AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Saved by the bell,” I say under my breath, my arching hips revealing that I’m really mostly disappointed.
“The bell won’t save you when everyone’s too drunk to notice that I haul you away.” His husky promise makes heat pool between my legs, and I groan with dissatisfaction as he gives my ass a final smack and leaves.
***
A few hours later, the apartment is teeming with half-drunk people. I’ve met many of them at one or another opera house when joining Markus before or after a show; the rest, I’ve never seen. Markus seems to know everyone, though. I guess you get a lot of acquaintances with a job like his.
I wonder if Grigory is surrounded by a crowd too.
A twinge of jealousy pricks in my nerves, and I quickly shove the thought away, not wanting to confront the irrational reaction.
“You need another drink,” Lucia says, taking my cocktail glass from my hand to pour me another of her special cocktails. I have no idea what’s in the thick pink concoction. It tastes like those round chewing gums you pull from a machine and none like alcohol—just my kind of drink.
Markus plops onto the couch beside me and leans in to take a sip of the drink Lucia hands me.
“Girls only,” Lucia admonishes, swatting his hand, and I give him a too-bad smile as I take a sip of my own. “Now, where was I?” She flips her long, wavy hair behind her shoulder, flashing her manicured red nails in the process.
“Othelloand your breasts,” I say, holding my glass out for Markus to take a quick sip as Lucia swats away a bold man who dares touch the ladle in the pink bubble gum drink.
“Oh yes, Othello really loved those.” Her suggestive wink nearly gets pink drink on Markus’s sofa as I sputter a laugh.
“That’s not how I heard the story,” Markus chimes in, slipping a hand onto my thigh.
Lucia shoots him her best diva glare before returning to her story about how her breasts were about to pop from her dress when she lay over a bed, playing dead at a performance.
“So, I lay there with my head hanging over the edge and could feel how my breasts were slowly sliding free of the damn corset. I tried making these discreet hints to Antonio—whispers and hisses that I knew the audience couldn’t hear—but he was totally caught up in himself, the self-absorbed bastard. It was only when the curtain closed that he turned to me and deadpanned, ‘I can see half your breast.’”
Fumes are almost rising from Lucia’s head, and both Markus and I burst out laughing. It only takes a second before she joins in herself.
“Damn Italian men,” Lucia adds, drying her eyes. “If it had been Markus up there, I tell you he’d have noticed and thrown something over my breasts,” she says. “He’d even have made it look like it was part of the show.”
“You are aware that you are both Italian and self-absorbed yourself, right?” Markus says, and I lean into him as I shake with a new burst of laughter.
“Be careful, Markus”—Lucia points an admonishing finger at him—“or I’ll tell Clara about your little mishap inLa Traviata.” She gets up and straightens her black dress. “All this laughter presses on my bladder.” It’s my turn to get the finger. “Guard our drinks while I’m gone.”
As soon as Lucia is gone, Markus grabs my hand holding the cocktail and empties the glass with a wink.
“God, you’re trouble tonig—”
He cuts me off with a crushing kiss. The force nearly knocks me into the person beside me, but Markus intercepts with an arm on the back of the couch. Even half-drunk, he has plenty of control.
Lust swamps my already inebriated senses, and I push up my hips, moaning into his mouth as he forces his tongue deeper. I grab onto his shoulders for purchase, our breaths heaving with the intensity of the kiss. Markus digs the hard length of his erection into my pelvis, and the fabric between us is all that prevents him from thrusting into me.
“I see someone got excited from all the talk about my breasts.”
My woozy mind snaps back to the room at the sound of Lucia’s voice, and I suddenly remember we’re in a room full of people. My eyes fly open, my hands shoving at Markus’s chest to break the ravenous kiss, but he keeps going.
“You just let me know if you need saving from the beast, Clara,” Lucia says with a laugh.
“Help,” I squeal when Markus finally leans back and watches me with mischief dancing in his eyes.
Taking my glass and handing it to Lucia, he says, “Get her something more to drink. She’s too self-conscious.” He pushes up from the couch and gives me a cocky smile. “I want you hot and bothered, squirming with need when I get back.”
My cheeks turn crimson, and I stare after him with my mouth agape as he walks through the crowded living room. Lucia shoves a drink into my hand, and I automatically close my fingers around the glass, my eyes still glued to the shameless man who has my sex throbbing.
“Is he good in bed?”
“What?” Snapping out of the trance, I flicker my eyes to Lucia, who’s watching me with a playful glimmer in her eyes.
