Love Is In the Air Volume 1

by Susan Stoker

  “It’s very…blue,” I commented as we entered the bar, taking in the blue-on-blue decor, complete with steel accents. Even the lights were tinted blue.

  “Yeah.” Jake tilted his head down to look at me, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a half-smile. No more sign of those dimples that had completely flustered me. Probably a good thing, though. I had to remember that we were here to do a job. Jake wasn’t interested in me, and anyway, I wasn’t interested in him. Or rather, that’s what I told myself.

  The next hour passed surprisingly quickly. I hardly even saw Ethan and Avery or Luke and Olivia, since Jake seemed determined to hide away in a shadowy corner. Some of his rugby friends had the same idea, though, and I spent my time talking to the wife of one of his teammates about her work as a paediatric nurse, while sipping a gin and tonic.

  Every now and then, I’d glance in Jake’s direction.

  And sometimes, he’d be talking to someone or looking at his phone, but sometimes, he’d be watching me.

  I didn’t read anything into it, though. Why would I?

  “Tori?”

  I was clearly too used to Jake using that particular nickname for me now, because I didn’t even blink. “Yes?”

  “Can I have a word?” Without waiting for an answer, he pushed back his chair and stood, extending his hand to me. Lifting my hand, I let him encompass it in his firm grip as he tugged me to my feet, then steered me over to the side of the room and into the corridor that led out to the cloakroom.

  “Look at this.” When we were alone, he thrust his phone in front of me, his expression unreadable. “My manager sent me this article.”

  I took the phone, skimming over the message, which essentially congratulated Jake on a job well done and told him to keep it up and stay out of trouble. The attached link led to a popular online gossip website. As soon as I opened it, I was hit with a close-up of Jake kissing me outside the bar. From the angle of the photo and his grip on me, it made the kiss look far more intimate than it had been.

  Has the Society Princess Tamed the Savage?

  “I’m hardly a society princess. That’s ridiculous. Just because I know a few well-connected people, and my mother likes to play nice with that crowd. I’m not one of them.” Glancing up at Jake, I saw his jaw working, and he wouldn’t meet my gaze. With a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach, I returned my attention to the article. It described how Jake and I appeared to be “besotted with one another” and went into great detail about how they hoped that my “good influence and standing in society would polish his rough edges” and “turn the savage from an embarrassment into a man that London Hawks would be proud to have on their team.” The whole thing was essentially a character assassination against Jake, while making me out to be some kind of holier-than-thou person, noting the understated, demure way I dressed, how well spoken I was, and a whole lot more that was either untrue or greatly exaggerated.

  This wasn’t good. No wonder he seemed so tense. “Well…I don’t really know what to say about that.”

  He swiped the phone from my hand, shoving it in his pocket. Now his eyes met mine, and I was shocked to see the dark anger glittering in them. Taking a step back, I took in a deep, steadying breath. “At least everyone thinks our relationship is real, and your manager is happy. That’s what counts, isn’t it?”

  “Who knew that me making a couple of appearances with an uptight bitch would make such a difference.” He spat the bitter words at me through clenched teeth.

  “Excuse me? Uptight bitch?” I bristled with indignation. Storming over to him, I faced him, chest to chest, baring my teeth. “At least I have manners. You—”

  He clasped my arm with a punishing grip, dragging me through the door behind him. “People are watching. Fucking stop for one minute, will you?”

  Slamming the door behind us, he wedged the chair that had been sitting to the left of the door underneath the handle, then advanced on me until I was pressed up against the wall, next to a long rack of coats on numbered hangers. “Go on, then, say it.” His voice was dangerously low.

  I blinked, recalling my train of thought, still riled up. Uptight bitch? “You couldn’t even bring yourself to say anything nice about me when you picked me up earlier. Maybe you need to learn some manners.”

  “I was trying to keep my dick in check,” he hissed, his eyes flashing. “I got hard just looking at you, the second you walked into the room. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  “What?” My shocked whisper seemed to echo around the small space.

  “Yes.” He was so close that I could feel his chest rising and falling against mine. My nipples hardened behind the lace of my bra, and I knew he noticed by the way his dark gaze fell to my breasts before flying back up to meet mine. “All night, I’ve been trying to control myself, but I’m done.”

  Then his mouth came down on mine.

  8

  Victoria

  My body was on fire. This man could kiss like no one else. He took out all his frustrations on me with his kiss, dominating me with his mouth, crowding me back against the wall and wedging his thigh between my legs. I was helpless under the onslaught, carried away by a tidal wave of desire that was so unexpected, I had no defence against it. I felt the growing slickness between my thighs as my body responded to him, and a whimper tore from my throat as his hands went to my ass, grinding me into his thigh while his hard cock pressed against my body.

  “I guess you have a thing for uptight bitches,” I panted, as his lips moved from my mouth to my jaw and then to my neck, while his hands slid under my dress, palming my ass over the lace of my underwear.

  He raised his head to mine, his green gaze dark with arousal, his lips glistening from our kisses. “Just you.”

  Those words, spoken in that low rasp, did something to me. I lunged forwards, my arms going around his neck and pulling his head to mine.

  This kiss devastated me.

  My hands went to his jacket, tugging it off his shoulders. He took the hint, yanking it off himself, and then his fingers were working at the back of my dress, tugging down the zip and sliding it from my shoulders. He removed his thigh from between my legs, and I let the dress fall to the floor, pooling around my feet.

  “So fucking beautiful.” His gaze roamed all over me, and then he went for me again. His hands claimed my breasts, palming them through the soft lace of my bra before he reached around and unclipped it, letting it fall to the floor with my discarded dress.

  My hands ran up his chest, feeling his muscles flexing as he rained kisses down my neck and across my collarbone. He kissed a path to first one breast, then another, worshipping them with his mouth and his hands, until I was shamelessly grinding against him.

  “Jake. I need you.”

  Taking a step back, he looked at me, flushed and breathing heavily, using the wall to support myself under the full force of his gaze. I wanted him so much, right then—his cock tenting his trousers, his shirt with the top button undone, and his hair messed up where I’d had my hands in it when we were kissing. A shudder ran through my body at the sight of this sexy, tattooed rugby god, looking at me like he wanted to devour me.

  I watched, unable to tear my gaze away as he unfastened his cufflinks, pocketing them, and rolled up his shirtsleeves. His dark gaze arrowed to mine again, and he licked his lips.

  “I want you so much.”

  “Then have me.”

  A growl sounded low in his throat, and he was in front of me, his mouth at my ear. “I hope you’re ready for me, Tori.”

  That was the only warning I got before he dropped to the floor, still in his shirt and suit trousers, and peeled my lace underwear from my body. He leaned forwards and slid his hands up my leg, then hooked my thigh over his shoulder.

  I didn’t even have time to feel self-conscious about being bared to him. His head angled, and then he was feasting on me.

  Explosions of sensation shot through my body as his tongue licked through my drenched
slit, and then his mouth was on my clit. My hand shot out to grab at his hair to anchor me in place, and I had to use the wall as my support as my legs began to shake with the pleasure he was wringing out of me.

  His mouth.

  My moans were loud in the quiet room, but there was no way I could keep them in. When his fingers joined his tongue, and he found that place inside of me that so few men seemed to be able to find, I exploded, swept away by waves of pleasure that were so intense, all I could do was hold onto him and trust him to catch me while I fell.

  “Jake. Oh, fuck, Jake.”

  He lowered my shaking legs to the floor, gripping my hips as he rose to his feet. “Hearing my name from your lips…”

  We stared at one another; his mouth coated with the evidence of my arousal. Shocking us both, I tugged his head to mine and kissed him, tasting myself on his lips. He groaned low in his throat, the kiss turning molten in the space of a couple of seconds.

  I needed him so badly. My hands went to his belt, undoing it as quickly as I could.

  Between us, I felt his hand fumbling with his wallet; then, as I eased down the zipper of his trousers, there was a tearing sound. His cock strained against his boxers, and I tugged them down, freeing his hard, thick length, leaking precum, and I was suddenly desperate for a taste.

  “Need to be inside you,” he ground out before I could make a move, rolling a condom over his erection. Then his arms were around me, lifting me, and he thrust inside.

  I couldn’t catch my breath.

  His hard cock inside me…this had never felt so good before. Never. Everything else paled in comparison to this man who filled me so completely, this man who, right now, wanted me as desperately as I wanted him.

  “Jake.” I clenched around him. “You feel so…” My legs and arms gripped him tightly, as I was held effortlessly in place by his brute strength.

  “You don’t even know…” His eyes flashed with heat, dark and carnal. “Fuck, Tori. I need to move.”

  Then he was thrusting up again, sinking himself even deeper into me. My back against the wall, he pounded me hard, and I met him thrust for thrust, soaring higher and higher.

  The all-consuming orgasm hit me, uncontrollable, blinding, sweeping me away with its intensity. Then he was following me over the edge, pulsating inside me, his head falling forwards against mine as he lost control.

  We remained that way, breathing together. My heart raced, my mind and body soaring on the high he’d given me.

  When he eventually eased out of me and lowered me to the floor, he got rid of the condom before zipping himself back up and tucking his shirt in. I remained, collapsed against the wall, my breathing slowly returning to normal.

  My breath caught in my throat when he crouched down and gently gripped my ankle, lifting first one of my feet, then my other, sliding my underwear back up my legs. He repeated the process with my bra and dress, spinning me around so he could zip it back up. When it was back in place, he swept my hair off my shoulder and placed a soft kiss to the top of my spine.

  That one small touch of his lips sent butterflies swarming inside me. I turned to face him. His eyes were unreadable again, but he had a small smile on his face as he met my gaze.

  “I’m sorry.”

  What? I stared at him. “I wanted that just as much as you.”

  He shook his head. “No. Sorry for what I called you earlier.”

  “Oh, that. You’re forgiven.” I placed a light kiss to the corner of his mouth, and his small smile widened into a grin, his dimples appearing. A sigh escaped me, making his grin even wider. We stood, smiling at each other for probably longer than was acceptably normal, before he tugged me into his arms.

  I tilted my head to meet his gaze. “What do we do now?”

  He ran his hands up and down my back while he considered my question.

  Finally, he answered.

  “We go out there, we stick together as a team, and then you come back to my place for a repeat of what just happened here. This time in my bed.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  He dropped a kiss on my lips, before releasing me and walking to the door, where he jiggled the chair out from underneath the door handle, setting it back in its original position.

  Then, he held out his hand to me. “Ready?”

  With a nod, I threaded my fingers through his. “Ready.”

  We stepped through the door and made our way back into the bar.

  Flashes blinded me as the photographers inside the bar spotted us, but I didn’t mind this time, and most surprising of all, Jake didn’t even seem to notice them.

  He was too busy watching me, a smile still on his gorgeous face.

  With that smile came hope. If the article I’d seen tonight was any indication, we were already beginning to turn the tide. Of course, there was a long way to go, and Jake would need to get his act together on the pitch as well as off, but the signs were looking good. Not only that, but my mother would see the photos, and with any luck, she’d get the hint that I could handle my own love life.

  “Come to my rugby game on Saturday?” He spoke the words low in my ear as he pulled me into him.

  There was no hesitation in my reply.

  “Yes.”

  A future I hadn’t even considered stretched ahead of me. A future that not only lay in London, but now included a certain rugby player who was currently looking at me with a smile that made my heart skip a beat.

  We were going to make it through this.

  Together.

  * * *

  THE END

  To find out more about me and my books, visit me at: https://authorbeccasteele.com/

  Illicit Acts

  A Miami Bratva Novel

  Cora Kenborn

  Illicit Acts

  Copyright © 2021 by Cora Kenborn

  Cover Design by TRC Designs

  Editing by N. Isabelle Blanco

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language, and sexual situations. It is intended for adult readers.

  This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchase for your use only, then please return to your e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in the work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

  For Nyddi.

  You can sit with me any day.

  Warning

  Dear Reader,

  Illicit Acts is the introduction to a spin-off series from my popular Darkest Deeds standalone novel. This is an Age-Gap/taboo, dark Russian Bratva romance. There are scenes of graphic violence and sexual situations between consenting adults in different stages of life.

  While it ends with somewhat of a HFN, these characters will receive a full-length book when Illicit Acts releases mid 2021 as part of the Miami Bratva Trilogy.

  To start at the beginning, check out Darkest Deeds at www.corakenborn.com.

  Thanks!

  Cora

&n
bsp; 1

  Mikhail

  Weakness shines like a diamond.

  It is a beacon for bloodshed, inviting a man’s enemies to strike. That is why I only operate in two modes: automated machine and vigilante executioner. For forty-four years, the world has given me nothing but death and pain, so that is what I return.

  And today, it is how Senator Norton Perry dies.

  Without warning, I open the office door and invite myself inside.

  The senator stands frozen in mid-stride across his office with his mouth hanging open. “Who are you?”

  “Norton.” I walk past him and lower on the red leather chair. “Have a seat.”

  He stiffens at the sound of my formal Russian accent. I do not blame him. Our countries have never been allies. Clearing his throat, he folds his arms across his chest, trying to hide the tremors in his hands. “Did we have an appointment?”

  “We do now.”

  “Comrade…?”

  This motherfucker…

  I am not his fucking comrade. I glance up to find a deep cavern tucked in between his bushy, pinched eyebrows and want to drive a blade into it.

  Patience.

  “It is Mikhail.” Fuck it. Let the mudak die with my name on his lips. “You fucked up. Of course, I do not have to tell you that, do I? You knew the minute you touched that girl you were in deep shit.”

  Emotion shines across his face. Bright like a diamond. “It’s not what you think! She was my intern. I mentored her!”

  “Mentoring…” I let out a dark laugh. “Is that what we are calling it these days? Funny, I always thought mentoring entailed guidance and training America’s youth, not fucking them and slitting their throats.”