An image flashed into his mind. Katherine, wearing Mikhail’s shirt and sweatpants, so big on her she had to roll them at the waist and ankles. Katherine, wearing Mikhail’s clothes.
Another. Male’s. Clothes.
Nearly blind with a possessiveness he had no right to feel, Nikolai grabbed all the clothes and stalked out of the room. Bursting through the door to his apartment, he chucked everything in the general direction of the nearest trash can. He whipped his robe off the back of his closet door and ripped a few articles of clothing from a drawer. He wasn’t even aware he’d returned to the guest room until her scent invaded his brain.
Nikolai glanced up, and found himself looking into Katherine’s startled pale blue eyes.
*
“What are you doing?” Kate asked as she clutched the plush white towel tighter against her breasts. Her heart took off at a sprint as she drank him in. He radiated a dark energy that wrapped around her and resurrected that maddening ache in her left hand. Maybe something wasn’t fully healed after all.
“I brought you clothes,” he nearly growled.
Kate glanced to the empty bed and pointed with the hand not holding the towel closed. “I had clothes.”
Light flashed through the sapphire and his jaw ticked. “Those didn’t work.”
Staring at him, trying to make sense of his completely confusing pronouncements, Kate couldn’t help but notice the prominent bulge filling up the front of his workout gear. Good God. She hadn’t finished toweling dry, but there was really no arguing that the slick wetness suddenly between her legs was from the bath. She shook her head. “How can clothes not work? Mikhail just brought them for me.”
He growled. Literally growled. She blinked and found him standing right in front of her, the ball of wadded-up clothing the only thing separating them. She gasped, breathing in the mouthwatering scent of his male spice, and stepped back. Nikolai followed, kept pace with her as she retreated until she was trapped between him and the bed. “His clothes don’t work. His clothes will never work.”
Damn it, her left hand tingled as if it had fallen asleep. She shook it, and Nikolai’s eyes tracked the movement. His tongue rubbed against the tip of a fang. Kate swallowed as she watched the sinuous movement of his pink tongue. She clenched her thighs, a tormenting throb blooming deep in her pussy.
“What do you want?” When he didn’t answer, she braced herself and looked him in the eye.
“I want…” He turned on his heel and crossed to the door.
Brilliant, white-hot anger pounded through her veins. Every muscle strung tight, she leaned back against the bed. Not a chance in hell she was chasing after him, not again. No matter how much her body screamed for him to stay, for him to crawl on top of her and claim her as his.
No way.
In the silence between them, a tinny click sounded out. Despite herself, Kate glanced through the hanging threads of her damp hair to see him standing at the door. He dropped his hand from the lock. Ancient Cyrillic letters spelled out two male names across his mountainous shoulders.
He tossed the clothes he’d been carrying to the floor. With leonine grace, he walked back to her, his eyes boring into hers. Her body screamed in victory, more of that tantalizing moisture gathering on the sensitive lips of her pussy. She narrowed her eyes at him and arched a brow.
In front of her again, he stroked his knuckles over the hand holding the towel. Once, twice. Her nervous system sprang to life and set her to trembling. He dragged his gaze from their hands to her eyes. “I want you, Kate. I shouldn’t, because my head’s a freaking mess. And I don’t deserve you, after what I did to you before. But none of that changes the fact that I can think of nothing besides the idea of having just one perfect night. With you.”
Kate shook her head. “You don’t want me.”
Dark blue light flashed in a wave behind his eyes. “I do want you. I ache for you.” He pushed his hips into her thigh, grinding his cock against her.
Kate couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen into her lungs to clear her head. “That’s not what you said,” she whispered, almost gasping from the muscle spasm that rocked through her core.
He tilted his head and frowned. “You heard me?”
“Kinda hard not to.”
The muscles in his jaw clenched. “I’m sorry. I was pissed at myself. Not at you. You, Katherine, you deserve only the best. And that’s not me.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
He licked his lips, flashing the tips of his fangs again. “Because, God help me, I am driven to distraction by the very thought of you.” He cupped her face and caressed his thumb over her cheekbone. “By your beauty, by the fire in those lovely pale eyes.” Stepping in closer, he bought them into contact from ankle to breast. “I am humbled by your compassion, proud beyond measure of your courage.” He leaned his face into hers so that his breath tickled her lips. “I want you on my skin, in my mouth.” He feathered his fingers down her bare arm, sending her into a shiver. “I want to see you naked, explore you with my hands, part your knees and bury myself in you. I want to hear you scream my name as I stroke deep and hard inside you. That’s what I want.”