Page 32 of The Bratva's Innocent Pregnant Bride
“Just to stay warm,” I told him firmly.
“I’m perfectly comfortable as I am,” he replied. I gaped at him until he finally laughed and put his arm around me.
It was a lot warmer. Downright cozy. “So what do you do?” I asked. “Is everyone in your family in the same business?”
He made a rumbling sound in his throat. “Something like that,” he said, as cagey as I had been about Axon.
We continued talking about inconsequential things as he absentmindedly rubbed my arm while we huddled together. The fiery trail of his fingers left me feeling almost too warm, but I didn’t move away again.
Chapter 21 - Daniil
Night was falling, the white swirls outside the windows getting darker. We were lucky there was running water because there was no electricity, either because of the storm or because the rescue cabin had fallen into disuse. The room grew dim and I had to rekindle the fire to get the barest amount of light.
Even after I relit the fire with our meager ration of logs, the wind was so strong that drafts made it past the blankets I’d stuffed against the panes. The fire was warm in the vicinity of the stove, but the bedroom remained frosty. The simple metal bunks were attached to the floor and looked too big to get through the doorway without completely dismantling them, so I pulled all the extra blankets and made a nest in front of the fireplace.
Paisley and I had been getting along, chatting about everything and nothing, mostly nothing. She shied away from talking about her past as much as I did. I could tell her stories about my youth to make her laugh but I left out a lot of details so she wouldn’t question what my family did. I could see it pained her to talk about her parents and their betrayal after her injury, and now that I knew about the job she’d had where she’d been ruthlessly harassed by assholes I cut back on my rowdy jokes a little.
I still couldn’t help but tease her, she was just so damn pretty when she blushed. She was blushing now as I climbed into the makeshift blanket bed and gave her a long look.
She was getting antsy, ready to pick another fight at the first opportunity, absolutely warring with herself because she knew she’d let go of her inhibitions the moment she got under the blankets with me. It was not just my obsession with her making me delusional, her feelings were real.
There was no way she could sleep on the bench without rolling off it, but she tried, finally giving up with a huff and pretending she wasn’t tired even as she fought off a huge yawn. I could understand her reticence while we were at the cabin surrounded by my family. I admired her professionalism at the same time it irritated the hell out of me.
“Why are you holding back?” I asked, thinking of that rare, scorching passion we shared the first night we met. We could have that again, right now. “I can see it in your eyes,” I told her. “I know we’re on the same wavelength.”
She laughed bitterly, snapping, “You don’t know anything about me. But like every other man on this planet, you think you know it all.”
I was sick of the chip on her shoulder, one I had nothing to do with being there. “I’m not, and you know it. You’re just using that to build a wall between us.” I stood up, moving to her side and drawing her up from the bench. “I could kiss you right now and show you I’m right,” I said. There was a flash in her eyes, hopeful, anticipating. She bit her lower lip and looked up at me with fire in her eyes, waiting. “But I won’t,” I finished, turning away.
She was furious, rushing around to smack me in the chest. Yes, definitely disappointed, but I wasn’t going to play into her games that all men were assholes. I wanted her, but only if she wanted me. And I was right, she did. There was no mistaking the heat that radiated off her as she smacked me again, curling her fingers into my shirt and trying to shake me.
“Do it,” she said. “Do it so I can prove you wrong.”
I shook my head, outwardly as still and cold as the mountain resting under the tempest all around us. Inside I wasjust as wild for her, but she’d never see it again, unless—“No. It’s up to you. You’re in charge, little girl.”
Her blue eyes turned almost black as her pupils dilated in the weak firelight. Her fingernails dug into my chest as hers heaved with fury and something more. The something more won. She flung herself at me, her arms locking around my neck, her mouth slamming against mine.
All the heat we’d been storing up over the past several days ignited in mingled moans as my tongue moved past her parted lips. She pressed herself closer, her fingers tangling in my hair. How long had I been wanting this woman? The wait made her fever for me all the sweeter. This wasn’t a conquest, it was the whole damn world that I was winning.
I slid my hands around her waist, running them up her smooth back and down to cup her pert little ass under the snug leggings. Perfect. I gripped, pulling her tight against my body, my cock swelling at the feel of her rubbing against me. I moved one hand up, eager to touch every inch of her, feeling like a man who’d just walked the Sahara and was now faced with an oasis. I needed to submerge myself in every soft inch of her.
Wrapping my fist around a handful of her hair, I tugged her head back, breaking our kiss to slide my lips across her jaw to her earlobe. She shivered in my arms as I made my way down her throat, feeling her pulse beating frantically under my lips.
“Dan,” she said, her head thrown back as I continued my way down to the neckline of her top.
She’d been studiously avoiding saying my name and it sounded like music now, all breathy and full of longing. My hands moved back down to glide under her shirt, pushing it up to touch all of her silky skin. She had on a sports bra with noclasp and I growled with frustration. She only giggled, grabbing my face to pull it back up for another searing kiss.
There were words I wanted to say, inflamed for her and wanting to express how much I needed her, now, this instant, but I only kissed her until she was panting and clinging to me. I lifted her off her wobbly legs and she wrapped them around my waist, her heat grinding against my cock, as hard as granite.
“Dan,” she mumbled again, letting her head fall back once more.
I carried her to the pile of blankets, nestling her within them and leaning back on my knees to look down at her. Her eyes were closed, her parted lips swollen from kisses, her hair flung out all around her like a golden halo. But she was no angel, soon reaching for me, tugging my shirt up.
With a grin, I obliged her every unspoken demand and whipped the shirt off, watching as her eyes fell to my chest, moving lower to my thick bulge, desperate for her. With a devilish grin, she reached for me, pressing her palm against my throbbing cock as she moaned softly.
“Hurry,” she said.
“Like hell I will,” I told her.
