That seemed to bring her up short, and she was silent for a moment, eyes far away. It occurred to Alexei that no matter how nonchalant and blasé his mother tried to be about everything, she definitely did miss her husband, and he felt bad for speaking to her like that.
“Mother,” he tried again, gentler this time. “I didn’t-”
She shook her head and the moment was gone. “At least have the decency to avoid getting yourself killed before you have an heir who can take over the business in your stead. Now, I have to go. Come, Vera.”
Vera stiffened and looked between her mother and her brother, clearly torn. Alexei took pity on her and sighed, inclining his head in a gesture that meant he would be fine and she should go.
She nodded back and smiled at him, patting his hand before following their mother out.
As much as he would have liked to have his sister stay, he figured that the peace and quiet of having his room empty would be better. And anything to placate their mother was probably the best plan considering they were soon going to be turning everything upside down when it came to the business and the way things were run.
He allowed himself to drift off for a bit, interrupted briefly by the doctor coming in to tell him that luckily he hadn’t broken anything and that aside from a few bruises and a very badly sprained ankle, he was fine.
A knock on the door startled him some time later, and Alexei was expecting another one of the doctors, come to tell him when he could go home or that they were going to put some painkillers in his IV drip or something, so he called for them to come in. He was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t a doctor, but a worried looking Emma who stepped into the room.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.
“Vera called me,” Emma said, and Alexei had never been more grateful to his sister. She must have known that even though he didn’t want his mother to stay and understood that she had to leave, he would want to see a familiar and comforting face.
“Vera’s the best sometimes,” Alexei said. “Are you going yell at me? Everyone else has yelled at me.”
“I should,” Emma responded, glaring at him and folding her arms. “First I get your voicemail about being careful, which was cryptic as all get out, by the way, and then I’m getting a phone call from your sister where she tells me that you’re terrible at taking your own advice and that you’re in the hospital. Of course all of this is after last night when we got shot at in your apartment, so I don’t even know what to think anymore. What happened?”
“Vera didn’t explain?”
Emma scowled. “No, and I want to hear it from you, anyway.”
“Alright, alright,” Alexei said, hands raised in a gesture of peace. “I understand. Come here, you’re too far away.”
She arched an eyebrow at him and then sighed, coming to sit at the end of his bed. When Alexei held his hand out, she rolled her eyes, but threaded her fingers with his all the same. “Tell me,” she said, and so he did, leaving nothing out. Reveling in the fact that he had someone to talk to who was there for him, as well as the fact that he was alive and safe and his sister was alive and safe and for the moment things were alright.
Chapter 12: A Place to Land
“Will you stop that?” Emma asked, batting his hands away from her for the tenth time in a half hour period. “Honestly, it’s like you’re a teenage boy.”
Alexei pouted, clearly trying to look pathetic enough that she’d take pity on him. “I’m bored,” he complained. “This is boring.”
“You’re supposed to be recuperating,” Emma pointed out, not looking up from her laptop. The words were flowing well for once, and while she knew there was going to have to be heavy editing done on her part, it was nice to be getting something done. To be writing something. Patricia had promised to put in a good word for her at the job, and she had high hopes.
Now if she could just get the whiny rich Russian who had taken up residence on her couch to stop being such a child, her day would be going much better.
He was still recovering from bruises and aches he’d gotten in the car accident and the injuries that were caused by his stupid heroics after the accident. He had to use crutches for the next couple of weeks until his ankle was better. Since her house was easier to get around than his apartment (stairs notwithstanding), and he didn’t want to be alone, he was staying with her while he got better.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like having him there because she did. She liked that he was around when she woke up and there when she came home from work, usually still sitting in the same spot she’d left him that morning before work, hunched over his laptop or on the phone. The only evidence of his movement would be the plate and cup in front of him, showing that he’d had lunch at least.
And really, the way he’d look up and smile at her when she came in made dealing with the whining worth it.
Usually.
Now it was clear that he was horny and also desperate for attention, and while Emma was usually alright with those things in any combination, at the moment, she was trying to work.
“Give me fifteen more minutes and then maybe I’ll entertain you,” she said.
“Promise?” Alexei asked, and with his curls and pitiful expression, he looked like a sad angel.
“Promise,” Emma replied, leaning in to kiss his cheek.
“Excellent.” Apparently that was all Alexei needed to save him from his melancholy and he was up and gathering up the dishes from their dinner (made by him while she was at work, which definitely added points in his favor) to take them to the kitchen.
Emma sighed and turned her attention back to her screen. “You’re supposed to be using the crutches!” she called after him.
“You’ve got fourteen and a half minutes left!” he called back. “Don’t waste them lecturing me.”
“Idiot,” she mumbled under her breath in Russian, pleased that she remembered the word Vera had taught her. In the several weeks since the two had met, they’d actually become fairly good friends.
Vera intimidated the hell out of Emma with her always straight posture and perfect appearance. She was hard to read and even harder to predict, and Emma was always worried that she’d done something to offend her by being too brash or too loud or too...whatever else.
It wasn’t until Alexei had told her that Vera actually liked her very much that she’d stopped obsessing over trying to make sure she was doing the right thing, and just started enjoying her time with Vera. When she wasn’t nervous and freaking out, it was easier for Emma to see the little things that made Vera laugh or that made her think.
They spent a lot of time making fun of Alexei much to his dismay, but Emma knew that he was relieved that they got along.
So was she, to be honest.
The relationship between Alexei and his sister was being rebuilt right in front of her, and she wouldn’t have wanted to be a reason for it to not go well.
Fifteen minutes passed by quickly, and when Emma looked up, Alexei was standing in front of her, hands on his hips. “Do you know what time it is?” he asked, eyebrows arched.
“Let me guess,” Emma said. “Time for me to entertain you?”
“You’re so smart,” he replied. “That’s why I like you. One of the reasons why, anyway.”
Emma smiled at him, feeling warm. “Alright, alright. No need to butter me up. Sit down, and we’ll get started.”
Alexei looked intrigued, and he did as she asked, sitting down in the reclining chair and putting his leg up. He didn’t look like he was in too much pain, which was good, but Emma didn’t plan on making him do a lot of work tonight anyway.
She queued up the playlist she’d made earlier that evening for just this sort of occasion, and got up to turn the lights down, grinning when the slow, sensual music started playing softly from her laptop.
It was the perfect atmosphere for what she had planned, and she held Alexei’s gaze with her own and started unbutt
oning her blouse slowly.
His eyes widened when he realized what she was doing, and he made himself more comfortable in the chair, not taking his gaze off of her.
That suited her perfectly, and she made sure he had an excellent view of her opening her blouse and letting it slip down her arms, the silky fabric making a soft sound as she let it slide to the floor with a flourish. She’d never done anything like this before, and the few videos she’d looked at online before she’d gotten embarrassed hadn’t helped all that much. All of those women had seemed to have their own natural sex appeal, and Emma was quite sure she didn’t have any.
Either way, she was determined to try, and she slid her hands over her chest and down her stomach in a slow glide to the buttons and zipper on her pants, undoing them in succession and letting just a peek of her lacy black panties show.
“God,” Alexei breathed, and Emma took that to mean she was doing alright.
Her pants were easily shed, leaving her in the garter and thigh highs she’d worn under them just for the occasion. She twirled with the music, hands moving over her body as she unhooked her bra and tossed it to Alexei, watching him grin as he touched the lacy cups.
“For me?”
“It’s all for you,” Emma said. “My poor wounded puppy.” She laughed on the last word, and he did too, but it didn’t break the mood. That was just their dynamic, laughing and making jokes with each other whenever they were together.
Now she stood in just her panties, the garter belt, and her thigh highs, shoes kicked off because even though she wanted to be sexy, she wasn’t going to have her feet aching to do it.
Alexei didn’t seem to mind at all because in the next moment he was reaching for her, his hunger naked in his eyes.
Emma went to him, and sighed happily when he put his hands on her, letting him draw her into his lap carefully. He put both feet on the floor and held onto her hips, pulling her close until he could grab a handful of her hair and drag her into a kiss.
She didn’t resist him, of course. Why would she when his lips were soft and warm and he tasted like the mint tea he’d been drinking before this, sharp and sweet against her tongue.
They kissed unhurriedly, mouths molding to each other, caressing and sliding, meeting and parting, breaths mingling and tongues tangling as each moment passed. It was mutual desire, and it built between them the longer the kiss went on.
Emma pushed up onto her knees to get better leverage, arms going around Alexei’s neck as she pressed into the kiss, tongue mapping and claiming his mouth like his had once done to hers.
By now they had this down.
His body pushed and her body moved to accept the movement. His hand slid down the skin of her back, and she arched into it. Her hand found the short curls at the nape of his neck, and he hummed into her mouth.
Hands slid over skin and cloth alike and mouths traded each other for necks and shoulders, moans and soft breaths, whispered sighs of each other’s names falling from kiss bruised lips into the warm air in the room.
Emma was wet in the lace of her panties, and she was in the perfect position to feel how hard Alexei was under her. He hummed when she ground down on him, bucking against the tantalizing bulge in his pants. She was going to have to get off of him if she wanted to enjoy what was in his pants, but for now this was enough. The rocking motion of her against him, and the way he pushed into it, pressing up and groaning at the sensation.
Of course, they weren’t content to go slow for long. Not when want was turning to need, and they were both panting and glassy eyed with desire.
Alexei urged Emma off of his lap long enough for him to shimmy out of his pants, and they both ignored the small wince when his jeans got caught on his sore ankle.
“Get back over here,” he ordered, voice deep with just how much he wanted her to obey him.
She didn’t make him wait, either, instead sliding back into his lap and resuming the rocking from earlier, gasping at the feeling of his heated flesh against her crotch, even through her panties.
Apparently the lace felt good on Alexei’s cock because he moaned and grabbed her hips, slowing her rocking until it was a slow drag against his hard length. “You’re so sexy,” he breathed, looking at her, meeting her eyes in the dimly lit room.
“Yeah?” Emma asked, and she could feel herself blushing.
“Yeah. Just. I love having you like this. Here in my lap. All mine.”
“Someone’s possessive,” she teased, but the warmth blooming in her chest was very real, and she felt the same way about him.
“Maybe. Come here.” He swallowed anything else she’d been about to say in another hot kiss, this one all teeth and rough edges while his fingers found the damp lace covering her sex and rubbed against it, pressing against her folds hard enough to find her clit and drag that lace against it.
Emma moaned into his mouth, shifting in his lap and making a needy sound.
“Do you want me?” Alexei asked roughly.
“Yes.” As if that was even a question anymore. She didn’t react like this for anyone else, and she couldn’t see herself ever doing it. Not that she liked to picture herself without him, of course.
But there would be time for thinking later. For now, Alexei was pushing aside her panties and lining his cock up with her warm, wet entrance with one hand, guiding her with the other until she was sliding down onto him.
They both tipped their heads back and moaned, and Emma wondered if it would ever stop feeling this good.
Alexei’s eyes were hot on her as she rose up slowly, seeing no need to hurry, and she held his gaze as she sank back down, starting a slow, undulating rhythm that left them ample time to kiss and touch and gasp each other’s names in the middle of it all.
“You’re so good, so good,” Alexei panted, hands moving from her chest to her hips to her back to her sides in a restless slide. “So good.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” Emma teased, laughing breathlessly as she rolled her hips, catching each wave of building pleasure and rolling with it as the heat and tingling sensation built in the pit of her stomach. He seemed content to let her do the bulk of the work in this, but she was fine with that, determined to make him feel good.
Their lips were scant inches from each other, warm breaths fanning over their flushed faces. “I want to do this all the time,” Alexei murmured, and Emma could taste the sincerity. “I want to keep you.”
“I’m yours,” she breathed back, hoping he could see and feel that she meant it. “Yours, yours, yours.”
With each declaration she lifted up and sank back down, movements erratic as she was reaching the height of her pleasure.
Alexei’s breathing and sudden torrent of swearing in Russian proved that he was just as close, and Emma kept the momentum going, working her hips until she was crying out and closing her eyes, burying her face against his neck as all that pleasure came crashing over her in a messy spill.
Her breath caught and for a moment she couldn’t get air to her lungs, caught up in the dizzying rush of her orgasm and the way it was ripping through her body, making her shake as it kept breaking on her.
His fingers dug into her hips, and she whimpered softly, riding him through her orgasm and bringing his on with a hot rush that she could feel as he snapped his hips up and kept their bodies close.
She swore in English against his neck, toes curling and body taut until slowly, gradually, she started coming down from the pleasure of it.
Alexei released his grip on her hips and stroked fingers down her back as they lay there together in the chair, both fighting to breathe and letting the sweat cool on their skin and between their bodies.
“You’re perfect, do you know that?” Alexei asked after a few minutes.
Emma snorted at that and nuzzled against him. “You’re silly.”
“I’m not. I know what I’m talking about,” he insisted.
“Mmhmm,” she hummed. “I’m sure you do.”
It was a Friday night, and usually they would be at Sam’s as it was their strict routine, but with Alexei injured, they didn’t go out as much as they could. The police had caught the majority of the people involved in the death of Alexei’s father and the attempts on his life, but who knew if there were more out there or not. Alexei and Vera had spoken of hiring bodyguards until they knew for sure, and for the moment they were playing it safe.
That night, playing it safe meant dragging themselves up from the chair in the living room and shedding the last of their clothes. Emma had gathered them up along with a bottle of wine (one that had come from Alexei’s apartment because she knew nothing about wine herself) while Alexei had hobbled his way up the stairs.
He’d run them a nice hot bath, and the two of them were relaxing in it, taking advantage of the large tub. Alexei’s legs were stretched out and Emma was between them, back resting against his chest as she sipped her wine and sighed contentedly.
“You’re happy,” he said softly, wet fingers stroking up and down her arm.
“What was your first clue?” Emma asked.
“I don’t know. You seem happy, and yes, I’m aware that that was a rhetorical, smart aleck kind of question.”
She laughed at that, tipped her head back until she could see him properly, albeit upside down. “I’m happy. Are you?”
He actually seemed to be considering the question for a few seconds. “Yes,” he said finally. “I am. I hadn’t expected to be, you know. When my father died and it was all on me. My mother has this grand idea that I can keep everything together and take over the family business so things can be like they were before. But they aren’t going to be like that.”
“So it seems,” she said. “Are you going to tell her that?”
“One day. Maybe I’ll let Vera do it. She likes Vera.”
Emma laughed again and set her glass down on the rim of the tub. “Well, I think you’re doing a good thing. From what I understand about the way your father did things, it wasn’t good for anyone but him.”
Crash into Me: A BWWM Russian Billionaire Romance Page 13
