Black Knight, White Queen (3 page)

He couldn’t get to his room fast enough.

As he took out his card key he glanced around to check she was still there because she’d been so nervous in the elevator before. But Izzy waited just behind him, a fierce blush still staining her cheeks.

So beautiful. So vivid. Pink cheeks, intense blue eyes, red mouth. Her hair had started to dry in little curls of white around her forehead. He wanted her so badly. More than he could remember wanting anyone.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said, as if she knew exactly what was going through his head. “I told you I won’t change my mind.”

He didn’t say anything to this, just unlocked the door and held it open for her, waiting as she stepped past him and into the room without the slightest hesitation.

He’d paid for a suite this trip, allowing himself the luxury of a lounge area where he could set up his board. Izzy came to a halt just short of the coffee table then turned around.

The look on her face was taut with emotion. Excitement and desire and trepidation so clear even he could read it. Her hands went to the strap of her bag, lifting it up and over her head. They shook as she dropped the bag on the floor.

Noticing his glance, she said, “That’s not nervousness this time, okay?” She held up her hands to show him, unembarrassed about the way they trembled. “This is all you.”

A deep, very male sense of satisfaction unfolded inside him. He did that to her. He affected her. Just as she affected him.

The silence in the room became thick. Heavy with sex and desire and heat.

Aleks shrugged his own backpack off his shoulder and put it down near the couch. Now he was close to getting what he wanted, his impatience had become less urgent. Perhaps he would take this slow. Going slow always made it easier to maintain control too.

“Come here,” he ordered softly.

Her throat moved and after the smallest of hesitations, she walked toward him, coming to stand right in front of him. She was shivering.

The vulnerability of her was a punch to the gut, prompting responses he wasn’t expecting. He’d never wanted to look after anyone else but himself, never needed to. His early life had been all about survival and that required a necessary selfishness.

But now… She made it different.

He raised a hand to cup her cheek. “It’s okay, Izzy.” His voice sounded strangely hoarse. “I’ll take care of you.”

Pale lashes lowered, veiling her expression. But he felt the slight turn of her head, the pressure of her cheek against his palm. Then after a second she looked up at him. “I know you will.”

The simplicity of the words cracked something inside him, and he couldn’t stop himself from tangling his fingers in the wet silk of her hair, dragging her head back. Then he crushed her mouth beneath his. The kiss was deep, hard, raw. She tasted of water, of rain. Of sweetness and heat. A drug he couldn’t get enough of.

Izzy made a soft, hungry sound, and her body pressed to his. Even through the wet cotton of his T-shirt he could feel the heat of her, hard little nipples against his chest. Her hands pushed under his T-shirt, over the bare skin of his chest, making him groan while her mouth moved, kissing his jaw, his neck, his throat as if she were starving.

The bare honesty of her response threatened to crack him. Break him wide open. Make him forget every lesson Viktor had taught him. That control mattered. In everything. If you let your animal desires, your baser instincts, have free reign, how could you maintain the discipline you needed for an intellectual game like chess?

He’d already broken his “no sex” rule. Letting himself get utterly carried away by her would be a bridge too far.

Aleks caught her wrists and dragged her hands away from his body, struggling to maintain his self-discipline.

“Aleks…” His name was a low moan of protest.

His chest heaved as he fought for breath. Pushing her down and taking her hard and fast, losing himself in her heat would be so easy. But he’d learned the hard way what such a loss of control meant. What it could do. And if being sent away from the only home he’d ever known hadn’t been lesson enough, then watching the other street kids die of overdoses and HIV-related diseases certainly had.

“Keep still,” he ordered harshly.
 

Izzy took an audible, shaky breath but did as she was told. Her eyes glowed, her skin flushed from the heat of that kiss. She was the single most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“What are you going to do?” No fear in her ragged voice and none in her face either. Only hunger, only desire. The nakedness of her expression shocked him.

He had to look away, keep his mind on what he’d initially planned for her. For them both. Strategy was always the key.

“Lift your arms.”

She did so, her breathing rapid and broken in the silence of the room. Taking hold of the hem of her singlet, he pulled it up and over her head, peeling the wet cotton off her. Beneath it she wore a bright blue lacy bra that concealed nothing, the pink of her nipples visible through the lace. He reached behind her, snapped the catch of the bra and pulled off the delicate fabric. She made a breathless little sound as he bared her to the waist, her hands lifting once more to him. But he wouldn’t allow it. Not yet. Not until he was ready.

Aleks caught her wrists behind her back again, holding them fast with one hand. Then he bent his head, brushing her mouth with his, letting his free hand trail down the exquisite curve of her neck, tracing the dips and hollows of her collarbone before sliding down to cup one breast. So smooth. So soft.

She gasped, her body arching, wrists pulling against his restraining fingers, trying to press herself into his hand. But he held her tight, slowly circling his thumb around her nipple, teasing her, making her tremble before brushing his thumb over the hard peak.

She gave a breathless moan against his mouth. So he did it again. And again. Testing her. Testing himself. She panted. “Yes…yes… Oh, Aleks, that feels so good…”

Her responsiveness intoxicated him. As if she was giving herself totally to the experience, to him. It made him want to give her even more, test her boundaries even further.

He bent lower, pressing his mouth to the hollow of her throat, licking the last remains of the rain from her skin. Then farther down, tracing around her nipple with his tongue before drawing it into his mouth. Izzy groaned, her body taut in his hands. Her skin tasted salty and sweet, a heady combination, the sounds she made as he suckled on her, echoing through the room.
 

He let his hand slide farther, over her stomach, pushing his fingers beneath the waistband of her trousers and underwear, to the curls between her thighs. She was wet for him, slick and hot beneath his fingers.

“Aleks!” His name was a strangled gasp as she tugged against his hold, trying to pull away. “Let me go. God…please. I want to touch you…”

No. No touching. Not from her. Not yet.

Sliding one finger inside her, he felt her inner muscles close around him, the sound of her groan in his ear. Jesus. She was like hot, liquid silk.

He slid another finger deep. Izzy gave another groan, straining against his imprisoning hand, body curving like a drawn bow. Her hips shifted as she tried to match the slow glide of his fingers, but she trembled so much she couldn’t keep up. As she moved she nudged the hard ridge of his cock and he had to grit his teeth against the jolt of electricity that arced down his spine.
 

Not yet. Not yet.

He released her nipple, moved higher, nuzzling her neck, feeling her trembling body twist and arch against him. She was close, he could feel it. Sense it. Right on the edge. But he wouldn’t take her over just yet. He wanted her naked first. Then he’d make her scream.

She gave a soft moan of protest as he pulled his hand away. He ignored the sound. Releasing her wrists, he tore at the fastening of her trousers and pulled them down, taking her underwear with it. Then, staying on his knees in front of her, he gripped her thighs and pressed his mouth between them. She gave a hoarse cry as he did so, the flavour of her filling his mouth. Like honey, all sweetness and sensuality and heat. And when he licked her, tasting her deep, she cried out again, her thighs shaking beneath his hands, her fingers clutching his shoulders for support.

It didn’t take long. Another lick and she sobbed, her body convulsing as the climax took her. He had to pause to catch his breath, his head against her thigh, excruciatingly aware of the ache in his groin, the wet cling of his jeans and the musky scent of her arousal.
 

Giving himself a minute to get fully back under control, he rose to his feet, slipping an arm around her waist. She all but collapsed against him, her head falling back, her eyes closed, her lips parted just slightly. Her whole body pink. Pleasure, satisfaction and satiation glowing in her face.

The sheer nakedness of her emotions, displayed so openly, made him uncomfortable and yet he couldn’t seem to look away from her. A strange need opened up inside him. The need for something more than just a meeting of bodies. More than just sex. The need to reach out and touch those emotions. Understand them. Take them for himself.

At that moment Izzy opened her eyes and looked up at him and something in those blue depths splintered his control like glass under pressure, shattering him.

The desire he’d been trying to contain burst free, unstoppable, desperate.

“Izzy.” Her name was a growl as he pushed her down onto the carpet, spreading her thighs wide. The breath hissed in her throat as she pushed herself up on one elbow, her other hand pressing against his chest. “Aleks…please…give me a minute.”

But he didn’t have a minute. He was conscious of only one thing and that was the desperate ache of desire that flooded his veins with fire. An ache that demanded satiation right now.

He heard her take a sharp breath as he clawed his zipper open, freeing himself from the wet denim of his jeans. Then he slid a hand beneath her left knee, hauling her leg up around his waist, opening her to him.

“Wait…” Her voice was a breathless murmur.
 

“I…can’t.” For the first time in his life waiting simply wasn’t an option. “I need you now.” He could barely get the words out. Barely stop himself from just taking what he wanted.

“Okay.” Her fingers splayed on his chest. “Do it.”

He didn’t have to be told twice. Aleks thrust deep and hard inside her, hardly aware of her husky cry, of her hands curling into his skin, her head falling back. Hardly aware of anything at all because the feel of her had exploded inside his head like a hammer blow. Ah God, she was tight. And so hot. So wet. He moved, another thrust then another, pleasure blinding him, overwhelming him. The feel of her bare skin was the most erotic thing he’d ever experienced and he couldn’t get enough.

He leaned forward, lifted her leg up over his shoulder so he could push deeper, harder.

Izzy groaned, her arms on the floor above her head, her body arched in utter abandon, and Aleks lost the last of his self-discipline. As it slipped from his grasp, a voice screamed inside his head that this was a mistake, that he needed to pull back. But he was lost. Completely and utterly lost.

He drove inside her as the pleasure spiralled higher and higher, his breathing out of control, everything out of control. Conscious only of the feel of her inner muscles gripping him tightly, her skin against his, the scent of her, oh God, the scent of her.

Leaning down to her, he turned his face into her neck as his mind began to go. As he began to disintegrate, his precious control ashes. There were only her arms around him, holding him, her embrace almost comforting as the climax burst inside him and smashed him into dust.

It felt like hours before his consciousness returned. Hours of holding her warm body against him. Hours listening to her thundering heart, the beat of it matching the pace of his own.

He could barely think.

What had happened? One look from her and everything had gone up in flames. He’d gripped her tightly, taken her hard, and her desperate cry…

A sickening shock crept slowly through him. Oh Christ, had he hurt her?

He lifted his head, ran his gaze over her body, looking for bruises, for red marks, any tell-tale signs. On her pale skin anything would show up. And yes, there they were, the marks of his mouth on her, red imprints of his fingers on her hips. Fuck.

“I hurt you.” He had to force the words out.

Izzy blinked, raising her hand to push aside a strand of hair from her eyes. “What? No, you didn’t.”

“I did. There are marks on you.”

“I bruise easily. It’s no big deal.”

“It is a big deal. I was rough.”

Her brows pulled together. Then she lifted a hand to his shoulder, a gentle, almost soothing touch. “It’s okay. Aleks, really, it’s okay.”

But it wasn’t okay. Nothing about it was okay. Another thought came to him. “We had unprotected sex.”

“I’m on the pill.” She reached out to him. “You just went so fast, I wasn’t expecting it. It’s fine, though.”

No, it wasn’t fine. He’d never lost control like that during sex. Enough that he’d ignored her plea to wait, hurt her with his hands, and even forgotten the most basic thing of all—a fucking condom.