AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We’re only twenty feet from the secondary entrance to the restaurant—a blacked-out glass door next to the women’s restroom—when a harsh male voice cuts through the white noise of restaurant conversation.
“A deal is a fucking deal and he knows that,” the man hisses.
Cora stiffens. I tuck her behind me, twisting towards the voice.
It’s coming from the men’s restroom.
“He made a deal, but the details have changed since it was agreed upon,” a second voice says. “I think maybe that gives him—”
“He swore to marry a Sokolov daughter, and that is what he will do,” the first man says. “Konstantin won’t be made a fool of.”
The fucking Sokolovs.
Cora tugs on my arm. “Ivan? What is it?”
I don’t have time to explain before I hear footsteps moving towards the door.
In any other situation, I’d gladly confront whoever is in the bathroom right now, get the answers I need, and leave them for dead. But Cora…
She’s clinging to my hand with trembling fingers. She’s scared, and I have to get her out of here. I won’t put her in harm’s way again.
The bathroom door starts to swing open. In a single move, I spin Cora towards me and tuck us both into the small, shadowy alcove between the men’s and women’s restrooms.
We need a cover. A distraction. An alibi of sorts.
So, as the men’s voices grow louder and emerge only a few feet to my right, I grip Cora’s chin and claim her mouth with mine.
42
CORA
I have no clue what is going on.
Champagne, fleeing, mysterious voices, and now…kissing?
I don’t have even a second to make sense of it all before Ivan whips me into a corner, presses every inch of his muscled body against mine, and kisses the hell out of me.
I hear male voices grow louder and then retreat, but I’m not sure if they’re actually gone or if the thrum of blood through my veins is drowning everything else out.
All night, I’ve felt a buzz under my skin. A sense that I’m too big for my body. Now, with his soft lips on mine and his hands sliding along my waist, I’ve been unleashed. The monster crawling under my skin takes over, fisting the collar of his shirt and hauling myself up because no matter how close I am to him, it isn’t close enough.
He loops a hand around my waist and presses me more firmly into the wall. I can feel every inch of how much he’s enjoying this against my inner thigh.
His tongue flicks across the roof of my mouth and I shudder with animal pleasure. I bite his lower lip and curl my fingers through his hair, holding him against me, trying to stretch this moment on and on and on.
But I can feel him retreating. His hands have gone still over my ribs like he doesn’t dare move another inch higher. He’s drawing back, putting space between our bodies that leaves my flushed skin cold.
One last brush of tongues and lips. Then it’s over.
“Cora,” he murmurs in a husky snarl.
If he’s trying to stop this, then he shouldn’t say my name like that.
Reluctantly, I let him go and slide to the floor on shaky legs. He’s looking down at me with glowing amber eyes. Then he glances up and down the hallway, and it hits me…
This kiss was a cover.
A strategy.
