Sergei waited in the bedroom for several minutes, allowing Fredericka some time and space. She obviously needed it, with the way she had whitened upon learning his age and the way she had walked out of the room like a zombie.

When he finally joined her outside, it was to see her making herself a second cup of coffee, her movements lethargic.

He took the seat next to Fredericka again, waiting for her to speak, but she only continued sipping her coffee, her gaze blank.

Sergei bit back a hiss of impatience. Why the hell was she making such a big deal over their age gap? It was a measly six years, and it wasn’t like he was underage.

When Fredericka finally looked at him, Sergei thought, Finally. She had finally gotten her senses back---

“It’s not going to work.”

He scowled. Clearly, she was still insane.

“Because you’re six years older?” The way she cringed at his words was answer enough, and he gazed at her in patent disbelief. “You must be joking.”

“This isn’t a joking matter for me.” Fredericka’s voice was thin.

“Then it should be,” Sergei snapped. “I’m 23, not thirteen---”

“Even so---”

“Being older than me doesn’t make you wealthier or more experienced than I am.” His voice turned sarcastic. “Or are you saying you’re either?”

Even as Fredericka felt herself flushing at the truth in his words, she insisted, “It just won’t work.”

“Bullshit.” His gaze captured hers. “You want me. You know you do.”

She forced herself not to look away even as his dark, possessive stare had her body trembling at the sudden, vivid memory of how his touch felt.

Sergei shook his head. “You can’t even take your eyes off me, pchelka. That’s how much you want me.”

“It will go away---”

The billionaire cut her weak protest with a jeering laugh. “No, little bee. I’m sorry to tell you, but it won’t work that way. Can’t you see the chemistry between us is off the charts?” he demanded, his gaze boring through hers. “You won’t forget me easily.”

She shook her head jerkily. “I will forget you.”

“I’m not the type of man you’ll find easy to forget.”

“Don’t underestimate me.” The way her body continued to ache for his touch mocked her, and she dug her nails hard into her palms. “I’ll do everything possible to forget you, even if I need to find another guy---” Cold fury flashed in the billionaire’s eyes, and her voice petered off.

“You’re mine.” Sergei stared at her hard, challenging her to deny the truth. “No other man can touch your body,” he said savagely, “so don’t let me hear you say otherwise ever again.” Sergei knew he was being too damn demanding and possessive, but he didn’t care. The mere thought of Fredericka being with another man was enough to have him seeing red, and that she was the one to suggest it---

He would commit murder before that happened.

When Fredericka didn’t say anything, he warned in quiet emphasis, “Do not test me on this.”

Forcing herself to look away, Fredericka mumbled, “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand,” he snapped.

Still not looking at him, Fredericka started to speak, her voice thin.

A story unfolded, about a girl who had used to babysit for the wealthiest couple in the neighborhood. Years later, the girl ended up marrying the boy. She was twenty-five. He was eighteen.

And they were Fredericka’s parents.

Everything became clear then, and Sergei’s face turned expressionless as he waited for the rest of the story.

“He ran out on her, and she was forced to quit her office job and raise me on her own. She started taking odd jobs, and she ended up working herself to an early grave.” Fredericka bit her lip hard, remembering how devastated her sixteen-year-old self had been at her mother’s death.

If there was one lesson to learn from her mother’s life, which had been cut too short, then it was that falling for a younger man would never work.

Never, never, never!

But when the billionaire looked at Fredericka, she still couldn’t help catching her breath.

“I am not your father, pchelka, and you are not your mother. What happened to her is unfortunate, and I am sorry that you suffered so. But be that as it may---”

Sergei’s gaze captured hers.

Oh.

He didn’t even have to tell her what was on his mind since she could read it so easily in his eyes---

Even knowing that she came with baggage---

He still wanted to fuck her.

A wave of longing swept over her at the thought, but even so, Fredericka forced herself to shake her head. “Sergei---”

“You’re an intelligent woman, Fredericka. You must know we are different from them, and that we make our own choices.” The billionaire’s voice dropped a notch lower. “So let me say it one more time.”

She jerked in her seat at the sound of his voice, and when she saw the way his eyes burned even hotter---

Oh God.

“I want to fuck you.”

Desire curled in her stomach at the billionaire’s bold claim.

“Let me be your lover.”

She wetted her lips, and his eyes flashed---

God. Oh God. Just the way he was looking at her made her want to forget everything---

“S-Sergei.” Her voice was helpless.

“Say yes,” he urged.

“I can’t.” Misery and longing warred inside of her. “I know I’m being stupid, but---” She was terrified. Her father had been just like Sergei Grachyov at his age. Tall, dark, handsome, and so, so charming. That was how her mother had described him, and her mother hadn’t stopped loving him even knowing the man who got her pregnant was a world-class jerk.

Sergei’s lips tightened.

“I’m sorry,” she said awkwardly. “I just don’t think---”

“Did you go to the café tonight thinking you’d hook up with Julian Alexeyev?”

The sudden question threw her off. “I---”

“Answer me,” he snapped.

“Yes---” The billionaire swore at her answer, and she winced, protesting, “I don’t see why it matters---”

“It damn well matters,” Sergei gritted out, “because I don’t fucking see why Julian Alexeyev can have a fucking free pass to your body---”

“Sergei!”

“When he’s as much of a bastard I am---”

She jumped to her feet. “You’re insane---”

He got to his feet as well, snarling down at her, “You’re the one who’s insane.” He gripped her shoulders, gritting out, “We both know I can seduce you---”

“So what if you can?” she cried out. It was pointless to deny the billionaire’s words, with the way her body was straining and screaming at his proximity, wanting to be back under his command.

His nearness made her forget how to breathe, his beautiful face making her heart race like it had no intention of ever slowing down.

But even so---

“I’m terrified of being hurt, okay?”

Ah.

In her large gray eyes, he saw her innocent need of him.

But in those same eyes, he also saw her every fear, and his hands fell from her shoulders. “Dammit.” Frustration underlined the billionaire’s voice. “Can’t you just choose not to be hurt?”

A tremulous laugh escaped her. “I wish that’s possible---” Fredericka hadn’t even finished speaking when he started walking away, and her voice trailed off.

So this was it, she thought numbly.

She watched him walk farther and farther away from her.

This was better, this was better, this was better---

But when he reached for the door, she couldn’t help it.

“Will I s-see you again?”

Sergei stopped, his hand still on the doorknob.

Shame engulfed Fredericka.

Shiiiiiiiiit.

After making such a big fuss of how nothing could happen between them, why did she have to ask him that?

Sergei knew it would have been smarter, even kinder, to simply walk away without saying a word.

The less said, the better, wasn’t that how it always was?

And yet, when he heard the catch in her voice as she called out to him---

“S-Sergei?”

Blyad.

He had planned to leave so he wouldn’t hurt her, but he was already hurting her.

Spinning around to face her, he said harshly, “One night.”

Fredericka’s eyes widened.

He heard himself say, “Give me this one night. Let me just have a taste of you – and I don’t mean I’ll fuck you, but I just want…” He breathed hard. “I just want to feel you come, to taste your cum, and then we can think of each other as---” His lips twisted. “A fantasy. One night is enough to live the fantasy, pchelka, but one night won’t be enough to hurt you.”

Oh.

“Da?”

He was asking her if she would say yes to the fantasy.

She whispered, “Da.”

And then everything was a blur.

They met halfway in the living room, their mouths fusing---

Her first kiss.

His hands rushed over her body---

Her first caress.

His arms locked around her---

Her first embrace.

So many firsts in so little time, it just made the blood rush to her head.

The kiss between them deepened, the billionaire’s tongue pushing past her parted lips---

Aaaaaaah.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he kissed her harder, pulled her closer, did everything that just made it more and more difficult for her to think---

Until there was nothing left to do but to just let go.

Fredericka ceased to think.

She simply surrendered herself to him, and the billionaire took it as his due, like he had always known he was meant to command her. Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her back to her bed and laid her down gently. His fingers moved expertly again on her body, this time undressing her in record speed.

One blink, and she was naked.

Another blink, and he was naked, too.

Their bodies met as his weight pressed down on her, and she gasped, never realizing until that moment how good it felt to have someone so much larger and stronger over her softness. He dominated her in every way, and oh, how she loved that it was so.

Her eyes swept closed as she felt his mouth move down her body.

It was so hard to think that this man was half a decade younger---

He was so, so good at knowing where to kiss, to touch---

He palmed her breasts, and she moaned.

His tongue licked around her puckering nipples, and she clutched his head when he took one into his mouth and began to suck. Such sweet agony, it had her delirious, and she could only whimper in anticipation when his mouth moved to her other nipple.

When he moved farther down, reaching for her pussy with his mouth and not his fingers, Fredericka raised herself up on one elbow and reached for him. “W-wait.”

Sergei lifted his head up.

“W-what do you intend to do?”

“Eat your pussy.”

Oh.

The said pussy was trembling hard now, its excitement rippling out to spread to the rest of her body. She forgot what she had to say as her insides clenched in need. But when the billionaire lowered his head again, she remembered just in time, and once again cried out, “W-wait.” This time, as soon as their gazes met, she spoke in a rush.

“Let’s d-do it together.” Color stole into her cheeks, but even so she forced herself to continue. “If y-you’re going to do that, I’d like t-to do it to you, too.” When the billionaire’s eyes gleamed in comprehension of what she was suggesting, she turned even redder and said defensively, “I just want it to be f-fair.”

“Of course.” But still, his beautiful dark eyes laughed at her.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she protested.

“I’m sorry,” he said soothingly. “It’s only because it was quite the surprise, you suggesting something like that---” He raised a brow. “Perhaps you’ve experience doing it?”

She gasped. “No!” God, this was so embarrassing. “I just read…stuff.” Her voice turned belligerent. “Okay? Can we stop talking about it and start doing----oh!”

The billionaire had lifted her off the bed, and the next moment he had their positions reversed.

He was lying on the bed.

She was on top of him.

She found herself staring at his cock.

His too-massive, too-long---

Had she said massive?

Had she said long?

Dear God, she knew it would fit her pussy well enough, but what about her mouth?

The billionaire’s cock suddenly pulsed in front of her, bumping against her lips, and she jerked.

Oh my God---

And then without any kind of warning, she felt it---

His tongue slowly licking her folds.

Oh God!

Her legs trembled hard, and she found herself clutching his thighs for support.

Oh God!

The tip of his tongue pushed in.

Oh God!

This time, she didn’t let herself think, knowing that if she did, it would be all over and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

She reached for his cock with two hands and, opening her mouth as widely as she could, she slowly drew the billionaire’s manhood towards her.

White-hot pleasure blazed through Sergei’s body the moment he felt her lips close around his pulsing cock. A part of him had been skeptical about her ability to stay true to her suggestion, knowing how innocent she was.

But now that she had---

Reaching for her folds, he pulled them wide open and drove his tongue deep into her pussy.

She screamed around his cock just before sucking harder.

Blyad.

And then it became the most punishingly exciting game between them, the two of them driven to make the other feel more.

He fucked her pussy fast and hard with his tongue, and she sucked on his cock like it was a goddamn lollipop she couldn’t get enough of.

He reached for her clit, pinching it while his tongue continue to drive in and out of her pussy, and she retaliated by alternately raking her nails over his balls and squeezing them. And all the while she continued to play with his cock using her mouth.

Sometimes, she would bite, other times she would line the slit on the head of his cock with her tongue---

Khristos, she was the most exciting little innocent.

Sergei did his best to prolong the pleasure, and so did Fredericka.

But the end was inevitable, and when he heard her begin to whimper more frequently and his own breathing had become harsh, he knew it was time. Pulling his tongue out of her pussy, he squeezed her thighs, demanding her attention.

Her mouth released his cock with a loud pop.

“I’m going to make you cum now, pchelka.”

Oooooooh----

And then she found him true to his word---

His mouth closed over her clit.

His finger drove inside her pussy.

With a cry, she reached for his cock again, and this time she tried her hardest, too. She stroked him as she sucked on his cock, all the while his finger was thrusting deeper and harder into her.

When he bit her clit, it was all over for her, and she came with a scream, her teeth scraping the veined skin of his cock---

The billionaire came with a growl, and as his body jerked, he hungrily lapped every drop of her release.

His cum shot down her throat, hard and fast, loading her mouth until she was so full of it, the creamy liquid started to leak past her lips.

When it was all over, the billionaire pulled his finger out of her and after placing one soft kiss over her pussy, he flipped her around and laid her back on top of him.

Their heartbeats were loud and thunderous, smashing against each other.

Silence fell.

A fantasy.

What she had temporarily forgotten came back to her with a vengeance, and the truth was inescapable.

What happened between them was beautiful and incomparable, but it was a fantasy.

It had to be just a fantasy.

Over her head, she heard the billionaire ask quietly, “Should I go?”

Fredericka squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to make her vocal chords work, but she just couldn’t make herself speak.

“Say what you want,” Sergei grated out.

But Fredericka still didn’t answer him.

Swearing under his breath, he pulled her up so he could snarl at her that she was the one who was so stubborn about this. She was the one who had insisted on not having anything to do with him when they both knew that was impossible.

But when their gazes met and he saw the fear in her gray eyes---

Blyad.

He remembered her telling him he could hurt her, and he wanted to laugh.

It was clear as hell now it was the other fucking way around.

He would never be able to hurt her.

How could he when she had him wrapped around her fucking finger?

“Fredericka.” Her name came out in a rasp, emotion making his accent thick.

The fear in her eyes faded, and the pale pink flush in her cheeks deepened in color. When he raised his brow at her, she mumbled, “You make my name sound so…exotic.” An awkward, embarrassed look entered her eyes. “I like it.” She made the words sound both like a puzzle and a confession, like it was something she didn’t understand but knew she had to feel guilty about.

Ah.

Sweet, beautiful little…idiot.

He crushed her to him, so hard that she squeaked in protest and he forced himself to loosen his hold. She might be older than him, but she obviously understood so little about how things worked between a man and a woman.

The way he wanted her---

And the way she wanted him---

It was so fucking clear that a fantasy wouldn’t ever be enough.

And he would make her see that, in time.

But for now, he needed a reason to stay in her life.

His lips curving in a devastating smile, he murmured indulgently, “I’ll say it as many times as you want, pchelka.”

Her eyes widened at his promise, and she croaked out nervously, “But didn’t you say---”

Pulling her face down, he whispered against her lips, “Let’s be friends.”