No surprise there. She’d been in a state of constant arousal since meeting him, and it had only grown worse these last two weeks alone, but orgasms by her hand were short-lived and unsatisfying.

A moan escaped him when he sucked his finger into his mouth, lapping at her juices. “Fucking delicious. And it’s all for me, isn’t it?”

She no longer breathed, she panted, lungs burning on every indrawn breath at the way he savored her. His fingers dug into her ass as his other hand disappeared between her legs again, but this time he sank two thick fingers into her pussy, and her body shook. She sucked in a sharp breath at the sudden invasion. Tremors rocked through her as her hips surged forward, urging him to move. Begging for traction. He didn’t give in to her silent demand.

“Please, Alexei,” she cried, her hands combing through the short hairs at his nape. She needed to come. Had dreamed of coming by his hand for too many sleepless nights. He still didn't move, and she realized he waited for an answer to his question. “I’m wet for you. Have been wet since that first night,” she admitted.

“Is that true?” He shivered.

She gyrated her hips, dragging his fingers deeper. But not nearly enough. She needed him to move…do something or she’d go mad. “I can’t help it, Alexei. No one has ever looked at me the way you do.”

Groaning, he buried his head between her thighs, and Candice’s hands sank into the salt and pepper strands of his hair as he made circles and licked her skin, moving higher with every pass of his tongue.

She’d never been with an older man. Alexei’s self-confidence fired her blood. It was sexy being with a man who knew what he wanted and didn’t play games, a man who played to win. As he kissed the inside of her raised thigh, her head fell back on another moan. There were no illusions. He’d paid for her company. Candice knew what she was to a man as rich, powerful, and self-made as Alexei—she wasn’t his happy ever after. Eventually, another Jasmine—gorgeous and ambitious—would emerge. But right now, she didn’t care, not when his mouth was unleashing havoc on her senses. Not when he cupped her ass and pressed her closer for his heady appetite.

A trail of heat started in the center of her stomach, quickly fanning out over her nipples, beading them to a painful ache as they rubbed against the too-soft material. The feather-light fabric extended the state of her arousal instead of propelling her to her release. She cried, her back bowing when his mouth closed around her throbbing clit, and he sucked.

“Alexei!”

He didn’t stop. Over and over, he rolled the tightening bud against his tongue as he thrust a third thick finger into her. Stretching her.

He began pumping, and her body bucked. Her eyes rolled back as a powerful orgasm ripped through her body. Her eyes clouded, her vision almost going black, and she would have collapsed if it were not for him holding her, his cum-soaked fingers helping her ride out the best orgasm she’d ever experienced.

When the last shudder escaped her, he withdrew his hand and rubbed the rest of her cum into her pussy, and labia. “So that everyone will know your scent and who made you come,” he said, leaning against the chair to suck each of his digits clean of her cream.

She didn’t care that he was on a possessive trip; right now she wanted to kiss him, thank him. It didn’t matter that her brain was screaming that kissing was too personal, nor did she question the almost drug-induced chant of her heart. Lines were blurring again. Her lines.

Candice leaned closer, lips inches from his when he gripped her nape, halting her progress.Stupid.Why would he want to kiss her?Another lapse in judgment.Her eyes stung.

“You don’t get to kiss me,” he said.

“I know.”

His words came rushing back. She wasn’t his girlfriend, or—

“No, malo svitla, you don’t know.”

Why did he keep calling her that?Other than her parents, she’d never been anyone’s light.

“Kissing me means you’ll taste yourself and you don’t have permission to do that. Not yet.” He sucked the last digit into his mouth and moaned, and her eyes hooded at seeing his enjoyment. “But if you’re very good tonight, I might let you come again.”

CHAPTER NINE

Alexei

Alexei knew the moment he’d decided to go back on his promise to treat Candice as one of his faceless dates—it was when he’d overheard Anna discounting Candice’s supportive and loyal nature. He respected loyalty. Alexei knew better than anyone that it was hard to find in any relationship. Wasn’t Jasmine’s disloyalty the reason he’d set his current course?

He glanced at her fascinated face as she stared out the car window. The city was beautiful at night, the buildings brightly lit and the people dressed for a night out of town. Each time her eyes sparkled, his chest warmed against his will.

Being in her presence was like quicksand. And he was being sucked under.

Anna wasn’t only wrong to dismiss Candice’s supportive nature, she was wrong in saying he had forgotten Candice; he hadn’t. He’d simply wanted time to shake her from his system—the memory of her soft skin against his palm and the scent of her perfume from memory. That was impossible now that he’d tasted her.

Fucking tasted her!

His dick hardened knowing that if he shifted her dress upwards, he’d see the evidence of her pleasure. Pleasure he’d given.

Soon, he promised.