The Double

I gazed up at him, my eyes hooded and heavy with pleasure. God, the wonderful size of him, the power of that chest and those huge shoulders, those cold gray eyes glowering down at me…. And then it got even better. I saw something moving in the gloom behind him and made out a gold-framed mirror, over by the door. I could see his reflection, the tan globes of his ass pounding between my thighs. Oh God….

He took his weight on his elbows so that he could fill his hands with my breasts, his thumbs rubbing over my slickened nipples. I cried out, the pleasure arcing down to my groin and making it twist and coil. His hips were a blur, now, pounding me. He was determined to fuck me into submission, to make me come long before he did, so he stayed in control.

And I knew he’d win. Because what could I do? I couldn’t wrap my arms around him and draw him close, or hook my legs around him, or even run my fingers through his hair. I suddenly understood why he’d tied me up.

All I could do, as the pleasure tightened and tightened and became a glowing bomb that I couldn’t contain was...look up at him. Look up into those cold, gray eyes as he pounded and pounded and know what I’d seen there, know that somewhere inside there was another man….

He glared down at me, furious. He pumped me harder, faster, but I felt his strokes falter as he struggled for control—

I cried out as the orgasm ripped through me, my whole body jerking in its bonds. And as I spasmed and clenched around him, I heard him growl. I looked up and for a second I saw that tiny hint of blue in his eyes….

He slammed forward and buried himself in me just before he erupted in long, hot jets.

We lay there for long seconds, riding out the storm we’d created. When I managed to focus on his face, he was staring down at me with utter shock. How did you do that?

I just stared back at him. I couldn’t answer. Because the truth was, right at the moment he’d lost control, I’d forgotten all about being Christina...and I was just being me.

34

Hailey

I LAY IN THE DARKNESS, watching the silhouette of his body as he breathed. I had to be sure he was asleep.

My body was still warm and pleasantly achy from the sex. It should have been a happy time, a time for cuddling and closeness. But closeness wasn’t allowed, with Konstantin: just as before, once we’d finished downstairs, he’d brought me up here, we’d shared a vodka nightcap, and he’d laid down on the opposite side of the bed.

What the hell had happened down in the dungeon? I’d glimpsed that other man, the one he tried so hard to hide. A man I really liked.

And now—my stomach knotted—I was going to betray him.

I counted thirty minutes in my head and then very carefully slid out of the bed and crept around the room. He didn’t snore so there was no way to be certain he was out. As I picked up his laptop and walked over to him, I held my breath. I was half-expecting to see him staring right at me.

But as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see his eyes were closed. The covers were around his waist, one arm on top of them, the moonlight making him into a silent, marble statue.

I knelt down on the floor next to him, carefully opened the laptop and—

Shit! The glow from the screen lit up the room like I’d turned on a lamp. It blasted directly into Konstantin’s face and he muttered something.

I slammed the lid almost closed and turned it away, heart racing. I knelt there staring at him, praying….

He didn’t wake. I opened the laptop again, this time facing away from him, cranked the screen brightness right down, and then turned it back. It asked for his hardware key.

I reached for his hand, my own hand shaking. This part seemed like more of a violation than actually looking at his secrets, somehow. The ring was scratched and even chipped in places, as if it had been through at least one war. Glued to the top of the ring, like a high-tech jewel, was the strip of coded electronics he used to unlock the laptop. It was tiny, maybe half the size of a grain of rice. He could have kept it on a card in his wallet or had it made into a shiny, new ring. Why had he chosen to put it on this thing that looked like it came from an antique store?

I just stared at him for a moment in the glow of the screen. In sleep, he was strangely vulnerable: that hard upper lip relaxed just a little and his frown disappeared. How can I do this? This is wrong!