VLAD (The V Games #1)(50)

All the color drains from her cheeks. “Who knows?” she breathes, looking around the room. Tears build in her eyes, so I take her hands in mine and give them a reassuring squeeze.

“No one knows yet. But the way you and Ven flirt, people will start to notice,” I explain, low and urgent. She looks perplexed for a moment, then begins to laugh. It’s light and airy. Real.

“Oh, God, Irina,” she says through her giggles. “Ven and I are just friends.”

I raise a neatly plucked brow. “He’s not your lover?”

“No, of course not,” she assures me, her smile falling. Her heavily painted lashes bat quickly against her cheeks as if she’s wondering how I even came to this conclusion. “He doesn’t see me that way.”

She’s crazy. Every man sees her that way.

“Then who?” I ask, dumbfounded. I was sure it was Veniamin.

“Diana, Irina, you’re both a vision.” Vas’s voice wraps itself around us, followed by his arms. He kisses both of us on the cheek, and I want to tell him to jump off a bridge, but the fact is, it’s not his fault who his father is. He’s our brother. We have a brother.

“Where’s Father?” Diana asks, looking around like there’s a bomb about to go off.

“He wasn’t feeling well, so I’m here in his place to represent our family in wishing the happy couple luck.”

“Ha. He’s going to need it,” I snort. Poor Ruslan. What a nightmare that has been dropped in his lap.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Vas croons, dragging his eyes up Vika’s body. Yuck.

“She’s Medusa, Vas,” Diana grumbles. “Look hard enough and you’ll turn to stone.”

He smirks at Diana’s warning. “Well, a part of me certainly has.”

I crinkle my nose in distaste. “Gross.” Diana cringes. Vas laughs heartily and loud, gaining attention from other party dwellers.

“I’m going to get a drink,” I tell them and leave them to find a server. I feel the eyes of many men on me, watching as I pass by them, and nerves form in my stomach. I venture toward the back of the room and slip out of the French doors to grab some air. I’ve never been good in these environments, and I’m not used to being so on display and noticed. Diana is usually the fantasy on people’s minds and the compliment on their tongue, but there’s been a shift inside me, and it’s visible on the outside to others.

I’m coming out of the shadows and people are noticing.

The door opens behind me, and I shiver from the cold. A sigh of relieved breath escapes me when I see Vlad joining me in the night air.

“I saw you slip out here. It’s freezing, Irina,” he rumbles as he stands directly behind me, his body heat enveloping me. “What are you doing?”

“They’re out here,” I argue and nod to some party attendees mingling out in the courtyard. They’re smokers respecting the Vasiliev’s home by not smoking inside.

“They’re not you.” He presses his body against my backside, and I relax against him. “You smell divine.” His hot breath in my ear causes me to shudder. “You’re cold.”

It’s a statement, not a question.

I answer him anyway. “Yes.”

“Then I should warm you up. You’ll catch pneumonia out here.”

With that, he shimmies my dress up my legs.

“Vlad,” I warn, but he doesn’t listen. He never does.

I brace my hands on the stone wall separating me from the twenty-foot drop where all the smokers are. His fingers glide beneath the fabric and pull my panties to the side. “Tilt your pelvis, my sun,” he urges. I hear his zipper pulling down and him fumbling to free himself. His heavy cock smacks against my ass and wet arousal floods between my legs. I push my hips back to give him access, and he groans, urging my legs apart with his thigh. His cock slides against me again, and then he’s inside me. The burn ignites the raging fire within me, and I’m burning, completely aflame. He thrusts forward, and I want to cry out, but bite down on my lips to hush myself. Strong hands grip my hips, using me as he pleases. I snake my hand down and under the fabric of my dress, finding my throbbing clit. I circle my fingers there just like Vlad taught me via many of our indiscretions this month.

“Pinch it, Irina,” he demands, and I obey. The stars dance in the sky above me as the music plays from inside the house. I moan out, unable to stop myself. Vlad shoves his fingers in my mouth, and I bite down hard, coming undone.

The orgasm powers into me, weakening my legs and sending tremors through my bones, curling my toes.

Vlad’s thrusts increase, and then I feel his seed flood inside me. Once his cock stops throbbing out his release, he pulls out of me and slips my panties back into place, dropping my dress and kissing my neck.

“The moon is beautiful tonight,” I say, feeling like I’m dreaming all of this.

“You’re the brightest moon, Irina. There’s nothing more beautiful than you.”

My breath catches and a tear beads at the corner of my eye. I wish our lives weren’t so complicated. That we could walk back in there, hand in hand, standing like fierce lions facing our families as a united front. Telling them that our coupling is one we choose and they can go to hell.

“We should get back inside,” he grumbles, his tone sounding much how I feel inside. “You’ll catch your death.”