Chapter Six
He left the bed for a moment, and the rustle of expensive fabric whispered before he rejoined her. Nimble fingers unlatched the handcuffs and tugged her into strong arms and against a smooth, well-muscled chest. “Do not uncover your eyes.”
“Why? I want to see you.”
“Not yet, sparrow.”
The man who had been so sure as he helped her break down the barriers she’d erected around herself suddenly sounded uncertain. Her heart squeezed in sympathy. She felt blindly for his face, holding him steady. “I won’t push.”
Kostas’s smooth cheeks and the short hair beneath her fingertips conjured contrasting images of Drew’s perpetual shadow and thick lion’s mane. Guilt nauseated her, but she shoved the feeling aside to caress the gentle man in her arms, urging him to take what she offered. It was only one night. She owed him for his patience and kindness. She’d deal with her other feelings once she returned to the States.
His mouth traveled over her, kissing and licking all the places he’d so recently explored, but with no agenda. No pain. No emotional distance. His touch worshiped her slight curves, paying homage to the tender scars. Shivers shimmied through her in unhurried delight. She kneaded his tense shoulder muscles, coaxing him to relax as he systematically melted her every bone. Compassion fell to pure desire.
“I have wanted to hold you for so long, Brenna. Watched you grow from an inexperienced girl to a stunning, confident woman.” He traced his tongue over the hollow of her hip and nibbled inward, settling between her thighs with a breathy sigh. “So perfect.” Tender kisses sipped at the evidence of her passion, nudging and stroking, urging surrender.
She groaned, heels pressing into the mattress, nails digging into his scalp. “Oh…you’re damned good at that.”
He chuckled but did not cease his torment. Sucking harder, delving deeper, he shoved her over the edge of ecstasy. Easy, spine tingling waves of satisfaction rippled through her, melting her to putty for his pleasure.
Before the tremors faded completely, she heard the crinkle of foil and the whisper of latex over flesh. Kostas knelt beside her and lifted her astride his solid thighs. The position pressed their bodies together. The flat planes of his rock solid chest tested the softness of her breasts while long hands explored her back and butt. She rubbed against his sheathed cock, wetting the condom with the natural lubricant his touch generated. Everywhere she could reach, lean muscles rippled beneath her fingers. Shifting upward, she caught his thick penis in her hand and guided him to her body.
“Are you certain, beautiful?”
The endearment jerked her from the moment. Only Drew called her that. She bit her lip and nodded, willing herself to be kind, to finish what they had begun, but she wanted to scream. Kostas locked her in place and thrust upward, filling her with erotic bliss. Guilt hit hard. Drew would forgive the objective caresses of the pain training, but he would not understand her desire for the man inside her. She buried her mouth against Kostas’s throat to silence the stop word demanding release. It should be Drew coaxing her to yield, demanding she lay her inhibitions at his feet and accept him. Gripping Kostas’s hands in hers, she struggled for control while a virtual stranger penetrated her defenses and played on emotions she had no right to give. His fingers shifted and the smooth band of his pinkie ring scraped her palm.
Every muscle froze while doubt and joy tangoed. She caught his smallest finger between hers and circled the ring, relishing its unadorned surface. Holding her breath, she slid downward noting the bend in the knuckle that tilted the lower half slightly inward. She bit down on his shoulder to keep from shouting as she rocked him deeper. Shuddering in unexpected bliss.
***
“I love you.”
Brenna’s words should have triggered happiness, but Kostas could find no joy in them. She had no right to love him. He was nothing but a stranger she had paid handsomely for the right to fuck. Still, her urgent movements swept him beneath her spell. He could not resist the siren’s call. Flipping her to her back, he drove into her, slamming deep, damning her for her betrayal, adoring her for the sentiment. When she writhed beneath him and whispered his name, he thrust harder, taking what she too willingly offered for one night of memories. Her tight sheath convulsed around his cock, forcing him from his mind back into his body. Orgasm did not hit gently. It seared through his groin, bowed his back, and stole his breath. Shudders jerked his muscles as he buried himself in paradise with a satisfied grunt.
All too soon, reality overcame euphoria, despite the languid ache soaking into his muscles. He had to leave before he said or did something he could not take back. Pressing a quick, hard kiss to Brenna’s lips, Kostas slid from her body and rolled to the far side of the bed. He stripped off the condom and tossed it into the trash before reaching for his pants.
“Where are you going?” She knelt behind him, arms wrapped around his waist, inner thighs cuddling his hips.
He wanted to toss her hands away, but he could not hurt her. Not when it might mean losing her altogether. “I thought I would locate some dinner.”
“The hotel has room service. Call for something and then come back to my arms.”
Fickle woman. He stood and jerked on his slacks. “I think the night is over.”
“Why? Because I said I love you? Is that it, Kostas? It’s true.”
His trainers had warned him that she might feel connected to the man who freed her. Still, he hated it. He grabbed his shirt and refused to look her way as anger destroyed his objectivity. Damn her. “I have to go. The suite is yours through the weekend if you care to stay.” Gathering his shoes and socks, he headed for the door. Anything he left behind, he could get from the staff later.
***
Brenna slid the mask from her eyes and watched her lion storm to the door. He’d clipped off his mane, but the proud beast remained unmistakable. Served him right for lying, but she had no intention of letting him walk away. Never again. “Can I tell you a story before you go?”
He stopped and his spine stiffened. “What.”
“You know I mentioned Drew before? My friend, the flawless one?”
Kostas’s head bowed but he did not respond.
“Did I mention he’s almost a billionaire?”
“So?”
She laughed. Only a man worth as much would respond that way. “I worried he would lose himself to the crap everyone would throw at him, so the day he deposited the check that officially made him a millionaire, I bought him a simple silver band to remind him who he was.”
“Does this story have a point, Brenna?”
“Yeah, it does.” She crawled off the bed and padded across the room to stand behind him. “My perfect friend never takes the ring off unless a photographer demands it for a shoot. Even then, he puts it on again the moment the job ends.”
Taking his hand, she studied it, refusing to meet his eyes though he had finally turned toward her. “He wears it around the one imperfection on his entire body. You see, his right pinkie tips in ever so slightly. Most people never even notice it. He twisted his finger falling from his bike when he was eight, and it never grew straight again.” She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it. “Yours actually looks much like his, ring and all.”
She looked up then. Intense blue eyes bored into hers and a smile spread slowly across his face. “When did you realize?”
“About three seconds before I cried Eve. I couldn’t come in the arms of a stranger, no matter how kind he had been, when the man I love was halfway around the world.”
His wicked grin burned off the last of her doubts. “Would you come for a female stranger, if the man you love was in the room?”
She laughed and stepped closer. “Not a chance, hot stuff, so don’t get any ideas.”
He groaned and swept her against him. His mouth possessive on hers, he carried her to the sofa and sat with her cradled on his lap. “So, how upset are you that I lied?”
She snuggled in, content beyond her greatest hopes. “Depends on why you did it?”
“Desperation. You kept pushing me away.”
“I didn’t want to risk our friendship.”
“So what’s different, now?”
“I can’t go back to being just a friend. Not after today.”
He traced the line on her face with a gentle finger. “You know I didn’t lie. Not beyond the whole set up anyway.”
“And the name.”
“No, that’s mine. I changed it to protect my family if I ever became famous enough to do something stupid.”
“So you don’t really mind the scars?”
He squeezed her tight. “Hell, no. They brought me closer to you. I can never see them as anything beyond a badge of your strength and a reminder that I’m blessed.”
Emotion burned in her throat and nose, but she refused to be one of those women who wept for no reason. She wiggled closer and inhaled his sexy scent, using desire to override sappier feelings. “Then I guess I’m not angry at all…unless saying I am will bring out that little whip again.”
He groaned. “Whatever fantasy you need, beautiful, as long as I am smack in the center of it.”
“Works for me, hot stuff.” Every day for the rest of my life.