22. Nik

CHAPTER 22

Nik

We stumble toward the bedroom, shedding clothes as soon as the door slams shut. There's an urgency to our movements, a desperate need to feel something real in the midst of all this chaos, or maybe it's just so that we don't stop and really think about what we're doing. As we fall onto the bed, I try to push away the guilt gnawing at the edges of my mind—the memory of Eva's words, the weight of my divided loyalties.

But Brie's hands are on me, trailing fire across my skin, and everything else fades away. There's only this—the softness of her body against mine and the driving, pulsing need I have for her.

And when I push her back against the pillows, the world narrows even further. All I can see is the beautiful, powerfully sexy woman underneath me, her bright hair spread across the pillow, eyes wide with desire.

I kiss her slow and deep, savoring the taste of her, the feel of her body against mine. Her hands wander down my body, tracing the lines of muscle, and a shiver of anticipation runs through me. Her touch is electric, and I can feel myself needing her more and more with every passing second. And then she says it.

"Hold me down. Be mean to me, Nik. Just a little." She looks up at me through her lashes and smirks. "I know you want to."

Thing is, I do. She fills me with a strange, fond cruelty at times, a desire to punish just so I can comfort afterward. So I take her wrists and push them firmly into the bed over her head. She struggles, just to test me, but I'm strong. Stronger than she is. And she likes it that way, I can tell by the soft sigh she gives, the way those glorious breasts quiver underneath me.

"Fuck me," she says.

I lean in to kiss her. "You don't get to tell me what to do right now. You're not the boss here. Not anymore. Agreed?"

She nods, and I can see the excitement building in her eyes. I kiss her again, then trail my lips down her neck, her collarbone, to the sweet curve of her breast. Her skin is soft, warm, and I can't help but sink my teeth into her, just a little, just to make her squirm. She does, moaning softly, and I keep going.

I move down her body, kissing and biting, marking her beautiful golden skin. I hope she'll have faint bruises tomorrow, a reminder of our time here. I reach the swell of her hip and bite again, a little harder this time. She gasps, and her hips buck up against me. I can smell her now, the sweet scent of her arousal, and I can't wait any longer.

I slide a hand between her thighs, urging her to open up her legs for me. She does, eagerly, and I run a finger along her glistening folds. She's soaking wet, and it's all I can do not to bury my face into her and devour her immediately. But I shift lower, spreading her legs wider, and kiss the inside of her thighs instead. She squirms, trying to push me where she wants me, but I'm not giving in that easily.

Instead, I reach up and give her nipple a firm twist. "Stop that," I order. "You're going to be still, and you're going to do exactly as I say. Understand?"

She hums her assent, and I reward her with a gentle lick across her clit. I can hear the catch in her breath, feel the tension in her shaking body. But she stays still, so I keep going.

My tongue dances across her hard clit, alternating slow, light strokes with hard, fast ones, and she responds beautifully, her breath coming faster, her hips twitching ever so slightly. And then I sink a finger into her, curling it just right, and she cries out in pleasure. "Yes—there?—"

I withdraw my finger at once. "Who's in charge?" I ask her.

"You are."

"That's right. And you're not going to come until I say you can. Got it?"

She nods impatiently, and I slide my finger back in, massaging that same spot that makes her tremble and moan. I take her closer and closer to the edge as I flick my tongue over her clit, then pause once more. She's practically vibrating with need, her pupils blown wide, eyes dark and pleading.

I could do this all night, watch her come undone beneath me, but my own desire is building, and I can't hold back any longer.

"Do you want to come, Brie?"

"Please." Her voice is ragged, and the sound sends a bolt of pleasure straight to my core.

"Then this time you'll have to work for it." I roll right off her and pull her with me as I sit up against the bedhead. She straddles me and I look up into her face as I push my fingers back into her, thumb on her clit, and let my other hand drop between my own thighs. "No coming until I say," I remind her. "Now go on, gangster girl. I want to see you fuck yourself on my fingers, just like this. Give me a good show."

She gives a breathy laugh and does as she's told, rocking her hips forward and back, riding my hand, squeezing her own nipples into hard, pink bullets. Her breathing is ragged, the sight of her almost too much for me.

I tease myself slow and steady at the same time, keeping my pace about half of hers, and it's like nothing else exists in the world. I want to watch this exact sight forever, watch Brie Colombo getting off on my hand, her beautiful breasts trembling and bouncing, her body glistening with sweat, her lips parted as she pants and gasps.

"I bet you're close," I say. "Are you close? Do you need to come?"

She can't speak, only nod, and I know she's telling the truth. Her movements are getting more frantic, and I can feel her inner walls tightening around my fingers.

"Make me come, and then you can, too," I tell her. "Work for it. Show me you've earned it."

She leans forward so her soft, perfumed breasts are swaying right into my face, her nipples grazing against my cheek, my lips?—

I'm only human. I catch her nipple with my mouth, sucking on it hard, lashing at it with my tongue.

"Oh, God," she chants. "Oh God, oh God, oh God?—"

Hearing that is what puts me over the edge. It's knowing that I can break her apart like this, have her whimpering and begging for me—that's what I'm getting off on. And so I press my clit hard, let my orgasm hit, worrying her nipple with my teeth as it does, making her squirm and plead all the more as I work myself through it. "Okay," I gasp out at last. "Okay. Come for me."

It takes only seconds, and then she's shaking, shuddering, crying out my name as her climax overtakes her.

She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I hold her, stroking her back as her breathing slows, petting at her sweetly fluttering walls until the sensation dies away and her heartbeat returns to normal.

As she kisses me again, soft and sleepy, I know I've crossed a line I can never uncross.

I'm as involved with a client as it's possible to be. But my loyalty to Eva, my duty to the Novak Consortium—it all seems distant and unimportant compared to the woman in my arms.

Brie, still in my lap, traces lazy patterns on my shoulder, her touch both soothing and electrifying. "What are you thinking?" she murmurs.

I hesitate, caught between honesty and self-preservation. "That this is dangerous," I finally admit. "For both of us."

She gives a wry smile. " Everything in our world is dangerous, Nik. That's what makes it exciting."

I can't argue with that. The thrill of the forbidden, the knife's edge between power and ruin—it's a heady rush. But all the same…

"We need to be careful," I say, running my fingers through her silky hair. "I'm serious."

"I know. Believe me, I know. But Nik…" She pauses, biting her lip. "I do want to trust you. And that actually scares me more than any threat out there."

She wants to trust me. And I don't deserve it. Not when I'm torn between my duty to Eva and…

And this strange new loyalty I feel toward Brie Colombo.