Page 54 of Wicked Vow

I can’t help feeling that I wish we’d had more time. That we could figure it out somehow, even if that seems insane to anyone else. But it’s clear that’s impossible–and he can’t keep following me, stalking me, keeping me from moving on with my life.

I have other things to worry about now, too.

I get into the shower once I’m in my room, staying under the water for a long time as I try to ease away the tension of the day. When I’m finished, I dry off, slipping into a pair of black silky pajama shorts and a black tank top, rubbing leave-in conditioner into the ends of my hair between my palms as I walk back into the bedroom–

–and see a figure standing there, silhouetted in the room, between the now-open window and my bed.

I don’t realize who it is at first. It’s too dark. My heart seizes in my chest, my breath in my lungs, and I’m frozen to the spot for a moment, unable to think or speak or scream.

“Natalia,” a familiar voice murmurs, and I draw breath to scream before he crosses the room in two quick strides, grabbing me and putting his hand over my mouth before I can.

“Don’t scream,” Mikhail murmurs. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I squirm in his arms, looking up at his ice-blue eyes. His face is bruised, I can dimly see, swollen in places, but he’s looking at me with the same intensity as before, as if nothing else matters except him and me, here and now.

“If I move my hand,” he says quietly, “will you promise not to scream?”

It’s not a promise I should make, I know. The instant I can, I should scream bloody murder and hope that someone gets up here in time. But if I do that, I’m signing his death warrant.

Before the sun comes up, Viktor will make sure there’s a bullet in Mikhail’s head for this. He won’t give him another chance, and there’s nothing I or anyone could say or do to change that.

I don’t want that to happen.

I nod slowly, and Mikhail slides his hand away from my mouth. His arm is still around my back, holding me close to him, his body hard and rigid against mine.

“You’re supposed to be back at your hotel,” I whisper. “You shouldn’t be here–youcan’tbe here. If Viktor catches you–”

“He won’t.” There’s a certainty in Mikhail’s voice that I can’t help but think is unearned, considering the earlier events of the night. “I had to see you, Natalia. I couldn’t leave things the way we did–without finishing what we started.”

I start to open my mouth to ask him what he means, but his icy gaze is fixed on mine, burning with a cold heat that stills my tongue, that makes me incapable of thinking of anything except the way it feels to be held against him, the way his other hand slides into my hair, cupping the back of my head as he draws me upwards towards him, his mouth coming down onto mine.

The kiss is searing, hard, his mouth landing firmly on mine and his tongue prying at my lips, forcing its way inside. I feel as if I’m on fire in an instant, my body reacting to him as if to sayyes, this is what I missed, this is what I craved, this is what I was waiting for.It’s him and no one else. As his mouth slants over mine, I know with terrifying certainty that it will never be anyone else.

It can’t be. No one can make me feel like this.

He turns me towards the bed, the hand on my waist sliding down to grip my ass through the silky fabric of my pajama shorts, backing me up as his tongue sweeps through my mouth, claiming me as his all over again. I hear his low groan vibrating against my lips and feel the warm breeze coming through the window, chilly in comparison to the heat coming off of him as my skin pebbles from it, a shiver rippling down my spine.

“Mikhail–” I try to break away, to say his name through the kiss, but he’s unrelenting. I can feel the hunger throbbing through him, feel him hard and thick against my bare thigh, straining against the fly of his jeans. It sends a jolt of lust through me that weakens my knees, threatening to undo me completely. I want it, I wanthim, and I’m so close to letting it run away with us both. I don’t want to stop it. I don’t want to stop him.

His hands slide over my body as the backs of my thighs hit the side of the bed, cupping my ass, squeezing, sliding higher over my hips and waist and up to my breasts. His thumbs brush over my nipples, making them stiffen, and I gasp under the onslaught of his mouth as he starts to lift me up and set me back onto the bed.

It takes everything in me to wrench away from the kiss and gasp his name.

“Mikhail, stop.” I push against his chest, panting hard, my entire body shuddering with the same need that I can feel coursing through him.

“Don’t make me stop,kotenok,” he groans. “I’ve needed you so badly for so long now. We can talk after–”

“No. We have to talk now. Stop.” I force the words out from between gritted teeth as my body screams for me to listen to him, to keep going, to let us both have what we want.

I don’t expect him to stop. The Mikhail I knew in Moscow wouldn’t have. He would have forced me back onto the bed, pinned me down, stripped me bare until my body’s needs outstripped everything else, until he was inside of me, fucking me until I came hard for him over and over, and it was clear that everything I’d said had never been what I really wanted.

But he does.

He steps back, running one hand through his sandy blond hair, which I’ve seen now is lighter at the roots. He’d dyed his too at some point to keep himself hidden, and I wonder what he’d look like with it all his natural color, that white-silver that is slowly growing out. “Natalia–” He rasps my name, and another shudder goes through me.

“This isn’t going to work,” I whisper, the words tumbling over each other, rapid and desperate. “You have to go. You’re in Viktor’shouse. If he catches you here, hewillkill you.”

“I don’t care.” Mikhail reaches out, his hands on my arms, holding me there as he looks down at me with a desperate sincerity that threatens to rip my heart out of my chest. “I can’t stand to be without you, Natalia. It’s been torture like nothing I could imagine, being away from you. I nevercouldhave imagined it, because I’ve never wanted a woman like this. I’ve never been in love–but I think I love you. I’msurethat I love you, Natalia–and I can’t leave things like they were. I had to see you.”

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