Her tight walls stretched around me to take me in. She had never been touched, and I fucking knew it. With every inch I sank into her, she clenched tighter, her breath faltering as she cried again. I didn’t slam into her like I thought I would or tear through her to make a point. I slowed, not out of kindness, but because she needed to feel everything.
Restraint burned through my body as I pulled out with a growl and slid back in, deeper this time. Her soft gasp had changed. It wasn’t pain anymore, it was my name, shattered and like a prayer on her lips.
“Rodion...”
God. I kissed her as she moaned into my mouth, but I kept going. Her pussy relaxed around me, her body adjusting, taking me inch by inch, and I felt every part of her up in my spine.
It wasn’t only good. It was lethal. Everything about this was wrong in the exact way that made it feel like it could kill me. I didn’t recognize myself. I thought I was proving that it was just a release. But now I was inside her, deep, stretched, and buried, I knew this wasn’t the last time. I couldn’t fuck her out of my system.
Shewasmy system now.
I pulled out again and rubbed her clit, watching her eyes flutter open, dazed and glassy. When I slid back into her, she didn’t flinch. She welcomed it, tight but ready.
She felt like home and sin, wrapped in the same breath. I didn’twanther. Ineededher, and I would keep her. My thrusts came harder, deeper, one hand sliding to her thigh and yankingher closer as I slammed in. My fingers found her clit again and rubbed so fast that her whole body jerked.
Her walls clamped down. She clung to me like she was breaking apart, hiding her face in my neck as she came. She trembled beneath me, her eyes wet, and her body caught between pleasure and pain. Her arms didn’t let go. And I didn’t move until the shaking faded.
Then I pulled out, still aching, and slid against her soaked heat. She kissed me before I could move. I rocked against her, chasing the high while her mouth opened to mine. And then my own release rushed and I pulled out immediately.
My body stilled, and a grunt tore from me as I spilled onto her thigh. I kept stroking myself until I was empty. I looked down at her. The fucked-up truth was, this hadn’t come from lust. It had come from something darker. She was mine now. And God help whoever tried to take her.
“I will keep you.”
That wasn’t a threat or a deal. It was a vow. And if that drunk Alessia ever asked me to call her Little Gem again, it wouldn’t be about deals. It would be about ownership. I rarely offered promises, but I always kept the ones I gave, no matter the cost.
Chapter Thirty-one
Alessia
Something brushed my cheek, andI stirred in my sleep. A low sound escaped my throat as I turned over, half-asleep, until the scent of coffee pulled me fully awake.
Rodion sat at the edge of the bed, coffee in hand, his other hand resting on my hip, tracing slow, soothing circles. My heart lurched, and the memory of what we did rushed into me. I yanked the duvet over my head and curled beneath it, wishing I could vanish and pretend none of it had happened.
Warmth and the faint scent of him clung to the sheets. I buried my face in them, as if hiding could freeze time long enough to breathe. My skin burned with the weight of realization. I hadn’t prepared to wake up knowing I slept with Rodion.
He took everything.
My breath.
My body.
My virginity.
Panic enveloped me, but beneath it, something dark and dangerous simmered. I wanted it. I wanted him. Every part of me longed for him, and I didn’t regret it. I just didn’t know how to face the truth. It was pain tangled with pleasure, rough and beautiful and terrifying.
The bed still held the warmth of his body, though I hadn’t noticed when he got up. My limbs were heavy, and my body sore in places I hadn’t known could ache. The reality settled in deep, too loud to ignore. This wasn’t a mistake I could blame on anything but myself. I let him, and I had to live with the aftermath.
Rodion’s phone rang, and he shifted beside me. His deep voice broke the silence as he answered in Russian. Thank God he walked out.
I exhaled and shoved the duvet off. I had two options: dash to my room and pretend none of it happened, or find the bathroom in his room and gather whatever pieces of my dignity remained.
When I swung one leg off the bed, a hiss slipped through my teeth. My bones ached. Every step reminded me of him.
Still naked and flushed with shame, I picked up my tee crumpled on the floor. As I was about to pull it over my head, Rodion walked in. I stood, holding the shirt to my chest like it could hide everything he had already seen and touched. My pulse quickened with every step he took toward me, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cup of coffee—the same scent that woke me earlier.
Rodion stopped right in front of me. My eyes stayed fixed on the floor.
“About last night...” he started.