Ruthless Russian, Lost Innocence - Shaw Chantelle - Страница 25

Even so, it took all of his formidable willpower to ease the pressure of his lips from the moist softness of hers, and regret tugged in his gut when he lifted his head and sat up. ‘Forget going to the theatre; we’ll follow dinner with an early night,’ he drawled, his mouth curving into an amused smile when colour flared in her cheeks. He watched the confusion in her eyes slowly turn to frustration when she realised that the foreplay was not going to end with another mind-blowing sex session, and he felt a pang of sympathy that, like him, she was going to spend the day in a state of aching arousal. ‘But right now you have twenty minutes to get ready, or you’ll miss your lift,’ he informed her, ignoring her yelp of protest as he flicked back the sheet.

Ella hastily thrust her arms into the robe. ‘You think you’re God’s gift, don’t you?’ she snapped, incensed by his arrogance, and furious with herself for her shaming inability to resist him. She marched over to the door, but his mocking laughter followed her into the hallway.

‘I know I’m the only man who turns you on, angel face. And, more to the point, you know it too,’ he said softly.

Vadim’s taunt stayed with Ella all day, and for first time in her life she was unable to concentrate on her music-much to the wrath of the RLO’s conductor, Gustav, who expected perfection at all times.

‘Are you okay?’ Jenny asked her during a much-needed break. ‘You look pale.’

‘I didn’t get much sleep last night,’ Ella muttered, and then blushed scarlet at the memory of her energetic night with Vadim. Fortunately Jenny seemed not to notice.

‘The storm was awful, wasn’t it? Why don’t you tell Gustav you’re feeling unwell and need to go home?’

‘No, I can’t do that.’ Ella shook her head. ‘I’d never let the orchestra down, and anyway I need to practise for my solo concert. It’s only two weeks away, and I’m already nervous.’

By sheer effort of will she managed to get through the rest of the rehearsal without incurring more of Gustav’s sarcasm, but she was dismayed that Vadim had the power to affect the part of her life that she held sacrosanct. Music meant everything to her, and she could not contemplate an affair with him if it would be detrimental to her career. But when she walked out of Cadogan Hall and saw him leaning against his gunmetal grey Aston Martin, the painful jerk of her heart beneath her ribs made a mockery of her determination to play it cool with him.

‘Hi,’ she greeted him, striving to sound nonchalant.

The amused gleam in his eyes told her he was aware of her internal struggle. He moved with the grace of a big cat, slid his hand beneath her chin and claimed her mouth in a slow, drugging kiss that drove every thought from her mind other than the hot, pulsing need that had been simmering inside her all day. ‘How did rehearsals go?’

‘Badly,’ she muttered tersely, resenting the way one kiss weakened her so that she had to cling to him for support.

His sensual smile stole her breath. ‘My day wasn’t great either,’ he admitted, frowning when he recalled how memories of making love to Ella had interrupted his usually razor-sharp thought processes throughout the day. ‘Perhaps we were both distracted by the same fantasies.’

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said stiffly.

Vadim laughed and drew her so close against him that she could feel the tantalising hardness of his arousal nudge between her thighs. ‘I’ll tell you mine, and then you can tell me if yours were the same,’ he drawled, and proceeded to whisper the shockingly erotic daydreams that had plagued him, even during an important board meeting, so that Ella’s face was scarlet by the time he’d finished.

‘Were your thoughts along the same lines?’ he queried, his amused smile changing to an expression of sensual hunger when he felt the shiver of desire that ran through her. Ella couldn’t answer, her mind still filled with the image of him making love to her across his desk, and with a muttered oath he opened the car door and bundled her inside. ‘We’ll eat at a little Italian restaurant I know. The food’s excellent and, more importantly, the service is quick,’ he growled, the sultry gleam in his eyes leaving Ella in no doubt that dinner would be followed by the early night he had promised that morning.

The food at the Trattoria Luciano was as good as Vadim had promised, but Ella barely tasted her chicken cacciatore, and, despite having only eaten a couple of apples at lunchtime, her appetite had deserted her. Throughout the meal she could not tear her eyes from Vadim, and although he did better justice to his lasagne al forno he did not finish it, and gulped down his glass of red wine before he took her hand and practically dragged her from the restaurant.

He did not say a word on the drive back to Kingfisher House, his tension so tangible that Ella began to think that she had annoyed him in some way. But no sooner had she stepped out of the Aston Martin than he swept her into his arms and strode purposefully into the house.

‘You have been on my mind all day,’ he admitted harshly as he took the stairs two at a time, shouldered open the door to the bedroom and dropped her onto the bed.

He came down on top of her and captured her mouth in a searing kiss that sent liquid heat flooding through her veins. She was on fire for him instantly, and when she tugged at his shirt buttons and ran her hands over the crisp dark hairs that covered his chest she knew from the erratic thud of his heart that he shared her desperation to experience the tumultuous passion they had shared the previous night.

Her clothes, his, were a barrier he swiftly removed, and he paused only to don protection before he pushed her legs apart and found the moist heat of her femininity with unerring fingers.

‘Did you think about me today, Ella?’ he growled against her skin, before he closed his lips around the taut peak of her nipple and suckled her until she gasped with pleasure. ‘Did you think about this?’

‘This’ was him sliding one finger and then two deep inside her, and caressing her until she hovered on the edge of ecstasy. ‘Yes,’ she groaned, knowing that it was pointless to deny it when he could feel the slick wetness of her arousal. During rehearsals she had struggled to concentrate on playing her violin because her mind had insisted on reliving every glorious moment of his lovemaking the previous night. Nothing had ever come between her and her music, and she was dismayed by the level of her fascination with Vadim, but right now nothing mattered except that he should possess her.

‘Please…’ She gripped his silky dark hair when he lowered his head to her other breast and flicked his tongue across its dusky crest. She hadn’t known that she was capable of this level of need, and she held her breath when he positioned himself over her and entered her with a hard, deep thrust that caused her vaginal muscles to convulse around him.

He was her man, and she belonged to him for all time. The words thundered in her head in time with the rhythm of his body as he drove into her again and again, and when he covered her mouth with his she responded to his kiss with an uncontrollable passion that blew his mind.

It couldn’t last. His hunger for her was too intense for a leisurely seduction, and he increased his pace, thrusting deeper still and filling her so completely that she arched beneath him and cried out as pleasure crashed over her in a shattering orgasm. The feel of her internal muscles tightening around his shaft was too much for Vadim, and he fought briefly for control, lost it spectacularly, and felt a shudder run through his powerful body as it experienced the sexual release it craved.

Afterwards, when their breathing had finally slowed and he’d rolled off her, she kept her eyes tightly closed, feeling suddenly embarrassed at her wanton response to him.