesn't give me time to adjust. His hips slam into mine again and again, quick, brutal, perfect. My nails claw at his shirt, grabbing fistfuls of fabric, needing something to hold onto before I come apart.
My muffled moans vibrate against his palm as he fills me in ways only he can.
Maybe it's the thrill, maybe it's my need, maybe it's the way he makes me feel when I'm with him, but I'm already coiling up tight. Whiteness at the sides of my vision. I'm going to come.
My mind goes blank, not thinking about the alley, not thinking about Ares and Katerina inside, nothing. Just lustful bliss.
I come apart like I've been waiting for this my whole life. Waves of pleasure crash over me, and I hear the sound of my rapid breathing over his hand.
