I woke to the sound of a hard, heavy thumping that I couldn’t identify.
As I sat up groggily, I saw that I was in the bed in the stateroom. I blushed as I realized I was totally naked. Things were hazy after the bath, but I dimly remembered crawling between the sheets, exhausted.
I focused on where the sound was coming from and gasped.
Luka was stripped to the waist and hitting a punching bag that hung from the ceiling. He was barefoot, wearing only a pair of loose drawstring pants, and his muscles were gleaming with sweat.
I’d seen guys hitting bags at the gym, on the rare occasions I managed to work up the energy to go. But they hadn’t looked like this. They’d danced around the bag, hitting it in different places: nifty little crosses and uppercuts.
Luka just hit.
The bag was old and worn and, now that I looked, it swung from a hook. That explained why it hadn’t been there before—he must have had it stashed in a closet and only brought it out that morning. He was wearing hand wraps, but the material was worn, too, and they weren’t even the same color, one red and one black.
I knelt up on the bed for a better look. Each blow was a powerful sweep of arm, terminating in a brutal impact that lifted the bag as if it weighed nothing. It looked as if he’d punch clear through a brick wall, given the chance. He wasn’t showy or fast. He was just strong. And he looked as if he could keep going all day. From the sweat shining on him, he’d already been at it for hours.
I was embarrassed to feel a flicker of heat twist down to my groin. I squeezed my thighs together self-consciously, but couldn’t stop looking at his muscles. There was just something about that brutal strength, that danger. I shifted and the bed creaked.
He turned suddenly and saw me. “Sorry,” he said. “Did I wake you?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know you boxed.”
“I don’t box.” He looked at the bag as if embarrassed. “I hit things.” He walked towards me and began unwrapping the hand wraps. I saw his eyes flick over my body.
I realized that the sheets that I’d hurriedly wrapped around me when I knelt up had slid down. He was staring at my breasts. A hot tremor went through me.
“We will be docking soon,” he said, without taking his eyes from my chest. He must have known I’d caught him looking, but he didn’t try to hide it. That was the thing with Luka: he did what he damn well pleased. “We should shower.”
I nodded. “Who goes first?”
He just smiled.
***
I gasped as my naked back hit the tiles. My legs were already around Luka’s waist because he’d carried me all the way there. He turned the water on and the spray lashed down on us, plastering my hair to my head and racing down my body in a thousand hot rivulets.
Luka hadn’t bothered to take off his drawstring pants and they were soaked through in seconds. He kicked them off. Underneath, he was naked, hard and ready. I hadn’t even seen him grab a condom, but he had one in his hand and was rolling it in. Had he had that in his pocket, the whole time he was working out? Had he been planning this? The idea sent a wave of heat rolling down inside me.
I reached for him, intending to put my arms around him, but he grabbed them with one big hand and pinned my wrists above my head. His cock nudged between my slickened lips but didn’t enter me yet. I groaned, my ass grinding against the wall in anticipation. I was already addicted to this man. Through the water running down my face, I stared at the tattoos on his chest, the smooth curves of his bulging shoulders and biceps. I wanted to touch them. I wanted to stroke him all over, but the feeling of being held, of just having to watch and wait and throb with need...that was even better, in some ways.
What has he turned me into?
He lowered his head and licked at my breast, running his tongue over it in hungry strokes, licking away the water only for it to be instantly replaced with more. The combination of his rough licking and then the water flowing over my nipple had me panting in seconds.
Then he enveloped my breast with his mouth, surrounding my nipple with hot suction, and started to nibble on it just a little, letting me feel his teeth but not hurting me. I tried to climb the wall, the heat churning and roiling inside me, my wrists pressing hard against the hand that held them trapped. God, I can’t escape. The idea had me breathless. He has me pinned and he’s going to—
He moved back enough to look into my eyes and he must have been able to see the desperate need there. I felt the head of him parting my lips and this time he slammed up into me. I panted as he slid deep....deeper. Filling me until I gasped and groaned and leaned forward to bite at his shoulder with my teeth.
And then he fucked me.
My legs tightened around his waist, my ankles hooking behind him as he began to stroke in and out. Clouds of steam were rising around us, caressing our bodies and leaving them glistening. Every slow, hard thrust made me hiss air between gritted teeth, delighting at the liquid friction. The feel of him right up inside me was perfect, like we’d been made to fit together, like I wasn’t complete without him there. I arched my back, heaving against the hand that held my wrists, turning my face up to the spray and letting it blast me. Luka’s free hand slid over my cheek and then his thumb pressed into my mouth.
I opened for him, panting around it, my lips and teeth closing on his knuckle. His thrusts got faster, my ass pressed tight against the wall. I started to lick at his thumb with my tongue. I’d never done anything even remotely like this before, but I was operating on instinct now, lost in the pleasure.
He went faster still, the muscled bulk of him forcing my thighs wider, so wide they burned, but I wanted it. I didn’t mind the discomfort if it meant I could have more of him inside me. The pleasure was building and building, ribbons of it twisting together inside me, entangling my thoughts. I didn’t think about what he was or what I was or the insanity of falling for him. I let those shining scarlet ribbons wrap me up entirely, right up to my brain, and then tighten into a hard little knot….
Luka’s thrusts reached a peak. I’d closed my eyes against the spray but now I opened them and stared at him. His jaw was set, his eyes wild...and he was staring right back at me with a lust I’d never seen on any man. Suddenly, he pulled his hand away from my face and kissed me, hard and deep, and the feel of his tongue plunging into me sent us both over the edge. We panted into each other’s mouths as we came together in long, shuddering waves. I was pressed tightly between him and the wall, his hands still pinning my wrists above me. I was utterly helpless, utterly lost, and I’d never felt so alive.
***
A half hour later, I was dressed and waiting nervously at the bottom of the stairwell with Luka. On the stairs ahead of us, Yuri stood looking upward, his hand raised to tell us to keep waiting.
I looked down at myself. Instead of a dress, I was wearing snow boots and tight, tight jeans, plus a sweater and my black coat. “Are you sure?” I muttered. “I don’t feel very...dressy. Given that I’m meeting your dad.”
“Trust me,” said Luka. “Being warm is more important, in this place.”
We both went silent. The tension ratcheted higher with every second we waited there, until I could barely breathe. Then Luka said, “Besides, I like your ass in those jeans.”
I felt myself flush and gave him a half-shocked, half-turned-on look. But the truth was, I was glad of the momentary distraction. This was a whole new kind of fear.
We were waiting for the guards to tell us it was safe to disembark. They were checking the whole area for snipers. Any moment, Yuri was going to wave us forward and we’d emerge into the daylight, blinking and helpless. And pray that the guards had done their job.
“Who is it?” I whispered, shifting my weight from foot to foot. “Who is it, who might try to kill us?”
“Olaf Ralavich and his men. A rival family.” He shook his head. “Not like us. They are not part of the brotherhood.”
“They have less...honor?”
He looked as if he was going to spit. “They have no honor at all.”
Yuri waved us forward. After long minutes of waiting, now we had to move fast. Luka went first and I almost wanted to press up against his broad back like a child, cuddling up to him until we were safely inside. But Yuri had warned us not to even hold hands, in case we had to break and run.
I took a deep breath and climbed the stairs. And found myself at the end of the world.