Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(37)



“Yes, I always talk this much, because what goes on in your mind contributes as much to the experience as what I do to your body. I want you right here with me, mind and body.”

“I’m here.”

“Good. Would you like to hear what I would do to you if it were not cold and I could strip that bearskin from you and have you naked?”

A thrill at the image of him ripping the covers off shot through her body. She shuddered.

“Mmm. I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, slipping back in under the covers but not touching her. “First, I’d kiss my way down from your neck to your breasts, which need a lot of attention, don’t they?”

She couldn’t lie still, and suddenly the cord around her wrists was a burden. She bent her elbows.

“No. Arms stay up, Elena. I’d be working on your breasts right now, and your hands would be contrary to my mouth-only rule.” He chuckled when she growled. “And then, I’d move lower, down your ribs, across the beautiful, smooth skin of your stomach to your belly button. I’d have to stick my tongue in your belly button of course.”

“Of course,” she said, running the image through her head. Her whole body tightened and thrummed with desire. Thank goodness she hadn’t died in that convenience store or she’d have missed this.

He eased out from under the covers again, and the cord tugged at her wrists as he moved to the extent of its length. “And that is where the two plans converge and end the same way.”

She had no doubt how it would end. This amazing, masterful, talented man was going to take her to the absolute height of ecstasy. With only his mouth. She groaned as he pulled the covers up from the bottom of the bed only as far as her knees and sat at the foot.

“Do you want me to tell you about it?” he asked.

“No! I want you to do it!” When he didn’t move, she thought she would cry. “Please, Nikolai.”

“I’m still a bit sore from the bullets and can only use my mouth, so I need your help.”

“Anything.”

His weight left the foot of the bed. God, she wished she could see him.

“If you would please, keeping your arms over your head, scoot all the way down to the end of the bed. Ordinarily, I would wrap my fingers around your beautiful ass and pull you down here myself, but rules are rules.”

What should have been a mood-killer ended up being incredibly stimulating as the rough fabric of the sheets rubbed against her, and she imagined his fingers digging into her backside as she scooted all the way down to the foot of the bed using only her legs and torso, hands still bound above her head.

“You know the torture is as exquisite for me as it is for you, Elena.” Cool air swirled around her legs as he pushed the covers higher. “I want to touch you and run my hands all over you. I want to shove myself inside you and completely fill you up until you scream my name like you did when you came for me before.”

Had she done that? Really? She’d been a little distracted, like she was right now. He pulled her pajama pants down to her ankles. She started to pull a foot free, but he stopped her. “A little restraint is good sometimes.”

The goose bumps prickling along her thighs could not possibly be from the cold air in the cabin. She felt so hot she was sure she’d burst into flames like flash paper any second.

His knees thumped on the floor. “Relax, Elena. Open for me.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled, letting her legs fall apart.

“Yes. Perfect.”

He kissed the inside of one thigh and then the other, and she whimpered, not even caring that she sounded so desperate. She was.

His breath was warm on her skin as he spoke. “I predict that when I am healed and I truly take you, you will come before I am even fully inside.”

No doubt. But right then, what she needed was… Yeah. That.

She almost screamed as he ran his hot tongue from the bottom of her all the way to the top, and then paused and circled in just the right spot to make her scream for real. She needed this. Before he’d even touched her, she was so aroused she thought she might explode. Now, she knew she would. He repeated this over and over: bottom to top and circle until she was writhing and pulling against the cord at her wrists, and then he placed his whole mouth over her.

Nothing had ever felt this good. She was sure of it. And for an indeterminate amount of time, it was as if the world outside—the dangers, the freaky creatures that wanted them dead, even the things about themselves that made this impossible—became insignificant. All that mattered was the way his mouth moved against her. She arched her back and moaned as her body heated and buzzed with mounting pleasure.

God, the things he could do with that tongue—things that caused stars behind her eyelids and spasms that shook like an earthquake rattling her bones apart. Things that took her to the top of the cliff and let her soar. And all the while, she screamed his name.





Chapter Thirteen


Elena leaned against the headboard, tucked her knees up, and chowed on a third protein bar as Nikolai told her another tale from his childhood. They’d talked and laughed for hours in the dark until the sun penetrated the cocoon of snow over the cabin, and dim light glowed through the two tiny windows.

Nikolai’s every word entranced her. He was fascinating and intelligent and had been just about everywhere on the planet. She’d never even left her home state before. The two of them were so different, yet, she felt an intense connection to him, as if they’d always known each other.

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