“The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.”
I awoke slowly on the morning after that night. I tried to resist the light behind my eyes, but soon enough I was awake, and there was nothing I could do about it.
The room was barely light and I was alone. I stretched and was flooded with memories and sensations that made me sit up in bed.
Shivering, I once again saw the image of Mikhail leaning over me as he took me on his table. Me, kissing him back with my arms around his neck, writhing under his touch.
I’m his, I thought. He says that’s what I am. He wanted me. He had me.
We had sex.
Breathing in slowly, I surveyed the room. Mikhail’s bed. I am in Mikhail’s bed. The realization was jarring, but it made my body thrum with sexual awareness nonetheless. There was no escaping those erotic memories but, last night I had done something…unanticipated. I knew I allowed it - I’d actually taken that step last night and had finally given in. But even after last night and still now that I’m awake and completely capable of logical thinking, I started to feel apprehensive, because men like Mikhail Thorne change their minds without a hitch or regrets. A man like Mikhail is the kind of man who engages in sex with no strings attached, and I knew, with coldness spreading in my stomach that I would pay the price for what I’d done. God. I felt much older than twenty-two.
I pushed the comforter aside and discovered that I was naked. And so, I scrambled back into bed and wrapped the sheets around me. I looked around, trying to find my clothes. I wondered how he’d managed to get them off me. I was crawling to the edge of the bed when the bedroom door opened and I saw him in the door way in his white cotton sweatpants. My eyes landed on the tight V muscles below his hipbones. A smile lifted his lips.
“You’re awake,” he stated, looking ridiculously hunky. Mikhail strode towards me and slipped into bed next to me. The feeling of his fingers on my cheek caught me off guard. “Did you sleep well? You must be tired after last night.”
My cheeks flushed a pretty shade of red. I’m a twenty-two year old woman, for Pete’s sake! But never the less, his vulgarity never failed to make me blush. Trying to divert the subject, I gave him a quick smile and glanced around. “I can’t find my clothes.”
He cast a lazy smile. “What time is your class?” he inquired.
Shortly after glancing at the digital clock on the bedside table, I answered, “I have a class in an hour.”
“Then we have thirty minutes more to spend in bed,” he whispered seductively. “Or we can hang around by the pool. Your choice.” He brushed back the messy strands of my hair that was hanging in my face with a gentle caress.
“I can’t,” I protested. “That would mean being late and anyway, don’t you have to go to work?”
His grin eased up in the corners of his mouth. “I make my own schedule, Adelaine. Right now, work is my second priority.”
Good for him. He’s his own boss. Whereas I can’t even afford to miss a single class. Especially now that exams are so close. I drew a quick breath before issuing a response. “Last night was amazing.”
YOU ARE READING
The Unattainable (The Foreplay to Forgiveness)
Romance"Turn around, Adelaine." Heart hammering in my chest, I didn't budge. "I said turn around, Adelaine." His voice, a grave, resonant command had me obeying completely this time without a second thought. My mind screamed to bolt out, to ubpush him away...
