CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Everly wakes me up with sweet kisses to my face and neck. Her hair tickles my chest as she works her way down my stomach.
“Good morning,” I say, just as her hot mouth wraps around my cock.
She hums in response and licks me.
A beat later, I sit up and grab her hips, twisting her around while pulling her up and over me as I lie back down again. I bury my face between her thighs and she startles. I slip from between her lips.
“Shall I stop?” I ask, teasing the tip of her clit with my tongue.
“No,” is all she says, before taking me deep.
In no time at all, our new positions have both of us coming.
“That was unexpected,” she says, climbing off of me and sitting down. She draws up her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. She looks satisfied and pleased, but there’s an undercurrent of…shyness.
Cocking my head to one side, I study her. This makes no sense to me. Ah, yes, the ex… “Have you done that before?” I ask.
“No. You’re the first.” Her gaze skitters away. “I’ve never, uh…swallowed, or had that done to me at the same time.”
I grab the back of her neck and pull her down to capture her mouth. “Sexy woman.”
Grinning, she says, “I’m going to take a shower. Alone. So I can actually get clean this time.”
Last night, I made love to her in the shower until her thighs trembled and I knew she needed a break.
“Have fun.”
My phone buzzes while she showers. It’s a text from Vladimir. I exhale in relief as I read it. My father wants to meet at 2:00 p.m. at a popular café that I am familiar with. Perhaps now I can put an end to this madness.
I text him back to let him know I’ll join him.
There’s no further communication after that, not even an acknowledgement. Then again, my father has always been a supremely arrogant man. Always expecting others to do his bidding, no matter how inconvenient or distasteful.
I suspect that’s one of the reasons my grandfather has never put him in a position of power. Only, I know the truth. Vladimir wants this kind of power, with its undercurrent of secrecy and deals written in blood. Yet, he also wants respectability, to flaunt his title and aristocratic friends to the world. He craves their acceptance and approval so much that he paid a man to relinquish his claim on a centuries-old English title so that Vladimir could file a petition to claim it himself.
Another weakness my grandfather disapproved of.
You can’t serve two masters, he would remind me every time Vladimir came to visit.
Everly emerges from the bathroom as I set the phone down. She is wearing nothing but a smile and a white towel around her lush curves. Instead of getting dressed, she sits down beside me on the bed and begins to trace the intricate patterns of the tattoos on my forearm.
“I’m not complaining about the time we’ve spent together, but when do you think we’ll go see your grandfather? I’m sure you must be worried. If you want to go first to see if he’s up to having visitors, then I’m sure I can find something to do while you’re gone.”
She’s just offered me the perfect excuse to meet with my father while I feel like utter shite for deceiving her.
“Are you worried about me?” I ask, avoiding her compassion-filled gaze.
“Yes.” Her finger touches my knuckles. “It can’t be easy to have someone you care about in the hospital. Not knowing if they’ll live or not, and being powerless to help in any way.”
I jerk my gaze back to hers. Is she thinking of the time when I was in the hospital and she watched over me? “Because you have personal experience with this?” I ask roughly.
“What do you think?” she replies, and then starts to leave.
Grabbing her arm, I give it a tug, sending her tumbling into bed with me. The towel falls away, giving me an unimpeded view of her luscious body before she falls on top of me. Her weight is warm and welcoming.
She leans up on her elbows and stares down at me, her mahogany hair falling over her eyes. Slowly, I brush it back from her face and try not to imagine her lifeless body. Try not to imagine her bruised and battered should I fail to protect her.
Perhaps it’s time to tell Everly the truth. Perhaps it’s time to show her how to defend herself and be prepared for what’s bound to come.
Leaning down, she kisses the tip of my nose. “My very serious Roman,” she breathes. “Of course I’m talking about you.”
“Why?” I can’t help but ask.
She gives me a tender smile. “I don’t know exactly, but there’s just something about you that makes me feel things I haven’t felt in a really long time.”
“All good things, I hope.”
“Yes. And some very wicked things, too,” she says with a laugh. “You make me feel safe and wild, all at the same time.”
I cup the side of her face, rubbing my thumb along her jaw. I don’t deserve an angel like her. She sees me, not for who I really am, but who she thinks I am. Who I’ve been to her. It’s not the worst deception I’ve perpetrated, but it’s the only one I’ve ever regretted.
“Actually, I was thinking of going to see my grandfather today.” Not a total lie. I do need to contact him. I’m desperate for his help. There’s no way Vladimir will provide anything useful.
“Then that’s what you should do,” Everly says, ending her sentence with another soft kiss, this time on my lips. “I can keep myself busy.”
I roll her on her back, settling myself between her thighs. “I can think of a few ways to keep you busy right now.”
She stretches, sending her breasts bobbing as her hands grab hold of the headboard. “Show me.”
Determined to exhaust her, I begin to kiss my way down her body.
Everly is sprawled on the bed, sleeping the sleep of the shagged-to-the-point-of-no-return. There are stubble marks along her inner thighs, her breasts, and her throat. My marks. “I don’t think I’ll be able to walk,” was the last thing she said to me, before her beautiful eyes fluttered closed.
Normally, I’m not a man to have his ego inflated by such a compliment, but normally I don’t have a woman like Everly in my bed.
I stare at her a moment, memorizing every detail of her body. If this should be the last time I see her, I want to remember her like this—full of life while she sleeps in my bed. The hint of a satisfied smile on her lips. The rosy glow on her cheeks.
Careful not to disturb her, I slowly pull the bed sheet up and over her, tucking her in as if she were a small child.
“I’ll miss you,” I murmur.
“Miss you, too,” she replies in her slow, southern drawl.
With a grunt, I check my weapons and then head out the door. My cousin Ben emerges from the shadows. It is not a total surprise to see him, since he’s always followed me around like a puppy. Besides that, he’s a hacker and can track anyone around the world, if he sets his mind to it.
He grins at me, his blue eyes full of mischief. “I know. I know. Be serious, Benji. Keep her safe or you’ll fuck me up.”
“You’re one of the few I trust,” I say solemnly. I mean it, especially after he helped me recuperate from the injuries I sustained from the gunshot wounds. He’s also my favorite cousin, but I will never tell him that, because I would never hear the end of it. “But I heard you’ve been following Petrov’s lead.”
The grin fades from Ben’s face. His eyes are no longer mischievous but murderous. This is a good thing. “Govoryat, shto kur doyat.” Don’t believe the rumors.
I level him with a look. “If anything should happen to her, the rumors about your death by my hand will not be exaggerated.”
He inclines his head. “Duly noted.”
Always a smartass, this one. Then again, he’s only nineteen, and thinks himself to be indestructible. “I’ll be back no later than four.”
“Plenty of time to play Minecraft.”
I frown. “Minecraft?”
Ben waves me off. “Leave the games to the young.”
At twenty-seven, I’m hardly old, but Ben has a way of making me feel ancient.
“Covert operations are for the old, Paxon,” he adds with a cheeky grin.
Like when he says things like that. Old man, indeed.
I smack him on the back of the head, and he grunts. “Remember what I said.”
Turning, I head down the ornate hallway, past a set of leather club chairs to the private elevator. The hotel hums with vitality as I make my way outside. In any other circumstance, the Tower suite at Hotel Pariz would be the perfect place to spend a honeymoon.
I inwardly grimace at my thoughts. Honeymoon? I am getting soft.