AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leo nodded. “I know, but I like to hear you say it.”
“Egomaniac,” I said, gasping when he pushed deep inside me in a long, smooth motion. I sighed and let my head flop back onto the pillow.
After nearly paralyzing me with laughter, he now moved slowly and tenderly, stroking my hair away from my face and kissing the line of my jaw. This was something different from the fevered times before. It was so good it scared me because I could get used to it. It was something I wanted to come home to after a shitty day at work. Because Leo was the kind of man, who’d listen and nod along and say your boss was an asshole, and then do this and make it disappear.
“You’re killing me,” I whispered, scraping my nails down his back. “I can’t wait anymore.”
And, like always, my wish was his command. He rose up and neatly flipped me onto my belly, then lightly slapped my backside. “Up and at ‘em, Sunshine,” he said, making me rise to my hands and knees.
He slid into me from behind, reaching to tweak each breast, then running his hands down my stomach and between my thighs. I let my head hang heavy as he smoothed his fingers up and down, teasing my clit as his pace increased. His breathing grew labored, interspersed with the hard slap, slap, slap against my backside.
I started to shake, dropping to my elbows, gasping as he pushed me closer to the edge. Yes, I could get used to this. The waves coursed through me, so intense I couldn’t scream, only melt into the mattress, shaking and letting it happen. He fell on top of me a moment later, moving my sweaty hair off my neck so he could kiss me.
“I’ll get off you when I can breathe,” he panted.
“You’re fine,” I said, struggling to come back to earth. I didn’t mind being mashed into the bed. I found his weight comforting after being so untethered by that otherworldly orgasm.
A few minutes later, he flopped to the side and tucked his arm under my head. I turned to face him, draping my arm across his chest. Slowly but surely, I lost the floating feeling, my heartbeat was normal again, and I was no longer gasping for breath.
And then I started thinking. Damn, damn, damn. So much for going with the flow.
Chapter 19 - Leo
I could tell the precise moment she was about to pull away again. The subtle, almost indecipherable way she moved in my arms, the worry behind her eyes. I didn’t want to hear it. Not again. Going from having a transcendent experience like what we could create together to being told it was a mistake was a blow I didn’t need.
Rolling over so that the arm she had draped across my chest flopped onto the bed, I grabbed my phone and kept my back to her while I checked it. I didn’t need to pretend messages were waiting for me because, sure enough, it was full of angry texts from Evelina for not answering her before she got on the plane to Russia and worried texts from Ivan wanting to know what was happening.
As I scrolled through them, it looked like Ivan might already be on his way down here since I didn’t answer him quickly enough last night. I answered them both so Evelina could stop worrying when she landed and so that Ivan might turn around and not see what a war zone his beloved vacation spot had become.
I couldn’t believe I fell asleep at Sam’s side and stayed that way all night. There were still hostages to deal with, threats to dole out to the Giannis, and updates on the New York situation. A full day ahead of me that didn’t include worrying about Samantha’s regrets. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I got up and headed toward the shower with barely a glance back at her. There was a flash of hurt in her eyes that I was dismissing her the way she’d been dismissing me after our little mistakes. Still, I pretended not to notice it and closed myself in the bathroom.
Quietly undressing with my ear practically pressed to the door, I finally heard her get up and leave my room. I instantly felt like crap for treating her so coldly, but I had feelings, too, and needed to protect my heart. I wasn’t made of stone, and there was a reason other than convenience and lack of time for a relationship that I only had one-night stands. I tended to fall hard for women that intrigued me as much as Samantha did.
Strong attachments were serious business to me, and when someone came along who made me laugh, made me think, liked all the same movies, and was so gorgeous she took my breath away, there was a chance I’d offer that woman everything. When someone didn’t want to accept that offering, it hurt. A hell of a lot. It was in my nature to go into everything with an open heart, but years of getting it stepped on taught me to be wary.
The stinging hot spray of the shower didn’t do anything to assuage my prickled ego. As much as I wanted to blame Sam for everything, I was an equal partner in our continued mistakes. I just needed to stay away from her for a while. Maybe think seriously about a trip up to New York to put some actual distance between us. What if I sent her to the Long Island house with her family and doubled the security detail? Then I could get back to normal.
None of that was happening. I couldn’t even kid myself.
Once the water ran cold, I stepped out and checked my phone again, but Ivan hadn’t answered, which meant he was probably already on his way. There wasn’t much I could do for the moment, but I could do something about those hostages.
My stomach rumbled, but I decided to skip breakfast to avoid the chance of seeing Samantha if she was hanging around the kitchen before she took her morning dip in the pool. The garden path was drenched from the storm the night before, and there were a few branches that were blown down that I had to step over, which made me wonder how the path that Sam and I usually took to get to the beach had fared.
I wasn’t going to find out any time soon if I meant to keep my promise to stay away from her for a while. I made a mental note to instruct someone else to go with her so she wouldn’t have to miss out on the time at the beach she loved so much. And the dog still needed exercise.
At the shed, I asked the guard if our guests had caused any trouble.
“Not a peep this morning,” he said.
Eyeing the metal roof, I smiled at the thought of how loud it must have been in there with the rain blasting down on it most of the night. Hot as hell, too. I was already sticky from the short walk in the shade.
“Ready to get started?” I asked, cracking my knuckles.
“More than ready,” he said.
He’d been close with the gate guard, so this was incredibly personal to him. They were all as good as family to me, and they’d threatened my unborn child, so now that I was there, I was raring to teach them some manners. He opened the heavy padlock and pulled it off the chain, and slowly opened the door with a grin that I returned. We did love our psychological torture as well.
Inside the shed, their hands and feet were zip-tied and lay in a heap on the bare wood floor. The place was hotter than I even imagined and humid to boot. I hoped they weren’t already dead. That would have been too easy after what they did, and I wouldn’t get any answers from them.
