by Maura Rose
She laughed, but it came out breathless as he got a hand under her thigh and lifted her leg up to wrap it around his waist. “Are—are we competing over who was attracted to whom first?”
“Sure sounds like it,” Pavel replied, sucking at the pulse point on her neck in a way that made her shudder from head to toe. “Whatever are we going to do about that?”
Natalia could hardly string words into a proper sentence anymore. Her brain was starting to melt into a pile of mush as Pavel nibbled at her neck, his hips starting to subtly rock into hers. She could feel him starting to grow hard against her, and that plus the denim of her jeans rubbing against her clit was making her start to grow wet and impatient. She whimpered, tightening her grip on Pavel.
“Take me to bed,” she whispered, the words pressed into his mouth, not teasing anymore. She loved how he was lighthearted and how he could tease her but she really just wanted—well, she wanted. She was growing hot all over and she wanted to hurry up and get him inside of her. She wanted his hands and mouth all over her, she wanted to feel him until she ached…
Pavel groaned when he heard her words, kissing feverishly up and down her neck before sealing his mouth over hers again. She moaned into his mouth and pushed her hips into his, grinding a little, letting him feel how much she wanted him.
His hands got underneath her thighs again and he lifted her up, easy as anything. Natalia wrapped her legs around him, taking his face in her hands and kissing him. She didn’t care if it meant he was now walking blind. This was his apartment—he knew where everything was. And she trusted him not to drop her.
Pavel grunted a little as he walked down the short hall to his bedroom. Natalia made a mental note to actually try and see more of the apartment when they were done. And after they’d nap—because they were really going to need a nap by the time she was through with him. And this time, she didn’t have to run out right away. There was no fear of discovery. It was about just the two of them, and they could do whatever they wanted.
She felt Pavel’s legs hit the bed and then he was lowering her onto it, gently, even though it had to strain him a little to take it so slowly.
Natalia waited until her back was on the mattress and Pavel was just beginning to settle on top of her, and then she hooked her leg around his and used his weight against him, flipping him so that she was on top.
Pavel stared up at her in disbelief. “You little…”
Natalia kissed him to shut him up, then pulled away so that she could wink at him. “You were so very generous to me last time,” she pointed out, undoing his pants. “I thought it was only fair that I return the favor.”
Pavel exhaled shakily as he realized what she meant. Natalia tugged at his pants and Pavel lifted his hips so that she could yank them down properly, exposing his half-hard cock. Damn, she couldn’t wait to get her mouth on that. She’d thought that back the first time they’d had sex and she was thinking it now—but now, she could actually follow through on that desire.
She kissed along his thigh, teasing him, even as she felt his erection bobbing a little, filling even more, some precum starting to smear her cheek. She sucked right at the juncture of his thigh as Pavel slid a hand into her hair, gripping it far too lightly for her tastes.
Natalia pushed up so that she could look him in the eye. “You can tug a little,” she reassured him. “I like it when you’re a bit rough, remember?” She winked again and then went back to teasing him, licking and sucking around his cock but not sucking it, not giving it direct attention.
Pavel groaned and tightened his hold on her hair. Natalia moaned in approval. “You’re going to kill me,” he whispered hoarsely. “Natasha…”
She loved when he said that version of her name, especially in that tone of voice. She licked a long stripe up his cock in approval, and Pavel groaned. The sensation vibrated through him and Natalia began to kiss up his cock, her tongue darting out every so often. Pavel did his best to keep still as she slowly worked her way up and down, never sucking him down or taking him fully in her mouth the way that she knew he wanted. Pavel’s hand was achingly tight in her hair and he was clearly trying not to beg, if the way he was biting down on his lower lip to keep the sounds in was any indication.
Natalia braced her hands on his thighs to keep him from arching up too much. It was fun to tease him, but she wanted to reward him now, and get on to the main event.
…all right, so maybe she could tease him a little more. Just in a different way.
Natalia sucked just on the head of his cock, flicking her tongue out along the slit a few times. Pavel groaned her name again, tugging at her hair. Natalia smirked and, breathing through her nose, finally lowered herself over his cock.
She didn’t go down as far as she could have, wanting to continue to draw this out, but she got him down about halfway. Pavel choked out a noise and Natalia began to move slowly up and down, keeping her throat relaxed and breathing through her nose. She got farther down every few times, until he hit the back of her throat and she had to pull away.
Pavel’s chest was heaving, his thighs shaking, and she wanted to just dive back in and feel him stretching her mouth wide, warm and heavy on her tongue, but she suspected that if she kept this up for much longer Pavel wouldn’t be able to hold on.
The idea of him coming in her mouth was a marvelous one, and she shivered at the thought of it. She wanted to work him and tease him until he was completely undone… but another time. This first time—not their first time ever but their first time free, together truly because they chose one another, their first time after admitting they loved each other—she wanted him inside her. She wanted to feel him in her again.
Natalia climbed up on top of him, straddling him. Pavel’s hands settled on her hips automatically, but his eyes were glazed and his mouth was slack as he gazed up at her.
“I take it you enjoyed that,” she teased, her voice a little rough now.
Pavel’s eyes cleared a little and he grinned slowly, slyly. “Just a little bit,” he told her, and then he was the one flipping her, pinning her wrists above her head. He bowed his head down, trailing his mouth up her neck, his tongue darting out to brush along her skin.
Natalia arched up against him, circling her hips. She could feel him through her clothes and she wanted him so badly—it was like fire under her skin and how did they still have clothes on?
She strained against the hold Pavel had on her wrists. “Get me naked,” she breathed into his ear. “Come on, Pasha, please…”
Pavel let out a low groan against Natalia’s throat and let go of her wrists so that he could pull off his shirt. Natalia started getting off her own clothes, Pavel helping her once he was finished with his. She felt feverish, frantic even, her fingers fumbling against the buttons of her pants.
Finally, she managed to get it all undone and grabbed Pavel, her fingers digging into his shoulders as he moved back on top of her, kissing down her body. She squirmed, his mouth hot and teasing against her skin. “Pavel…”
“No,” he purred. “You got to tease, and so now it’s my turn.”
He bent down to dart his tongue out and lap at her nipple, before taking it into his mouth and sucking, fluttering his tongue. Natalia gasped, one of her hands flying up to comb through Pavel’s hair. She could feel him smiling as her breast slid out of his mouth and he kissed his way over to the next one. Pavel was clearly savoring this, sucking slowly down her stomach, until he finally put a kiss on her hipbone and then pushed himself back up to kiss her neck.
“You’re—” she cut herself off with a moan and settled for just yanking Pavel up by the hair so that she could kiss him again. “Get inside of me, please.”
“Mmm, I do like it when you ask nicely,” he replied in a rumbling chuckle. Natalia bucked up into him, getting her leg around his hip so that he was rubbing right against her entrance.
Pavel groaned, and she knew that he could feel how wet she was, how much she wanted him. “Yes,” s
he gasped out, her nerves sparking as he rubbed through her folds, so close, pressing against her clit, making her melt. She let out a helpless gasp and her hips jerked. “Please,” she moaned.
Pavel let out a wounded sound and pulled back just enough to shift his weight, pinning her down so he could slide his hand between her legs and rub at her clit.
Natalia felt like she was melting all over, her legs twitching and straining against Pavel’s weight. He shifted his finger to slide inside of her and Natalia’s mouth dropped open. “Oh god.”
“That’s it,” Pavel encouraged, adding a second finger and beginning to slide them in and out of her properly, curling them so that the pads rubbed against the most sensitive parts of her. “You should see yourself, Tasha, you’re gorgeous like this.”
She clutched at his arm as he sped up, his thumb rubbing at her clit. Natalia couldn’t even get out all the sounds cramming up in her throat, so she just ended up letting out a kind of whining keen and rolled her hips desperately up into Pavel’s fingers.
“Perfect,” he murmured.
“I’m ready, please, I—I want it, I’m ready please—”
“You sure?” he chuckled, but he pulled his fingers out of her and braced himself again so that he could take himself in hand and enter her.
“Goddammit, I’m sure,” Natalia growled at him. “Get inside me and fuck me, Pavel.”
Pavel chuckled but was sufficiently impressed enough to finally, finally get inside of her.
Natalia gasped as she felt herself stretched and filled, inhaling sharply as her body adjusted. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him to start moving.
Pavel took another moment, breathing against her neck, before he pushed himself up and kissed her, sliding halfway out and then pushing himself back in with a rough grunt.
Natalia encouraged him, digging her heel into his ass to get him to keep moving. Pavel began to thrust in earnest, starting with shallow dips that just teased her, made her want it more, and then started to get deeper, harder. She grabbed his face and kissed him, and Pavel groaned into her mouth, sucking on her tongue until she thought she was going to shake apart.
His hand got underneath her lower back, holding her up and changing the angle, allowing him to drive deeper inside of her. Natalia moaned, feeling him get in deeper, his cock pressing right up against the inner side of her clit, making the edges of her vision go white.
“Yes,” she gasped out. Her hands slid over his back, her nails digging in, her mouth falling open. “Right there, yes, perfect, yes, keep—keep going—”
Pavel scattered kisses all over her face and neck, picking up speed as he thrust into her again and again. She couldn’t get enough breath, twisting her hips restlessly, thrusting without thought, clawing at his back. She had half-formed thoughts like when she was on top, when she was taken up against the wall, she was sure he could hold her—but everything was spinning and then it was all just melting, melting in her blood, and she knew in a hazy sort of way that she was blurting things out, probably horribly ridiculous and sappy things but she didn’t care, not when he was making her feel so good, so good, so…
She cried out, her nails digging so hard into his skin she knew it was going to leave a mark, climax rushing through her like a wave of thick, sweet honey.
Pavel bit down onto her shoulder and let loose a growl as he came, almost at the same moment, and she knew in the back of her mind that he must have been holding himself back, waiting for her. Warmth, entirely different from her climax but just as sweet, flooded her chest, and she rubbed his back as the two of them shook together, coming down from their joined high.
She was shaking all over, little aftershocks. Pavel spasmed inside of her a few times, oversensitive, and she slowly moved away so that he could pull out of her and they could lie side by side. His arm came out, curling over her waist to pull her into his side, his thumb idly stroking her skin. She couldn’t even really form words—she was having thoughts, but words themselves were beyond her.
Pavel lay in silence as well, just idly running his fingers up and down her side, for she didn’t know how long. At last, he said, his voice scratchy,
“You all right?”
She laughed tiredly, nodding. “You kind of knocked the wind out of me.”
Pavel sat up a little, looking alarmed, and she laughed again. “That’s a good thing.” She couldn’t remember when sex had last left her that brainless. And there would be plenty more times for them to do more, to try different positions and ideas.
She couldn’t wait.
Natalia curled further into Pavel’s side, placing her hand on his chest so that she could feel his heartbeat.
“I think that was the most terrifying moment of my life,” Pavel admitted quietly. “When that guy was coming up behind you and I thought he was going to get you.”
She looked up at him, at his soft gray-green eyes, the way his mouth curled up ruefully like he expected her to make fun of him for it.
Natalia reached up, her fingertips brushing over the seam of his lips. “I would be just as worried, if it were me,” she whispered. “If you were the one in danger.”
“It’s my job to be in danger.” Natalia knew what he meant. He was a lieutenant, after all, and Ivan’s most trusted man.
“I know. But I will worry all the same.”
“I hated that I thought I would never see you again.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, looking at her in a way that made her breath catch in her throat. It was like she was the end all, be all.
“I wasn’t found of it either,” she replied. Her voice was shaky. She was glad, terribly glad, that standing up to her father had worked. That she was free now, and that she could be with Pavel. And then, just for the feel of saying it again: “I love you.”
“I love you,” Pavel replied. His thumb skated over her cheekbone, along her jawline. “Natasha.”
She smiled helplessly, starting to suspect the warmth in her chest would never go out. She hoped that it wouldn’t—that it, like Pavel, was in her life to stay.
Epilogue
Pavel shifted his feet outside the delivery room.
He personally didn’t see why he needed to be there. Kate didn’t need his help giving birth. In fact, he had a feeling she didn’t even need—or want—Ivan around, since all Ivan was doing was pacing uselessly up and down the hallway outside.
Kate had deemed him too nervous to come into the room with her and had banished him to wait until the whole ordeal was over. Pavel figured if nothing else, at least he was someone Ivan could be nervous at instead of just being stuck here all by himself.
But he’d had plans, dammit. He’d had plans. This was the night he was going to propose.
Until Ivan had told him that Kate was in labor and it was all hands on deck.
Luckily, Natalia didn’t know about the plans. She’d known that they had a dinner date planned that night but that was it, and when Pavel had told her about Kate’s delivery of the baby, she’d been perfectly understanding.
Still, he knew what the real plans had been, and the ring box sat heavily in his pocket like it was made of lead. He felt as though everyone looking at him had to know, that they would be able to see the bulge, or sense how it was weighing him down. His face definitely felt like a dead giveaway. He must have looked fine to Ivan, since Ivan had yet to ask if Pavel was experiencing an aneurysm, but fuck if it didn’t feel like every smile was a grimace and like he was sweating straight through his clothes.
“Deliveries can take a long time, right?” Ivan asked.
“Tell me, how is it I’ve seen you stare a loaded gun in the face without blinking but waiting for your wife to deliver your child is making you panic?”
Ivan flipped him off. “I don’t know what has made you so out of sorts.”
“I’ve been sitting in a hospital for three hours when I was supposed to be on a date.”
“I should have known I’d find you two bickering.”
> Pavel’s head whipped around as he registered whose voice that was and saw Natalia standing there, a bag full of goodies in hand. “I brought food.”
She handed each of them a sandwich and soup. Pavel’s heart swelled and warmed just looking at her, supporting them and helping them out without even being asked. It was little gestures like this that made him fall more in love with her every day.
“How as your day with your family?” he asked as Ivan wolfed down his food.
“It was all right. Father has announced to us that he has decided to make Irena his official heir.”
Ivan nearly choked on his sandwich, and Pavel would have done the same if he’d had food in his mouth. “So, he has come around?”
“Finally.” Natalia loved her father, but she was also blunt about his shortcomings. “He should have done that years ago. But late is better than never, I suppose.”
Irena had gone ahead and married into the Saito family. Natalia had fought her sister on that for a while, but Irena had insisted that she liked the man well enough and she wanted to do what would best ensure the survival of the Mikhailov family, and if that meant a political marriage, she wasn’t going to complain.
Natalia didn’t understand it, but Pavel was glad that she didn’t. It meant she was with him because she loved him. If she’d dropped him after her father had said she could be with whoever she wanted… Pavel didn’t know what he would’ve done.
But he didn’t have to worry about that now. He was happy. He was with Natalia.
Hopefully he would get to be with her for the rest of their lives.
Natalia smile at him, a quizzical light in her eyes. “Everything all right? Kate’s doing well?”
“As far as we can tell. She called Ivan a rat bastard who’d done this to her and she also called him a few things in Gaelic that I did not understand, but the nurses were calm and the doctor said it was going well.”
“That’ll be me someday,” Natalia warned him. “So you’d better be prepared.”
Pavel’s heart leapt into his throat. If she was saying things like that, then that meant that she was picturing them being together—having children—
