Hold Me Tight: Heartbreakers (12 page)

“You’re so full of it. You’d better get in there. Your girlfriend is waiting.” She traced the sleek BMW that had just parked next to the other car. Mikhail Stepanov, looking very formidable, stepped out into the rain. He lifted a hand in Alexi’s direction and then strode toward the house.

In two heartbeats Mikhail came out the door, hauling Marcella by the back of her coat collar. He ignored her swatting hands, ushered her into her car and stood as she rolled down the window to argue. Whatever passed between them wasn’t pleasant. Marcella gunned the powerful engine, reversed and soared away toward the Amoteh Resort. Mikhail turned toward Jessica’s car and, with a curt nod, slid into his own BMW and drove toward his home and family.

For just a moment Alexi almost felt sorry for Marcella. She appeared lonely, but driven. Marcella appeared to place value on how she could attract and have men, not in her esteem as a woman. In his arms was a real woman with heart and compassion and strength and intelligence.

And a body that was sheer temptation. His hand slid over Jessica’s hips and accidentally inside her coat. His fingers locked onto smooth, bare, warm silky flesh and he forgot about everything but the woman in his arms. His voice seemed to echo rawly, unevenly, against the plush interior of the car. “Jessica. You are not wearing anything.”

“Apparently it isn’t a novel idea where you’re concerned. I saw her getting out of the car. She must have been freezing. Gee, and me without a wine basket. You should have taken the first offer. The benefits were better.”

But Alexi was carefully unbuttoning her raincoat, dismissing her attempts to close it. His hand skimmed her body from her thighs to her stomach and upward to cup her breast. “Are we headed for make-up sex?”

Jessica shook her head and stared down at him. “You could drive anyone over the edge and make them wonder what they’re doing.”

“I can only try, sweetheart,” he said, and watched her eyes darken as his hand slid lower.

While he caressed her softness, Jessica held very still as if locked in pleasure, unable to move. “You’d better stop that, Alexi,” she whispered breathlessly.

“Why?” But he was already bending to taste her body…. “Do you want me to?”

She could barely breathe, his lips trailing over her skin, nuzzling her breasts, his hand warming her thigh—“Don’t… stop.”

T
he offshore buoy clanged softly in the night, the sound echoing in the salt-scented wind as Alexi carried Jessica toward his home. Unhurried, he walked as if the cold rain wasn’t pelting his body.

The gesture appeared primitive and possessive. It called for a response to equal his elemental ones and Jessica gave way to the soft, feminine instincts to put her arms around him, to trust him. She eased away his hair from his cheek and wiped the raindrops from his eyebrows. The stroke of her fingertips smoothed the dampness from his sharp cheekbone.

Instantly, Alexi tensed as if caught, entranced by the unexpected; he paused and stared down at her. Her hand was still on his cheek and she lifted to kiss him lightly. For a moment his harsh expression eased and he took the second kiss, which came to her as a tender reassurance, a sharing of something deep inside him, a contrast to the primitive hardness just heartbeats ago. Her instincts moved her now and Jessica nestled her face against his throat.

Inside the living quarters, he kicked the door shut and stood
holding her as if he didn’t want to release her body. He sniffed lightly, impatiently nuzzled her face with his cold one and lowered her to her feet.

“That woman wears too much perfume.” In the next heartbeat he was striding to the windows, opening them and the door to the deck.

He opened an interior door and peered inside. “Good. She hasn’t been in the bathroom. It’s for you. I’ll get your things and move the car.”

“There’s no need—”

Alexi’s expression was fierce. “You’re staying. Her smell will be gone in a minute.”

“You don’t have to explain, Alexi.”

“I did not encourage that woman. I have told her that I am taken. When I go to the Amoteh, she stalks me. I have taken refuge here, and yet still she comes,” he stated with disgust as he bent to stoke the wood fire.

Then he stood to look at Jessica and his words were crisp with frustration and trimmed with his slight accent, the abrupt, old-fashioned phrasing. “You know that I am waiting for you. That this is right. That I have no other woman. Inside you, you know. And it frightens you. What you feel frightens you. I know this isn’t easy, we’ve known each other a short time. I want to give you better words, but I—I’ll get your bags.”

Then he was moving out into the night. Uneasy with her tumbling emotions, with the way her body ached for Alexi’s, Jessica closed the open windows and the door to the deck. She opened the bathroom that bore only Alexi’s scent, but was definitely created to please a woman—the huge footed bathtub sat next to a giant window that would overlook the ocean. A circle of pipe ran high above the tub and from it, a shower curtain pushed aside. The showerhead was well above average height, indicating the remodeling had taken Alexi’s height into consideration. Rolls of thick towels stood in a basket and a large shell filled with Willow’s fragrant soaps sat on the stool near the bathtub. Plush area rugs ran over the white tile-like linoleum, softening the room. A vanity spread beneath a wide mirror topped by soft lights.
It’s for you,
Alexi had said.

Was he that certain of her? That she would come to him?

Or were the small foil squares on the vanity meant for another woman? Did they belong to another woman?

He came through the door, raindrops glittering on his bare shoulders, and placed her luggage on a big wide chair. He turned off the bald electric light overhead and lit a match, taking it to the candles on the table. The flames flickered, throwing his tall shadow against the wall.

Jessica held her breath as Alexi walked to her. “Take off your coat,” he ordered in a whisper so raw and powerful that it rocked the room.

Her hand shot out to grip his jeans’ waistband, anchoring her fears, and Alexi nodded slowly. He leaned down to kiss her, gently seeking and rekindling the heat they’d just ignited in her car.

“I brought my own,” she whispered against his lips.

“Mmm. What?”

“Protection. Yours? Hers? In the bathroom?”

“They are mine, and if you came prepared…then you came for me.” The statement was rich with pleasure as Alexi began to remove her coat. “That means you want me bad.”

“Or you want me.”

“True. If I’m going to get you out of this coat and into my bed, you’ll have to let go of my jeans…. Or you can take them off.”

When she slowly unsnapped his jeans, her fingers trembled as she pulled down the zipper, only to find his arousal, hot and full, cradled within her hand. Satiny and hard, it burned her skin, and Alexi’s shudder caused her to look down, to stare in wonder at what she held in her hand…what would enter her body—

She drew back suddenly and stared at Alexi. She wasn’t afraid with him; she only felt the waves of desire pound at her, pressing into her, gliding, penetrating her defenses, tearing away everything but the primitive need to take him.

Jessica let her raincoat fall away and held her breath, reveling in the way Alexi looked at her body. “Come here,” he ordered, without moving. “To me.”

“I’m already here.”

“I meant closer.” He bent slowly to lift her and carry her as he had before. But this time he settled her into his bed.

Alexi removed his jeans and eased into the big bed, turning on his side to study her. Jessica smoothed his damp hair and tried to relax as his hand moved over her, caressing gently, seeking entrance to her body. “You’re going to know that you’re mine before morning comes,” he whispered against her lips.

“Or you’re going to know that you’re never going to forget me,” she answered unevenly as his open mouth dragged softly across her skin to find her breast, locking to it gently. At the first tug of his lips, the tender play of his teeth and tongue, Jessica closed her eyes and fought the building pleasure within her.

With a rough sound, Alexi turned from her, reaching into the nightstand drawer. With her hand on his taut back, Jessica murmured, “I want to fit it—”

“Not this time,” he stated rawly, and she understood his impatience because her own body was burning, aching.

When Alexi came back into her arms, they lay facing each other. She stroked that hard, taut body—his cheek, his throat, the width of his shoulder and to his hip, then across that rippling belly and up to the rough texture of that wedge of hair.

Her fingertip prowled slowly downward and Alexi sucked in air, but didn’t look away from her as she circled his navel lightly. In the shadows he smiled softly at her. “Take me. This time, you lead.”

She’d been taken roughly by another man, and Alexi’s soft order had surprised her, giving her the power she’d never had….

Jessica caught him tight with her arms and circled his leg with hers, lightly pulling Alexi until he followed her guidance, resting over her. His kisses continued, a magical seduction that made it so easy for her to take him inside to complete the lock of their bodies.

This was lovemaking,
she thought, surprised at the gentle flow, the seeking kisses, the heat within her.

But not enough,
her body told her fiercely, and she began to move desperately beneath him.

Before she could catch her passion, restrain it, enjoy the pleasure slowly, the heat and hunger rose and demanded more. Jessica feverishly pitted herself against Alexi’s strength, unable to pause, to rest, only to take—At her breasts Alexi’s lips burned, his body locking, tormenting hers by drawing away, but Jessica knew deep within her that he was claiming her and that she’d never forget the cup of his hands beneath her hips, lifting her—

Breathing hard, fighting Alexi and herself, Jessica fought and welcomed the oncoming tide of pleasure that burst over her.

Against her, Alexi’s heart raced, his body pulsing within hers, hers constricting faster and faster. Above her, he looked starkly primitive, fierce, foreign and yet familiar, a male counterpart to her passion.

Jessica forced her fingers to relax on his body, aware that she had demanded everything so real it was starkly primitive, as if nothing else mattered.

The fire crackled lightly as Alexi seemed to struggle to breathe, those fierce, glittering eyes studying her, his fingers stroking her hair across the pillow. He smiled gently, easing back a strand from her damp cheek. “You look stunned.”

“Don’t leave me,” she whispered, closing her lids against everything but the feel of his weight upon her, in her, the stroking of his hands. With care, Alexi lowered his head to rest beside hers, his kisses flowing along her cheek.

Holding him anchored gave her comfort, because Jessica’s mind churned, shocked by the passion she’d never experienced, by her own needs…by the freedom Alexi had given her to explore—

“You’re thinking too hard,” Alexi whispered against her cheek, nuzzling it to find her ear.

She turned to meet his kiss and stayed awhile to enjoy it before she moved against him once more, taking what she wanted, seeing if the first time was only in her mind—it wasn’t.

Then, exhausted and stunned and oddly complete, Jessica lay snuggled against him, her head on his shoulder. She hadn’t
expected Alexi’s tenderness, the way he held her against him later, wrapping them both in the blankets.

She awoke to him kissing her, stroking her. Dreamlike, she opened to him, found slow, melting pleasure with him and slept again.

When she awoke again, aching slightly and stretching within the warm cocoon of the blankets, she listened to the shower. Morning prowled around the heavy drapes over the windows and Jessica struggled with how to meet Alexi on this new plane. She knew exactly what had happened; it had been her choice, her need. What could she say? Should she leave now to avoid embarrassment?

She drew the sheet close against her as he opened the bathroom door. Alexi walked naked into the room while rubbing his hair with a towel.

His dark, sensual look at her told Jessica that nothing would erase the night and what had passed, and that now they were lovers, a man and a woman, starting a new day and a new relationship.
“You rested well?” he asked formally.

“Very well. Thank you.”

“Take your bath. I’ll make breakfast,” Alexi said as if they had been lovers forever, comfortable with awakening to each other.

He drew on his jeans and Jessica thought how sleek and beautiful he was, muscles sliding beneath that tanned skin—and then she found Alexi staring at her, his hands on his hips, daring her—

“A bath would be lovely.” Bracing herself, Jessica threw back the covers; she could equal his sophistication. Head high, she walked naked into the bathroom and closed the door. She leaned against it and shook her head, wondering how she could be so bold.

But when she turned to the mirror, she saw another woman, one tousled and warm and uncertain.

The door opened and Alexi moved behind her. He dropped her overnight bag on the floor and his hands came up to cup her breasts, his head lowering to hers. In the mirror, his stare was bold and possessive, and darkened when her hands came
to rest over his and her emerald wedding rings caught the light from the window.

His thumbs teased her nipples. “Tell me why the way we made love surprised you.”

“It was so…primitive. I came after you like—”

“Like a woman who knows what she wants,” Alexi finished, and moved to draw her bath.

When he turned, she was holding a towel in front of her, trying to adjust to this man, this new, baldly real situation. And Alexi wasn’t making it easy or allowing her to retreat. While the water ran, he sat on the edge of the tub, silhouetted by the ocean view behind him. “Willow tells me you like this bubble bath,” he said, pouring a liquid into the water.

Layers of steam and the sound of running water filled the room as Alexi looked at her, stirring the bathwater with his hand.

Her body seemed to simmer, hungry for his. Jessica wanted him even now, even after three times during the night!

A woman who had planned and controlled every day in her life, Jessica shivered and fought for a grasp on the morning. She couldn’t look away from the dark sensuality, the recognition in Alexi’s eyes. She felt herself heating, opening, waiting—and shivered again with the intensity of sensations, both physical and emotional, that she’d never known.

His gaze slowly, possessively, took in her body, then he rose and walked past her. “Enjoy your bath.”

“You said this was for me. What did you mean?”

“I saw the tub and I thought of you in it. I asked Willow what she thought you’d like for soaps and women’s things—”

Alarmed that her friend might be hurt, Jessica reached out to grasp his arm. “Willow? Alexi, she’s half in love with you. She’ll be terribly hurt.”

Alexi smoothly took her hand and raised it to his lips. “I told her that you were coming to stay with me. She seemed pleased.”

“You shouldn’t have told her that.”

His thumb cruised slowly across her sensitized lower lip. “Are you ashamed of what has happened between us?”

“I don’t want Willow to be hurt. She’s my only and best friend.”

Alexi traced her hair, his fingertip following a strand on her bare shoulder. “She loves you. She’s worried about you, about Howard pushing you. She almost gave her blessing.”

Jessica placed her hand over the large one prowling down over the towel to cup her breast. “I’ve been handling Howard for a long time. Willow knows that.”

His eyes locked with hers and narrowed dangerously. “Yes, but now I’m in the picture, aren’t I?”

She’d been possessed—owned and used—before. But Alexi’s statement didn’t offend her, because their lovemaking held layers of tenderness and comfort, and she had possessed him equally. “Definitely. Did you find out anything about who might be bothering Willow?”

Alexi frowned slightly. “No. She isn’t talking. But with you around, she might. I just called her to tell her that you’d probably be by later today. I told her you spent the night here.”

“Alexi! You shouldn’t have done that.”

“She didn’t seem surprised. I’m hoping you’ll spend more.” With that, he closed the door softly behind him.