Where the Sun Hides (Seasons of Betrayal #1)(65)

But instead, she moved toward him, her hands sliding around the front of his shirt and gripping the material. “Even with what you said, it’s still not your fault. Now, I have a question for you.”

“Ask.”

“Is story time over?”





Violet let her hands travel a little lower on Kaz’s body until she could feel the jump of his abdominal muscles against her touch. “Well, is it over?”

Kaz offered her one of his grins, sexy and sly. “It can be if you want it to be.”

“For now.”

“Oh?”

“I reserve the right to revisit this at a later time,” Violet explained, tipping her chin up and teasing him with a smile.

Her words came out light, but she was serious, too. She wanted to know more about him—his past, why he chose the road he did, and how he got where he was now. All of those things fascinated her because they made up Kazimir Markovic.

He was far more than what everyone around her always said.

Russian. Savage. Scum.

There was a great deal more to the man behind the last name and the heritage he came from.

Just like her.

“Another time,” Kaz finally agreed.

Violet reached up and stroked Kaz’s jaw with two fingers, feeling the light stubble scratch along her fingertips. The motion made his grin melt into a softer smile, and the sadness lingering in his gaze began to depart. When he spoke about his friend, and his own mistakes, he was so sad. She didn’t even think he realized how guilty he looked, like the weight of that one day wasn’t ever going to leave.

She didn’t want him to be sad.

Not when he was with her, anyway.

“Come here,” Kaz demanded low.

Violet felt his fingers hook into the neckline of her dress and he pulled. She leaned forward until his lips were brushing against hers softly. Once, twice, and the third time, his teeth dragged across her bottom lip.

“There’s a saying,” Kaz began, letting his thumb sweep across her lax mouth.

“Hmm?”

“Once is a hookup, but twice makes a lover.”

Violet’s gaze snapped to his. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“You probably should, if we’re going to keep this up, no?”

He had a point, but maybe Violet just wasn’t ready to quite go that way yet.

“I didn’t actually come see you to f*ck,” she admitted.

Kaz laughed. “I’m not going to turn it down, Violet.”

Yeah, she wouldn’t either.

“Not my point,” she told him.

His fingers glided over her lips again, a little firmer the second time. At the middle of her mouth, he pressed down, like he was asking her to open up. She did, parting her lips just enough for him to slide two fingers in. His teeth bit down on his lip as she sucked on his digits, letting her tongue roll around and flick at his fingertips.

“Shit,” he muttered.

Violet let him pull his fingers free from her mouth, but not without dragging her teeth along his skin as he did. “My point, Kaz, was that it really wasn’t my intention, but it’s not like I mind.”

“Clearly.” He grabbed onto her waist tightly, making her sit a little more firmly on his groin. She could feel the length of his erection growing under her weight, and the sensation was enough to make her blood hot. “But you deflected what I said, and I’m not so much of an easily distracted man that I didn’t notice.”

Violet was pretty sure she could distract him from it if she wanted. Shifting her hips and widening her legs a little more, the skirt of her dress drove up her thighs. Kaz helped that along by pushing the fabric up further until he was staring at white lace.

“Still the same kind of delicate shit, I see,” he muttered.

“I like this pair, too.”

“I’m going to start ignoring that statement if you just like them all.”

Fuck.

Kaz lifted a finger and circled it at her chest.

“What?” she asked.

“Take it off. I want to see if the top matches the bottom.”

“It does.”

“Still want to see,” he said, entirely unfazed.

Violet laughed when he nodded at her again, as if he were telling her to hurry the f*ck up. She tugged the dress up after he had pulled down the zipper at the back, discarding the clothing to the floor in a heap.

“Why do I have to be the one who’s always underdressed?” she asked.

Kaz’s mouth lifted at the corner. “Because the longer I stay clothed, the better it’ll be for you, krasivaya.”

She wisely chose not to push him on that, then.

His fingertips traced a circle around her navel, leaving behind a slight sheen of wetness from her saliva on his fingers. Up his exploration went between the valley of her breasts, over the hollow of her throat, and then against her collarbones.

The longer he touched her like that, soft, slow, and sweet, the harder it was to breathe.

How did he manage that without barely doing anything at all?

“It does match,” he mused, his caress falling back to the top of her breasts. He skimmed his digits under the lacy cups of the bra, lingering on her nipples until they were tight and hard under his fingers, and her breaths came out sharper with every swipe and pinch. “Do they always match?”