VANNAH
Afew hours later the sun has long since set and I am alone in his bed. I can feel the waves softly crash against the boat telling me we are in motion. To where I don’t know. Hopefully to land soon. I’ll have work calling me in the morning wondering why I didn’t show up for my shift.
I sit up. Damn. My phone. It’s probably at the bottom of the ocean. Serenity will be worried sick, too. We were supposed to have a call tonight. Or was that last night?
I look around the cabin for a clock but no luck. There’s a large closet to my left and the sliding doors to my right. I’m tempted to search for a phone but I veto that option quickly. The last thing I want is for the mafia man to think I’m snooping. I think he’d forget about our wild night of passion pretty quickly if he found me going through his belongings. Hard pass.
Golds, blacks, and whites make up the tone of the cabin giving it a soft yet masculine ambiance. I come from a wealthy family, but this opulent floating island has to be worth multi-millions with its glistening chandeliers, hardwood flooring, and built-in saltwater aquariums with their no-doubt priceless fish. Yes, as in more than one.
And then there is the pool at the end of the deck. All visible from my place in the middle of his bed.
I grab a shirt hanging over the side of a chair and I slip from the room. Instead of buttoning it, I let the sides hang freely since it’s just us and the low-hanging moon. I stop at the railing overlooking a deck toward the back of the boat. That is where I find Maxim. Low-slung shorts hug strong hips. He’s not wearing a shirt and his feet are bare. A slumbering dragon is stretching from shoulder to shoulder with embers of fire falling down the length of his back to disappear beneath the band of his shorts.
Sexy! I wonder if he’ll let me lick those fiery lines?
I also wonder if he lets others see him this relaxed. The rumblings of just how ruthless he is are hard to miss even if I don’t hang out in his world.
The drink in his hand seems tasty so I take it from him and casually sip the bourbon. His dark eyes glitter with hunger and amusement as they come around to meet mine. The combination of alcohol and the remnants of pleasure still lingering in my body are dangerously close to having me beg for more than the kiss he’s coming in for.
No words, just lips on lips and tongue on tongue.
“Mmm… it tastes better coming from your mouth.”
“Melt my heart why don’t you.”
“I’d like to melt something.”
“Speaking of liquids, there’s something that has been on my mind since our first kiss and subsequent… romp.” I opt for though really, I should label what we shared as the best sex of my life. My choice of words sparks a wildness in him, making me feel I picked the right adjective after all.
“Romp?” His husky chuckle sends chills skittering over my skin bed-warmed skin. “I assure you, what happened in my cabin was not a romp, as you say.”
He’s right. “No? How about a quickie then?” I shouldn’t push his buttons but I can’t help myself.
He smacks my ass and I skitter back, putting several feet between us. “Is that a no then? Not a quickie or a romp? What would you call what we did?”
“Zhizn’ menyayet·sya.”
I have a feeling there’s depth to those words. Even though I don’t understand them, the shadows of possession cutting across the sharp angles of his face are universal.
I give a half shrug and let the sassy smile I’m feeling tease over my lips. “Potato patato,” I draw out that gets him to turn that glorious body fully my way.
Steal my breath away.
I didn’t get to appreciate all the cut lines and hard muscle earlier. Well, there was one hard part I enjoyed a lot but yeah… the rest of the body is on par with what wet dreams are made of.
He prowls a step closer and then another.
Uh-oh.
I put the girth of the small, sunken pool between us. “So, what will you fishing me off the bottom of the ocean cost me, Maxim?” I put some sway to my hips and flash him a little of the goods as I walk backward. The breeze kicks up just at the right time and the hungry growl he gives is deep, guttural. No. It’s fucking primal.
The glide of his lips sliding into the devilish smile should scare the holy crap out of me, but it doesn’t. Maybe my brain isn’t wired correctly. But there’s no denying that parts of my body light with renewed heat which, to me, means only one thing–I have an unhealthy addiction to a man I can’t keep.
I slowly walk around the edge of the glowing pool and try to put more distance between us, but he’s not having it. Maxim’s gaze tracks my progress and I suddenly feel hunted by the notoriously dangerous Russian. And then he’s on me. A hand slips around my waist and the other tightens in my hair.
“You,” he growls and takes my mouth in a hard toe-curling kiss. “You are what I want.”
“Excuse me?” I breathlessly whisper when he tears his mouth away and continues his torturous consumption of my willpower down the side of my neck. When he reaches my collar bone and licks the warmth of his tongue over the delicate area I break and moan my pleasure for anyone to hear.