Lie to Me (18 page)

She stole a glance at his ruggedly handsome profile, wishing things could be otherwise. He too stared out the window, his expression faraway. Thoughtful. Where their palms met, her skin warmed, and the weight in her hand was comfortable. Sasha couldn’t remember the last time she’d held hands. Sixteen, maybe? She’d been in school. Long before secondary education, and once she’d hit those rigorous studies, dating wasn’t feasible. What male companionship she did have had been limited to brief pleasures of the flesh.

After, when she might have had the time and ability to entertain something serious, her father made that impossible. With one wave of his powerful hand, he doomed her to an eternity of solitude.

Sasha looked out the window once more as the landscape turned to gently sloping hills and deep greens. It had taken only a few minutes to reach the fertile cliffs, but the change was like entering another world. A magical place, far removed from the world of danger she’d been immersed in for so many years of her life.

Between terraced gardens and lush trees, a Renaissance villa began to emerge. She watched the rooftop rise against the hillside, held her breath as nature slowly unveiled a picture of romantic luxury. Yes, if
things were different, she’d love to bask in the sun near the enclosed pool or dine at the tiny tables lining the outdoor patio near a second-story balcony. A wistful sigh tumbled off her lips.

Alexei chuckled low. “It’s better inside.”

Why here? When there were a dozen or more other hotels near the Palazzo Vecchietti, why had he chosen this place that looked like it was made for lovers? Sasha caught herself before the question could break free, and gripped the door handle as the taxi rolled to a stop.

Alexei guided her from the car through an exquisite stone lobby to the long wooden reception desk. Surprising Sasha, he looped his arm around her waist, drew her snug against his side, and addressed the receptionist in English. “I know it’s short notice, but do you have a suite available?”

The receptionist took one quick look at Alexei’s dirt-stained shirt, and his nose visibly lifted a fraction of an inch. His mouth pursed with a touch of disdain that he tried to hide behind his polite, professional smile. “I do have a double room available,
monsignor
. On the level just above. Would you prefer a queen- or king-sized bed?”

Alexei fished his wallet from his back pocket, withdrew a credit card, and pressed it to the marble-topped counter with his index finger. A firm, no-nonsense edge crept into his voice. “I prefer a suite.”

Looking down his nose, the receptionist glanced at the card. Refusal registered in the twitch of his mouth.

Before he could say a word, Alexei nudged the card beneath the man’s nose a little more. “If you care to look in your records, you’ll find I stayed here four years ago, for three nights and four days.” He cocked his head, one eyebrow arched. “I don’t recommend turning me away. Carlotta would be most displeased.”

Carlotta. Sasha bristled. She’d bet
Carlotta
would be displeased. She probably wouldn’t be any too happy to have Sasha here either.

The sudden rush of jealousy made Sasha blink. She had no claim on Alexei—never would. What he had done, or with who, didn’t make
a damn bit of difference. He knew his way around a woman’s body, and talent like that didn’t come from a life of abstinence. She shouldn’t expect any different.

Still, it burned to think of him here, beneath these tall frescoed ceilings, with another woman, and the acid in her gut made her miss the rest of the exchange. When she choked her unfounded reaction into submission, Alexei was putting his credit card away and the receptionist was passing him a key.

“The Donatello, sir. May you enjoy your stay.”

Alexei gave him a curt nod before settling his hand into the small of Sasha’s back once again and guiding her out the lobby to a set of double doors in a corner. He passed the keycard through the lock. At the
snick
, he opened the door, giving her a nudge to enter first.

Sasha stepped into splendor. Dark wood accents gave the pale ivory furnishings tasteful appeal. She marveled at the spacious sitting room with its corner fireplace. But her pulse tripped into triple time as her gaze landed on a pair of wooden doors set into a wide stone arch. Thrown wide in welcome, they opened onto a luxurious king-sized bed. In one stuttered beat of her heart, Alexei’s words droned through her head.
Tonight, I don’t intend to give you the option of sleep.

Alexei nudged her toward the entry. “Test out the bed while I call Grigoriy.” He paused for a moment, then the corner of his mouth lifted with a wry smirk. “I’ll meet you in the shower.”

As vision after vision slammed into her of Alexei in that bed, his hard body possessing hers, his mouth driving her perfectly insane, Sasha stumble-stepped into the bedroom. She could see the moonlight as it would filter in through the wide window, illuminating his hands on her breasts, his head between her legs. Giving her just enough light to witness the sublime way his cock slipped inside her pussy. In all her life, she’d never been fucked in such softness. Such lavishness. And she knew that she’d never forget the night she would be.

I
saak jabbed impatiently at the buttons on his phone. He’d grown tired of the games, of incompetent fools. Of the damned Black Opals standing in his way. It was time to take matters into his own hands, as he’d suspected he should have done from the time the campaign to bring Sasha home began.

As the line rang, his feet moved robotically, wearing down the stones in front of his dark fireplace. Curses hissed through his teeth, his anger sparking again as he thought of the things he’d done for Symon…and how Symon had become a bitter disappointment. He was no more suited to lead the
Solntsevskaya Bratva
than he was to herd cats.

“Symon,” he answered gruffly.

Isaak halted. “I have changed my mind.”

“You cannot change your mind, Isaak.” Symon chuckled dryly. “My men have already impregnated the facility.”

Clenching one hand into a tight fist, Isaak fought the urge to strangle the life out of this idiot. Did Symon really believe he knew so little? He took a deep breath, expelled it on a controlled exhale. “I am aware of your designs, of the men who are beneath Central Hall Westminster. I have changed my mind about Sasha.”

“Oh.” A heavy pause reigned for long, maddening seconds.

“Oh? That is all you have to say? Surely you can’t believe I would put up with your men’s inefficiencies indefinitely. I will do what you are seemingly unable to accomplish. It is my right, in any case.”

Symon cleared his throat. “It is, indeed, your right. You are the one she betrayed, not I. Though her actions threaten us both. But I fear you aren’t being logical, Isaak. It is not the simple matter you believe it to be.”

“Of course, it is! Aim and fire. There is nothing more simple on this earth.” Raking long slender fingers through his hair, he resumed his march in front of the hearth.

“She is well protected at all times. Alexei does not leave her side. His partner is always close.”

Alexei—yes the damnable bastard was constantly in the way. His partner, not so much. He was new to the equation. But Alexei had been in the middle of things since he stole Sasha away and destroyed Isaak’s chance to teach her a lesson the first time. The man was infuriating.

“Kill him. Kill them both. But bring Sasha to me. She is long overdue for a reunion with her loving father. I will not stand in the way of your additional plans. Just bring me her. Alive. So I may put an end to her myself.”

Another pregnant pause drifted through the receiver. Then, his words measured, Symon asked, “You want me to kill the Opal who tore apart the
Bratva
?”

“Yes,” Isaak snapped. “I believe I was quite clear.”

Low laughter rasped through the line. “It would be my pleasure.”

A
lexei drew the washcloth over Sasha’s full breasts, watching the tempting way droplets of water clung to her dusky nipples. He ached to close his mouth around those pert little buds and lap away the moisture with his tongue. Hell, he was so hard for her, his throbbing erection was almost embarrassing. He couldn’t turn off the burning need to possess her. To stuff himself so far inside her that she’d never forget he was there.

Her lips parted as he eased the washcloth lower, over the flat plane of her abdomen, and lower still to the fleshy mound above the juncture of her thighs. She closed her eyes with a soft gasp. Ever so slightly, her hips crept forward, inching toward his cock, tempting him to wrap her leg around his waist and fuck her beneath the steamy spray of water.

But he’d abused her body enough for one day. Earlier, he’d promised her sleep. He wouldn’t break his word.

Near groaning under the heavy regret that churned his gut, he
dropped the washcloth and took a step back. His cock bounced against his abdomen in protest.
Later,
he reminded himself. He would take her later, fuck her until he purged her from his system. He had all night. By morning, he’d be back to his normal self.

Sasha didn’t cooperate with Alexei’s good intentions. She opened her eyes, and the lust he read in that sky-blue gaze sucked the wind out of him. Damn, how was a man supposed to resist that? Before he could latch on to an answer, her hand slipped down his abdomen, fingers creeping to the swollen head of his cock. When she gripped him, his body snapped into a rigid line.

“Sasha,” he murmured. He couldn’t take being toyed with right now. He
wouldn’t
follow through until she’d had a chance to rest, and if he let her manipulate him any more, he’d be jacking off in front of her. Grimacing, he reached down, took her by the wrist, and eased her hand away. “You’re making it damn difficult to remember I promised not to touch you until tonight.”

Shaking her hand loose from his, she wrapped those damnable fingers around his cock again and gave him a firm squeeze. “Don’t think,” she whispered against his shoulder. Her mouth danced across his skin, lapping up the water that ran down his pectorals. “Don’t think at all.” The tip of her tongue darted out to lick a droplet of water off his nipple.

Her instruction was unnecessary—he’d never had a more difficult time putting thoughts together. Between the press of her parted lips, the faint brush of her bare skin as she moved in his arms, and the way she kept working her hand up and down his cock, he couldn’t keep his mind on anything except the desire that warmed his blood.

Dimly he became aware of that delectable mouth moving lower. Her teeth grazed across his ribs, her tongue flicked over his tense abdominal muscles. At the same time, she dropped her free hand and cupped his balls, timing the stroke of her hand with a gentle squeeze.

She was going to put her mouth on him. Wrap those soft, sultry
lips around his cock and brand him for life. And when she did, she could kiss any idea of getting rest good-bye. He’d never make it to tonight without fucking her first. Alexei gripped her shoulder, torn between dragging her away from his hard-as-stone erection and holding her in place.

Her breath whispered against his skin, a pulse-point away from his swollen cock head. “Let me please you, Alexei.”

It wasn’t the searing heat of her lips as they slid over the blunt tip or the mind-blowing suction as she took him into the back of her throat that sent Alexei staggering backward against the tiled wall. No, what nearly dropped him to his knees was her desire to give him pleasure. He had always been the one expected to give, the women demanding to receive. No one, not one damn woman who’d paid him for her pleasure had ever given a flying fuck about his.

They took what he gave. What he was
required
to give.

The rest? Well, Alexei had taken as he needed without paying much attention. He was certain one of those women had wanted to please him. He couldn’t have gone a lifetime without knowing truly selfless pleasure. But if that were true, why couldn’t he remember who, or when?

And why was he so damned helpless against the electrical shocks that pulsed through his cock, making it impossible to do anything but yield his hips and press deeper into the warm wet heat of Sasha’s mouth?

“Ah, princess…” He leaned his head against the wall, his fingers absently settling in her hair, letting her take him as she wanted.

As she eased back, pushing him out of her mouth, her teeth grazed along his sensitized shaft, sending jolts of pleasure tripping into his balls. The sharp nip she gave his head, however, was completely unexpected. He reared forward with a hiss, his fingers tightening against her scalp.

But when Alexei looked down into her eyes, the wicked light in them teased. She swirled her tongue around his circumference, across
the narrow slit, soothing that painful pinch until he questioned whether she’d really bitten him, or whether he’d imagined the firm press of her teeth.

He read something else in that wide-open gaze of hers. Something that tilted the world he understood upside down and forced him to slap a hand against the wall to keep from falling to his knees.