Page 82 of Fractured Empire

I feel like I’m on fire in an instant, moaning and reaching for his shirt to ball it into my fists and hold on for stability. If we were standing, my knees would be weak and wobbly without question, and my thighs would be slammed shut so hard that I might fall off balance.

“Leon,” I whimper into his mouth, searching, begging—pleading—for something I can’t name.

His forehead touches mine as he pulls his lips from mine. Our breath mingles while I pant, my eyes flickering open to look into his.

“We need to stop.”

No, I almost whine.

“Why?” I gasp instead, holding his shirt tighter on instinct. “I thought you wanted me?”

“You have no idea how much,” he growls, maneuvering a hand up my spine to wrap around the back of my neck. “I want you in ways that would probably terrify you. But I can’t have you now just because we desire one another. I’ve had a bad day, you’re half asleep, and we need to talk before we go any further than we already have. I won’t have you regret even a moment of what we’re going to do to each other, tesoro.”

The stubborn, horny part of me wants to deny his reasoning so very badly. But I can’t.

“What?” I ask, missing the sound of the Italian word, blinking at him. “What did you call me?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Leon replies, his eyes darting down to my lips. “If you still want me to.”

“I will,” I assure him, unwavering.

“Good night, Katya.” His hands leave me before I can process the loss of his heat. When he stands to leave, panic rises up and my stomach twists with discomfort where there were once butterflies.

“Stay,” I plead, reaching out just in time to capture his hand.

“Baby…”

“Not to do anything,” I clarify, rubbing my thumb over his knuckles. “Just stay with me to sleep? I want to know that you’re here. I missed you today, you know? I just, please stay?”

He looks at our connected hands, and then back down at me.

“Just to sleep,” Leon agrees, letting our fingers pull apart as he moves to shut my bedroom door.

I want to pout that I can’t see him as the door snuffs out the hallway light, but he sheds his outer clothes so quickly that him joining me under the blankets and wrapping a bare arm around my middle is too good to complain about.

Disappointingly, the urge to kiss him again is quickly beat out by the call of sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Leon

Waking up with my wife’s ass firmly pressed against my groin was not something I could have prepared myself for. Katya is warm when she sleeps, her temperature bordering on worrisomely hot. She feels like a soft dream, though. Her warmth perfectly compliments my own, and it’s undeniably arousing to be lulled awake by her delicious scent.

I’ve never wanted to devour cinnamon desserts more in my life than I have since meeting her. I don’t know whether she showers with some sort of cinnamon sugar scented soap, if it’s her perfume, a lotion, or her natural scent but I can’t get enough of it. The temptation to bury my nose into her hair and inhale deep and long is strong, but the idea of creeping her out after the night we had is too much of a deterrent.

We want each other, that much we’ve admitted.

But will her feelings be the same when she wakes up well rested and the day is new? For all I know, her confession was a result of over-tired emotions bundling up and confusing her.

Like she knows I’m thinking about her, Katya makes a little noise in her sleep. It’s somewhere between a whimper and a sigh coming out of her as she wiggles backwards to seek out my presence. I know she isn’t alert or aware that she’s moving, the telltale sign of sleep evident in the way she breathes, but it still feels nice to have her closer.

Too nice, given the bulge in my boxers.

I should have gone to my room to get proper pajamas, or even sweatpants. If she wakes up now, there will be no easy way to conceal my hard-on. She might find it flattering, but it also might freak her the fuck out.

Mentally groaning, I slowly begin to detangle myself from her, keeping my movements slow and gentle so that I don’t rouse her. The task alone starts to deflate my erection, my body well trained enough to know that I’m fleeing this scene rather than trying to capitalize on it. We need time to talk before I can even think about flipping her around and kissing her silly to bring her into the new day.

Leaving the bed without waking my wife up is quickly made impossible by the bang of her bedroom door crashing against the wall. Thankfully, the sound of my kids rushing into the room quickly kills any of my remaining arousal.