by Bella Rose
He kissed her again, the contact rendering her almost senseless with the need for him.
His breath whispered over her skin. “I’ve missed you. There’s never been anyone else like you.”
Those words were exactly what she needed to hear. She had longed to know that he felt the same way. She was not alone in this crazy attraction. Her actions were not in vain. The knowledge ripped away the rest of her barriers. She buried her hands in his hair and drew him closer for another kiss. This time she took charge. She thrust her tongue into his mouth. Moaning and writhing against him, she told him without words what she needed and knew that her pleas would be answered.
***
Ivan had never expected that Emily would give in so easily. He gazed at her with satisfaction. She was naked in the center of his bed. Her expression was bemused, but there was no hesitation as she lifted her hand and beckoned him to go to her.
He climbed onto the bed and settled on his knees. Her breasts rose and fell, her pretty pink nipples tightening beneath his gaze. With each breath she took, the soft flesh shivered. He cupped one round globe in his hand and reveled in the sensation of their pert fullness. Kneading them both in his hands, he thumbed her nipples into tight little points. She arched her back and pushed her breasts into the contact. Her skin grew flushed.
“Ivan.”
He lowered his mouth to her breasts. Licking and sucking each one in turn, he felt his own lust rising until his cock was throbbing between his legs. No woman had ever been so perfect for him. He touched her belly, letting his fingers trace a path to her hipbones and then lower. He tugged at the pale gold hair dusting her mound. She moved restlessly, her legs seeming to fall open in invitation.
“I’m going to touch you,” he told her softly. “I’m going to make you come with my hands. And then I’m going to sink my cock into your pussy and make you come again.”
She shuddered and gasped. “Yes!”
He delved between the fullness of her nether lips. The soft folds parted and he realized that she was incredibly wet. The sound of fingers sliding through her cream was an erotic addition to her sweet cries of arousal. Then he found her clit and her hips nearly arched up off the bed.
Ivan watched in fascination as Emily’s body trembled on the bed before him. He spread her sex and circled the tight little bud until he felt the first tremors of her orgasm in the clenching of her inner muscles. Her throaty cries were music in his ears. Then it all snapped and a gush of fluid wet his hand.
“Ivan. I’m coming! Ivan!”
He watched her climax and marveled at the bravery of her total surrender. Emily held nothing back from him. And when her body seemed to sigh with satisfaction he felt a shot of male pride that made him want to roar.
Settling himself between her thighs, Ivan let the tip of his cock push lightly against her opening. It felt so damn good. She was hot and wet. The rounded head grew slippery with her fluids. His arms trembled as he held his weight above her body.
Suddenly Emily opened her eyes. She smiled up at him, lifting her fingers and touching his lips. “Make love to me, Ivan,” she whispered.
The gentle words were his undoing. He entered her in one long stroke. His thick cock spread her folds until her flesh surrounded him completely. He paused then, grinding his teeth together and fighting for control of his desires.
Emily lifted one leg, lightly stroking the small of his back with her calf. Had he ever expected to feel so wanted by her again?
He surged into her body, thrusting deep and then pulling out, only to do it once more.
Soon he was pounding her pussy, each stroke causing his body to slap against hers. The sound and scent of sex filled the room. He inhaled deeply of the smell of her fluids mingled with his. The primal instinct to claim this woman overcame everything else. He growled his need and fucked her as hard as he dared. Yet she never shrank away. Instead, Emily met him stroke for stroke. She put her feet flat on the bed and met him every time as though she were begging him for more.
Finally he felt his climax begin to uncurl inside his body. His legs went nearly numb from the sheer pleasure of being inside her. He clutched at the sheets with his fingers and panted as he struggled to breathe.
Her hands settled on his shoulders. She dug her nails into his skin and marked him as he intended to mark her. The tiny pinpricks of pain pushed him over the edge. He groaned and thrust hard as he ejaculated into the softness of her body.
Emily cried out when he came. She clutched at him and screamed his name as she came again. Her inner muscles clenched tightly around his shaft. His balls grew tighter as the delicious friction between them sent him spiraling to the heavens.
“Oh my God,” she whispered over and over again.
Ivan lost track of time then. He closed his eyes and rolled to the side in order to avoid crushing Emily’s smaller frame. She gave a little sigh. He pulled her into the curve of his body and rested his cheek against her tangled hair.
At some point her bun had come down, and now the long strands of her blond hair were spread across his sheets. The sight gave him incredible satisfaction. For once the feeling had nothing to do with what Sergei might or might not feel. It didn’t matter what his business portfolio looked like. The only thing on his mind was the woman in his arms.
“Ivan?” she whispered.
He grunted a response.
“Why is it so much better between you and me?”
He had to rouse his brain in order to consider her question. “Because sometimes the chemistry is completely natural,” he told her. “And beyond that, I don’t have any other answer.”
“I don’t hold back with you.” She seemed to be considering this fact. “I don’t know why, but I can’t.”
Somehow that knowledge, alone, made him feel like the king of the world. “I would never want you to.”
Chapter Seven
Ivan rolled away from Emily and threw his legs over the side of the bed before sitting up. Rubbing a hand down his face, he glanced over and noticed that Emily was sleeping with her hands tucked beneath her cheek. She looked so damn innocent lying there. The morning sun was just beginning to creep through the blinds. Soon it would be time to get up and start the day.
He stood and walked into the bathroom. The posh surroundings usually gave him satisfaction. Today they seemed overdone. The fixtures looked gaudy instead of luxurious in the gray light of dawn that painted everything in shadow.
Placing his hands flat on the cool, smooth sink top, he gazed into the mirror. His reflection looked different somehow. That made no sense. Nothing had changed. And yet as he turned on the faucet and splashed water over his cheeks, he felt different.
The water wetted his hair and drenched his face. Head bowed, he let the droplets drip back into the sink as he tried to discover why he felt so strange. He had achieved his goal. Emily had coming willingly to his bed. Sergei would be fiercely angry. And yet the satisfaction he felt was hollow.
Ivan grabbed a pair of shorts hanging on a hook and pulled them on. He shoved his fingers through his damp hair and left the bathroom for the hallway. To his surprise, Samantha Bristo was sitting in his kitchen sipping a cup of coffee.
Ivan raised an eyebrow at her audacity. “Don’t you even knock anymore?”
“Your men let me in downstairs.” She tapped her cup with one fingernail. “I made coffee.”
“Thanks,” he grunted.
Ivan poured himself a cup and rested one hip against the counter as he sipped the bitter brew. “You shouldn’t be here.”
She raised her brows over the rim of her cup, looking confused. “I come and go as I please. I always have. Why the change?”
“Emily is here.”
“Here. In your apartment?”
“My bed.” It was impossible to disguise the triumph in his voice. “And I would have a hell of a time explaining your presence if she happens to walk in here.”
Samantha set her cup down on the countertop and
looked thoughtful. “If she’s a means to an end, why do you care about an explanation?”
He had no answer for that. Swallowing and drinking more coffee to cover his unease, Ivan realized that she was right. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. What brings you here so early in the morning?”
She fiddled with her cup, letting her fingers trace the half-moon shape of the handle on the side. “My boss wasn’t so happy about plucking all that low-hanging fruit yesterday.”
“So?” Ivan shrugged one bare shoulder. “He just pulled a bunch of dealers and pushers off the street, enough to fill his jail cells. What more could he want?”
“Sergei’s boss,” she said quietly.
Ivan considered this. It wasn’t unexpected. “Taking Yuri would be difficult. He has a legion of men to sacrifice. Any one of them would swear on a stack of Bibles that he had done whatever crime that you tried to charge Yuri with.”
“You could help us,” Samantha said slyly. “If Yuri goes, then Sergei and the other made men will fall too. There would be a power vacuum.”
“And you think I would find enough men to support me if I just happened to be in position to step into that spot? Don’t you think the other bosses would argue that?” Even considering the idea made him feel insane.
“We would leave you alone.” She gazed at him, her dark eyes hooded. “With you running things, we could have a lucrative partnership.”
“You mean that you would leave my legitimate businesses alone and just harass me on the illegal side,” he retorted. “Eventually your bosses are going to want me. They’re happy right now because I’m feeding them info on the organization and helping them navigate things. That won’t last. They’re going to call for my blood. What will you do then?”
She gave a delicate shrug. He recalled then that Samantha was a stellar poker player. She was drawing him in with the promise of power and influence. Where would it go from there?
Ivan turned his back on Samantha for a moment and moved to the other side of the kitchen. He pulled eggs, cheese, diced onions, and a few other ingredients out of the fridge. Sometimes working with his hands helped him think.
“You’re making an omelet,” she said incredulously. “Now?”
“Can you think of a better time?” He raised an eyebrow and pulled a pan out of the cabinet. He placed it on his gourmet gas stove and turned on the burner. “It’s morning and I’m hungry. Aren’t you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I suppose so, but we were talking about the future of our partnership.”
“No.” He began cracking eggs into the pan. Swirling them together, he started throwing in additional ingredients and mixing it all together. “You were talking about some bizarre notion to make me responsible for taking down a third of the organization so I can raise myself up in their place.”
“It’s a good idea,” she said with emphasis. She was leaning over the counter in her excitement. “You’re a good guy, Ivan. I’ve always thought so.”
“Even when we were kids and you were growing up alongside all these mafia kids and trying to figure out why we were all criminals who seemed to get away with everything?” He listened to the sizzle of the pan on the stove and poked at his breakfast. “I’m not believing that for a minute. I remember what happened to your father. I know why you went into the FBI. You can hide your motives from anyone else, Samantha, but not from me.”
“You’re different.” She sounded almost sulky.
He snorted. “I have a woman in my bed who is only there because I want her brother to pay for the insult he gave me eight years ago. Am I really that different?”
“Yes, because we both know that’s not really why she’s in your bed.” Samantha shot him a pointed look.
The insinuation bothered him intensely. If felt as if she were criticizing his objectivity. Worse, if felt like she had a right to do that. He had been weak last night. He had given away too much. It was time to get his perspective in order.
***
Emily awoke to an empty bed and the wonderful scent of eggs cooking. She sat up and gathered the sheet around her naked body. The Ivan she had known so long ago had enjoyed cooking. It was sort of an unusual trait for a man like him, but she had always suspected it came from not having much when he was growing up. Food was important. Even the restaurant last night had shown that to be true.
She got up and carefully lifted the edges of the sheet so that she wouldn’t take out every piece of furniture between the bedroom and the kitchen. Padding barefoot out into the hallway, she went to find the source of the aromatic smells coming from the stove.
It was quiet in the apartment, but she soon heard the sound of low voices coming from the kitchen. Emily began to walk slower as she wondered what might have gotten Ivan out of bed so early in the morning. Perhaps it was a business reason. She knew from experience that mafia business never slept and often required a number of people meeting at odd times of the day and night to discuss problems that cropped out in the most unexpected places.
Emily peered around the corner of the hallway and into the kitchen. She had perhaps expected to see men gathered around the counter drinking coffee and discussing the business of the realm. It gave her pause to see a single woman with a cup of coffee. She was familiar, although Emily couldn’t place her.
Seconds later, Emily was spotted by the woman. A smirk twisted one corner of the beautiful mouth. She really was quite a looker with her long, curly dark hair and bright gray eyes. Her skin was flawless, which made Emily hate her on principle. And there was also the fact that she now turned to Ivan and pointed her finger.
“It looks like we’ve woken up your guest,” the woman said casually.
Ivan was standing at the stove. He had just removed a pan from the burner and was loosening the edges of an omelet with the spatula in his hand. He slid it expertly from the pan to a waiting plate. Then he finally looked up at her. There was no smile on his face. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that the two of them had just spent the night together. Emily frowned, feeling horribly off-balance.
“Good morning, Emily.” His tone was curt. “You’ll find we rise fairly early around here.”
“All right,” she said slowly. “Have I missed something?”
“No, not at all.” He gestured to his companion. “Samantha and I were just talking business.”
Emily had the odd thought that none of her brother’s associates were quite this attractive. “Are you…are you coming back to bed?”
“No.”
That was all he said. It was utterly final. Worse, it felt final. Emily swallowed, wondering what had happened. He had been so kind and almost affectionate the night before. Now he was being cold. Had she completely mistaken his intentions?
“I think the best way to begin,” Ivan was saying, “is for you to go home and put yourself together. Get some clothes and things, and report back here to work for the morning.”
Ivan was splitting off a sliver of the omelet and placing it on a second plate. Then he set the plate in front of Samantha and grabbed a fork out of the drawer. Samantha cast a sly look over her shoulder at Emily before digging in to her breakfast.
Emily swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat. “All right. So you want me to report back here for work?”
“Yes. I will have a list of tasks for you to complete.”
“Tasks,” Emily said slowly. “Like errands? Or you have business that you need me to take care of?”
“I suppose you’ll just have to discover that when you get back.” His arrogance was on full display. He actually exchanged a private smile with Samantha that made Emily want to grab the vase off the little end table in the hallway and throw it at his head.
“Fine.” She grit her teeth together and tried not to show that she was affected. “I’ll just get out of your way then.”
“Thank you,” Ivan said mildly. “I would appreciate you being back here by ten, at the latest. I have some pressing matters that won’t
wait, and I need to be leaving by then.”
“Of course.” Emily ducked her head and then turned and walked back toward the bedroom. She felt worse than vulnerable with nothing but the sheet from his bed wrapped around her body. What must that Samantha woman be thinking about her?
Then Emily heard a female voice speak. “That wasn’t very nice, Ivan. You could have at least offered the girl breakfast.”
“Why? She’s served her purpose. Now I need to get on with the rest of my plan,” Ivan said carelessly. “Don’t be a bleeding heart. It’s not becoming of you.”
“I’m just saying that you may come to regret your decision, that’s all,” Samantha told him in a careless tone. “It makes no difference to me either way.”
“You’re assuming I care one way or the other,” Ivan told her. “And I don’t.”
Emily swiped at her cheeks. She didn’t know why she was wasting all this emotion on what had obviously been casual sex. She was a big girl. She just needed time to regroup and figure out a plan to keep her brother out of trouble and her heart in one piece.
Chapter Eight
“Okay, that was harsh,” Samantha said once the elevator doors had closed and Emily was on her way downstairs. “I have to admit that I did not think you had that in you.”
“What?” he snorted. “You thought we were in there making love all night long like two star-crossed lovers finally reunited?”
“Something like that.” She was looking at him with a more than critical eye. “You’ve had a thing for her since you met her, Ivan. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
He shoveled a bite of omelet into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “That’s not true. My attraction to Emily is what got me into trouble with Sergei. If I’d have kept my dick in my pants, he wouldn’t have fired me.”
“I thought the point was that he treated you like a lower-class human being and thought his sister was too good for you.” Samantha pointed at him with her fork. “You’re completely losing sight of your purpose here, Ivan. Which means there’s really no point and you should just help me take down Yuri so you can step into the boss position.”
