Page 54 of Guarded Rebellion

“No.” He dipped his head lower, seeming to have calmed down since he listened to me ranting. “I don’t want totameyou. I only wish I could have the right to lead you on how to control this passion.”

I swallowed hard, turning to press my lips against his. At the last second, though, he denied me, kissing lower where my cheek met my jaw. “I give you that right,” I whispered breathily. “I want you to?—”

“To what?” he teased gruffly. Keeping his hand on my head, he directed how he intended for me to give him access to my neck. Those firm but soft lips of his didn’t stop. Brushing them back and forth, then caressing my skin with slow, sensual drags of his tongue, he traveled down my neck while he held me flush to him. “You want me to control you?”

No? Yes.I forced another swallow, damning how dry my mouth was as adrenaline kicked in to match the pace of my desire. “I want you to…”To show me that you care. That I matter to you. That you’re just as impossibly desperate for me as I am for you.

“You shouldn’t,” he replied as moved his hands to push my coat off. Keeping his mouth on me, he sucked and kissed, then nipped and licked. He left a warm, wet path down my neck, and under the sensations of lust, I closed my eyes and relaxed against the door.

“You shouldn’t, Eva,” he repeated, arguing with my unfinished statement. He didn’t know what I wanted to say, but he would argue regardless, clued in to realize that I wantedhimto some capacity.

“You’ll be promised to another,” he said quietly as he unbuttoned my shirt. “The Boss will find you a husband. A man worthy?—”

I barked a laugh as he lifted his hands to cup my breasts. “Worthy? Being worthy won’t matter. I’ll be half of a political maneuver, part of a business transaction.”

He sighed, gazing at me with a deep intensity as he tugged the cups of my bra down. “But you won’t be mine.”

I licked my lips, hating the sound of the truth he spoke. I reached for his head to pull him down for a kiss, but he didn’t let me take the lead. He didn’t obey my urge. Lowering further, he fastened his mouth over my bare breast. His lips closed over my areola and the tip of his tongue clicked at the hard peak of my nipple.

“Oh, fuck. Yes.” Now he let me hold his head, pushing him to my chest. In the same move, he lifted me. His hands urged me to follow his wordless command as he picked me up. Digging his fingers into my ass, then my thigh, he hoisted me up high so he could hold me against the door at a level that he could feast on my breasts. Torturing me with his wicked tongue, he encouraged me to lose all the anger I’d shouted at him until I was panting and shaking with need, wet for him.

“You shouldn’t want me,” he reminded me as he picked me up to move me again. He carried me further this time, bypassing the living room space and taking me clear to his room. How he didn’t drop me or bump into anything was beyond my imagination. His face was back at my chest, his mouth teasing my nipples until I cried out sharply.

“I’m not supposed to be the one to teach you how to listen.” He dropped me to the bed and reached for my pants. “How to behave.” His fingers made quick work of my clothes, rendering me naked and flushed on his comforter. “How to be a good little slut.” Pairing that last line with the slide of his finger into my aching pussy, he leaned down far enough to work on getting his clothes off.

“Please,” I begged. “Please.”

“Please what?” He pushed my shoulders down until I lay back. Once he lowered, though, kneeling on the floor and draping my legs over his shoulders, I sat up to watch what was becoming a familiar sight. My favorite sight. Of him between my thighs with a ravenous hunger burning in his brown eyes.

“Please make you understand that you can’t let yourself get too close to danger?” He slid his finger in and out of my cunt as he kissed along my inner thigh. “Because that’s what I saw when we went to get Kelly to help. If someone drugged her, your only friend, it could be a connection to the rivals we’ve seen on campus.” He moved his face to kiss me, right on my clit before he swirled the tip of his tongue around it. “Youare my priority, Eva.”

I nodded, my breath hitching.

“Please help you see that you can’t have the freedom you think is so amazing?” He added another finger, stretching me and watching me ride his hand. “Because it’s not. Losing the protection of the Baranov Family is a weakness, not a gift.” He lowered to suck at my clit, maintaining eye contact as he pushed me closer to coming in a wild rush.

“I—”

“Please what, Eva?” he asked in that wry, gravelly tone. “Please make you see how powerful you are to reduce me to this? Needy for your taste and desperate for your submission?” Returning his lips to my flesh, he lapped at me and hummed when more of my juices leaked for him.

“You want to beg me like a good little slut, sayingplease, like that will make this all better?”

I cried out in protest when he reared back, removing his fingers from my body, taking his mouth away from my flesh.

“Lev!” I reached out for him, only for him to swat my hands away. He sat on the edge of the bed, using one arm to tug me up and place me on his lap.

“Please!” I cried out, needing to come so badly I couldn’t slow my heart or catch my breath. Desire ran through my veins with an intensity I couldn’t stem.

“What, Eva? What are you begging me for when you insist that I don’t know what you need?” He laid his hand on my ass, spanking me.

“I need you,” I sobbed, hating that he’d gotten my secret to spill from my lips. “I need you, Lev. Show me. Control me. Take me. Please.” I couldn’t stand it if he tried to withhold an orgasm from me. Not now. Not ever again.

He wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t be his. He was just a lowly soldier my uncle favored. But until that time came, I wanted to be greedy and indulge in every second I could steal with my bodyguard.

23

LEV

“You need me?” I asked, admiring her splaying across my legs.

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