Page 19 of Cherished By the BRATVA Grump

I frown, not following.

“That evening, when we were having dinner with your mom. You went from resignation at taking the opportunity to get to know me, to anger. Both of these are rooted in fear.”

I’m following what he is saying, but it still doesn’t quite make sense why he is saying it.

He strokes his fingers down my sleeve, hooking them into my hand.

“I don’t want you to ever feel afraid of me. I don’t want to make you respond to what’s happening around you from a place of fear. I’m sorry I did. And that’s why I thought getting away for a while would be the best thing for both of us.”

“Sammie and Delilah are both so insanely in love,” I murmur.

“So are Eduard and Jasper, and the others for that matter.” His mouth curves. “Madly.”

“Is that what you want?” I ask, lifting my chin a little.

He nods. “Mostly, I just want to feel the way you make me feel when I look at you. I want to be able to look at you every day and know that every bit of you is mine and every bit of me is yours. I want the world to know you chose me when you could choose anyone on the planet. I want to lay the world at your feet and give you everything you could ever dream of…but I know that’s a lot, and I know you probably had other ideas.”

“I’ve never had a serious relationship.” The words tumble from me before I can claw them back. “I was so busy with competitions and auditions that I never bothered.”

“What about your dance partners?” he asks.

“They were already hooked up with other people or not interested, which is fine with me because dancing was my job.”

I close my hand around his fingers.

“I’m worried that I’ll lose myself in you,” I finally confess. “What if being with you means I’m okay with what you do?”

“What if we just see where it goes, and keep open lines of communication?”

I nod and he steps into my space. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

I lift my face, and his comes down, our lips touching lightly at first. Then his tongue swipes over the seam where our lips are touching and every nerve ending comes alive. My free hand weaves into his hair and pulls him closer, and his winds around to the small of my back to do the same.

We’re still kissing when the coffee machine beeps.

“We should eat,” he says.

Only I’m not hungry. At least not for food.

He must realise because his eyes darken when they meet mine, and he immediately pushes the groceries aside and lifts me onto the island. He continues to kiss me, more eager this time, his lips dragging over mine as his tongue presses into my mouth.

Heat blooms inside me, making my muscles go loose with want. When he trails his lips over my jaw and down my neck, my head tips back without my permission, giving him access to my throat.

“Lift,” he says. He has managed to open the fly of my jeans without me noticing, and when I comply with his demand, he pulls my jeans and panties down over my hips in one smooth motion.

“Fuck,” he breathes, pressing my panties against his face with one hand and pressing the heel of his other against the bulge in his jeans. “You’re going to taste so good.”

His pupils have completely blown, making his eyes look black as he pushes my legs apart.

“Let me see everything,” he says.

I tuck my hands into the hem of my sweater and lift it off, dragging my tank top after it. Then it’s just my bra, which I shrug off while his fingers slide over the inside of my thighs.

My nipples are already pebbled, eagerly awaiting some attention. Demyan leans forward and sweeps his tongue over the underside of one breast, then the other, the sensation causing me to shiver and moan.

“I want to make you scream, in the best way,” he says against my skin, then sucks one peaked nipple onto his hot mouth and flickers his tongue over it.

I gasp in surprise. Then he takes his mouth to my other nipple and lavishes it with the same attention. His fingers are gently parting my folds, pressing lightly to my soft skin. Then he catches my clit with the rough pad of one of his fingers and my entire body jerks.