Lie to Me (22 page)

Slowly, he took the thin band of elastic at her waist and tugged it down, exposing her bottom. His lips dusted across her cheeks, down the backs of her thighs, down to the sensitive flesh behind her knees. His mouth stopped there, his breath tickling as he pulled the thong the rest of the way off her legs and tossed it aside.

Sasha whimpered as anticipation built.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. Gently, reverently, one hand stroked the curve at the base of her spine, the slope of her narrow hips. One fingertip dipped into the channel between her rear cheeks and made a slow descent over the puckered tiny entrance, then corkscrewed to dip into her wet sheath. As he pushed it inside her pussy, Sasha’s breath caught. She pressed back against the delightful invasion.

“So wet and pretty.” One hand clamped at her waist, he used it to guide her body in a countermotion against his probing finger. He withdrew, then eased a second inside, scissoring them to spread her wider. “Ah, princess, I keep thinking if I fuck you hard enough, long enough, the need will stop.”

He rose up to his knees, his hand sliding from between her legs to join the other at her waist. Through the light material, she felt the sweet press of his lips against her spine.

“But you’re in my blood. I burn for you.”

A fierce shudder gripped Sasha. She bit down on her lower lip to silence a moan and stop a sudden unexpected rush of tears. As Alexei’s body covered hers, the wide thick head of his cock pressing at her opening, she curled one hand into the sheets and held her breath until the painful swelling behind her lungs ebbed. When it did, when Alexei
inched himself inside her pussy and came to a torturous stop, she ordered her body to stay still. He had asked her to submit. She wouldn’t drive back and take him as she wanted.

But she wasn’t opposed to begging for what she needed most. And what she hungered for went beyond just the union of their bodies and the promise of fulfillment. “Make love to me, Alexei. Lie to me—tell me you need me. That you won’t let me go.”

O
ne deafening clang of his heart warned Alexei he should stop. Pull back now, refuse what she asked, because it was too damn close to the truth. No…It
was
the truth. And if he said the words, even if she believed they were lies, he was done for.

Even that warning toll couldn’t make him withdraw.

Teeth clenched against the powerful swell of feeling that threatened to suck him under into a deadly riptide, he pushed all the way inside her hot, slick sheath. Buried to the hilt, he struggled to convince his lungs to unknot, battled against the shaking in his gut. Long and slow, he let out a constricted breath.

And then, the words fell free, giving him deliverance with the unchained truth. “I need you, princess,” he whispered against the back of her neck. Arching his hips, he pulled back, sliding almost all the way out of her soft, sweet flesh, then thrust in slow again. “You’re mine. Always mine. I won’t ever let you go.”

The rest of everything he wanted to say, things he had no right to confess, lodged in the back of his throat as pleasure saturated down his spine. Her pussy gripped and squeezed with each thrust and retreat, the hot wet walls slick with her cream, yet holding on tight, refusing to let him edge down from the high precipice of need coursing through his system.

He pulled back, determined to make this last as long as he could. For here, inside Sasha, he was absolved of sin, cleansed clear to his very soul. Holding on to her hips, he pushed her body away from him and
dropped his gaze to watch the way his thick cock possessed her. The sight of himself, slick with her juices, made him swell even more. Dimly, he realized he’d neglected a condom, but damn, this felt so right, so perfect, he didn’t care. Besides, they’d moved beyond that intolerable barrier once already.

Probing deep, he savored the velvety feel of her, and as she began to move in time with the rhythmic thrusts of his hips, he reached around her waist to stroke her distended clitoris. Sasha let out a throaty moan.

“Like that, princess.” He grimaced against the fire that streaked through his cock. “Just like that. Feels so damned good inside you.”

“Alexei, please.” She thrust her hips into him, urging him to pick up the pace.

Not yet.
He resisted the temptation, and with his thighs against hers, leaned his weight into Sasha, denying her the ability to rise against him. He wanted her to splinter apart…just like he would when he gave in to the building pressure in his balls and the throbbing of his cock.

When his finger was slick with her arousal, he drew it lazily down the tight crease of her ass, teasing that forbidden entrance. “I want to fuck you here,” he murmured as he pressed the pad of his fingertip against the tiny rosette.

Sasha mewled. Her body tensed as she tried to press into the slight pressure of his finger. Around his cock, her pussy pulsed. “Alexei…”

Oh, holy hell, she
liked
that. He’d never anticipated she might. More correctly, he’d never anticipated she would like
him
possessing her in that most intimate way. He choked down a groan and bit the inside of his cheek. Gently, he eased his finger inside the tight channel, up to the first knuckle.

Sasha turned her face into the pillow and muffled a sharp cry. She moved against him again, and this time he let her. As her pussy took his cock in deep, his finger slid past the band of muscle, and he felt her entire body quiver.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“Yes.” Her voice was strained, a half-cry, half-breathless agreement. “
God, yes.
”

“Oh, sweetheart…” The rest of what he wanted to say, what disjointed thoughts flitted through his brain, vanished under her body’s powerful response. She bucked against him, the awkward gyration lodging his cock so deep inside her, his hand became trapped between their bodies. The need for immediate release pounded through his blood like drums on an ancient battlefield, and Alexei’s body rose to answer the call. All thoughts of drawing out their mutual pleasure took a backseat to fulfilling hers, and his,
now.

He pulled back to the edge of her fluttering opening, and withdrew his finger from her ass. Holding her hips between his hands, he plunged in hard and fast. When she braced herself, her body opened wider, and he slid easily through her slick sheath, bringing him against the mouth of her womb time and again. Each demanding thrust wrenched a soft cry from her lips.

“Come for me, Sasha,” he instructed harshly.

She wriggled against him, twisting her hips and driving him near mad. He was so ready, so close to coming he felt like he might explode through the top of his head. “Come,
now.
”

As the soft tissues of her inner walls fluttered around his cock, Alexei pressed his finger to her rear opening once more, tucking it just within that tight channel. She let out a strangled cry, and her body convulsed around him. He followed in a heartbeat, release storming through his veins and possessing him like a demon in full fury. Sparks of light danced behind his closed eyelids as he drove into her pussy once more. His seed spurted forth, filling her,
marking
her as his.

A low guttural groan tore from his throat. Her flesh pulsed around his, and another wave of bliss pulled another pulse of pleasure from his body. “Fuck…Sasha…
Fuck.
”

Breathless and overcome, Alexei draped himself over her, panting. He’d died. He knew when he opened his eyes he would be looking
down on this bed, her body trapped beneath his lifeless shell, and in a place more beautiful than any he’d ever known.

Slowly, he opened one eye, then the other, and managed to find the ability to lift his weight off Sasha. The unsteadiness in his arms as he maneuvered onto the mattress at her side surprised him. Although he knew exactly what caused the churning in his gut. He had told her he would never let her go, and he meant every goddamn word of it.

Shit. Now fucking what?

Sasha rolled over to face him. On her mouth danced the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. It soothed the fear that turned his stomach into a tilt-a-whirl. Hesitantly, he let comfort register on his lips, met her sated gaze, and returned her smile. Pushing a damp lock of her thick blonde hair away from her face, he slid his hand to the back of her neck, and drew her mouth to his to silence the forbidden words that filled his heart.

T
he door thumped open, crashing into the wall with a bone-jarring
thud
. Alexei bolted upright, momentarily perplexed. When sleep fled his brain, and his gaze locked on Grigoriy, whose stare was firmly rooted on Sasha’s bare ass, fury slithered into Alexei’s veins. “What the fuck?” He braced an arm behind Sasha’s back, preventing her from turning over.

Gradually, Grigoriy’s eyes tracked up Sasha’s spine, then lifted to Alexei’s, bright with appreciation. “Looks like you two wore each other out.”

Sasha huddled closer to Alexei’s thigh. She turned her face deeper into the pillow, as if she were trying to hide. Her modesty only deepened Alexei’s frown and made his partner’s typical banter that much more unacceptable. “Get out. Learn to fucking knock.”

“Hey.” With an innocent grin, Grigoriy lifted up both hands. “The last time I was in here you were dressed. What if I needed to piss again?”

“
Get. Out.
” Alexei spit out each word like poison.

Ignoring him completely, Grigoriy sauntered into the bathroom and shut the door. “Think I will while I’m in here,” he called through the barrier. “You can throw on some clothes, since evidently none of us know what sex is.” Whistling erupted while he relieved himself.

Alexei cast Sasha an apologetic glance. If she had any idea of the way his partner had just been looking her over, Alexei felt certain she’d be deeply offended. While she might be willing to let him work her
over and thoroughly explore her body, he’d caught on that she didn’t just open herself to anyone. Two years of living with Saeed, never once knowing his touch, clued Alexei in to her more modest sensibilities.

“Hey,” she murmured as he moved to retrieve his pants from the floor.

Halfway off the bed, he stopped to look over his shoulder with a lifted brow.

“Come here.” Grabbing his wrist, she dragged him sideways, down to the mattress, and gave him a chaste kiss. “Good morning.”

Mm. He definitely liked the sound of that. Come to think of it…Alexei blinked as the realization he had fallen asleep with her once more hit him over the head. He had actually fallen asleep with her, and would still
be
sleeping if Grigoriy hadn’t invaded the bedroom.

Fucking impossible.

His unpracticed smile quirked awkwardly on his lips. “Good morning.” He tugged the hem of her shirt down to the top of her thighs and gave her bare bottom a playful slap. “You probably ought to crawl under the covers. This doesn’t help much.”

The sound of running water forced him to slide from the bed and shrug on his pants, though he left the fly unbuttoned. One glimpse of her creamy hip and he was already feeling the rise of arousal.

Sasha scrambled under the covers just as Grigoriy opened the door. “So, kids.” He glanced pointedly between Alexei and Sasha, amusement lighting his dark eyes. “Did you remember condoms? Or do we need to talk about the birds and the bees?”

At the unexpected mention of the very thing Alexei had neglected, Alexei’s gaze automatically pulled to Sasha. Hers met his, full of uneasiness. That trepidation was all it took to launch his temper into overdrive and stab a finger at the door. “Get the fuck out
now,
asshole. We’ll be out in a minute.”

“Better hurry. Hughes has already phoned once. He’s calling back in five.”

Hughes. Plane. London. Sasha.
Condoms.
The thoughts clanged
together in Alexei’s head until it began to pound. Pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead, he sank onto the edge of the bed and sighed. “I’m sorry…I…just got carried away. We’d already gone without one once…I didn’t think it would matter.”

The heavy silence that answered him lifted the hair on the back of his neck. Warily, he turned around and took in the way she plucked at the comforter, her blue eyes locked on the motion of her hands. “Is something…wrong?”

She shook her head. Too fast.

Oh.
Shit.
Whatever she would say, he instinctively knew he wasn’t going to like it. “Sasha, what’s wrong? You’re protected, aren’t you?” If she weren’t, they had already dived into stormy waters the time before.

“I am.” Sighing, she flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

So what the hell had her all introspective? Alexei stared, waiting for the other shoe to drop. When she remained silent, he edged one hip onto the mattress and covered her hand with his. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Hesitantly, her gaze flicked to his. Her words came out in an embarrassed rush. “I didn’t even think about it. It felt so good, so right, it didn’t even cross my mind.”

For several seconds, Alexei stared dumbfounded. He’d anticipated the worst. Something like—hell, he didn’t know, but for an instant he’d seen his life flash in front of his face and known instinctively he’d fucked up by taking the earlier episode against the wall for granted. Then a slow, pleasurable burn slid through his veins, and he found himself holding her hand more tightly. “Yeah, it did.”

Those big blue eyes looked up at him, uncertain and wide. As if she sought to discern whether he was telling the truth. Gradually, wariness faded as a touch of pink color crept into her cheeks. “Do we have to…you know…go back?”

Not if he had anything to say about it. Swallowing down a primitive growl of satisfaction, he beat back the urge to haul her into his
arms and devour her right there. Instead, he brought her knuckles to his lips. “Not if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t.”

“Good then. Get dressed.” Before he forgot himself in the sensations that blistered in his blood and plucked off that shirt of hers completely, Alexei hurried to his feet. “I want to take you to get some clothes after this phone call. Do you want me to wrap your ankle?”