Bitten: Moon Lust 2 Read online

  Nikolai turned back to her, stunning her a little with the intense look in his eyes. “I am interested in everything that has to do with you, Julia. Especially where other men are concerned.”

  Julia had no idea how to respond to that and didn’t even begin to try. Instead she turned and served some sodas to a couple that had approached the bar, thankful for the intrusion. But the couple left them alone again, in what seemed record time, thanks to Nikolai’s hard stare in their direction. Luckily, though, she didn’t have to come up with a response to his impassioned words.

  “I have to see you tonight.”

  “You’re seeing me now,” Julia quipped with a smile.

  “You know what I mean.” His voice lowered intimately. “You promised to show me some of your artwork. Show me tonight. After the party.”

  Julia felt a thrill of pleasure race through her at the thought of being alone with him again. Then felt her heart plummet when she remembered how dingy and poor her apartment would look to him after the splendor of his hotel room.

  “I…I don’t think you’ll be all that interested in my work. Maybe some other time—“

  “Tonight. You will take me home with you tonight…” His voice was compelling.

  Julia grew inexplicably lightheaded and heard herself speak before she had time to think on the words. “Okay. I just have to stay until the party is over, then we can go.”

  “I will have the company limo wait for us outside. You will not run from me, Julia.”

  Julia felt like she was swimming in a dream when she answered him, but she couldn’t have denied him had her life depended on it. “I won’t run,” she answered, knowing her voice sounded heavy. Drugged. Perhaps she was more tired than she’d thought. The night was growing more and more surreal for her.

  “Until later then, my love.” His voice held a dangerous promise that, even in her dreamy state, Julia couldn’t ignore.

  Until later, indeed, she thought as he stalked gracefully away from her. What arrogance! She sighed, shook her head to clear it and pasted her polite smile back on her face. It was going to be a long night.

  * * * * *

  Julia felt Nikolai’s strong hand at the small of her back as he led her out to the long, black stretch limousine that awaited them in front of the hotel. Nikolai paused to look up at the sky and Julia saw him shudder once, before he looked away and opened the door to the vehicle for her. When they were seated next to each other, after Julia had given their driver her address, Nikolai erected the privacy shield between them and their chauffeur. Then he turned to take her chin gently in his hand, locking his gaze to hers.

  “You will not fear me, Julia. I would never willingly hurt you, so you have no need to fear when I am near you.” His voice was an echo that played over and over in her mind and before she knew it many minutes had passed and they were already on their way to her home.

  After that Julia felt like two different people as she sat next to Nikolai. One person was confused, disoriented, and unable to speak or move within her own skin. Trapped behind a wall from which there was no escape, unless her escort should will it. The other person…well, she was someone totally alien to Julia. This person laughed and reveled wantonly in the attentions of the powerfully magnetic man at her side. This other person seemed content to let Nikolai lead them on a dangerous journey that would end only heaven knew where. This other person was just as dangerous to Julia as Nikolai himself was.

  Julia felt a strong compulsion riding her, the need to touch and be touched by her escort. It wasn’t purely a sexual urge, though that was indeed strong within her. It was as though she couldn’t feel at all comfortable or safe, unless some part of her was in constant contact with Nikolai. So as they reclined in the luxurious back seat of the limousine, Julia turned to him and rubbed her body in a shamelessly sensual, feline movement against his.

  Nikolai turned to her and, in kind, rubbed the entire length of his body against hers. At the end of his shifting movement, he positioned them so that she lay stretched out beneath him as much as the seat would allow. A low, dangerous snarl poured out from his lips and Julia saw the flash of sharp, gleaming teeth. He writhed against her again and bent to nip at the flesh of her neck.

  His lips and teeth nibbled their way up to her gasping mouth. Nikolai pulled back to meet her eyes with his, and that buried part of Julia moaned in arousal to see his icy blue eyes blazing with deadly intent down into hers. Then, with a swift and striking movement, Nikolai laid his lips to hers, burning and searing them with the intensity of his kiss. Neither of Julia’s selves could hope to resist such a potent and erotic lure as he brought them more deeply into the kiss. With a breathy sigh, she surrendered herself completely to him and returned his ardor with full enthusiasm.

  Julia moaned as his velvet tongue delved between the seam of her lips. He captured the sound with his mouth before sensuously licking at the roof of her mouth in reward. His tongue delved deep, imitating the thrust and withdraw of an even more intimate love play. His lips slanted over hers in such a way that she knew he would not stop until he had tasted all she had to offer. Julia could not resist joining her tongue in the mating dance, tasting his wild flavor, savoring every moment of the delicious exploration.

  Their bodies writhed and strained against one another as they kissed. Nikolai’s hair tickled her face and shoulders as they moved, caressing her like a thousands teasing hands. His hands were clutched desperately at her hips, moving her against him in such a way that she had no doubts as to the extent of his desire for her. She felt his nails dig into her flesh and gasped at the pleasure-pain that radiated through her from the small wounds.

  Immediately his hold on her eased and he allowed his hands to rove freely over her body. The sensations of his touch, even through her dress, made her flesh sing and strain for more of him. His hands spread wide, seeking to cover every possible inch of her that he could manage. He ran his hands down her waist, to her thighs and calves, then up to her ribs and finally to her breasts. There his hands lingered, gently cupping her flesh like a precious flower, even as his mouth continued to ravage hers.

  Julia moaned in ecstasy, feeling her body climb that endless peak towards release. The sound seemed to awaken something feral within Nikolai, for suddenly his hands and mouth were everywhere all at once. He growled and nipped at her with his teeth, he licked and laved at her breasts through the fabric of her dress. His hands clutched and gripped at her, racing over her, tugging at the impediment of her clothing.

  The bodice of her sheath dress was too tightly laced against her for Nikolai to merely push aside the material, though he tried. Making an impatient sound, he tore at the barrier that kept her breasts covered from his gaze. Cloth ripped, a loud sound in the confines of the limousine, and then at last she was bared to his hungry eyes. Nikolai suddenly paused and pulled back from her, even as she strained to draw him closer.

  His blue eyes were hot as flame as he drank her in with his gaze. “You are so beautiful. I never knew…I never dreamed that such sweet perfection could exist.” His voice was strained and his Russian accent was even more pronounced than usual as he spoke.

  His eyes rose to meet hers and no further words were needed between them. He kept his gaze locked to hers as he slowly, oh so slowly, lowered his head to her naked breast. His tongue darted out and lightly licked at one puffed up nipple, causing it to stiffen and harden even further as it strained of its own volition for more of his attention. His thick, heavy lashes shuttered his gaze and he sighed, the warmth of his breath acting as a caress all its own. Then he drew her nipple into his mouth, savoring it like a sweetly sugared candy.

  “God,” Julia gasped and her body bowed beneath him, only to be soothed again by his roaming hands. Electric fire danced from where his mouth fed at her nipple straight down to her curling toes. Her blood thundered in her ears and her breaths sounded out in desperate, moaning pants. Never before had she felt such need, such endless hunger for another person
, as she did then. “Oh, God,” she rasped out again.

  Nikolai pulled back and grinned—a dangerous flash of blazing white teeth. “I would be your god, my Julia. And your worshipping slave for all the rest of our days, if you would but give yourself to me freely.”

  “I do,” she moaned shamelessly. “I am yours, only yours. Do with me what you will.” Her body moved against his in such a way that her heated core rubbed fully, erotically, against his straining cock.

  His hands clenched in a spasm against her. He let out a soft, keening howl and took her mouth once more in his. He kissed her with such ferocity, such mindless and heated abandon, that Julia felt his teeth bite into the tender flesh of her lip and she tasted her own blood.

  With a great anguished roar Nikolai flung himself violently from her, coming to rest in the seat opposite to the one on which Julia still lay. The luxurious cab of the limousine seemed suddenly far too small for the two of them. Nikolai was a wild and caged beast in his passionate retreat. Dangerous. Deadly.

  “Why did you stop?” she wailed.

  Nikolai snarled low, softly, in his throat. When he answered her, his voice was rough and deep. “We will continue this in the privacy of your home. I will not take you this first time in the back of a metal box.”

  Julia’s two selves shimmered and became whole again and she gasped. She’d almost given up her virginity in the backseat of a limo! That was definitely not how she’d envisioned her deflowering. So she nodded shakily in agreement and righted her clothing as best she could.

  “Here, take this, love.” Nikolai offered her his tuxedo jacket, which she donned thankfully.

  Julia looked out of the window at the scenery as they sped by and realized how close they were to her house. She turned to see Nikolai’s eyes burning out at her from the shadowy confines of the vehicle’s dark interior.

  She sighed, realizing the moment of truth was upon them. “My apartment…it’s not…well, it’s kind of small.” Hearing her own words, she cringed. She sounded like a half-wit. “It’s not what you would call…luxurious by any means—“

  “I promise you that I do not care about any of that, Julia.” He brushed her words away.

  “No, you don’t understand. The building I live in is old and not—“

  Nikolai moved to take her hands in his and it was then that she realized they were trembling. Whether with remembered passion or nervousness she couldn’t say because she felt both emotions strongly. “I do not care how you live, Julia. I know you are not rich and I know you work hard to make ends meet, but that is only a small part of who you are and it is nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “But you’re obviously well off,” she faltered.

  “Why should that matter? I have some money, yes, enough to live comfortably on in your city. But I have no need of that where I come from and shamefully I did not earn it, I inherited it—as my parents inherited it and so forth—from long years of investing. I do not live in rich surroundings; I live in a log cabin deep in the woods. I have no electricity—there is none to be had so secluded is my village—and there are no shops nearby. My people and I, we live off of our lands. We hunt for our meat and grow our own vegetables. To many outsiders, this lifestyle would seem poor and uncomfortable, but it is not. It is full of happiness and smiles and joy. I would not trade it for a dozen lifetimes spent in your luxurious hotel.”

  “Oh. Well, in that case…we’re almost there.” She offered him a wane smile.

  Nikolai held her hand in his, fingers entwined in hers. “I cannot wait,” he said with a wolfish grin.

  Chapter Seven

  Nikolai seemed to swallow up the small living room with his size but he didn’t comment on it, and Julia was grateful to him for it. She saw his eyes flare when they took in the décor of her home—when he saw the paintings and drawings that crowded her walls, and the sculptures of various shapes and sizes that dotted the shelves and niches of the room—and was pleased with his reaction. For her, the night was turning out to be full of surprises.

  Nikolai muttered something in Russian and ran an unsteady hand through his golden hair, tousling it. “Ebat’-kopat’!” There came again that exclamation he used, one she was already swiftly becoming familiar with. “You created all of these?” He swept his hand out to encompass the whole of the room.

  Julia felt her cheeks stain with a blush. Oh yes, she was certainly pleased with his reaction. “Yeah. The landscapes are the newest—they’re still drying—and the portraits are from several years ago, when I still lived with my parents.”

  “They are remarkable,” he said with a look of surprise.

  Julia laughed. “Most people don’t remark on it too much when I say I’m an artist, but when they see my work they treat me a little more seriously. My professors say it’ll only get worse as I gain in skill and popularity.”

  “Certainly.” Nikolai cleared his throat and for the first time Julia saw him grow awkward. “I expected you to be good, of course I did, but this…I have never seen more realistic work. Your portraits are excellent, like photos come to life. And the colors you use for your landscapes…they are so vivid, so different from what I am used to seeing on canvas. Not that I am an expert but…” he faltered.

  “You know what you like? I’ve heard that too many times to count. Everyone’s a critic whether they try to be or not.” Julia smiled. “But I thank you for the compliments. I’m glad you like my work.”

  “Why are you going to school? You do not need further training, surely.”

  “Thanks for that vote of confidence, but proper training is important. Well, it helps to round out one’s skills, anyway. And if I have a degree it will be easier to get a job in the open market, though I’d love to just be a freelancer. But if I can’t find work, I can always fall back on a teaching position at the college. It’s just smart to get my degree while I can. I have a small scholarship, which pays for most of my classes, so I’m not going to be too deep out of pocket for the experience, so I’m taking advantage of the situation while I can.”

  Nikolai was silent as he prowled around the room studying her work. It was several minutes later when he turned back to her and the look in his eyes singed her down to her toes.

  “It is clear you hide a lot of passion inside of you. Your work reflects the vibrancy of your inner self.” He advanced on her, crowding her against a wall with the use of nothing but the sheer mass of his form. “I want to bring that passion to the fore in you, Julia. I want to see you burn for me. And I want you to burn me along with you in the fire that flames between us.”

  He grabbed her then, fingers digging into her upper arms, and lowered his lips to hers. Julia gasped at the sudden, unexpected movement, allowing his tongue immediate entrance into her mouth. Their teeth met and their lips meshed tightly together. Julia moaned her surprise and he immediately softened the embrace, tracing her lips lightly with his tongue before delving deeper once more. He licked the roof of her mouth and slid his tongue over and around hers, filling her mouth with the wild, exotic taste of him. He sucked her tongue gently into his mouth and she repeated his caresses with some of her own, exploring him as thoroughly as he had explored her.

  Nikolai growled into her mouth, a desperate and hungry sound, then pulled away to trail his heated mouth down over her jaw. In a move that reminded her of their first meeting he licked a long path down her jaw and throat to settle over the pulse that beat frantically in her neck. He suckled her there, while his hands roved down from her arms, clutching into fists at her hips and kneading her like a cat. Julia’s head fell limply back as he nuzzled her and her knees turned to water. She sagged against him limply and he reached around her, gathering her close.

  “You feel so good,” he groaned into her throat.

  “So do you,” she whispered raggedly, throwing her arms around his neck.

  “I can smell how much you want me, taste how much you need me. I am trying to go slow but…you make me forget myself.” His mouth tra
iled back up so that he could trace the shell of her ear with his tongue.

  Julia could only moan and press hurried, desperate kisses to whatever part of him she could reach—his temple, his hair, his jaw. She was maddened with lust, more aroused than she had ever been before and desperate to have him inside of her. Her entire body tingled from head to toe. Her thighs quaked and shivered, her nipples were hard, tingling points and her vagina felt swollen and achy. She latched onto him, anchoring her arms around him, and crawled up his body like it was a tree. Nikolai steadied her with his hands beneath her bottom and she locked her ankles about his waist, rocking against him shamelessly.

  “Calm down, sweet, please. I cannot hold back from you when you move like that,” he breathed into her ear, before darting his tongue into it once more.

  “I can’t calm down. I need you, I really do,” she cried out. She didn’t understand herself, had never known she could be so wild, so abandoned. But it felt so right to be there in his arms that she couldn’t have calmed down had she tried. And she didn’t want to try. She wanted only to be with him. In every way. Arching her hips against him again she cuddled the hard column of his erection in the vee of her thighs, rubbing her clit against him until it tingled deliciously.

  He thrust against her, then groaned and stilled. He lowered his head to hers, breathing raggedly into her mouth, so that every breath she took was dependent on his exhalation. She moaned and thrashed in his embrace, desperate to find release.

  “Shh, it is all right.” Nikolai adjusted her in his arms so that her center came into full contact with his hardness, spreading her legs ever wider. “Rock against me just like that. Find your release, love. There will be time for slowness afterward. Yes, that is it,” he breathed when she began a rhythmic rocking against him. “Ride me. Ride me hard.” He helped her motions, lifting and lowering her with strong hands cupping the flesh of her buttocks.