CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

THE CAB RIDE BACK FROM the Tower was sheer torment, especially since they’d had to make a stop at a nearby pharmacie. They’d slipped into the busy hotel unobserved through a side door, though the threat of discovery had stoked Tabitha’s fevered excitement to an almost unbearable level.

Once they were behind closed doors, she couldn’t undress him fast enough.

She pushed the jacket from his broad shoulders, and tore at the knot of his tie, all while devouring him with ravenous kisses.

Daniil’s throat reverberated with a low-timbered laugh. “Why such hurry? I thought you wanted me to undress you.”

He caught her wrists and pressed kisses into each of her palms. The tip of his tongue swirled against her skin, and a delicious tickle skipped along her nerves. “You’ll enjoy it more if we take it slow. We have all night.”

All night. Tabitha sank into the sensation of his hands caressing her arms and shoulders. He released the delicate clasp at the back of her dress. The cool silk brushed her body as it slid down to pool at her feet. His strong hands followed, stroking her sides. He bracketed her hips, and admired her, clothed in just a demi-bra, filmy panties and red high heels. “Beautiful,” he whispered. “Beautiful.”

Then he brought his hand to her face and brushed her lip with his fingertip. Feather light, he traced down over her chin and neck, across her breasts, circling each nipple. The muscles deep within her core quivered and clenched, as his finger traveled lower, across her belly to the sensitive place between her legs. When she sucked in a breath, he grinned and slipped his finger inside her panties. “I can’t wait to be inside you.”

She couldn’t wait for him to be inside her.

He reached around to unfasten her bra. She pushed back her shoulders when her breasts bounced free. They weren’t large, but as he cupped and squeezed, her small mounds fit perfectly in his hands. Her nipples stood erect as he fondled them.

He eased her down onto the bed, on her back and gently parted her legs. Her panties were drenched by the hot desire that gushed from her body. She hooked her fingers beneath the fabric, ready to rip them to shreds if that was what it took. But Daniil, still clothed, chuckled and pushed her hands away. “All in good time,” he said, planting a kiss in the middle of her stomach. “All in my time.”

With one hand, he captured her wrists above her head, pinning them. With luxurious slowness, he kissed her lips, nuzzled her neck, and teased her nipples. She writhed as his tongue and mouth laved the delicate skin of her belly. He rubbed his thumb over the tiny nub of her clit, with just enough pressure to send shivers up her spine. When he eased one long finger deep into her vagina, Tabitha released an ecstatic moan. Her muscles clenched around him, responding to the intimate strokes that pushed her closer to the edge.

Through fluttering eyelids, she caught his slanted smile as he toyed with the lacy waistband of her panties. “Should I? Or should I not?”

“Oh God, yes,” she said through gritted teeth. “Right. This. Minute.”

Chuckling, he pulled them off, and then positioned himself between her legs, and planted kisses along the inside of her thighs. He probed her hot folds again, this time with his tongue. Every inch of her body was alive with sensation, unlike any she’d ever known.

“You’re so wet, so hot.” He murmured. “But still not ready.”

Like hell!

She gave a little cry of protest and grabbed the fabric of his shirt. Devouring his mouth with insistent kisses, she undid his silk tie, and then went to work on his shirt. She touched and kissed the colorful gallery on his arms, shoulders and torso. There was a storm cloud with a lightning bolt above his right pectoral. A Russian phrase inked beneath his rib cage. She wondered what all of it meant, and would definitely ask.

Later.

When she’d stripped away his shirt and dress pants, she pulled him down, digging her nails into his skin. Hot, drenched and ready, she moaned. “Now! Please!”

“Are you begging for me?” He teased, and then peeled away his boxers, to free his large stiff cock. Tabitha’s eyes widened as she imagined it inside her. Daniil fished a condom from the package on the nightstand and sheathed himself. Then his face turned serious, and he cupped her cheek. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” In truth she didn’t know, but anticipated pain was almost always worse than the real thing. All she cared about was having his body joined to hers. She pushed her heels into the bed and lifted her hips, inviting him in.

He straddled her and entered, allowing her to adjust to the pressure and stretching. Her back arched and she felt the first glimmer of pleasure, but to be truly satisfied, she needed him to thrust deeper. When she was ready, she looked into his eyes, and nodded.

He did.

“Oh!” The sudden sharp pain made her cry out and dig her nails into his shoulders. But his movements were as smooth and in control as when he skated. She moved with him, their bodies joined in a dance that sent heat from her center, melting pain into bliss. He whispered next to her ear. “Good?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice raspy. “Feels so good.”

She wrapped her legs wrapped around his waist, bucking her hips as he pushed into her softness. Her body was alive in a way it had never been before, she buried her face against his sweat-slick shoulder. A final thrust, smooth and deep, launched them together. She released a lusty cry as he filled her. Her chest rose and fell, overwhelming sensation coursed through every nerve. He cradled her as she drifted down through a gossamer haze of pleasure.

Sated, they rested in each other’s arms, warm beneath the blankets. Her head lay against his shoulder, he stroked her breast. She snuggled closer and let go a throaty purr of pleasure. He grinned. “You are like a cat. Playful, but mysterious.”

She made a teasing scowl. “Mysterious? That sounds like a bad thing.”

“On no, not at all. It’s one thing I find fascinating about you. But it makes you hard to figure out sometimes.”

She couldn’t argue that. Just as she did with everyone else, she let him see only some of who she was. But the fact she was laying naked beside him, proved she was becoming braver.

“I’m not the one covered with art.” She lifted the blanket to study the Russian words marking his torso. “What’s this one say?”

“Dokazat’ chto on neprav,” he said.

She gave him a look. “English, please?”

“It means ‘prove him wrong.’“

“And you think I’m mysterious? That’s a very weird thing to have printed on your stomach. Who do you want to prove wrong?”

Daniil kept his gaze fixed the ceiling and took long enough to answer, she wondered if he would. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. “My father. He once said I would never amount to anything, so it became my mission in life to prove him wrong.”

She stared. Even Fiona, with all her crazy drama, was never cruel. It stunned her that a parent could say something like that to his own child. “That’s awful.”

“I’ve put it behind me,” he said, though she wondered if it was true. He held out his forearm, with the car on a road, driving toward the rising sun. “See, here’s one that reminds me to always move forward toward something better.”

“It takes a lot of courage to change your future,” she said, with a sigh as she settled back against him. “I wish we could speed up time. Then I’d know what my future held.”

“If we sped up time, we’d lose this moment. But I wouldn’t mind a shorter wait until we’re together in St. Petersburg.”

“You’ll be there?” With just a short time to prepare for the International Series Finals, and then Russian Nationals, she hadn’t expected him to be.

“If you can fly to Paris to see me, I can take a train to Petersburg to see you.” He pulled her close. “I have an apartment there, where you and I can be alone.”

She wondered why he had an apartment in a city where he didn’t live, but decided not to ruin the moment by asking. He’d changed a lot in his life. She hoped that soon, he would cut ties with the man who’d wounded him, yet still wielded so much power. She kissed him, long and deep. “I always skate better when I have a friend in the audience.”

The words he’d said to her on the first night brought a smile. “Though maybe now, I am more than a friend?”

He was, and he deserved to know. She’d taken one leap today, and it was time for an even bigger one—the emotional equivalent of launching herself off the Eiffel Tower.

But what she felt for Daniil gave her courage. If she wanted to learn to trust him, he needed to know what was in her heart.

“You are more than a friend. The truth is,” she swallowed her fear and stepped off into the unknown. “I love you.”

She heard and felt him breathe sharply. His dark eyes sought hers, and in his intense gaze she watched stunned disbelief melt into unabashed joy. A smile spread like sunrise over his face and when he spoke, his voice held quiet wonder. “How much I have longed to hear you say that. Because I love you too, Tabitha.”

He gathered her into his arms and reclaimed her mouth with a kiss that made her heart sing and her senses dance. This was what it meant to fly free.