Page 15 of Cruel Longing

Once we were out of the dining room, we turned the corner for the elevator bay. Amara kept glancing at me. She expected an answer. She knew her way around the hotel. This wasn’t a backway to the parking garage. I inserted an antique brass key into the control panel. It clicked softly with the flick of my wrist.

“Upstairs?” She blinked. “Part two is upstairs?”

“What’s the difference between going to the suite or somewhere else for the surprise?”

I thought it was a valid point.

She faltered. “The people in this hotel work for me. I’ve never gone to a room with a guest. That’s a huge difference.”

Did it make me a dick that I was glad to hear that? Somehow it was minimal validation that Amara hadn’t been with another man. Absurd conclusion, but I wanted that truth. I wanted her untouched. Unloved. I wanted her free to be mine.

The bell dinged, and the doors retracted.

“You can put on an offended act for the staff that you don’t want to go upstairs with me.” I saw the goosebumps on her flesh when I whispered in her ear. “Or you can do what you and I both know you want. Step in the elevator.”

Her eyes flashed to mine. “I don’t take orders from anyone,” she hissed. “I haven’t for a long time. I no longer have to submit.”

My hand curled around her wrist. I pressed my fingers into her tender skin. “You stopped doing that the minute you put this dress on for me.” I winked. I thought she was going to slap me, but she wrenched her hand free and marched into the elevator.

“Are you coming?” She eyed me.

Without saying a word, I joined her, turning the key inside the elevator.

Ihad planned strawberries dipped in chocolate. A second bottle of expensive champagne. I had planned on filling the original claw-foot tub with scalding water. Bubbles. Candles. Roses. Lavishing Amara in decadence. An opulent display fit for the queen she had become. My olive branch would be in the details. The gifts I wanted to give her. But every fucking plan went out the window when we stumbled into that suite.

The door closed, and the world became ours.

Amara spun and I took her mouth with a sensuous kiss. Long. Slow. Her mouth opened. A quiet moan escaped from her throat. My tongue probed, savoring how her tongue liked to tangle with mine. I pinned her against the wall, relishing the taste of her. The beauty of her. I nipped behind her ear, trailing her throat back to her mouth. The kiss was deeper this time. More punishing. Brutal. But who was the predator and who was the prey?

My fingers dug into her shoulders, rotating her to face the wall. Her palms slapped against the hand-painted wallpaper as I began to drag the red dress upward to her hips. The red silk flowed between her thighs as I raised it to expose her ass. Fucking perfection. Her skin was covered in goosebumps. I grinned. The lingerie she wore deserved to be admired for a moment. My mouth covered her ear, the side of her neck, the softness of her shoulders.

“Luka,” she rasped.

“I’ll keep my promise,” I growled, wondering how to tame the primal beast threatening to break free inside me. I ached for her. It was where pain met pleasure. An unruly monster that liked to dance on the line of freefall.

I took her jaw in my hand. “Krasivyy.” I inhaled a breath against her mouth.

I felt the heat between us. The undeniable chemistry that always raged when I was near Amara. My fingers dug into her exquisite curves. She mewed, and I wondered if it was possible to end up on my knees before I even carried her to the bed.

The temptation to do things I’d never done before raged in my belly. The swell of my erection strained against my pants.

She did things to me. Unspeakable monstrous things. She’d haunted my dreams. Plagued me with promises of what could have been. Another life. A richer life. A complete life with nights that ended in fucking each other senseless.

She was mine. She always had been.

Tonight could drown out the mistakes of the past. I would make sure it did. There would be no question tomorrow when we awakened that we had burned something permanent on each other’s souls.

Nine

AMARA

Midnight. That was the color of his gaze. I saw deep midnight eyes when I tried to sleep at night. Those lashes. His strong jaw. The way he used to say my name with a growl. Five years of fantasies were unraveling in this moment. Five years of imagining when and how we’d finally be able to fan the ember that smoldered between us. It had never been extinguished. If this wasn’t proof of that, I didn’t know what was.

Luka’s powerful frame held me close to the wall while his hands had free reign of my body. I felt the thin straps slide down my arms. In the frenzy, the bodice fell below my breasts. My nipples grazed the wall and I hissed at the friction.

I turned my head, catching his lips. It was a blistering kiss. Hot. Possessive. I gulped for air when his hand slid between my body and the wall. God, what had he done to the red dress? Was it partially on or completely off? I only felt the strong magnetsunder my skin pulling him closer, harder. Did we have any control over what happened next?

His hand flattened against my navel as it made a slow purposeful descent. He took his time, imprinting the memory on my skin. I hissed when he slid farther, prying my legs to open. Seeking my clit to torture and please.

---