Page 149 of Gloves Off

“Look at me.” His voice is a low growl, his breathing ragged.

“Shut up, Volkov. I’m pretending you’re someone else.” I tilt my hips for more friction against the toy but he pulls it away.

His hand threads through the hair at the back of my head and he grips,hard,before he turns my head to face him. I shiver in pleasure.

“Look at me,” he grits out.

Our eyes meet, his dark, dominant, and clouded with lust. I hate being told what to do, but my toes curl. My hands fist the duvet. I can’t get a full breath, and around the base of my spine, heat gathers.

He presses the toy against me again, and a jolt of lust spikes through my body. He’s so different from every guy I’ve been with.Liam was lazy and selfish, and everyone since has been hesitant and deferential, letting me take the lead and control every aspect.

I hate that this works for me. I hate that nothing will compare to this.

The corner of his cruel mouth slides up. “Good girl. What a good wife you are.”

The pleasure spills over. My lips part, my scalp prickles from his grip, and I come hard around nothing, clamping down as waves of heat pound through me. My thoughts blank out, my whole body tenses, and my nerves tear apart as I ride out the wave, holding his eyes the entire time. His gaze sharpens, watching me come for him, flashing with possession I shouldn’t find so hot.

“A little longer,” he says when I think I can’t take it anymore, and I have the disgusting urge to do what he says. “Just for me.”

I make a high, desperate noise as the toy buzzes against me, holding on to the last shreds of myself, before he tosses it aside and I collapse on the bed. I’ve barely taken one heaving breath before he kisses me, hard and consuming. The kiss slows, turning gentle and soft, and I don’t have the brain cells to care that we shouldn’t be kissing like this. That we probably shouldn’t be doing any of this.

He breaks away, looking down at me with an expression I can’t read.

“Just to be clear, you’re not mad about practice tonight.”

I burst out laughing, and I catch the corner of his grin as he buries his face into my neck. That orgasm obviously knocked something loose in my head. We don’t joke like this. Maybe this is all a weird dream, with some version of Alexei conjured by my subconscious.

“Perfect, Hellfire,” he says into my hair, and my chest swells. “That was... I think I died.”

“I’m glad.”

“That I died?”

I laugh. “No. I’m glad you enjoyed it. And thank you for organizing the practice tonight.”

He pulls back to search my eyes, brows knitting together. “I didn’t do it because I wanted this.”

“I know,” I add quickly. “I know you didn’t.”

That just made me want to do it more.

“I don’t want this to be a transaction.” He swallows, holding my gaze. “Don’t do something unless you want it.”

I press my palm over his mouth. Yes, I lost the game tonight, but defeat had its rewards, and I’m overcome with the urgent need to make sure Alexei knows this. “I wanted to. I promise.”

He lets out a breath, studying my face, and my pulse does a weird gallop, off beat and uneven.Too intimate,the warning voice whispers.

I should go back to my bed. I start to get up, but his arm bands around me, pulling me to his chest.

“No.”

“I won’t sleepwalk tonight.” A rush of vulnerability hits me, and I’m glad he can’t see my face. Heknowswhy I sleepwalk, and there was no game tonight. He didn’t get hurt, so I’ll sleep soundly.

“We shouldn’t risk it.” A scrape of teeth over my shoulder. “I’d feel better with you in here.”

I ignore the way my heart skips a beat. “You just want to fool around in the morning.”

He doesn’t care about me. This isn’t anything.

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