“I don’t want to rush you,” Dima says in a rough whisper. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“Then make me forget it, Dima.”

I circle my hand around his length, enjoying the feel of his velvety skin in my palm, but before I can reach his tip, Dima grabs my wrist.

I look up at him, surprised. Dima shakes his head. He picks me up by the waist and throws me back on the bed. Then he falls over me, caging me in with his arms.

“I’ll fuck you until you forget everything,” he promises me. “Your name and mine. Where you’re from. Why you’re here.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” I tease.

He pauses. Smiles. “It’s whatever you want it to be,krasavitsa.”

Then he lowers his mouth to my breast and swirls his tongue over my nipple and starts to make good on everything he swore he would do.

I moan and roll my hips against his body. Dima licks his way down my torso, sucking and then nibbling sensitive places, blowing cool air across my still-damp body. I’m made of goosebumps. Every cell in my body comes alive when he touches me and I can’t seem to get close enough to him.

He kisses a line down my stomach and over to my hips, nipping at the swell of flesh there. Then he dips below my waist. His breath is warm against my center. I want to tell him to stop. That it’s my turn to make him feel good.

But when he swipes his tongue over me, I’m helpless.

I grab a handful of his hair and hold him to me as he flicks and sucks on my center, drawing noises from me that don’t seem entirely human.

Within a matter of minutes, I’m bucking against his mouth, shaking to a release that I feel in my toes.

He looks up at me. His lips are damp with my juices. As I watch, he licks them.

I grab his shoulders and he lets me pull him up my body and flip him over onto his back. When I straddle him, he places his hands around my waist and I feel his length settle against my ass. I move gently up and down, massaging him.

“Fuck me…” Dima curses.

I lean forward and kiss his lips. “Not just yet.”

I crawl down his body, my hands dragging over the hard planes of his chest and stomach. My fingertips curl through the dark patch of hair at the base of his belly and his stomach jumps.

Harder. Touch me. Make me come.

The words I spoke almost a year ago come back. I almost forgot them.

I also almost forgot how much Dima liked it when I told him what I wanted.

I look up at him from beneath my lashes, my mouth hovering just above him. “I want you to fuck my mouth.”

Dima’s eyes are blacker than I’ve ever seen when he thrusts his hips up, pressing himself against my mouth. I take him in, tongue swirling, and go down.

He’s too large for me to take in all at once, so I massage his base with my hand, circling my fingers around him and thrusting up, meeting my lips part way. I’m fully in control, but I like his shallow thrusts. I like that he wants more.

His breathing grows ragged. I lift my other hand to his chest and place my palm just above his heart. It’s racing. “Tell me if I should stop,” I whisper.

Dima groans. “Never,krasavitsa.Never fucking stop.”

Before I can continue, though, Dima reaches down and grabs me under the arms. I yelp as he settles me on his lap and then reaches over his head into the bedside drawer next to the bed. He pulls out a condom and waves it in the air.

“Not forgetting this again.”

Lukas is a painful reality between us, but I’m not ready to feel it yet. Not fully. I can’t.

Instead, I focus on watching Dima roll his fingers down his length, and I focus on the way he bites his lower lip when I lift my hips and position him at my opening. We both watch as our bodies connect.