The Last Dance (22 page)

Georgina slowly turned to face him. “Ivanov?” Her eyes narrowed in question.

“Yes, Pavel’s father owned the mine, and I killed him. Pavel has made it his life’s work to bring me down. He joined the Federal Security Service for that sole purpose. The Federal Security Service is full of people loyal to the old ways, when the government controlled everything and people knew their place. It was the perfect place for Pavel, really. He could avenge his father’s death and put me and others like me back in our place. For him, a businessman should not have the right to gain power and money, especially not an uneducated boy from the Urals. But revenge did not happen fast enough, so he planted a bomb in my car. My face is a daily reminder of him.”

Georgina’s eyes darkened in horror. The corners of her full lips pulled down at the sides. She turned completely to face him. She ran her hand over the scars on his face and chest, and then she leaned and kissed him. “I love your face. Both sides. But this side”—she pressed her lips to the burns high on his cheek—“is my favorite because this is your strong side, the side that shows the world you survived.” She kissed the scar on his chest, above his heart.

Did she not hear him? He had just confessed to killing someone. He held her face between his hands, forcing her to look at him. “I am a murderer.”

She turned her head and kissed the palm of his hand. “It is what you did, not who you are, Roman.”

His chest tightened painfully. “There is no difference.”

“There is. I hope there is for both of us. I…I’ve done things. I was with men…because…I had to.” Her eyes burned from the pressure of unshed tears. “You had to do things too. But that’s not who we are. Please tell me that’s not who we are.” Her lip trembled.

“Oh, angel. That is not who you are. I promise. You are good and beautiful and strong. You are so strong.”

Georgina wrapped her arms around his neck. “Hold me,” she begged.

“I’m not letting go,” he promised. Their bodies pressed together, nothing between them. There was no room for anything else, any doubt or fear, only acceptance of who they both were. All of their truths had been told. Roman ran his hand over Georgina’s hair, down her back.

Roman pulled back enough to see her face. There was no fear left in her eyes. She was not scared of Pavel…or of him. She looked at him like none of it mattered, nothing beyond the two of them. When he looked back he believed it too.

A weight lifted from him. Finally he felt able to breathe. He stroked the soft skin of her face, pushing a red lock from her eyes. “You’re so beautiful; you have no idea.” He breathed against her mouth. “I want—” he began but stopped himself. What he wanted he could not have—a future with her. But he could have this moment. “I want you.”

Wordlessly, Georgina nodded. He sat back far enough to position himself at the entrance of her body. He was already hard for her. He always was; just a touch from her was all it took. He would always want her; want more. Slowly he slid into her. He gasped at her tight heat, so perfect, so right. He did not move. Just being inside her again was all the sensation he needed right now. Nothing could be better than this. He held her face in his hands. So beautiful. “Georgina.” There was so much to say, but there were no words for the things he wanted to explain.

Georgina rolled her hips against him, bringing their bodies together as close as she could physically manage. There was nothing between them anymore; he was fully encased in her; their bodies merged. The water sloshed as she pulled back and then slid down his length again as she rode him. Over and over he plunged into her. There was no hurry; the pleasure was in the journey, the joining of their bodies, feeling her around him, hot and yielding, completely his.

He did not want it to end. For the first time there was no frenzied race toward climax because his release would bring the end of this, and he wasn’t ready to leave her. He reached between them. When she slid back he grabbed his cock, squeezing hard to keep himself from coming. He wanted just a few more minutes inside her, a stroke or two, anything. He wanted to stay inside her forever, but he would take whatever he could get.

Georgina groaned as she pulled his hand away. She laced her fingers in his, pushing his hand against the bath. Her eyes were hooded with desire. She was almost there. She came down hard on him, grinding her hips against his over and over until she cried out and she climaxed. Her inner walls contracted, milking him. This time he did not fight it. There was no holding back. He gave himself over to it and to her.

Georgina collapsed against his chest. He held her tight as if he let go, it would end. They stayed in the water with their limbs tangled until the water turned cold and then he carried her to bed and they made love again. And then he held her again until she fell asleep.

He ran his fingers through her hair as he considered their options. Pavel was never going to stop coming after them. Roman had allowed Pavel to live even after the car bomb because Roman understood. Pavel was avenging his father’s death. As a man, he had to. But as a man, Roman had to protect his woman. And he would.

Georgina would always be a target now if Pavel knew Roman cared for her. He had to admit it to himself now: he loved her. But that made her a target. She’d been safer when they were enemies. If Pavel knew Roman’s feelings, he would destroy Georgina. There would be no place on Earth where she would be safe. Roman knew what needed to be done. Now he just needed the strength to do it.

The sound of an alarm woke Georgina from a deep sleep. Her body was draped across Roman. She squinted into the inky darkness to make out the numbers on the digital clock.

“It is only five. Why did you set the alarm so early?” Georgina rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Because I have a surprise for you.”

“It will have to wait until the sun comes up. I’m tired. Why aren’t you tired?”

Roman had not come to bed until after three. They had spent the day in bed together, talking and making love. But then Roman closed himself in his office to work. They had not even had dinner together. She’d tried to wait up for him, but at midnight she admitted defeat and went to sleep.

Roman did not answer her. He climbed out of bed. Georgina smiled. She would never tire of seeing that body. After seeing Roman, she knew just how woefully lacking other men were. With his sculpted muscles and towering height, he was perfection.

“We’re leaving in half an hour.”

Georgina pulled back the down comforter. “Ooh good. Just enough time.” She smiled and patted the bed beside her. Even with Pavel after her, she felt safe when Roman was beside her. “The only thing worth getting up this early for is sex, so in you come.”

Roman groaned. He paused briefly like he was considering her request, but then shook his head and walked around the bed en route to the bathroom. She admired the way the taut muscles of his ass contracted as he walked. Each step accentuated the definition in his large muscles.

Georgina rubbed her eyes again.

Roman was already in the shower. The entire back wall of the bathroom was dedicated to a steam shower. Encased in glass and marble, it rivaled anything from any luxury hotel in the world. There was even a television and surround-sound stereo and dimmer lights.

Georgina tied her hair into a knot at the top of her head and watched as Roman bent over to reach for the bottle of shampoo.

Georgina opened the glass door. Roman looked up at her. He shook his head as he righted himself, but the corners of his mouth pulled up. “We’re leaving in twenty minutes even if I have to carry you to the car naked,” he warned.

She had no doubt that he would. “Well, you control how long it takes, so it’s all on you.”

His response was in Russian, an expression she didn’t understand. It sounded like a cross between a profanity and an endearment. Hot water streamed down her back. She stroked the expanse of his broad chest, the knotted skin over hard muscle. Her hand stroked lower, over the flat plane of his belly. She traced each deep ridge that defined the muscles before she lowered her hand again.

Georgina stroked the length of his cock, from the wide base to the smooth skin of the rounded end. She tried to close her fingers around his width, but they would not reach. The skin was so soft, but he was so hard, velvet over steel. She licked her lips, overcome with the desire to taste him, feel him come down her throat. Her pussy clenched at the thought. Nothing was more erotic than the thought of taking him deep in her mouth.

She wanted to do it, get on her knees for him. No, it was for her too. She wanted the power and the pleasure.

She wanted to give him that part of her, the only part she held back…because…she loved him. The realization made her dizzy. No. She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. But she did. It felt different this time than with Lev, scarier, more intense, deeper.

She looked up, her gaze catching Roman’s. In that instant, she knew. It was real and they both felt it.

Roman spun her around so she was facing the wall, her back to him. “Put your hands on the wall,” he commanded.

Wordlessly she complied as he raised her leg so one foot rested on the cream tile bench that ran the length of the shower. Her back was to him, but she could hear him squeezing shower gel into his hands, and then they were on her. He worked over her breasts until her nipples hardened. With a tiny tug, tendrils of desire shot down her body, settling in her clit. Roman stroked her breasts until she was panting. Her head fell to the side.

His cock was hard against her, but he made no attempt to enter her. He focused on her breasts, on her pleasure. She moaned softly, unable to control the sound. His hand slipped down her belly and over her mound. He parted her lips to find her swollen clit, rubbing with a featherlight touch. She tried to rock her hips into his hand to increase the pressure, but he wrapped his other arm around her to keep her firmly in place.

“Roman,” she moaned. The pressure was too much, the sensations overpowering. She needed to come. It went further than a desire; it was a need. She needed to come. She needed him deep inside her. “Please.”

In an instant he was in her, his thrust so deep she felt it hard against her cervix. She collapsed back into him, sinking farther onto his thick cock. His strong arms kept her upright as he pumped into her, hard and fast. There was no holding back, for either of them. Something was different; something had changed. The connection that had always been there between them was intensified. Everything else had been stripped away, leaving only their need.

And love.

She felt it; he must too.

She bit into her lip to keep from saying the words aloud. She would let herself feel the emotions. There was no use fighting them now, but she wouldn’t say the words.

She moaned as an orgasm shook her to the core. Her pussy clenched around him in primal spasms, pulling him toward his own release. Roman pumped into her tender flesh before he groaned and his cum filled her, liquid heat in her body.

Roman held her for a long time. Only the spray of the water broke the perfect silence. She could stay like this forever, live in this moment, but too soon he pulled out of her. Her body mourned the loss of him inside her. She had become accustomed to his body in hers. They fit, completed each other.

Roman leaned down and kissed her neck. “Hurry, angel. You have ten minutes, and then I am carrying you to the car. Naked or dressed; it is your choice.”

“Where are we going at the crack of dawn?”

Roman did not answer, but she didn’t think he would. When he wanted to be, he was just as merciless as she had suspected the first night, but he was also incredibly sexy and kind…and compassionate…and utterly loveable.

Georgina sighed. She opened the shower door and wrapped a bath sheet around her. The towel warmer had heated it to perfection; it was like being enveloped by a summer day. “How do I dress if I don’t know where we are going?”

“You will be naked if you don’t pick something.”

“Ach, you are a tyrant.”

“You’ve called me worse.” He did not bother looking up.

Georgina went to the closet and pulled out a pair of black leggings and a coral sweater. She did not bother with a bra. She put on a pair of wool socks because wherever they were going, this was Russia and it was going to be cold.

She brushed her hair, pulling it back into a tight bun. Only after she finished did she realize she had done it out of habit because of ballet. She smiled; she had not thought about dancing yet today, and even now, thinking about it didn’t make her heart ache. Her heart ached at the prospect of leaving Roman, but saying good-bye to her career did not hold the same sting it did before.

She turned to tell Roman, but she forgot what she was going to say when she saw him place their passports in the inner pocket of his coat.

Her heart jumped into her mouth. No. Not surgery. She had a few days left before they were scheduled to go to Switzerland. She needed those days with Roman to work up the courage to commit to the operation. “I’m not ready to go to Zurich.”

Roman looked up at her. “That would not be a nice surprise. Give me a bit of credit, angel.”

“Can you at least give me a hint? Please.”

Roman smiled and tapped his coat pocket. “We need passports to get there. You’re welcome.”

“What about Pavel?” Even saying his name sent terror through her. She felt safe with Roman, here in his arms. She would stay here forever, if she could, just like this, the two of them ensconced in his apartment.

“You’re safe, angel. I promise. No one can harm you.”

The tightness in Georgina’s shoulders relaxed. She believed him. If Roman said he would keep her safe, he would.

* * * *

Georgina sank into the plush caramel-colored leather seat of the private jet. There were only eight seats, but each folded into a bed. It was as far from a commercial airliner as you could get; the leather seats were just a start. The paneling was all polished wood instead of cheap plastic, and in the bathroom was a tiled shower. All of the cutlery was silver and the goblets were crystal. Instead of her usual black coffee, Georgina had a croissant with chocolate spread and a chai tea while Roman had a spinach omelette. “I see you are still trying to fatten me up.” Georgina held up the end of her croissant, indicating the breakfast he had requested for her.