Page 147 of Ruby Malice

34

RAYNE

His kiss is everything I swore to myself I didn’t need.

Guess what: I lied.

As soon as Kirill kisses me, it’s like someone hit my release valve. All the pressure in my chest dissipates. I sag against him, putty in his arms, so relieved to be touching him that I can’t think about anything else.

Apparently, he can’t either. He’s so vibratinglypresent,so devastatinglyhere.Kirill drags his hands down my sides, molding me against him. Then his hands drift lower. He cups my ass and lifts me up the wall. I hook my ankles behind his back, and the friction between our bodies makes me groan.

We’re a mess of lips and teeth and tongues. Even as chatter from the party filters through the wall, we grind together, reckless and stupid and not anywhere close to stopping.

I know I have responsibilities and somewhere to be, but it’s impossible to think about any of that when Kirill is touching me.

Suddenly, light burns through my eyelids. I squint against the abrupt brightness and look over to see Natalia standing in the kitchen doorway, the overhead lights in the hallway now on.

“Sorry!” she gasps, eyes wide. “I didn’t know if—I didn’t realize—”

Kirill sets me down and draws away from me. It feels like someone has snatched the blankets off of me in the middle of a wonderful dream. A chill moves down my spine.

“The next course is starting,” Natalia explains. “I wanted to—Sonya told me to come find you.”

Kirill grits his teeth and looks down at me. I wait with bated breath for what he’ll say.

Meet me on the beach.

Let’s leave together.

Don’t go.

Instead, he looks over my shoulder, his eyes unfocused. “Take a plate to the third floor. Someone up there will be happy to see you.”

Before I can ask any questions or say anything at all, Kirill turns and walks out of the hallway.

The second he’s gone, I sag against the wall. Without meaning to, my hand comes up to brush across my lips. They’re still tingling. It’s the only reason I know what just happened was real.

“What the hell was that?” Natalia hisses. She presses the kitchen door closed. “What were you two—Well, I know what you were doing. But now? Tonight? Was that the first time?”

I’m too frazzled to come up with a lie. “No. That wasn’t the first time. It’s happened twice before.”

“You’ve kissed two other times?” she asks, disbelief on her face. I wince, and Natalia’s disbelief grows. “Oh,” she breathes. “You’ve more than kissed… You’ve fucked.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. But based on the show I just walked in on, you two have been fucking like rabbits. That was hot.”

“It’s not like that. I mean, it is. Hot, that is. He’s so hot. But that was… He was upset about something, and it’s been a bad night, and I’ve had a shitty couple days.” I smooth my hair away from my face and take a deep breath. “But I shouldn’t have done that at work.”

Natalia groans. “Oh no.”

“What?”

She shakes her head. “Girl, please tell me you’re smarter than this.”

Embarrassment quickly shifts to defensiveness. I push off of the wall and cross my arms. “Smarter than what? What’s wrong?”

“You aren’t just sleeping with him, Rayne. Youlikehim, don’t you?”

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