“Move, zolotse,” he growled, spanking me lightly on my bare butt, dress hoisted up around my waist. He demanded my complete attention, and the questions that troubled and distracted me ebbed as I rocked against him.
All I could do was hang on for dear life as I bounced against his brutal pace. Maxim snarled and palmed my breasts, urging me to go faster, pumping upward, pulling at my hair, until I came completely undone, wailing out my completion as he buried his face in the front of my dress, tendons standing out in his neck, growling until we both stilled, ga
sping for breath.
Holy crap. Did that really just happen? Did I really just have sex with my own personal hero? A billionaire? My boss?
Maxim lifted me off him and tucked me under his arm. This time, when he offered me the glass of vodka he’d been nursing, I took it from him, drinking from where his lips had been pressed. I needed it. It was sharp and dangerous and instantly intoxicating. Just like Maxim Volkov.
The car rolled to a stop, but there was nothing outside the window I could recognize. We weren’t on campus. This wasn’t where I’d been picked up.
“Where are we?” I asked, feeling utterly relaxed, dazed, and maybe like I was living in a dream. Or at least some departure from reality.
“Your new condominium,” Maxim said like it was the most obvious thing in the world as he handed me a set of keys.
“Excuse me, my what?”
He shrugged like it was nothing. Just like he hadn’t so much as blinked at the price tag of my dress, he had decided I needed a condo. And he had made it happen in the span of mere hours.
“Max!”
He grinned loosely, and raked a hand through his messy hair. He looked downright feral, and it was hard to understand that I’d just had a taste of him like I’d always fantasized. Did I think that it would be in the back of a car? No, but that was … not ideal. I mean, I could deal with it. Totally fine, right? What had Maxim advised me at the beginning of my internship? Oh, yeah — not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“I think both you and your roommate will be able to focus much better here,” he said. “See you at work tomorrow.”
And that was it. I was dismissed, spilling out onto the sidewalk and stumbling as Becca ran out of the building to me, catching me as the car pulled away.
“Ruth?” Becca stared at me, her eyes wide. “What the hell happened? I’ve been trying to call you nonstop! All these people came over and said we were moving because of your internship, and I just kind of went with it because you know how my allergies are in that dorm, but this place? It’s insane!”
“My phone was on silent,” I mumbled, out of it and sore and only barely aware of rising up and up and up in an elevator. Our new place was on the top floor of a high-rise, full sleek lines of modern furniture and with a million-dollar view of the glittering buildings around us thanks to the extensive glass paneling that wrapped around the kitchen and living room. “Wow.”
“We have a new place, you look like you’ve barely survived a tornado, and all you can say is wow?” Becca demanded. “This is at the very least deserving of a holy shit.”
“It’s a lot,” I agreed. “Sorry. I had no idea.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry?” Becca spread her arms and twirled around. “Have you seen this place? It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us! It’s insane!”
It was gorgeous. I had to hand it to Maxim. He had excellent taste. Well, whoever he had told to find us this place and furnish it had excellent taste. I was just too shocked, sated, and exhausted to enjoy it.
It wasn’t until much later, when I woke up in the night to wriggle out of my nearly ruined dress, that I realized I had no idea where my thong was.
Seven
Maxim
The first time I suspected that something was amiss was the very next morning, when I actually slept until my alarm woke me up.
That never happened.
I rarely slept the night through, rising before the sun. There was too much to do to spend life sleeping. My alarm actually serving its function made me feel disoriented and groggy. Like I had missed something.
There was no way I was going to abstain from sex for so long in the future. If one fucking orgasm was enough to knock me out for a full night's sleep, then I had gone too long without.
Or maybe it was just one woman who had done it. Ruth Miracle.
Intent on banishing that unwelcome thought with caffeine, I flung the covers from me and stalked into the kitchen.
“Alexei, what the fucking fuck?” I groused, jumping out of my skin at the sight of my brother making himself at home at my marble countertop, drinking my espresso, and reading my newspaper.