The Last Dance (17 page)

Roman’s body responded like he had been touched, his cock twitching at the sight. He was overcome with the desire to slam her down against the mattress and plunge into her, but he wouldn’t because watching her was the thing of fantasies. The memory would be enough to fuel all his erotic dreams for the rest of his life.

Georgina’s hands glided down over her hips. Her finger looped through a curl at the apex of her thighs. “Do you know what I was thinking about when I touched myself?”

The muscles in his jaw grew taut. If she said she had been thinking of another man, he would not trust himself; no doubt he would destroy any man who dared touch her, even in her fantasies. The need for her to belong to him completely and alone was primal and overpowering. To his baser self, she would always be his. Logic and circumstance had no place in his response.

“The day I came to your house after my performance and you strip-searched me. That is what I was thinking about. I was fantasizing about that.” Her hand spread her intimate folds, exposing sleek, pink flesh. Her pussy still glistened with his cum. “Every day since then, I secretly hope that you will search me again like that,” she admitted. Her silky voice was thick with desire. Her small hand ran over the slick creases from the entrance to the clit, where it settled, stoking with rhythmic movements.

On instinct Roman’s hips thrust forward as if he was inside her.

“Do you remember that day?”

Roman could not speak; his mouth was too dry, so he nodded his response.

“I liked it. I told myself not to, but my body would not listen.” Georgina continued to stroke herself, her chest rising and falling with her shallow breaths. The blush from her cheeks spread over her breasts, kissing her pale skin with a pink glow. She was no longer cold; a fire had been ignited.

One hand stroked her pussy while the other tweaked her swollen nipple. Her eyes closed as her lips parted, and she moaned softly. The sound sent molten heat coursing through him. He did not think he could get any longer or harder, but he did. With one hand he circled his cock, stroking at a frantic speed.

Georgina’s hips rose from the bed. Her legs shook. “You did not let me come that time. I was so close. I wanted it so badly, but you wouldn’t let me. Do you remember?” Georgina opened her eyes. Her hands stilled. “Touch me like you did that day. But this time make me come.” Her gaze locked on his. “I’ve never come like that before. Touch me there. Make me come,” she begged.

Her plea was his undoing. Roman climbed into the bed, settling between her thighs. The sight was everything, her legs spread for him, Georgina primed and begging for his touch. She moaned as he stroked her.

“That day when I searched you, all I wanted to do was bury my head between your thighs and lick you until you screamed my name.” Roman’s fingers curved inside her, searching for her special spot. He knew he’d found it when her hips bucked against him. “I will make you come, angel.” Roman adjusted his position so he could lower himself. He kissed the insides of her thighs, first one and then the other. He lowered his hand again, circling the tight ring of muscle. “Here, angel. Is this where you want me to touch you?” He continued massaging while he waited for her answer. He licked her thighs where he had just kissed her. “Tell me, angel. Is this what you want?”

“Yes,” she moaned. “Please, Roman. Touch me there.” Her legs trembled.

With a firm push he breached her with his index finger as his mouth found her clit. He sucked and licked with the same pace he dipped in and out of her body. Georgina moaned as she pressed her hips up, wantonly rubbing her pussy against his face.

“Roman, oh, Roman. Just like that. Oh God…it’s…so good…better than I thought it would be. Oh, don’t stop.” She laced her fingers through his hair, pushing his head farther into her. “Oh, Roman,” she screamed his name again as an orgasm rocked her, her legs shaking.

Roman did not let her savor the afterglow, in an instant he was on top of her. “So beautiful,” he murmured before he leaned down and kissed her. With his tongue he teased her mouth open, eager to claim this part of her body as he had everywhere else.

Georgina moaned into his mouth as he slid into her hot warmth. There was no holding back; all his self-control was gone. Frantically he thrust into her over and over until Georgina screamed his name again. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered the sharp tear of his skin as her nails raked over his back.

With a low groan he thrust into her a final time, spraying hot liquid into her. He collapsed onto her.

Once his breathing had returned to normal, he crossed the room to the bathroom. When he returned he turned off the lamp and gathered Georgina against him, neither of them speaking. They lay silently in the dark, her breasts pressed against his chest. He could feel her pulse beating against his. Eventually her breathing changed, deepened.

Another cold gust of air blew through the window, but Roman made no move to close it. Their body heat was enough to warm the room. He stroked Georgina’s hair absently and stared out into the darkened room. She was asleep again. He had not slept, and he wouldn’t tonight. Her story preyed on him.

No one had protected her. The man who claimed to love her abandoned her, left her at the mercy of Pavel Ivanov. How had she survived? Admiration swelled in his chest. She was strong, so much stronger than most men. But she needed someone to look after her, someone to step in and make choices for her that she would not like, but that needed to be made.

Roman would do what needed to be done.

Like it or not, he was responsible for her now. He would protect her, even from herself. She would leave soon; he would make sure she got safely home to America, but until then he was her protector.

Roman sighed. He knew what he had to do. And he would do it. She was not going to like it very much.

All Georgina could think about during her morning rehearsal was Roman and the night they had spent together, but then she was called into Maxim’s office and the bottom fell out of her world. She would never forget Maxim’s face as he told her, his small rodent eyes narrowed on her. Her head spun. She could not believe the words he was saying. She heard them, but her mind refused to believe. She slammed the office door, sneaking out the back so Vlad would not see her. She could not stand to be around anybody right now. She did not trust herself.

She thought something had changed between them, but it hadn’t. When would she learn?

* * * *

Georgina jammed her finger into the buzzer. She took off her glove and pressed it again. Roman was home. He knew she would come. She hugged her arms around her chest to keep warm. Her body vibrated with the force of her shivering. Fresh snow had fallen, and so the city was covered in a white powder. It was pretty, but because it was loose, it was in between the gap in her boots and her leggings. Water pooled in her socks as her body heat slowly melted the snow.

Eventually Roman answered the door. His eyes narrowed. He looked past her to the street. “Where is Vlad? He is to stay with you at all time.” Anger darkened his tone.

“What the hell did you do?” Georgina demanded. She wasn’t cold anymore. When she saw Roman, all the anger she had exploded in her, warming her skin. Had she ever been prone to violence, she would have hit him even though she knew he would not even feel it and she was more likely to injure herself. That would be okay. At least then she would have something to focus her rage on.

“Come in. You’re freezing.” Roman pulled her against his chest.

She tried to fight him, but her attempts were futile. She was too easily overpowered. “What did you do?”

“How did you get here? Where is Vlad?” Roman asked again, ignoring her question.

Georgina shook her head. She pulled back, and this time Roman let her. “I don’t know where Vlad is. I don’t care—”

Roman’s eyes went impossibly dark. “I care. He has just lost his job.”

Georgina held her hand up. “This has nothing to do with Vlad.”

“This has everything to do with Vlad. He was charged with guarding you. He failed. He no longer works for me.” Roman took his phone out of his pocket.

Georgina placed her bare hand on his. His warm skin made hers burn as her hands started to thaw and sensation returned. “Don’t. Don’t deflect and punish Vlad because you are an overbearing jackass.”

“I assure you I am firing Vlad because he endangered you. That is completely independent of your assessment of me.”

Georgia ground her teeth together. She covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head. She could not deal with this right now. She just needed a straight answer. Pressure built behind her eyes, but she wouldn’t cry, she never did. “Why did you do it, Roman? Was it to punish me? Do you hate me? Is that why you did it? Because you think I betrayed you? Because I work for Pavel. Tell me. Tell me! ” Her voice cracked under the strain of emotion. It was too much. The bottom had fallen out of her, and she was being sucked lower and lower. “I told you I had no choice. I told you.”

Roman pulled her against him. He stroked her hair. “I don’t hate you, angel. I could never hate you. I tried the first night and I failed.”

He smelled so good. So clean and masculine, and his body was so strong and warm. He felt good. She didn’t want him to feel good. “Then why? Sergei took a job at the Bolshoi. I know you did that. They offered him three times what he’s making here. They can’t afford that, but you can. Why? Why did you have him moved?”

“I opened the door, and he walked through it.”

“No! He couldn’t say no; you made sure of that. He couldn’t turn that kind of money. Why did you do that?”

“He could have said no. There were no threats.”

“Why?” she screamed. “Why did you do that?”

“Someone needs to take care of you, angel. This is what it looks like to have a man take care of you. You don’t recognize it because you have been around sniveling boys. Men make choices to protect their women.”

Anger spiked in her. Her nostrils flared. She pushed hard against him until he let her go. Her back hit the closed door. “I have lost my role. That is what you did. Sergei is the only dancer tall enough in the company, tall enough in Russia to be paired with me. Without Sergei, I can’t dance the lead. Every other role has been cast. I don’t have a spot in the ballet! Even if I wanted to dance in the chorus, I can’t.”

Roman’s face was impassive. She couldn’t read anything. He could have been pleased or apathetic or pissed or anything, and she would not be able to tell. She hated that about him, never being able to read him. “Why did you do that? You said you don’t hate me, but you took away the only thing in my life that has any value. I will never forgive you for that.”

“I did not ask for your forgiveness.”

Georgina’s throat tightened. It was hard to breathe. She tried to back away from Roman, but there was nowhere to go. She was already pressed hard against the door. “You’re not sorry. You have destroyed my career, and you don’t even care.”

“You are destroying your body every time you dance. That is what I care about, that you cry in your sleep from the pain and you live off pills. You’re killing yourself, and I can’t watch you do that anymore. You’re in agony, even now. I can see it on your face.”

Georgina shook with rage. “It is my body. It’s my career. My life. You don’t get it. You have no idea the damage you have done—”

“The damage was done years ago. I am fixing it, and I will never apologize for that. I am doing what Lev should have done. I am protecting you from yourself.”

She held her hand up. Her whole body shook with the force of her rage. “Don’t. Don’t speak about him. You don’t know him.” One of the very few things she had left were the memories of her time with Lev. Roman was not going to take those from her.

“I know he was a weak man. He was supposed to protect you, and he didn’t, and now I am left cleaning up the mess.”

Georgina’s mouth dropped open. His words were a slap in the face. “A mess. My life is a mess.”

“You are in constant pain, but you will not give up because you have nothing else. You allow men to use you to benefit the Federal Security Service—”

Blood burned in her cheeks. “Use me? Say it: I’m a whore. That is what you are saying. Don’t pretty it up on my account. We both know what I am.”

Roman pulled her into his embrace. She pushed and pulled against him and thrashed until she was breathless, but he would not let her go. “And I’m a murderer,” he whispered against her temple. His mouth caressed her as he spoke. “We are what we are. That is what you said, isn’t it? The first night we met, you said we are who we are. You’re right. We are. We can’t change that. And I don’t want to change you. I admire you, angel. And I will protect you. You’re mine. For as long as this lasts, you belong to me, and I will protect you from everyone, even yourself. Never ask me not to do that because I won’t stop.”

Georgina’s legs went slack. She could not stand on her own. If Roman was not holding her hard against him, she would have fallen to the floor under the weight of emotion: grief and gratitude, anger and acceptance, hate and love.

He admired her? What was there to admire? There was nothing admirable left in her. But she wanted there to be. She wanted it to be real, whatever he saw in her. She kept her hands pressed to her sides so she would not try to embrace him. She was already in too deep. She cared, and she couldn’t, not about Roman Zakharov.

“It’s over. My career is over.” Her voice cracked, but her eyes remained dry. Roman had effectively destroyed her career, her life. She was a dancer and he had taken that away.

“No. No, it’s not over. You are taking a break to have an operation and heal. If dancing is that important to you, I will make sure you have a spot. I will—”

“Don’t.” Georgina scrunched her eyes together. She felt sick. “Don’t. Don’t say that. For the last ten years…” Oh God, it hurt. Realization was like shrapnel tearing at her skin. Her throat was closing in. This was what a panic attack felt like, or dying. One of those was happening. Either way she just wanted it over quickly. She could not live with this pain. “I never knew if I had the lead because of my abilities or because of Pavel. He kept me in the job. I know that now. I see it. I’m too old. I’m too big and I’m too—”