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As he walks away, closing the door behind him, I feel a flutter in my stomach that I hadn’t expected to feel with him. It feelsgoodto be wanted by him. I had thought it would be frightening, something to endure—but I feel…
I don’t even know how to describe it, fully. But I find myself almost disappointed that he went downstairs, instead of tumbling into bed with me yet again.
You’d be so sore you wouldn’t be able to sleep if he did,I tell myself, feeling the faint ache still between my legs from earlier. I look for my suitcases, which are propped against the far wall near the closet, and walk over to look for something I can sleep in. I’ll have to unpack at some point—Theo still hasn’t told me how long we’re staying, but I have a feeling it’s for more than a few days.
I’m asleep almost the moment I fall into bed, not even bothering to slip under the covers. I find a warm wool throw blanket instead, curling up under it in my silk pajama shorts and camisole, and the moment I sink into the downy pillows, I’m out like a light.
The sleep isn’t dreamless, though. I don’t remember much of it—tangled nightmares involving Theo and Adrik and the two of them, a flash of blood and smoke, a scream—I wake to the sound of heavy boots in the hall, stopping at my door.
I sit up partway, pushing my somewhat tangled hair out of my face. It’s not Theo—he wears lighter shoes than that, made of expensive Italian leather. It sounds like the sort of footfalls I’m used to hearing when Adrik would come to my room—but it can’t be him. He wouldn’t dare—
The door, which I hadn’t bothered to lock, pushes open, and I see him standing there.
It seems that he would, in fact, dare.
“Adrik.” I breathe his name, startled, pushing back the blanket and getting out of bed without thinking. It’s not until his hungry gaze rakes over my body, coming back up to settle on my breasts, that I remember what I’m wearing. I cross my arms over my chest, feeling suddenly very vulnerable—and confused.
He’s as gorgeous as ever, in his usual uniform of black cargo pants and fitted black t-shirt, that chiseled face and soft short blond hair exactly as I remember the last time I saw him. The sight of him standing there, filling the doorway, makes my stomach flip, and my heart clench in my chest.
I care about Adrik. Whatever I’m feeling with Theo hasn’t changed that. And the desire hasn’t gone away, either. There was a reason I chose him to be my first, and I can see it all over again as I look at him, shivering a little in the chill of the room.
Adrik’s gaze stays on my breasts for a moment, as if he can see what’s beneath the thin silk of my camisole, my stiff nipples and chilled skin. I have a moment’s thought of what it would be like for his broad, warm, rough hands to slide over my skin, and my stomach flips over again.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper, and he slips into the room, shutting the door heavily behind him. My mouth drops open. “Adrik—”
“I came to see you.” He crosses the room in two strides, stopping in front of me, those warm, rough hands on my upper arms. “It’s been torture, waiting to come up here and speak to you—”
“What will be torture is theactualtorture Theo and my brother will put you through if you get caught up here!” I hiss, looking at the door with something verging on panic. Theo had made a point of saying that the house was empty of staff and that the security makes themselves scarce—Adrik has no real excuse for being up here. The best he could probably come up with is that he didn’t know better and came to check on me as he’s accustomed to doing back at home—but what if theydidtell him that he’s not supposed to do that, and he’s caught lying? Not to mention the fact that I don’t know if Theo would buy the excuse in the first place—
“I don’t care.” His hands smooth over my arms, fingers pressing into my flesh with urgency, and I can feel the desire radiating off of him. He stares down at me with those piercing blue eyes, a mixture of anger, hurt, accusation, and lust all mixed together in that expression, making me feel terrified and a little weak at the knees all at once. “I saw you on the plane, Marika.”
“I know,” I whisper. There’s no point in denying it; I’m almost certain that he saw me catch his eye from where he’d stood at the end of the jet’s aisle. “Adrik—”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t want it,” he murmurs harshly, gripping me a little tighter. “I saw you come.” His accent thickens, the words spoken between his teeth. “I know you, Marika. I’ve made you come enough times. Don’t tell me you faked it, either. I know what you sound like, that pretty expression on your face.” One of his hands leaves my arm, his fingers brushing over my lower lip, and I draw in a breath. I can’t help it. It sends a pleasurable tingle over my skin, making me shiver in his grasp.
“You still want me.” There’s clear satisfaction in his voice. “I wondered if you did, or if that bastard had made you forget all about me. But you haven’t.”
It takes a moment for me to find my voice, to be able to speak at all. I’m still stunned that he came up here, that he had that much nerve—or was that stupid, depending on how you look at it. I know howIlook at it. “You need to go, Adrik,” I tell him with as much authority as I can muster. I’ve tried not to behave like his employer, when we were home—but he’s putting us both in danger now. I pointedly avoid the topic of whether or not I’ve forgotten about him or want him.
It’s a pointless conversation and one that will only make things harder.
“I just got here.” His fingers trace from my lower lip to my jaw.
“If Theo finds you—”
“He won’t.” He says it with such confidence that it’s clear he knows something that I don’t. “He went out to the nearest shop to get food. I heard him calling his driver.” Adrik says the last word with distaste, as if he’s forgotten that I’m someone who’s always had a driver, too, for whom this is a normal thing. “He won’t be back for a little while.”
“You can’t put me in this position.” I try to disengage from his hands, but he’s holding me tightly. Almosttootightly. “Nikolai sent the security with me to keep mesafe. Not to put me in more danger—that’s what you’re doing. Someone else could see. Someone could have seen you come up here—”
“They didn’t.” His hand winds into my hair, and I’m suddenly torn between memories of him, and how many times he’s pulled my lips to his exactly like that—and of Theo’s hand in my hair earlier, as I went to my knees and cleaned our mingled cum off of his cock. Something that I would have thought would have horrified me—and instead left me aching for him all over again.
Adrik starts to walk me backward, and I realize with a sudden clench of my stomach that he’s backing me towards the bed. “Adrik—”
“I miss you.” His hands drop to my waist, sliding up towards my breasts, and I go to push him away, but it’s like shoving a brick wall. “What I saw on the plane—” He leans down, his lips grazing over my neck. “I know you have to put on a show,” he murmurs, the kiss sliding over my earlobe. “I know you have to make him believe you want him. But did you have toactuallycome, Marika?”
The accusation is in his voice again, and I feel guilty—for both men. I’ve been put in an impossible position, one that I thought I understood, and one that, all too late, I’m realizing I didn’t have a full picture of.
Adrik backs me up to the very edge of the mattress, my thighs pressing against it, and I feel a leap in my chest that’s half fear, half desire. I cling to the fear, because it’s the only thing that will keep me from making a terrible mistake that will only complicate everything so much more. “I couldn’t help it,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean to.”
