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Dimitri nods, but he isn’t looking out at the courtyard.
“Not very crowded,” I observe as our footsteps echo off the brick.
“No.”
I turn to face him, lifting an eyebrow. “Sort of defeats the purpose of rubbing elbows with the people you’re supposed to be impressing.”
“I don’t care about that,” says Dimitri in a low growl.
Cold air fills my lungs as I suck in a breath. Something fragile and unspoken hangs in the air between us, and the urge to know his true feelings nearly overwhelms me.
“Why did you bring me out here?” I ask with great effort.
Something dark flashes through Dimitri’s eyes, and his brows knit together. “Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
He takes a step toward me. “You really want to know?” His tone is harsh and dangerous. Towering over me in the deserted courtyard, I should be scared of him, but I’m just terrified of what he might say next.
“Yes.”
Dimitri presses his lips together, his breath coming out through his nose in a low, frustrated hiss. “Fine,” he growls. “I brought you out here because I couldn’t stand how every other male in that room was undressing you with his eyes. I couldn’t stand how they looked at you — like you were theirs for the taking. I knew that if I stayed in there any longer, I was going to rip somebody’s throat out for even thinking — ” He breaks off, raking a hand through his dark hair with an expression that tells me he said more than he meant to.
I just stare at him, but Dimitri isn’t finished. “These last two weeks have been absolute fucking torture. Seeing you every day. Smelling your scent. Knowing you’re right down the hall from me, and I can’t do a damned thing about it. Then you come down in that dress tonight, and I have to take you out? Share you with all those other men and act as though there’s nothing between us? Be near you without being able to —”
Before I can even process his words, Dimitri’s huge hand comes down to cup the back of my neck, and he smashes his mouth against mine.
His lips are warm and soft and just as kissable as I’d imagined, and I gasp at the slight scrape of stubble as he lays claim to my mouth. As I do, my lips part, and Dimitri thrusts his tongue into my mouth, swirling around mine with expert teasing strokes that leave my lungs burning for air.
His kiss is not at all the soft romantic kind I’ve been imagining since our cold plunge. It’s hard and demanding and full of need, and I feel my body respond.
My nipples harden into points, and my core aches with desire. I stand on tiptoe and run my fingers through his silky dark hair as Dimitri’s grip tightens. One hand comes around to cup my cheek, while the other slides down to my ass.
I moan against his lips as he squeezes me through the silk, lifting me toward him until I’m pressed against his hardness. The physical evidence of his desire sends a bolt of heat shooting between my legs, and I tilt my hips forward to grind against his erection.
We devour each other in a clash of teeth and tongues, his bruising kiss tearing down the walls I painstakingly built around my heart.
I tilt my head to give him better access, and he strokes a thumb along my cheek with a gentleness that’s so at odds with the savagery of his kiss. I wrap an arm around Dimitri’s neck, and his other hand comes up to cup my breast.
Something inside me seems to snap, and all the pent-up desire I’ve been burying surges out of me at once. I moan into Dimitri’s mouth and slide my softness along his shaft.
I need more, but we’re out in the open, and I can’t do anything in this damned dress.
Dimitri shifts us until my back hits the cold wall of the alcove. His hands splay on the brick behind me — effectively caging me in. Then he reaches down between my thighs, and fireworks explode inside my core as he cups my mound through the thin fabric of my dress.
His thumb rolls down my very center, stroking my sensitive clit. I moan against him, bucking my hips, and Dimitri increases the pressure.
My body is a live wire, thrumming with my need for him. I dig my fingers into his neck, trying to use the wall for leverage, but I can’t seem to get the friction I need at this infuriating angle.
Dimitri seems to read my mind, because he reaches down and grabs the back of my thigh, twining my leg around him so our bodies are pressed together.
Then a roar of drunken laughter shatters the moment, and I freeze when I hear a glass break.
“Just wait until I get you truly alone,” Dimitri growls, nipping my lower lip with his teeth and giving my pussy one last squeeze.
He pulls back as footsteps draw nearer, skillfully straightening my disheveled dress and pulling me away from the wall. I’m sure my hair is a ratty mess from where it snagged on the brick behind me, but the drunken businessmen don’t seem to notice as Dimitri leads me up the stairs, out of the courtyard, and back into the ballroom.
Chapter Ten
