Balance (Off Balance Book 1) (51 page)

His infectious smile only grew larger. I had to fight mine, and the shiver from the goose bumps on my skin. The phone rang again, and this time Kova reached for it.

“What,” he snapped. A moment later he turned to his native tongue. He was short, clipped and angry. Quite the opposite just seconds earlier with me. “No, I do not want to do this,” he bit back to the person on the other end. I was curious to know what the conversation was about and why he was abruptly so angry. When I heard the name Katja, I decided against it. Kova had opened up to me about his family life, but nothing about his girlfriend. I was curious to know about his relationship with her and how they’d come together, but decided today was not the day to ask with his sudden change of tone. “I refuse to—” he said, only to be cut off. I could hear her voice and she was just as heated. His eyes widened and a scowl formed on his striking face before he sputtered off in Russian again. His voice rose and his hand tightened on the receiver before he slammed it down with her still talking. He dropped his head to his hand and rubbed his eyes. Whatever happened couldn’t be good. His body was rolled tight, fury radiating off him. A few moments of uncomfortable silence went by before I spoke up.

“If you think for one second I wore this dress for you, well, then, you’re crazy.”

Kova picked his head up and angled his body toward me, raking his eyes down my body. His shoulders relaxed and he leaned back in his chair, spreading his legs wider. This made me happy. I didn’t like seeing him so bothered and upset. I couldn’t help my eyes as they wandered over his broad shoulders down to the thick bulge in his shorts. There was no way to ignore the hard outline laying on his thigh. I tried to picture exactly how he looked under his clothes and my body warmed at the thought. He sat forward. His hand dropped to the side and his fingers danced up the back of my leg. His touch was as soft as a butterfly’s fluttering wings and caused a rush of warmth to flow through my body. Expelling a slow breath, I fought it and didn’t move, didn’t show anything on my face.

“Oh,
malysh,
I am
definitely
crazy,” he said in a low voice with a peaked brow.

I playfully slapped his hand away.

He only put it back.

“Stop!”
I whispered with a smirk.

Kova chuckled, and God help me, I loved the sound of it, loved the big grin on his face.

“I don’t know what you’re up to, but stop it.”

He shrugged as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

“What if someone walks in here?” His only answer was to skim higher up the back of my thigh. I slapped his hand away again and asked, “What has gotten into you?”

“Let us make a deal,” he offered.

My head tilted to the side. “A deal?” I asked skeptically.

Kova clasped his hands together in front of his face like he was praying. He appeared deep in thought for a moment and then spoke, lifting his eyes to meet mine.

“I will let you come in tomorrow and train, do extra conditioning, even if I do not talk to your father or have an appointment set, if tonight I can see you. Of course your routines will have to be downgraded because I cannot risk you getting hurt, but I will not make you take time off. Taking time off really isn’t needed. We just need to be cautious.”

My jaw dropped. He had me thinking I’d have to take time off! And I think I stopped breathing for a second.

Kova stood up, forcing me to straighten my back as he stepped in front of me. His presence commanded attention and my heart gave it to him completely. This dominating, authoritative side of his is what lured me to him in the first place.

“I want to see you again,” Kova admitted.

Dropping my hands, I gripped the edge of his desk as his leg brushed my thigh. He stepped even closer, so close there was hardly any space left to breathe, and I realized what I had felt hadn’t been his leg.

The air crackled with tension, the chemistry between us was blatant. I could tell he was still on edge over his conversation with Katja, but I wasn’t going to bring it up despite wanting to so badly. My heart raced, my skin prickled with the shiver I fought off. With my eyes cast downward, Kova trailed his hands up my arms, gently over my collarbone and around to cup my neck. He angled my jaw to look up at him where our eyes slowly locked. God, there were no ifs, ands, or butts about it. I was falling for Kova, and I was falling hard. His needy gaze captivated me completely. The swirling desire in his eyes, the way his eyelids lowered and his nose flared, the fullness of his lips. He stared at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the entire world. He was seducing me without saying a word, and I wondered if he felt the same way about me. Our ages forgotten in this moment of silence we shared, the obvious connection could not be denied. The intensity started to smother me. And my heart wrapped around a newfound emotion I couldn’t name. I looked down, I had to. Kova had a way of making the world disappear when I was with him.

“Look at me,” he said quietly. I shook my head. “Ria, I will not say it again.” When I ignored him for the second time, his finger skimmed along my jaw and tilted my head up, but I closed my eyes.

With a breathless murmur, I asked, “What are you doing?”

He ignored my question. “Open your eyes.” When I obeyed, his next words whispered across my tepid skin. “I have not finished tasting you.” His thumb pressed down on my lip.

“It’s not that easy.”

“Oh, but it is.” The back of his knuckles slid down my neck and over my clavicle. “Agree to my deal.”

I hesitated, my mind going over what he offered.

His hand continued down, lightly brushing my breast. “Malysh…”

“What does tasting even mean? It sounds really odd.” But hot, I thought.

He chuckled low under his breath. “Exactly why I need to show you.”

“You don’t need to do anything. You want to. There’s a difference.”

“If you had not come in here wearing that flimsy little dress and gold sandals, then maybe no deal would have been offered. But seeing you changed my outlook completely.”

“But it’s not even a real deal!” I retorted jokingly. He shrugged it off knowing I was right.

“So it’s my fault you want to…
taste me
? Kova, your choice of words sometimes worry me.”

The smirk that formed on his face almost made me smile. In fact, it did, and I laughed. Pressing a hand to his hard chest, I tried to push him back. He didn’t budge.
“
No,
”
I said again. “Go away,” I chuckled.

Kova’s hand dropped to my thigh, pushing up the seam of my dress. I half-heartedly slapped his hand away, worried someone could walk in at any given moment, but he quickly moved his hand under mine, going right back to his intended destination. He pushed my dress up higher on my silky smooth thigh, meeting the crease of my hip.

“What has gotten into you today? You’re like a dog in heat.” I clutched his shirt in an effort to push him away, but all I did was inch him closer. I was breathless, my heart raced as lust and adrenaline pumped through me.

A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I think
your
choice of words worries me sometimes.”

Rolling my eyes, I tried not to smile. “There is nothing wrong with my choice of words, thank you very much. Now, stop.” I struggled with fighting his swift fingers as he tried to slip them into my panties. Heat coursed through me and I sighed into him. I really didn’t want to stop, but after Madeline almost caught us, it would be wise if we stopped. I gripped his wrist and said, “Go…taste Katja and leave me alone.”

“I already have. Many times.”

“Getting tired of the same old…flavor?”

He shrugged with a smirk. “Quite the opposite, actually.”

I growled, he laughed. His hand dipped past the lacy edge of my panties and I choked out, “Well, go do it again.”

“I do not want her right now, I want you.” His words caused a maelstrom of emotion and feelings to strum through me. “I bet if I touched you right now your pussy would be wet.”

Shit. He was right, my panties were sticking to me, but I couldn’t admit that. I tried to roll my hips back so he couldn’t reach his destination, but I wasn’t having any luck. He was fighting me, pushing me, and truth be told, I found myself smiling and laughing as he did. I tried to force him away again, but the man was built as solid as a boulder.

“Seriously, what does that even mean? Do we all have a specific taste?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when his tongue licked a wet trail up my neck and his lips captured mine in a searing kiss.

“Do you like when I push you away?”

I shoved at him again and he stayed in place. I didn’t want him to move and I was glad he didn’t. I liked how he held steady, the strain and struggle between us. I clutched him closer to me and inhaled.

A low growl rumbled in his chest. “You could say that.”

I thought about earlier and how he swiftly came back for more, how his hold became stronger. Acting on instinct, I leaned in and bit his bicep. Not too hard, but enough for him to pull back.

“I do not like it, I fucking love when you fight me,” he admitted breathlessly, pulling back and nipping at my lips. “I like seeing the indecision in your eyes. It makes my dick hard.”

His eyes darkened with desire and my heart flourished seeing his response. My belly fluttered. He looked like a starved animal and it intrigued me. It should have sent me screaming in the other direction, but there was no denying my body and how much I wanted to run to him. Knowing I could draw this reaction from him was exhilarating and empowering.

At the touch of his deft fingers reaching inside my panties, I grew wetter, and a frenzy of fire stormed through my veins, rocking me into him.

“Ah, I knew you would be wet.” I tensed and fought a low moan in my throat. “Ah, so tight.”

“Does Katja fight you?”

The slippery lubricant allowed him to slide a thick finger easily inside. I gasped and clenched around him. When his finger hit my clit, I trembled, gripping his biceps. My head dropped to his chest.

“Not how I want her to,” he whispered against my neck.

For some bizarre reason, that pleased me. I loved how I was able to give him something she couldn’t.

“Is she tight like me?”

He didn’t answer my question and it burned my chest. Jealously flared through me because his silence was my answer. As much as I wanted to, as much as the heat made me want to agree to his every whim, I didn’t think I should. Any time we were alone or intimate, I found myself wanting more from him. It was an emotion I wasn’t used to or knew how to deal with just yet.

Now that I had his attention, I needed to bring him to his senses. A few more seconds and this was going to progress rapidly into something that couldn’t be stopped, something that was very dangerous for both of us.

“What if someone walks in here?”

Gripping my jaw in his hand, he pulled me forward and held the back of my head to him as he kissed me hard and long, thrusting his tongue in my mouth aggressively enough for me to kiss him back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close to me. He devoured my mouth with a vivacious tenacity I’d never experienced him do before. Full of zeal and hunger, and the tiny thread of control he was barely holding on to was palpable, tangible.

Kova pulled back. He removed his finger and brought it to his lips, licking his finger clean. He looked deeply into my eyes and panted, “Tonight, you are mine.”

I slid out of his hold and sauntered away. When I got to the door, I stopped and looked over my shoulder when he called my name.

“Conserve your strength. You will need it for later.”

“We’ll see about that,” I replied before exiting his office and shutting the door in his face.

S
ure enough, Kova had kept his word and showed up after dark. I didn’t question how he got away from his girlfriend, and truthfully I didn’t want to know. I was more than aware an actual relationship between us could never be, at least not any time soon, it still didn’t change the fact that I didn’t like him going home to Katja every night.

My nerves had been on edge while I waited for him. I wasn’t sure he’d truly show at first, but I wanted to make sure I was ready just in case. When I showered after the gym, I carefully shaved every part until I was smooth and silky. I lathered every inch of my naked body in lavender scented lotion and air-dried my hair with a little mousse so the waves were fuller. Picking out clothes wasn’t an easy task. I didn’t want to appear like I was waiting for him, but I also wanted to wear more than pajamas. I went with a pair of simple rolled up, dark denim shorts and an off the shoulder oversized, ivory shirt. Wanting to be a bit audacious, I skipped the cami and bra I typically wore underneath.