Sophie Oak - Found in Bliss

“Callie is coming up on her due date. It’s a boy. She’s really ready to not be pregnant anymore.”

“How is your friend Nell?” Holly often talked about Nell.

Her face lit up. “She’s trying to talk Callie into burying her placenta under a tree after she gives birth. She wants us all to have a ceremony to reaffirm our ties to the earth. You can imagine how that went over with Nate and Zane. Oh, and her husband finally reached a breaking point, and he hauled her into a bomb shelter, so now she’s claiming that Henry is a caveman because he won’t let her protest with her breasts.”

“Why does she protest her breasts?” Breasts were nothing to protest in Alexei’s mind. His eyes drifted down. Holly’s breasts were beautiful. How long should he wait before he took her in his arms?

A smile curved her lips up, and Alexei realized she knew what he was looking at.

“I am sorry.” Now he was the one who was blushing. She made him feel like a kid again. The things he’d seen and done during that dark time when he’d pursued revenge should have assured that Alexei would never blush again, but Holly made him feel different, more innocent.

“For what?”

He put his hands in his lap, a reminder to keep them to himself for now. Holly deserved to be wooed. Holly deserved flowers and nice dinners. Holly deserved a man with a job. He had to find a job. “I should be careful. I am to be gentleman around you.”

Her whole face fell.

“Oh, god, not you, too.” She hopped off the table. Her hands went straight to her curvy hips, and those gloriously green eyes narrowed.

“I say wrong thing?” He said the wrong thing all the time. He tried to figure out how he’d insulted Holly. He’d wanted so much for this to go easily with her.

“What is wrong with me? You write me all these letters. You come back here and ask me to dance. I really want to know what it is about me that puts men off. I have nice boobs. They aren’t the perkiest things in the world, but they’re big and soft. And these are childbearing hips, damn it. It isn’t fair. Everyone in this town gets a little something something. Even Stella. Hell, Mel gets laid.” She leaned in, her voice going to a mere whisper. “You told me you thought about me during private times. I guess I thought that meant something dirty.”

Alexei smiled slowly. She thought he didn’t find her attractive. He knew what it meant to get laid. He wanted to get laid with her very, very much. “There is no problem. The private times were very dirty. I think about you in the shower often. Well, I’m in the shower when the thinkings come. And then I come. I just thought you would want something different than a man pawing you.”

“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since a man pawed me? A woman needs a good pawing every now and then.”

Tears had formed in her eyes. Alexei wasn’t going to have that. What had Caleb been doing? He’d assumed that Caleb would date Holly. It had been obvious to him that Caleb had a thing for Holly. When he’d walked in the door and seen them standing close, he’d wondered if he’d missed his chance. Then Holly had been amenable to dancing with him. He got off the table and ran a hand along her hair.

“You do not belong to Caleb?” He had to know. If Caleb had already claimed her, he would have to honor it.

“I don’t think he wants me,” she admitted with a long sigh. “He’s nice to me, but he doesn’t really want me.”

That wasn’t true. If there was one thing he knew, it was that Caleb was crazy about Holly. Even as he’d lain dying on the floor of the sheriff’s department, he’d been able to see Caleb’s love for Holly. But the fact that Caleb hadn’t made a move gave Alexei the door he needed to make his little dream come true.

He stood over Holly. “Then I still have a shooting at you?”

Her face went blank, and then a smile crossed her lips. “A shot at me. Yes, you have a shot at me.”

“You don’t care for Caleb?” His plan wouldn’t work if she didn’t care for Caleb. How would he handle that? He owed Caleb his life, but he wasn’t sure he could walk away from her.

She bit into her bottom lip. “I do care about him, but it hasn’t worked out for us. I don’t want to jump into bed with you, Alexei. Well, that might be a lie, but I don’t want to do it tonight. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t welcome a kiss. Russians kiss when they greet someone, right?”

“ Da, MIlaya moyA ,” he said, dipping his head. My sweet . And he was about to find out just how sweet she was. He lowered his mouth to hers, reveling in the way her breath caught. Her arms came up to his elbows as though she needed to balance herself. He placed his hands on those curvy hips and brought her close. “ Ti takAya krasivaya .”

Her mouth was so close, her breath mingling with his. “I don’t know what you just said, Alexei, but I liked the way you said it.”

He closed the distance between them. Beautiful . He’d told her she was beautiful. He’d said it in his own language because he didn’t want to screw that up.

Her lips were so soft, and he pulled her into his arms, finally where he’d wanted to be for the better part of a year. And he still had a shot. He had a shot at her. And he had a shot to pay back Dr. Caleb Sommerville. He’d researched his savior. He knew Caleb’s secrets. No one knew it yet, but Alexei had plans to save them all.

Holly’s heart rate tripled in the amount of time it took for Alexei’s lips to finally touch hers. Forever. She’d waited forever. She’d dreamed about him ever since that day when he’d taken a bullet for her. He’d covered her with his body and begged her to stay still. What should have been a nightmare had turned into an act that revitalized her will to really live. He’d been willing to die to protect her, and he hadn’t even known her. When he’d been taken from the hospital by the feds, she’d known that something lovely and amazing had walked out of her life.

His heat seeped into her bones, making her wonder why she hadn’t noticed the cold before. His hands found her waist, and she was pulled deliciously close. There it was. The hard ridge of his cock pressed against her stomach, making her ache in the sweetest possible way. His mouth was soft on hers. His lips cajoled, opening her and playing teasingly with his tongue. Even in heels she felt small compared to the big, gorgeous Russian bear.

His tongue finally touched hers, and Holly’s hormones began singing a Hallelujah chorus. So long. She’d been so long without this feeling, the radical pounding of her heart, the racing of her blood. She’d been dull inside, and now everything sprang to life.

She kissed him with everything she had, pressing her body close to his. He was so tall, so big compared to her. She ran her hands up his biceps. Even through the material of the suit he wore, she could feel how muscular he was. He was sex on a stick. Tall and broad and gorgeous, his dark good looks would make the most spectacular contrast to Caleb’s gold and red hair and brooding handsomeness.

Caleb.

Why did she have to think about Caleb? Alexei took over the kiss, his mouth dominating hers as thoughts of Caleb intruded.

He’d been her shadow for almost a year. Not in a creepy way. She just almost always felt his presence, like a guardian who only stepped into the light when she absolutely needed him. When her roof had been damaged and she thought she might lose her cabin, a roofer had shown up with a paid-in-full work order in hand. When her car had broken down and she told the shop to take their time with it because she didn’t have the money to fix it, he’d left her a tip in the exact amount. She’d tried to pay him back, and his favorite word had popped from his mouth. No.