by Lauren Dane
Instead he said, “Just listening helped. Also the vodka.”
“Okay. Well good.” She pulled her legs up, folding them beneath her.
“Talk more,” he said.
“I wish you’d kiss me.”
Hmm. She wasn’t sure she’d meant to say that out loud. But now that she had, she wasn’t sorry.
Especially when he put his glass down and leaned toward her.
He muttered something in Russian but she forgot to ask him what he’d said when he brushed his lips against hers, bringing a slight gasp from her at the sensation.
It wasn’t so much hesitant as exploratory. He took his time, tasting, testing. Taking. Oh yes, and she wanted to give.
Oh his flavor...a little vodka, a little tobacco—she knew he snuck out to smoke pungent black French cigarettes when he got stressed—anise perhaps. But there’d never been anything like it in her life and it fit him so well it left her slightly unsettled.
He knew his way around a woman’s mouth, that was for sure. His tongue was sure as it swept against hers, sending a wave of pleasure through her. He wasn’t going to be rushed or moved in any way but what he wanted.
He was just so calmly...in charge that it got her all worked up.
And that was before he nipped her bottom lip as he pulled back, making her whimper.
“Okay, that was worth waiting for,” she said a little more breathlessly than she’d planned.
His amused look was back. “Yes, yes it was. I’m relieved you agree. Now, you were going to talk more.”
“Is this so you don’t have to talk about your family?” Also, couldn’t they just kiss more instead?
“You’re very suspicious, zajka.”
Oh! The pet name again? He was going to kill her with adorable and then she’d die without having sexed him up. Which seemed totally unacceptable now that she’d made her mind up that she had to have him.
Briefly, she wondered if she should articulate that to him, but she decided against it. However, she did really want to know why he’d made up his mind to have her right back.
“People keep telling me that. I prefer curious. Why are you...why now?” she asked, flapping a hand back and forth between them.
He did this thing with his eyebrow and it was...well imperious. That wasn’t new. He did it at work all the time.
But now? What he gave her was something else. More sexy and haughty than imperious. Though that was always there because it was part and parcel of his makeup.
And now he gave her that look as the two of them shared a pretty small space. She’d never actually been in any situation half as intimate as the one they shared right then. His voice still seemed to strike some sort of chord deep within her, but it had softened at the edges. Like a touch.
“Why now? You know, as I do, that it’s always been there between us. But when you first came along there was Rada so I would not allow my thoughts to go any further than flirtation.”
“And now there’s no Rada.” Thank goodness.
He laughed and she found herself loving that sound. Wanting it more as she always had.
“But after Rada, you didn’t come for me.” She thought of the women he’d chosen over her and wanted to growl.
He winced. “I had some things to get out of my system. I wasn’t ready to come for you until I could get past the fact that I am your boss. I’m there, in case you wanted to know.
“And tonight, I came out of my aunt’s house and you were there. You called my name and I came. It seems this has been my path from the moment you hurtled into the shop two years ago.”
It made her feel...special that he’d said such things to her. And wildly flattered and beautiful.
“Oh. Well. That’s good. I mean, yeah. I like that.” She flapped a hand.
“Have I rendered you without coherent speech?” he teased.
“Don’t worry too much,” she managed, “it never lasts very long. My will to talk is pretty strong.”
“That’s been my experience.”
She sent him her own version of the raised brow.
He just smiled at her.
* * *
HE’D BEEN ESCAPING the house. Needing to be the hell away from the stupid drama of the evening.
Alexsei had managed to drag his mother back from the edge while Cris reined Seth in. Things weren’t totally settled, and he wasn’t sure they’d ever be. But for the time being they’d all survive to fight again another day.
But then there’d been a card game and Alexsei had headed out the back door, intending to walk around the block a few times when he’d heard his name and she’d been there.
And then she’d drawn him inside, into the heart of her home. He’d been moved by that. Nearly as much as the way she blushed when he spoke to her.
The placed smelled of her. Spicy sweet. He’d been expecting...well, he wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but it hadn’t been the feminine blue walls and the mounds of pillows and soft blankets on her—made—bed.
A mess with piles of clothes and books, now that was what he’d envisioned. The books were there. Hell, books seemed to be everywhere in the room. They lined shelves with framed pictures and a lot of art tucked here and there.
She’d shown him her truest self and he’d been unable to resist, though he hadn’t tried very hard, when she’d said she wanted a kiss.
Kissing that mouth had been something he’d put a great deal of thought into over the last two years. He’d wondered what the piercing would feel like and he’d discovered it felt fucking awesome.
Sexy. Like most everything about her.
It was better than his wildest dreams. Her taste still rang through him. They’d clicked in a way he’d never quite experienced before.
“So. Now it’s your turn. Tell me something,” she said.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why did you break up with Rada?”
Surprised, he gave her an assessing look. “Neither of us really wanted to be with one another anymore. The wedding planning had started and I realized I couldn’t go through with it. Even to make our families happy.”
“So you’re still friends now?” She winced, obviously not intending to sound so nosy about his status. But he liked it because he knew she was truly interested.
“Not as such.” Though they’d known one another for years, they hadn’t had much in common outside of that connection. And once they’d stopped having sex, they’d lost the last threads holding their relationship together. There wasn’t anything between them to hold a friendship beyond romance and sex, despite the fact that he’d known her as long as he had.
“She’s close with Evie—Vic’s little sister—so I see her frequently enough but we’re not what I would call friends.” She was simply part of the family, though not his fiancée anymore.
“Because she’s so helpless and annoying?”
He began to argue but it was impossible to do so with a straight face so he didn’t bother. Rada was smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for, but she did expect things to be done for her. To be taken care of. “Not all women are like you.”
“Lucky for you, then, I guess.”
“I can’t find fault with that statement. Family visits notwithstanding.”
“Look at you. I’ve been watching you as you took a dip in the sea of pussy since your broken engagement. You didn’t turn this level of game on any of those ladies. Not that I saw. You just gave them broody, sultry and mysterious and they hopped aboard. And who could blame them?”
He shook his head. “Sixty percent of whatever you say makes no sense at all. Are you aware of this?”
“I totally make sense! You’re really going above and beyond here is what I’m saying. I like it that you’re bringing everything you’ve got to the table and not just relyi
ng on that face of yours. And the accent of course. Man oh man. And the way you smell and look in general. How is that not making sense?”
“How do you know I don’t have game with them behind closed doors?”
Her grin was quick and bright. “I’m sure you know what to do with your cock. In fact, I’m counting on it.”
“I find your bluntness when it comes to sex quite delightful,” he told her, meaning every word.
She blushed again, ducking her head a moment before speaking once more. “Anyway, if you spoke to any of those women the way you have to me tonight, they’d be at the shop every day making cow eyes at you. Nah, you give ’em the accent and you give ’em a ride and then after a few weeks they’re gone.”
The truth was, he hadn’t said any of this to those women because it wouldn’t have been true. And he didn’t need pretty lies to get between a woman’s thighs. All the sex, and the fucking around, had been about burning off energy. The women he’d been with knew that and had been as into it for the sex as he had.
“Does this mean you’ll be making cow eyes at me now?” he teased—albeit a little hopefully. She was not the same as anyone he’d been with before. What he felt when he was with her was not the same.
“Depends on what else you do when you sex me up. I mean, if you’re magic or something, I might have to.”
“Being with you is like riding a roller coaster.”
“Do you like roller coasters?” she asked.
He nodded.
“All right then.”
He stood, meaning to settle on her bed with her until his phone buzzed in his pocket and he remembered he was only going to take a walk and he’d been there for at least an hour.
And a look at the screen told him he was correct that they’d noticed his absence.
“Is everything all right?” Maybe asked as she stood as well.
He typed that he’d be right back and put the phone away before taking her face in his hands and kissing her.
He didn’t want to go back over there. He wanted to stay here, with her scent all around him. So he could watch her face as she spoke, animated and so freaking full of energy.
He really didn’t want to break the kiss he’d started to delay leaving and now felt like the best thing he’d ever experienced. She seemed to melt against him, her body snugged up against his, her curves calling to him so he gave in, sliding his hands down her body to her hips. She gasped and he sucked in the sound.
Need seemed to gather low in his belly as his cock throbbed in time with his thundering pulse.
She was fire. Her skin seemed to sear the palms of his hands as they roamed. This was what he’d needed. What he’d wanted from the first he’d met her. Her taste, her body against his.
He could have fucked women for years and not felt this level of intimacy and connection and that humbled him.
Once he was able to drag his mouth from the kiss, he touched his forehead to hers a moment before stepping back. “I was only escaping for a walk in the fresh air. I need to accompany my mother back to her hotel. Cristian’s taking her back now so I have to leave. Believe me when I tell you I’d rather be here.”
“I get it. We’re still on tomorrow night?”
“Yes. I’ll be out most of the day as my mom’s plane leaves in the late afternoon.”
“You know where I’ll be. Just let me know.”
He kissed her again and then made himself walk out of the house and over to where his family had spilled out into the yard saying goodbyes. Half of them would be at the airport tomorrow to say goodbye again, but it wasn’t as if they saw one another very often.
“Wherever have you been?” Vic asked in an undertone as he approached.
“I had a drink with Maybe.”
“And?”
“And now I need to ride with my brother and his fiancé and our mother to her hotel and pretend there’s no tension. I’m overjoyed to have been torn away from Maybe’s bedroom for that.”
Vic’s smile flashed quickly. “Sorry about that.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told his cousin as he held the car door for his mother.
CHAPTER SIX
ALEXSEI ADJUSTED HIS cuffs one last time before he grabbed his keys and headed out. He forced his attention away from the mirror on the back of the door. He’d changed already, not sure if he should be more or less formal and then getting really annoyed with himself for making such a big deal out of a simple date.
But it wasn’t simple. Because it was Maybe.
And it was their first official date and he wanted it to be just right.
He cruised down to the theater’s box office to pick up the tickets. A big-budget Hollywood action movie with giant muscles, fast cars, machine guns and lots of explosions.
He knew she had a particular weakness for such fare. And the theater was within walking distance of the restaurant he had dinner reservations at after the movie ended.
Because he was picking her up at her house, he bought some roses at a nearby florist and then headed over.
She deserved to be cosseted and treated. To know she mattered. To him.
It had been a very long time since he’d done this. Went to a woman’s house with flowers to pick her up for a date. Even then he hadn’t been as nervous as he was standing on Maybe’s porch and ringing her doorbell.
The door opened and there she was in a crisp white shirt open several buttons paired with high-waisted pin-striped pants. Her eyes were lined to emphasize the color, lips a glossy red.
“Wow.”
She smiled. “Okay, I’ll accept wow as a very fine response. You look pretty wow as well.” She opened the storm door wider. “Come in while I put those in a vase.” She pointed at the roses in his hand that he then thrust her way.
“Yes, of course.”
He followed her through to the kitchen, where she pulled a pretty glass container from a high cabinet and arranged the flowers in it. “Thank you. I love roses.”
He knew, of course. But it was always nice to be appreciated. Especially by her.
He held her things while she locked the front door and then helped her into her coat before they left the porch, pausing to brush a kiss against her temple. “You look beautiful.”
From her blush, he took that she liked the compliment. Which was good because he wanted to say things like that all the time. Needed her to hear what she did to him.
“First thing up is a movie. Are you ready?” He opened the car door for her.
“I was born ready.”
He bent to kiss her, not caring about lipstick smearing.
She hummed, her fingertips digging into the back of his neck as she held on. He liked very much that it was totally fine for him to kiss her this way. Liked that he could give in to his desire to touch and nuzzle.
Really liked her response, to nuzzle or kiss back. Tonight was just the beginning. Just the first steps in what he felt could be something deep and lasting.
One last kiss and then a quick cleanup of his lips with a tissue and they were on the way.
* * *
THEY SAT SIDE BY SIDE, a tub of popcorn between them, along with fourteen different kinds of candy—who’d have thought he had such a sweet tooth—as the opening credits began.
On this, their first official date, he’d brought her to see a huge, ridiculously loud and bloody action flick.
Her absolute favorite.
Being someone who talked a lot meant she knew lots of people only half listened. But Alexsei paid attention to what she liked. Movies with explosions and fast cars and pretty people.
The date was remarkable in its total normalcy. They laughed and jumped and ate too much junk, rolling out of the theater two hours later, his arm around her shoulders as if it belonged there. He touched her often and she found that she l
iked it.
“Wow, that was so utterly empty of story. I loved every minute of it,” she told him.
Wearing a faint, satisfied smile, he kissed her quickly. “Good. Are you hungry? I have dinner reservations.”
“I shouldn’t be after licorice, popcorn, M&M’s, and fourteen gallons of Slushee, but yes, I’m starving.”
He kept his arm around her as they walked the three blocks up to a tiny hole-in-the-wall Italian place she’d wanted to go to for ages.
“I really figured most of what I said rolled off your back,” she said. “To be fair, zajka, most of it does. Because you like to update about your experience. Of a great many things. But I listen to what’s important. I hear what you like. What you might crave. You’ve mentioned this place more than once and I’m house-sitting close enough that it wasn’t so difficult to remember when I was planning.”
She licked her lips, so glad she’d opted for the hoop with the bead because he seemed to like that a lot.
“It’s really sexy that you listen. I’m just going to let you know that up front.”
He held her chair out, but let her scoot it in. The server pretended not to stare at him and totally failed. Maybe understood. He looked ridiculously handsome in a fisherman’s sweater and dark pants. Casual and formal at once. It worked and left her all tingly.
They drank red wine and managed to fit in some bread, apple and fennel salad, which had been unexpectedly fantastic, and some of the best spaghetti alle vongole she’d ever had.
“The house I’m staying in isn’t far from here. Would you like to come over before I drive you home? I can make you coffee.”
“Will you kiss me again? I mean, after I brush my teeth as I did have clams for dinner.”
He laughed as he helped her into her coat before they headed back outside. “That is most definitely on the agenda. I promise to kiss you a lot more. Is that all right with you?”
She smiled as he hugged her into his side. They already had a friendship and an ease, but this new level of connection felt very natural.
“Hi, Lexi!” a woman called out as he unlocked the front gate leading to the small front yard of his friend’s condo.
