Double the Heat (21 page)

Read Double the Heat Online

Authors: Lori Foster,Deirdre Martin,Elizabeth Bevarly,Christie Ridgway

Tags: #Erotic Stories; American, #Man-Woman Relationships, #Mate Selection, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Short Stories

BOOK: Double the Heat
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“What
was that one dish called again?” Lennie asked Sebastian as they entered his apartment. “The dumplings with the meat-balls inside that your uncle made me drown in butter and sour cream?”
“
Pelmeni
—and it’s supposed to be drowned in butter and sour cream! It’s traditional.”
“I bet I gained five pounds.”
“I’m glad you didn’t pick at your food like a little bird,” said Sebastian, hanging up her coat. “I hate when women do that. My uncle was very happy you seemed to be enjoying yourself so much.”
“How could I not?”
The food had been amazing. Caviar served on dark, fresh, crusty bread.
Pelmeni.
Piroshki. Beef kebabs. And for dessert, blinis filled with strawberry jam.
“Do you really think he liked me?” Lennie asked Sebastian as they settled down on the couch.
“I think that’s the tenth time you’ve asked me that.” He playfully tugged a strand of her hair. “Yes. Believe me, if he didn’t, you would have known it. He would have been very gruff and spoken much less English.”
“It’s too bad he never got married,” Lennie said, sighing sadly. “Maybe we can set him up with my aunt.”
Sebastian laughed loudly. “I hope you’re joking!”
“Of course I am. Though it does amuse me to imagine it.”
They sat together on the couch, Sebastian’s arm around her, pulling her close.
Lennie rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m glad I lied to you and told you I was ‘New to New York,’” she murmured contentedly.
“Me too.” He turned his body toward her, his knuckles tenderly brushing her cheek, eyes full of naked emotion.
“Lyubov maya, pridi ka mne,”
he whispered.
Lennie’s heart began to race. “What does that mean?”
“‘Come to me, my love,’” he replied, pressing his lips softly against hers.
“What about savoring?” she asked in amusement.
“I had enough savoring at dinner,” Sebastian growled. “Now I want you.”
Lennie laughed, then felt herself go into free fall as Sebastian roughly pulled her to him, his mouth devouring hers. Their kiss was hard and desperate, almost feral. Emboldened, Lennie snaked her burning hands beneath his T-shirt, pressing them against his chest. So virile. So perfect. She couldn’t keep her hands still. She began stroking the hard flesh, scraping her nails against the skin, circling his nipples with her index fingers. She loved it when Sebastian groaned in response. It made her feel powerful.
Wanting to tantalize him, she abruptly withdrew her hands. Then, with her eyes fixed on his, she began unbuttoning her blouse at a slow, torturous pace before tossing it wantonly to the floor. Desire surged through her as she watched his gaze travel appreciatively up and down her torso, finally coming to rest on her chest. They looked at each other a moment, and then Lennie cocked an eyebrow as if to say,
Well
? Sebastian narrowed his eyes, and then in one swift motion he leaned forward, pushed her bra up, and began to devour her breasts hungrily.
Lennie gasped as her mind quickly clouded, all reason seeping away. She wanted him to take her right here on the couch. Wanted it rough, mindless, relentless with passion. Desperate, she reached forward, yanking his T-shirt off above his head, this time letting her hands roam the terrain of his broad, hard shoulders. Sebastian groaned, lifted his mouth from her breasts. Lennie held her breath, shivering as he unhooked her bra and tossed it away.
“So amazingly beautiful,” he murmured.
Lennie tried to telegraph her desperation, grabbing his face and bringing it down to hers so she could nip enticingly at his lower lip. An animal growl came from the back of Sebastian’s throat as he thrust his tongue into her mouth, demanding, taking. Lennie got what she wanted: Sebastian gruffly pulled his mouth from hers, and in one fell swoop, picked her up. “In bed,” he said hoarsely. “I want you in my bed.”
Lennie wrapped her arms around his neck and let her teeth graze his jawline as he carried her into his room. He was already breathing hard, his gaze dark with an intensity no man had ever looked at her with before. Heat coiled low in her belly.
Soon
, she thought. Soon the greed overtaking her would be sated.
They stripped quickly, tumbling onto his bed. He looked surprised, yet pleased, when Lennie pushed him onto his back, straddling him. All she wanted was him. All she needed was him. Greedily she attacked his lips and throat, hoping to drag him under the way she was going under, drowning in a sea of unbearable need.
Sebastian responded with fierceness, rearing up and grabbing her hair. Again their eyes met, locked, challenged. Lennie’s heart thundered as she saw her own ferocity reflected his gaze. There was a pause before he pulled her head back with a hard yank, and began feasting on her throat. The move was primitive, thrilling. Lennie was glad there were no soft, tender Russian phrases falling from his lips right then. She wanted him macho and dominating, wanted the roiling desire in her blood satisfied.
There was no doubt of who was in control as he pushed her back on the bed, exciting her. They were both breathing hard. Lennie’s heart was pounding as she watched him reach into the night table for protection, quickly sheathing himself.
Hurry,
she thought, need shuddering through her. But Sebastian was in no hurry; he teased and tortured at the same time, nipping her breasts before slowly slithering down her body to pleasure her with his fingers and mouth. Lennie couldn’t hold back, tumbling over the edge into pleasure. Sebastian laughed darkly as he lifted his head to look up the length of her body at her.
“More?”
“God, yes, please.” It was so hard to form words when all she wanted was sensation. Sebastian crawled back up her body so they were face-to-face, his large, strong hands pinning her wrists in a show of dominance. Unbearably aroused, Lennie began rubbing herself against him, a woman once again on the verge of explosion.
Sebastian kissed her roughly, then plunged into her, the slam of his body against hers rendering her momentarily senseless. Lennie felt her mind reel, blind desire unspooling within her as she bucked against him wildly, meeting him thrust for thrust. Flesh pounded flesh as the sheer animal urge to mate roared through her and she came again, the punch of her own climax a delicious blow. Sebastian looked down at her, his mouth widening into a satisfied grin, which Lennie returned. Then his mouth closed over hers and he continued moving inside her, sending Lennie spinning back into velvet darkness. She urged him on, breaking free of his grip on her wrists to embrace him, dragging her nails up and down against the smooth, muscled terrain of his back. Finally, in one lightning burst of speed, he emptied himself into her, Lennie savoring the delicious feeling of complete union with him, her
milaya moya
, her sweet.
Nine
 
Lennie awoke the next morning to the shrill beeping of Sebastian’s alarm. She knew she shouldn’t have spent the night, but Sebastian was very persuasive, and the allure of “savoring” all night was simply too much to resist. So here she was, snuggled deep and cozy under the covers, her limbs entwined with Sebastian’s, the most natural feeling in the world.
Groaning, Sebastian snaked an arm out from beneath the covers to silence the alarm. The room fell back into blissful silence for a few seconds before he yawned deeply, then rolled to face Lennie, a sleepy smile on his face.
“Hello,” he murmured.
“Hello.” Lennie brushed the hair out of his eyes, keeping her right leg hooked over his hip. “Sleep well?”
“Mmm, very well. But now it’s time to get up.”
Lennie snuggled closer to him. “Do we have to?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Sebastian, gently disentangling himself from her. “I cannot be late to practice.”
Lennie rolled onto her back and sighed. “I hate being a grown-up.” She lifted her head from the pillow to glance at the clock. Seven thirty.
“Oh, shit!”
Sebastian looked alarmed. “What’s the matter?”
Lennie leaped out of bed, scrambling for her clothing. “I totally forgot I have an appointment with one of my professors at nine to talk about getting credit for the clothes I’m designing for Sinead O’Brien.”
Sebastian was unruffled. “So take a quick shower and go. You’ll make it.”
“I don’t have my portfolio with me,” she lamented. “And I don’t have her number on my cell. Shit.”
“Relax. You can call the car service I sometimes use to take you home. The driver will wait downstairs while you wash up and grab your portfolio, and then take it to see your professor.”
“I can’t afford that. It will cost a fortune.”
“I’ll pay for it. I have plenty of money, and it would please me to do this for you. Please?”
“Okay.”
“Good, the number is on my fridge. Go ahead and call them while I jump in the shower.”
Lennie hustled out to the kitchen to call for a car. Panic quelled, she returned to the bedroom. Sebastian was already in the shower. Lennie went into the bathroom, peeking around the shower curtain at her gorgeous, naked boyfriend.
“All better now?” he asked, his eyes closed as he turned his face into the spray of water.
“We’ll see.” Lennie crinkled her nose. “Why are you showering when you’re going to practice? Aren’t you going to get there and work out and sweat?”
Sebastian looked at her and chuckled. “I can’t show up smelling like sex, can I?”
“I suppose not.”
He held out a hand to her. “Come on. Join me.”
Lennie hesitated as she weighed his offer.
Don’t do it,
the adult voice in her head said.
You have to rush back to the apartment, change, pick up your portfolio. You’ll be late for your meeting.
“You know I can’t,” she said, unable to hide her disappointment. “If I get in there with you, I won’t be able to keep my hands to myself.”
Sebastian smiled seductively. “That was the idea.”
“Don’t torture me, you Russian devil.”
“I admire your discipline.” He leaned over, giving her a shower-wet kiss. “We’ll talk later, yes? I’ll call you after my game?”
Lennie nodded. His games ended late, but she knew she’d still be up. She was determined to finish the clothing Sinead had commissioned as soon as she could.
“One more thing,” he said, “then I’ll let you scurry off.”
“Yes?”
His expression was tender. “Last night was so
chudesnaya
—wonderful. I felt very close to you. I’m very—fond of you, Lennie.”
“Me too,” said Lennie. Too early to say the “l” word, if it ever got to that, which she hoped it did. “Talk to you later.”
“Yes. Have a good day, sweet one.”
“You too. Good luck tonight.”
 
 
So
much for Lennie’s good luck wishes having any bearing on the Blades’ game against Ottawa. The team was routed 5-1 . Sebastian played poorly, seeming out of sync with his teammates. A step slow all night, he was penalized twice for holding. Ottawa scored on both power plays.
“I fucked up tonight,” Sebastian said to no one in particular, but loud enough for everyone in the locker room to hear. He threw his helmet against a wall and slumped angrily in front of his locker.
“Forget it, Ivan. Everyone’s allowed a bad night now and then,” Eric Mitchell sympathized, picking up Sebastian’s helmet and tossing it back to him.
“Know what I think your problem might have been tonight?” said Ulf, breaking into a big grin as he sauntered over to Sebastian, naked, with a towel slung over his shoulder.
“What?” Sebastian knew there was no point in saying “No,” since Ulf would just ignore him and tell him anyway.
“You’ve got pussy on the brain, Ivan, not pucks.” There were laughs all around the locker room.
Sebastian knew Ulf was just trying to bring him out of his funk. The teasing was just a way for his teammates to reassure him that they had his back.
As the conversations in the locker room shifted to talk of where to have dinner and what was on television, Jason Mitchell called Sebastian over to have a private word. “Just out of curiosity, does Lennie know you’ve only got a one-year deal?” he asked cautiously.
“No.”
“You don’t seem like a ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ kind of guy, Sebastian,” Jason observed, “so I get the feeling you really like this girl.”
“I do.”
“Well, I don’t mean to interfere, but you might want to say something sooner rather than later, so the two of you both know what you’re getting into. If you really care about her, you don’t want her freaking out if you end up somewhere else next season.”
“Thank you for the advice,” Sebastian said quietly, as he picked up his toiletry kit and walked away. Hopping into the shower, he soaped himself and thought about his future as the hot water beat down on him. He’d like to stay with the Blades, but there was no guarantee. If he didn’t play well, they might not make him an offer, and he could end up somewhere else next season—maybe even back in Russia. And if he did play well, he might get a better offer from another team. With his extended family back in Russia relying on him, he wasn’t in any position to turn down money for sentimental reasons.

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