Boston Avant-Garde: Impetuous (17 page)

“I let you go with Erik today to supposedly
handle
the situation. Look where that got us.” He sat up, not making a move to close the gap that had opened between them.

“You know, you keep telling me to make my own decisions. So I fail to see how you have any right to keep tabs on me or tell me what to do about my family.”

His feet hit the floor with an ominous thud as he got out of the bed. “That bastard tried to rape you in a public place. If you think I’m going to let you hang out with him in someplace like the Minutemen Bar, you’ve got another thing coming. Even if he leaves you alone, he’s probably got a dozen lowlife relatives, and
you
attract lowlifes like shit attracts flies.”

She was so mad she felt like jumping up and down and screaming like a madwoman. He’d compared her love life to shit. While that might be true on some days, what gave him the right to say it out loud? “Fuck you, Nicolai! Why do you care what I do?”

“I told you why. I don’t like to see you chasing your tail trying to be someone you’re not. Eventually you’re going to get yourself into permanent trouble.”

“The kind of trouble that starts with a pile of condoms I don’t know how to use—Is that what you’re referring to?”

NICOLAI FOUGHT BACK the image of Desiree trying out her condom skills with some nameless, faceless one-night stand she met in a club that catered to society twits like her sister’s fiancé. The idea was absolutely unacceptable to him. He’d had enough of watching her make self-destructive decisions.

Only a few days ago, he’d have figured he had no say in what she did. She’d been the one who wanted to slap a label on their relationship. He hated labels. Labels came with expectations, and a woman like her deserved a man without a track record of lies and betrayal. He’d spent the last ten years scraping his life back together. One bad decision could bring it all crumbling back to the ground, but Desiree had changed all the rules.

“
I choose you
.”

She couldn’t take the words back, and she could never change what they meant. Even if it meant giving up her chance at a society husband and a houseful of blue-blooded kids, she’d picked him. Nicolai would not expose Desiree to the risk of being hurt the way Katie had been. Not by him and not by anyone else, even if it meant protecting her from her own bad decisions.

“So far, you’ve pretty much insinuated that I’m a sex-crazed lunatic with irreversibly bad taste in men. Anything else you want to add before I go home?”

He reached for his jeans and pulled them on. He hated the friction between the two of them. It wasn’t right. She’d misunderstood everything he’d said. Although that was probably because he’d stuck his foot in his mouth every time he’d opened it.

She started to dress. He watched her full curves and soft skin, barely able to stop himself from going to her. She had a body that begged to be stroked. To see her was to want her, and even though he deserved every minute of her anger, he wasn’t going to let her walk out without a fight.

Nicolai tugged a T-shirt over his head, slid his feet into his boots, and strode toward the door that led down the stairs to the bar.

“You’re just going to leave?”

The hurt in her voice was like a knife sliding between his ribs. “No. I’m not.”

“Then where are you going?”

He picked up his keys, knowing what he was about to do was wrong on more than one level. “To work.”

“Then I’m going home.” She swiped at her eyes. “Or maybe I’ll head back to that stupid sex club. If the theme is any better tonight, I might find some lowlife who’s attracted to my particular brand of shit.”

He ground his teeth together, praying for control. “I’ll see you after I close up. Maybe we’ll both have cooled off enough to be rational.”

“Like hell!”

He closed and locked the door on her feral snarl. Descending the steps, he didn’t wait to hear whatever else she had to say.

The arrogant bastard had locked her in! Desiree seethed with anger, knowing if she could lay hands on Nicolai Anastas at that moment she’d rip his balls off and shove them down his throat. Except, if she was honest, she wasn’t 100 percent angry that he’d prevented her from leaving.

Oh, she was mad at him. Mad as hell, but not mad enough to call a cab.

The thought of a jaunty yellow cab made her chuckle in spite of her anger. It was hard to believe something so silly had become such a big deal. She’d have to stow that thought in the back of her mind for their next argument.

She walked to the window, gazing out at the city street teeming with traffic. It was just another Monday night to them. She leaned against the sill, wondering if her mother had been driving Erik crazy with phone calls. Desiree hadn’t bothered to check her phone. She had no doubt the thing had been buzzing away in her purse. She just didn’t care anymore.

It didn’t take a brain surgeon to know that Nicolai thought she was insane for wanting to be anywhere near her family ever again. She couldn’t blame him. Her mother had tried to have him thrown in jail for something Jackson had done. Not only did that suggest her mother was harboring a major case of denial, but it made her family seem like a bunch of snobs. She just wished she could make him believe there was more to her mother than the seemingly psychotic, overprotective behavior. Some days she wished she could believe it too.

Going to Selena’s wedding really wasn’t about obligation anymore. Three days ago, Desiree wouldn’t have hesitated to pick up the wedding responsibilities just because her baby sister pitched a tantrum and fired the wedding planner. Choices like that hadn’t existed in her life. She’d been exactly what Nicolai had accused her of that very first night. She’d been a by-the-book kind of girl, one who played by all the rules.

Things had changed, and somehow three days made all the difference. She wanted to go to Selena’s wedding because, no matter how much of a spoiled brat her sister was, she deserved to have her family around on her big day. Jackson couldn’t hold on to his squeaky-clean persona forever, and Annaline wasn’t going to be much comfort when the truth came out. That was Desiree’s job. Desiree didn’t care what the society vultures had to say about her, but she wasn’t going to let them rip her baby sister apart.

She wandered away from the window toward her purse. It only took a second to send her brother a text to let him know she’d be at the rehearsal the following day. The display informed her it was later than she’d imagined.

Undressing, she climbed back into Nicolai’s bed and snuggled into the covers. The only thing left to do was convince a very stubborn man that she was fully capable of taking care of herself at a family function. It was a task that would be better accomplished while naked.

* * * *

Nicolai put the chair up on the table, taking a moment to make certain it wouldn’t spontaneously crash to the floor in the middle of the night. He’d been startled awake by that sound enough times to know a little extra care went a long way toward a good night’s sleep.

“Are you killing time or something?”

Nicolai frowned at Logan before picking up another chair. “Why would you say that?”

“Because if you spend any more time arranging those chairs on the table, I won’t be able to get them apart after I finish mopping tomorrow.”

“If I were him, I’d be hiding down here too.” Donal set a case of clean pint glasses on the counter behind the bar.

“I’m not hiding!” Even as he said the words, Nicolai knew they weren’t 100 percent true.

“Locking a woman in your room against her will wasn’t one of your better moves, but maybe she’s into that.” Donal’s suggestion wasn’t even worth an eye roll.

“I doubt he has a clue what she’s into if he’s down here and she’s up there.” Logan waggled his eyebrows. “I don’t know about Donal, but if I had a gorgeous woman locked in my room, I sure as hell wouldn’t be down here hanging with you two.”

The validity of their boneheaded comments wasn’t lost on Nicolai. He had no doubt Desiree was furious about being locked in his apartment. It hadn’t been the best decision, but he couldn’t let her walk out the door. Besides, he could think of several ways to help her work out her anger.

“All right, I’m convinced.” Nicolai put one last chair up. “I’ll leave the two of you to your sausage fest. Just remember to lock up when you leave.”

“Smug bastard,” Donal muttered.

Nicolai didn’t bother to respond to the insult. Truth be told, he
was
a little smug. He was going home to the sexiest woman on the planet.

DESIREE HOVERED IN a drowsy state between sleep and wakefulness. Her body was relaxed, cocooned in Nicolai’s bed and soothed by his scent on the sheets. She wondered what it would be like to feel this way all the time, insulated from life’s petty problems by the acceptance of a man who existed in the real world.

The bed moved, a whisper of cool air sending a chill up her spine before Nicolai’s intense body heat set her blood on fire. He slid into the bed behind her. The short hair on his legs tickled her skin, the sensation deliciously foreign. A throbbing below her belly reminded her that makeup sex was the best way to solve a disagreement.

His lips brushed her neck. “Are you angry?”

“Would it do any good?”

“I don’t want to see you hurt.”

He wrapped his arms around her body and drew her against him. His erection pressed against her butt. Any vestige of anger was replaced by a craving so strong it rendered her breathless. How could she stay mad at a man whose only desire was to protect her?

Reaching behind herself, she palmed his shaft. He groaned and thrust his hips at the contact, pushing his cock into her hand. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Make love to me.”

He kissed her shoulder, nipping her skin and sending a chill down her spine. He ran his hand over her hip and across her thigh before lifting her leg and propping it on his knee. The position left her open to his touch. Vulnerability was something she usually avoided, but this—this was different.

Anticipation heightened her sensitivity. Cool air brushed against the delicate flesh of her pussy. Her folds grew warm and slippery as she waited several agonizing seconds for him to make the first move.

“Are you wet for me?”

She whimpered, needing his touch.

He brushed his knuckles across her bare mound. Her vagina clenched in anticipation. When he finally slid two fingers through her damp slit, she nearly climaxed. His cock pressed against her ass. It was a promise of more to come. She arched her back against his chest and rubbed like a cat in heat.

“Is this what you want?”

He gave her several long, firm strokes, avoiding her clit and keeping his rhythm slow and steady. Her cunt burned, liquid fire drenching his hand in her cream. The room was filled with the wet sound of him finger-fucking her.

She rested her head against his shoulder. “More. I need to come.”

Tension rippled across the muscles of her back, and he lifted her leg higher. With her still on her side, the position gave him full control. He removed his fingers and probed her entrance with the head of his cock. Arching her spine, she felt him slip into her opening. She gasped as he penetrated her pussy in one long thrust.

“Fuck, you feel so good.”

She couldn’t speak. He gathered her closer, one arm beneath her body to hold her steady and the other keeping her legs spread wide to accommodate his body inside hers. Each movement was a taste of heaven as his cock caressed her channel. With her cunt exposed, her clit began to throb. She’d have given anything to feel his fingers brushing over the sensitive nub.

Her juices spilled from her vagina, filling the room with the scent of their combined essence. She felt swollen, needy, and desperate for climax. His body pounded a staccato beat against hers, his hips grinding against her as he filled her again and again.

He shifted position, the new angle sending the head of his cock deeper. He brushed the center of her body, and she melted around him, moaning in pleasure. The need to come was overwhelming, her vagina shuddering as her body prepared for orgasm.

As if he sensed her desperation, Nicolai propped her leg on his knee and moved his hand to her cunt. The lightest touch of his fingertips on her clit was enough. Desiree cried out as she climaxed hard. Behind her, Nicolai groaned and impaled her once more as he came. His muscles grew rock hard, tension making him tighten his hold until she was aware of nothing but the hot splash of his cum deep inside her cunt.

He left his cock buried inside her body and gently lowered her leg. Wrapping both arms around her, he nuzzled her neck. “Sorry I woke you.”

“Liar.”

“I didn’t say I was sorry for what happened once you were awake.”

“So you think I could’ve slept through it?”

He growled, shifting position and capturing her mouth in a hot kiss. His tongue slid into her mouth, marking her with his taste and scent until she didn’t know where she ended and he began. She curled her toes and let the wave of sensation wash her in fiery emotions she couldn’t name.

Breaking off the kiss, he pulled away. Not content to end it there, Desiree wriggled around until she could push him onto his back. Settling herself astride his body, she reveled in the sense of power. She wasn’t deluded enough to think she was stronger than he was, but seeing and feeling his body react to hers wasn’t about strength.

She lightly scraped her nails across his chest until her fingers found the barbells piercing his nipples. “You can go to sleep now if you want.”

“Will it bother you if I snore?”

He hissed when she tugged at his piercings. “I’ll let you know if it does.”

His cock began to harden beneath her. It created a ridge between her legs that put just enough pressure on her clit to tease instead of ease. Wriggling her hips, she was rewarded with a jolt of excitement. She wanted more, wanted to drown in the scent and feel of him.

She rocked her body. Her nerve endings were already tingling from her climax. The new friction sent incredible sensations shooting through her pussy. His cock began to grow, swelling with each movement until it was hard and hot. Reaching down, she fit his head against her opening and slid his shaft deep.