by Bella Rose
“Go to the other side of the couch,” he ordered her. “Climb up onto the seat, put your chest against the cushions, and spread your knees to give me a good view of that pretty pussy.”
There was a brief pause, almost as though she was still trying to process his request. Then she moved to do his bidding. The graceful way she carried herself was a turn-on all on its own. Mikhail yanked his shirt off, losing a few buttons in the process. He heard them ping against the hard floor and then skitter away. He didn’t care. He reached for the fly of his pants and practically ripped those buttons off as well.
Finally he was shoving his pants down over his hips and kicking off his shoes. He needed to be naked. He could have just opened his fly and taken Courtney like that, but he wanted more. It wasn’t enough to just have her. He needed to feel her skin next to his.
He moved to the other side of the couch and got into position behind her. Cupping her buttocks in his hands, he nestled his erection against the softness of her backside. He groaned. The feeling was exquisite. She was so soft and so perfect. She was also wet. Her cream coated her thighs and quickly coated his shaft in her delectable scent. He rubbed himself against her. The friction left him gasping.
Courtney pushed her bottom back against him. She wanted more. Every move she made told him that she did. She was barely under control. He could feel the need seething beneath her skin. Finally he altered the angle of his hips and sent his cock pushing up against her opening. He slipped inside her body. Entering her inch by agonizing inch, he felt her inner muscles acquiesce to his possession. With each bit of depth he gained, he felt her squeezing him tightly and welcoming him deeper into her body.
Mikhail wrapped his hands around her hips and felt his fingers press into her soft flesh. It was amazing. He paused, letting himself adjust to being so deeply inside her and letting her adjust to his invasion as well. Then she began to squirm, to move and thrust back as though she was begging him to fuck her.
“What do you need?” he wanted to know. “Tell me.”
“Fuck me!” she begged. “I need you, Mikhail!”
The words unlocked something dark inside him. With no further preparation, he began slamming his cock into her body as hard as he could. The sound of his flesh slapping hers filled the hotel room. Their joining was harsh and fast. He felt the blood coursing through his veins and knew he wasn’t going to last long.
COURTNEY WAS FLYING and never ever wanted to come down. She’d had sex. She’d even had several partners. But she had never experienced anything like this. Mikhail was raw and real, and the way he moved inside her made her feel as though she were more alive than ever before.
Each time his cock slid through her damp pussy, she could feel her inner muscles clenching tight. It created more friction, which sent a wave of incredible pleasure through her body. She felt the tip of him caress a spot so deep inside that she wanted to weep with the extreme sensation. It was like electricity. As if he was giving her a primal jolt each time he thrust inside her. She twisted her fingers into the couch cushions and tried to hold on. Her back arched until she thought her spine might snap. She clenched her buttocks to make it last longer. She didn’t want to come. Not yet. She was climbing so high. It was as though she no longer in charge of her own body. She moved with him. She breathed for him. She wanted only to bring Mikhail pleasure and in turn receive her own.
Then she heard him shout and felt a thick, throbbing pulse inside her body. She had the sense of being filled and knew that Mikhail had come inside her. His essence filled her body and left her weak in the wake of his release.
She felt her own climax stealing quietly through her body. If the first one had been like a freight train, this one came quietly. Her muscles tensed. She felt the sensation of liquid fire licking its way through her extremities. Her legs tingled and she clenched her fingers as she waited for the inevitable moment of release.
“Mikhail,” she whispered as the climax left her barely able to breathe. It was so good.
She whimpered and pumped her hips as the need to move against him made her unable to hold still. She ground his cock against the inside of her pussy until she realized that there was a tiny pinpoint of friction that was growing. She moved harder, feeling more determined as she felt herself perched on the edge of a third climax. Then everything culminated in a moment of perfection, and she felt her muscles clench tight around his cock as she came hard.
Courtney had always considered herself experienced. She now knew this was a misconception. She’d never experienced true satisfaction, and she had not known what it was like to be satisfied. But as she pressed her cheek into the couch cushion and tried to catch her breath, she knew that this moment was going to change her life forever.
MIKHAIL WAS OF two minds, and he was never like that. He always knew exactly what to do and how to think and where to go and what his path should be. Until now. When the feeling of coming inside a woman he should have been done with made him almost giddy with something that might have been labeled joy.
He couldn’t speak. Instead he picked Courtney up and cradled her naked body against his chest. Carrying her into the bedroom, he then set her in the middle of the hotel bed. When he climbed up beside her, he didn’t pause to ask himself why. A man had rules for a reason. His were never sharing a bed with a woman, never having sex in a face-to-face position, and never let himself get soft.
Unfortunately, he had a bad feeling that being with Courtney was already breaking about half of his rules. And being with her again would likely decimate the other half. He snuggled close to her and inhaled the soft scent of sunshine and flowers. With his eyes closed he could almost believe that no time had passed. They were young and in love, and the entire world was at their feet.
She seemed to be in a sort of endorphin-induced haze. Oddly enough, Mikhail felt more alive than sated. And just as soon as his cock began to respond to her nearness once again, Mikhail rolled Courtney onto her back and nudged his way between her legs. He braced his forearms on either side of her body and gazed down into her face. The room was dark, but he could see an outline of her precious features.
The head of his cock pushed against her damp mound. She opened her thighs a little more to welcome him. Mikhail pressed inside her. His shaft slid deep, and he paused to savor the feeling. Her fingers brushed his cheeks. He caught her hand and kissed her palm. Then he began to move inside her body. He went slowly this time. He watched her reactions, wanting to absorb the fullness of each moment they were together.
“Mikhail!” Her voice broke over his name.
He felt her pussy melt around his cock. It pushed him over the edge, and soon he was straining against her cleft as he poured his seed into her womb. Perhaps it occurred to him then that he hadn’t even considered the question of birth control. He briefly wondered if she was on the pill and then discarded the thought. Truly, he didn’t care. He was glad to have marked Courtney in this way. No matter how many men she was with in the future, she would always remember this night with him. For now—for this moment—she belonged to him. Tomorrow didn’t matter.
He withdrew his cock, feeling the soft shaft brush the tender skin of her inner thigh as he rolled to his side. The intimacy of the moment struck him. Normally he didn’t consider sex anything but utilitarian. It was different with Courtney. Perhaps she would always be the exception to his rules.
Chapter Six
Eight Weeks Later…
Courtney was beginning to think that she had a very promising career ahead of her as long as the job description involved some kind of avoidance skill. She was getting to be an expert at avoiding people she didn’t want to see. Her father, Creighton, Monique, and even Bella had been trying to visit her with varying degrees of success. So far her father had managed to get one meeting in with that accursed wedding planner, but Courtney was just about to report a rousing success in her plan to avoid meeting number two.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Or maybe not. Courtney sighed and turned to face her father. “Out. I have a Children’s Charity meeting in thirty minutes. I have to get going if I want to be on time.”
“You’re not going.” Her father’s voice was flat. “That wedding planner woman will be here in five minutes with the venue list. Creighton is on his way. If you ditch one of these meetings a second time, I’m cutting you off.”
Courtney swallowed, trying to find her sense of bravado. “Well, that seems a bit extreme. Don’t you think? You didn’t ask my opinion on who I’m marrying. You sold me. So why do I need to participate in the wedding? I would think you could figure all of that out on your own anyway.”
She glanced at her watch. It was eight in the morning. She was feeling completely nauseous. But she figured that was probably because her father had just told her that Creighton was on his way. She didn’t want to see him. She’d managed to avoid the man ever since Bella’s wedding reception had ended in disaster. She was terribly afraid that he would somehow corner her and figure out that she had spent that night with Mikhail at the Plaza Hotel.
“Sit. Down.” Her father grabbed her arm and tossed her into a chair in their overdone, cramped living room.
Her stomach was really roiling now. She swallowed, trying to push back the bile and prevent herself from throwing up. It was a horrible feeling. Her skin was clammy. She sat stiffly in the chair, her back ramrod straight, trying to get control of herself. She was sucking in deep breaths and trying to calm down.
“What is your problem?” her father demanded. “You’re acting like some crazy person.”
She wrapped her arms around her midsection. “I feel sick.”
“That’s bullshit,” he retorted. “You’re not getting out of this meeting so fast.”
“It’s not a lie. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
There was a husky feminine laugh mingled with lower masculine tones. The click-clack of heels on the polished wood floor preceded the wedding planner’s approach. Creighton was by her side, and the two of them appeared awfully cozy.
The sight of him pushed Courtney over the edge. She jumped her to her feet and put her hand to her mouth. “Please excuse me.” Bolting from the room, she headed for the first-floor half bath in the hallway and prayed she could make it in time.
* * *
“Are you sure this is how you want to proceed?” Toby Pinckney stood at the conference table, pushing aside a few documents in order to see the ones lying underneath. “This is a big step for you.”
“This merger will take Krachenko Security to the next level,” Mikhail said mildly.
He poured a shot of whiskey into the two thick ceramic mugs on the tray and then layered hot coffee over the top. He had invited Toby to his office to take a look at the final workups for the proposed takeover. Of course, if Toby happened to talk about his wife’s friend Courtney, Mikhail wasn’t going to stop him. He had been doing his best not to think about Courtney for the last eight weeks. Unfortunately he couldn’t seem to get her off his mind.
“This is not a merger, Mikhail,” Toby said wryly. “This is about as hostile a takeover as you can get—legally speaking.”
“Legally, of course,” Mikhail said mockingly.
“Do you still have contacts in that—” Toby seemed to be searching for the words he wanted. “—that other world?”
“Why?”
“Sometimes I think the only way to get certain things done is to do them illegally.” Toby looked frustrated.
“Do you have a particular problem in mind?”
“Not unless you count my in-laws,” Toby said darkly. “They’re a problem I can’t quite wrap my head around.”
“Meaning?” Mikhail handed his friend the coffee and took a sip from his own mug.
“Meaning that I’ve been told that since Bella is my wife, I’m now responsible for supporting her financially irresponsible brother and backing his idiot business ideas.” Toby took a deep drink of his coffee. “It really pisses me off actually. The guy is a moron. I’m not backing his dot-com company ideas. He comes up with one every five seconds, and his mother expects me to toss him a couple thousand dollars each time.”
“So tell her no.” To Mikhail it seemed fairly simple.
“She’s devious,” Toby moaned. “I tell her no. She leans on Bella. Bella is miserable because her mother is guilting her constantly about not loving her brother and not supporting her family.”
“Aren’t they rich?” Mikhail hid his smile behind the rim of his mug. This family bullshit was amusing when you weren’t knee-deep in the drama.
“Yes. But Bella’s father got wise to his son’s scheming years ago and cut him off. Now Mama is the one who has taken up his cause, and I’m apparently a brand-new bankroller she’s ready to take to the cleaners.”
“So basically you want me to find someone willing to bump off your brother-in-law?” Mikhail looked at his friend and offered a wry smile. “I think I might be able to help you out, but I’m guessing that Bella would be pretty upset if she thought you were involved.”
“I’m kidding!” Toby blinked, looking a little shocked. “Were you serious?”
“No.” Mikhail snorted. “I cut ties with that world a long time ago. But with enough money, anything is possible. Maybe you can find some other way to spin Bella’s brother and make him useful to you in a profitable way. Just think of him as an oddly shaped tool that needs a particular job.”
“You’re either brilliant, or a complete idiot,” Toby mused. “I can’t decide which, although I am willing to tell you what I found out about Bella’s friend Courtney since you were so helpful with my brother-in-law problem.”
Mikhail tried not to show just how eager he was to hear the latest on Courtney Piers-Cameron. “If you want.”
* * *
Courtney heard her father speaking to the wedding planner and her not-so-future husband. “I’m sure she’s just nervous. Courtney is just so excited about this wedding that she wants to make sure everything is perfect.”
“I’m sure.” The wedding planner—whose name was Elsa Manning—didn’t look as if she believed anything Gordon Piers-Cameron was telling her. “Most brides are skittish. Shall we go ahead and start without her?”
Courtney heard them all opening a bunch of fliers. She peered around the edge of the doorway, hoping nobody would notice since they were all focused on the information scattered over the coffee table. It was odd, but Elsa Manning and Creighton Kemper looked awfully chummy. Elsa kept putting her hand on his thigh, and he kept cutting her these weird sideways glances.
“You would be the envy of the whole town if you got married here,” Elsa simpered at Creighton. “I can just imagine you standing at the altar, looking incredibly handsome in a black suit. The jacket would make your shoulders look so broad.”
The breathy quality of Elsa’s voice was making Courtney feel uncomfortable. She didn’t particularly want to marry Creighton, but she sure as hell didn’t want him to think he could be engaged to her and screwing around flirting with someone else. Maybe it was just her girlish pride talking, but there was no way in hell some guy was going to disrespect her like that! Especially not a guy like Creighton Kemper!
Courtney straightened up and marched into the living room. She nudged her way right between Creighton and Elsa and plopped down on the couch. “I don’t like any of these. They’re all tired and ridiculously overpriced. I’d rather just get married at City Park.”
“In October?” Elsa blinked in surprise. “It’s usually fairly chilly by then.”
“So people can wear a jacket. It’s my wedding, right?” Courtney was getting into this. Maybe that’s why brides became Bridezilla. They were just miserable women who didn’t want to get married anyway and wanted everyone to feel as rotten about it as they did. “Yeah. I want to get married in City Park, in front of the lake. And I want roses.”
“Roses in October outside?” Elsa was now ignoring Creighton. “Fall
weddings usually have a fall palette and fall foliage. I have some examples here…”
“No.” Courtney gave her a flat refusal. “I don’t like any of that. There. I decided. You may go now.”
Elsa jumped up, giving Courtney a narrow-eyed glare as she did. Yep. The wedding planner hated Courtney, but she really didn’t give a rat’s ass what the woman thought. Courtney wasn’t getting married anyway. Even if it meant fleeing the altar on her wedding day.
* * *
“Apparently Courtney’s father is marrying her off to Creighton Kemper for some reason that nobody quite understands,” Toby told Mikhail. “Bella said they were all really confused when it was announced, because Courtney never said a word about the two of them even being a couple. She never told her girlfriends that he had proposed, and nobody ever heard a thing about an acceptance.”
“So he sold his daughter,” Mikhail mused. “That’s low. Even for him.”
Toby pursed his lips, finishing his spiked coffee and pouring some more plain hot coffee into his mug. “How do you know her?”
“Let’s just say that the two of us met quite unexpectedly when I got a job in one of her father’s buildings doing maintenance.”
“You worked for Piers-Cameron?” Toby’s eyebrows shot up. “You never said that!”
“I was in his building maintenance crew. I doubt he ever would have taken any notice of me if it hadn’t been for the fact that Courtney did.” Mikhail could recall the details as if they’d happened yesterday. “She got stuck in an elevator.”
“Seriously?” Toby started laughing. “It sounds like the beginning of an after-school movie.”
“It was. I’m not kidding. She was only fifteen.”
“And you were?” Toby asked, his tone obviously implying that Mikhail had dallied with an underage girl.
