Page 54 of Soulless Rivalry

“Of course not,” he shook his head. “The police on the island are paid by the Academy. These people have no one to turn to.”

“Exactly.” I fell back against the couch, my position similar to his.

“I have to say, you did a good job researching all this.”

I smiled shyly, liking the praise.

“Thank you,” I breathed.

Silence stretched between us as he took in the room surrounding us. I had to say, hanging out with him when hewasn’t out to get me or threatening me every chance he got was pretty pleasant.

Deciding this was a good time to apologize for what I did, I cleared my throat before I started to talk.

“I’m sorry I hid weed in the box I gave you. I knew there would be a drug check and I knew you would get in trouble.”

He chuckled lightly and the sound made goosebumps appear all over my skin. It was the first time I’d heard Konstantin Korolov genuinely laugh and, again, I had no idea how to feel about that.

“To be honest, I liked that you did that.”

“You did?” I turned to face him and he hummed.

“I like your spirit.” He looked like the words had made it out of his mouth before he could order them not to. Then he glanced away, suddenly shy.

There was a bashfulness to Konstantin Korolov that I had rarely seen in anyone. He was confident, dangerous, cutthroat and downright rude sometimes, but the blush on his cheeks was just proof that there was more to him than only that.

“I never really wanted to extinguish your fire.”

He looked up at me and my breath caught in my throat. There was a softness to his gaze that made my insides warm up. All the confusing feelings I felt where he was concerned just came back tenfold right then.

And before I could think it through, I moved first and my lips fell upon his in a burning kiss.

His tongue tangling with mine made me moan out in delight. I couldn’t believe I was kissing him again, but it felt so right. Before I realized it, I threw a leg over his lap and straddled him. The bulge I had felt against my belly the first time we kissed was back, pressing against my most sensitive point this time around. And it was fucking huge.

My clit was throbbing, heat eating at me, making me yearn to move my hips and grind against his hardness. I didn’t have to, though, because Konstantin surprised me by grasping my hips and bringing my core down on his pants-covered cock, hard. I whimpered in his mouth and he swallowed the sound eagerly.

“Fuck, I’ve never felt like this before,” he confessed breathlessly and I nodded blindly.

The feeling was mutual, but I was too far gone to speak. It felt like years of pent-up frustration were finally breaking the dam and it was making its way out of me. Years of academic rivalry, tension and quickly-disappearing hatred, all came to an end with the fusing of lips.

Tentatively, unsure of what I was even doing, I rocked my hips against his. Konstantin grunted his approval, so I did it again.

And again, and again. I couldn’t stop.

He brought so many emotions out of me, that it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that arousal would be one of them.

I could feel the start of an orgasm building up deep in my belly, but grinding myself on his lap like a bitch in heat wasn’t enough anymore.

“Please…” I whimpered, pulling my lips away from his and peppering kisses down his jaw and neck.

“I can’t get enough of you. Why can’t I get enough of you?”

I yelped when he suddenly had me on my back, quickly settling between my legs. I spread them wider to accommodate his size, sighing in pleasure when his mouth crashed back on mine.

The old sofa creaked under our combined weight, but it didn’t matter at that point. We were too far gone to stop.

His hands made their way underneath my shirt, and their warmth made me forget I was ever cold in this small room. Konstantin pushed my sweater and the t-shirt I had onunderneath up until my braless breast came uncovered. My breath caught in my throat as I watched him stare at my bare skin like he was trying to commit it to memory.

Nobody had ever seen me in such a state of undress. The thought of sex had always made me anxious, mostly because I couldn’t think of anyone I’d trust enough to share that part of myself with.

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