Chapter Eighteen
He’d locked them in together.
Lily’s overworked heart slammed harder against her ribs, a stupid, insane relief spiraling through her, which only made her madder. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Alexi turned to face her, all broad shoulders and seething male. “There are about three women at this event. They’ll find another bathroom.”
“You need to leave.”
He leaned against the door. “What did Paul say to you? You looked upset.”
“That kind of question doesn’t sound like business as usual, Kazankov.”
“Alexi,” he growled.
“Not anymore.”
“Are you pissing me off on purpose?”
Jaw tight, she thrust her chin upward. “Here’s a little tip: not everything I do revolves around you.”
“Here’s one right back.” Without warning, he prowled forward, his arms closing around her and hauling her close. “That smart mouth of yours only makes me want you more.”
She stifled a low moan. “This is not happening.” She pressed her palms to his wide chest. “You need to leave now. Before anyone notices we’re both missing.”
“You think this is easy for me?” For the first time, she heard the frustration in his voice. “You think it’s easy to have you stand near and remember the way you taste, the sweet sounds you make as I fuck you hard?”
“Stop it.” But she didn’t move—couldn’t—his words quivering against her skin, stoking her need, shifting her anger and hurt into something darker, more carnal. Something she could not afford to give into ever again. “That’s over and done.”
“Wrong.” His grip tightened. “Out there in the hall, I’m conducting business as usual because I know you can handle it. Deep down you’d be even more furious with me if I didn’t.”
She sucked down a sharp breath, his insight startling her with its accuracy.
“But here,” he continued, “away from all eyes, it’s not business as usual.”
She opened her mouth to object.
He covered her mouth with his hand. “You can protest all you want, but I can see it in your eyes. Once wasn’t enough. Not for either of us.”
She wanted to rage at him. Tell him to take his new property and backed-up sewer and go fuck himself. But the truth was evident in every ember of need burning through her.
He was right. Despite every lesson she’d learned from her past.
She craved him still.
Sinking her teeth into his palm, she bit down hard. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to have him moving his hand. Fast.
“Maybe you’re right.” The smile she gave him was all teeth. “But tonight, we finish it for good.” Framing his jaw with her hands, she yanked him close. “Then, I’m going to find a way to see my restoration plans to fruition without that property, and I’m going to kick your ass and remain CEO.”
His growl rumbled against her lips. “I can’t wait to see you try.”
“I won’t just try. I’ll succeed.”
Jerking back, taking control, he tugged her scarf from her neck, his eyes flaring as they locked on the bruise at her clavicle. “It’s a good thing I didn’t know this was there before. We would never have lasted in that meeting room as long as we did.”
She shoved his jacket off his shoulders.
He jerked her skirt up her thighs.
They stared at one another, their rapid breathing and the drip of a nearby faucet the only sounds.
“Touch yourself. Put your hands down those panties and show me what you want.”
She bit back a moan. Damn the man.
“You sure?” she bluffed. “I might just decide I like it more. After six years, I’m damn good at making myself come hard.”
His pupils went dark and small. He adjusted the big bulge pressing hard against his pants. “I’ll take my chances.”
And who was she kidding? Her fingers would never be more than a paltry substitute for the monster between his thighs. But that didn’t mean he held all the cards.
Spreading her legs, her gaze never wavering from his, she glided her hand down her belly and under the lace of her panties, her breath catching as she found her clit, slippery and wet.
“You never back down, do you?” His gaze tracked her every movement, his nostrils flaring, his expression dangerous. Unmasked.
It gave her a rush like nothing else.
“Never.” Back bowing, she worked herself faster.
“Choyrt. That’s beautiful.” His voice was a low rasp, heavy with longing and frustration. “You’re beautiful. And fucking impossible to tame.”
“Mmmm.” Maybe she didn’t need him, after all.
He seized her wrist. “Enough.”
She jerked against his hold. “Not nearly.”
They stared at one another once more. A silent battle for control. For victory.
“You make me crazy,” he growled at last.
“You make me stupid.”
“Tell me I can fuck you hard.” Pulling her arm up and behind her back, he held her immobile while he ground against her, the thick ridge of his pants pressing against her already sensitive clit. Hitting it just right. Making her whimper. Making her forget what the hell she’d been fighting over in the first place. “Tell me you want it.”
“I want it.”
No clear victor in sight, they tore at each other’s clothing, his hands yanking at the buttons on her blouse as she fumbled with his belt and pants, shoving them down to his knees.
“Condom?” she panted.
“Already on it.”
She heard the rustle of foil and then he was lifting her onto the counter, ripping her panties off with one rough yank, and spreading her wide.
His thick cock filled her, stretching her almost to the point of pain. Making her body arch. Sending her nails digging into his shirt. Her head knocking into the mirror, too consumed by lust to care. “That’s good.”
“Too damn good.” He pumped hard, sucking on the frantic pulse at the base of her neck as his hands toyed with her nipples, driving her faster and faster toward the edge of pleasure, anger and hate and need slamming through her with every powerful thrust.
“It shouldn’t be like this.” Of all the men who could have rocked her world, why did her body have to come alive for him?
“But it is.” He moved faster. Angled his thick cock to hit even deeper. The scrape of his shirt against her nipples adding to the storm of pleasure whipping through her. “Crazy. Stupid. But fucking perfect.”
No. Her eyes sunk shut. She wouldn’t let it be.
“Look at me, Lily.”
Stubbornly, she kept her eyes shut. Bucked against him. Her nerves tingling as her toes began to curl. Just a little more…
He stilled, denying her what she needed most. “Look. At. Me.”
Reluctantly, her shuddered gaze found his.
“No holding back.” He thrust once, a reward. A demand. “Not between us.”
“Don’t.” Base lust and angry need were one thing. Anything more was impossible. “This can’t go anywhere. Be anything.”
“It’s never been halfway between us and it won’t start now.” He thrust hard. “You’re fucking courage and fire, and I want it all.”
The way he saw her thrilled her like nothing else. Made her want to be that person for him. For herself.
Rearing upward, she framed his face with her hands and brought his mouth to hers. “Then don’t be surprised when I burn you so good.”
With a groan, his mouth found hers. His tongue stroking hers, mimicking the masterful thrusts of his cock as he filled her over and over again and his thumb worked her clit.
She ground her hips faster. Clawed at his back. Because he wasn’t the only one who could leave marks.
“You know why I call you Armageddon?” He slammed in harder. The kind of hurt that was so damn good. “Because neither of us was ready for me to call you what you are.” His fingers found her clit and worked her just right. “Wild. Untamable. And all mine.”
She shattered apart, a supernova of flame and pleasure and need. With him. Together.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
It was only a word spoken in the heat of the moment.
But a small, crazy part of her wanted it to be true.
It took several seconds to catch her breath, the aftershocks running through her almost as powerful as her climax. No question. The man fucked as brilliantly as he did everything else.
Silence descended.
The air cooling as their bodies, slick with sweat and heat, grew still—and lust-free sanity returned.
She’d risked everything yet again.
He shifted, his hands sliding up her back to hold her close. “You’re not sneaking out on me again. We need to come up with a plan.”
Wary, she stared up at him, his sudden shift back to commanding businessman rubbing at parts already raw. “For what?”
“This.” He waved his hand between them.
“I keep telling you there is no this.”
“Ne pizdi. There’s a this—and it needs to be addressed or you’re going to end up continuing to be fucked in bathroom stalls and wherever the hell else I can find to spread you wide.”
His crudity—and the fact that it turned her on—pissed her off even more. “Ne pizdi. I’m not lying.” She threw his Russian words back at him. She’d been studying up, a lot. “Since this was the last time, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“Don’t play with me, Lily.” He jerked up his pants, his jaw tight. “This back and forth, hot and cold behavior is bullshit.”
“How do I know you’re not the one playing me? Screwing me in an attempt to soften me up?”
Every muscle in his wide shoulders went taut. “You’re dredging this up again. Why? Paul?”
She refused to let her gaze skitter away. “Just answer the damn question.”
He stepped closer, his hand grasping her chin as his thumb brushed across her lower lip. “I won’t deny I play dirty in the boardroom and even dirtier in the bedroom. But I never mix the two.” His hold tightened. “I’m not fucking you to change your mind. And you better not pretend you fucked me for that reason.”
“I’m not.” Though, Lord, she wished she could, at least to herself.
His triumphant nod was pure male arrogance. “It’s settled.”
“Far from it.” Jerking from his hold, she shoved past him, desperate to get away before his words began to make sense.
He caught her wrist, checking her in place. “I won’t stop thinking of those hot-as-hell noises you make when I’m deep inside of you. Or of how much I want to hear them again.”
Her heart gave a little leap but she squelched it and shook off his touch. “Let’s see if you still feel that way after I steal a few more board members over to my side.”
“You can try and fight me. But I always win, mishka.” His gaze softened. “Yes, I’ll take the company, but we’ll find you suitable compensation, something you can live with. A job at my firm? Enough money to keep you in comfort until you die? Whatever it is you want, within limits.”
“I don’t need your limits.” That single word was enough to set her off all over again. “I’ve had enough of those to last a lifetime. I don’t need money. I don’t need another job. I’ve got the one I want.”
“For now.”
“Fuck you.”
“I’m game.” Hunger flared in his gaze. Anger, too. “That does seem like the only time we’re on the same page.” He reached for her again. “Why fight it?”
“Because sometimes the fight is all you have left.” Dodging his touch, she shoved the door wide and fled, refusing to look back.
Alexi Kazankov tempted her. No question.
But she’d risked everything before and ended up losing all, including her self-respect.
She wasn’t about to do that again.