My laugh cuts her off when I see the first title. “The Highlander’s Woman?” I ask, letting out another laugh.
“That’s private,” she yells, trying to grab the book from me.
I ignore her and flip through the book, surprised when I find a pretty explicit sex scene. “My, my, Moira, you are just full of surprises.”
She groans and glares at me. “We all have our guilty pleasures, Nik.”
I arch an eyebrow at the Nik. “Nikolai,” I correct.
“Doesn’t anyone shorten it to Nik?”
“No, that’s not how it works in Russian.”
She yanks the book back from me and tosses it back on top of the others. “How does it work in Russian?”
“It would be Kolya, if you want to shorten it.”
“Kolya, huh? But I kind of like Nik.”
I ignore how much I like hearing the familiar form of my name on her lips, and I try hard to not imagine how it would sound if she were moaning it, preferably while I’m buried deep inside her.
“Tough shit,” I say, making her smile.
I look at her bed and then give her a smirk. “You know, if you wanted to get me in your bed or if you wanted to take another ride on my thigh, you didn’t need to go through such an elaborate scheme. You could’ve just asked me.”
I laugh when she rolls her eyes and a blush runs up her chest. I don’t know how any one woman can look so damn innocent and sexy at the same time. I reach for her, pulling her closer, needing to feel her body pressed against mine. When I slide my hand under her sweater and palm her lower back, she lets out a soft sigh and wraps her arms around me. Running my fingers through her soft, dark hair, I cup the back of her head and give her bottom lip a teasing bite. She smiles and runs her tongue over my top lip, making me groan and kiss her harder.
It’s so easy to get lost in her, like something inside me just takes over, and as long as I’m with her, touching her, and feeling her, then everything is fine. I don’t want to let her go. I don’t want to spend the night with her and then never see her again. I’m not used to feeling like this, and I quickly push the thoughts out of my mind, scared that if I start to examine it too closely it’ll just scare the hell out of me. Some things are better left unexamined.
When I lower her onto the airbed, we both laugh at how fucking awkward the damn thing is. I’m surprised it doesn’t pop when I put my full weight on it.
“I can’t believe you sleep on this thing.”
“It’s not so bad when it’s just me. You’re not tiny, Nikolai.”
I laugh and give her a wink. “No, I am not.”
Pressing my hard length against her center, she moans and wraps her legs around me. “But you already know that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she says in a breathy rush, and when I slide my hand up her sweater, she presses against my chest and says, “Wait, Nikolai, please wait.”
I immediately stop and look down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“I just, I don’t want,” she pauses and darts her eyes around the room, looking nervous as hell.
“Relax, Moira.” I brush her hair back and trace a line down her reddened cheek. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t want our first time to be on an airbed at the gym.”
I laugh and look around the makeshift bedroom. “Not very romantic?”
Truth is, I’d happily fuck her anywhere, but I’m not about to make her do something she doesn’t want to do, no matter how badly my cock is screaming for relief.
“Maybe we could still help each other out,” she suggests, looking up at me with a hopeful expression on her face.
“Oh yeah?” I ask, trying not to sound too damn excited.
She smiles and grabs onto the bottom of my sweater, pulling it off me and tossing it aside. Her fingers run along my back, delicate touches from shy, curious fingers that make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.