All the Lies We Tell (Quarry Road Book 1) Read online

  Ilya turned. “Sounds like you have enough going on to keep you busy here, bro.”

  Niko didn’t say anything. He hadn’t used Allie’s name . . . had he? Ilya held up the charger again and turned off the lamp.

  “Have fun fixing our mother’s messes,” Ilya said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  It wasn’t what Alicia had expected. She hadn’t really known what to expect, actually, but a room in the hotel on the far edge of town that catered to business travelers had not been on her list. It was good, though, she thought as she dropped her purse on the sofa. More than good. It was perfect.

  “We don’t have to worry,” Nikolai said. “Not about your nosy neighbor or Galina or anyone else seeing us. Just you and me and this big old bed.”

  She’d noticed that as soon as she’d come into the room, no doubt about it. But now she feigned innocence. “That one? There? That one?”

  She’d been with guys who didn’t get her sense of humor, but even though she and Nikolai had surely had their share of conflicts over the years, there was never any question that he totally understood her jokes.

  “Oh, yeah. That one.” He tipped his chin toward it. “You know. If you wanted to try it out.”

  She burst into laughter, covering her face with her hand before peeking through her fingers at him. “So . . . are we really going to do this?”

  “God, I hope so.” He moved to take her in his arms. “I really, really hope so.”

  She should’ve felt more shy. Nervous? Guilt should certainly have poked its greasy head in there somewhere, too.

  He didn’t kiss her, not at first. Instead, Nikolai stroked a hand over her hair. It was a familiar gesture, one he’d done many times, but even so, Alicia shivered at the touch and turned her face so she could touch her lips against his palm. They stayed that way for a moment, in silence. When he drew her closer so her cheek pressed to his chest, she closed her eyes and breathed him in as the beating of their hearts aligned.

  “It’s always a little awkward,” Nikolai said after a minute. “The first time.”

  Alicia laughed softly and pulled away to tip her face to his. “It’s not the first time.”

  He stroked his thumb along her lower lip, urging her to open for him. He kissed her. Hot and wet, a slanting pressure on her mouth that echoed an electric thrill through every part of her. His hands moved down her body to slide beneath her ass, lifting her so that she let out a startled yelp, muffled inside his mouth. They both laughed, and Nikolai walked them back toward the bed, where they fell in a tangle of arms and legs and open, kissing mouths.

  She moved, or he rolled, but somehow Alicia ended up on top of him. Straddling, she pressed her knees to his hips and pushed his shirt up, revealing the taut strip of belly and curly dark hair leading from his belly button into the waistband of his jeans. She bent her head to nuzzle him there, and Nikolai arched at the pressure of her lips on his skin. She pressed her teeth there for a few seconds, grinning at the sound of his gasp.

  She looked up at him through the fall of her hair. “You like it when I bite.”

  “Girl . . .” Nikolai breathed out with a small groan. “Yeah. I like it when you bite.”

  She crawled up his body to settle herself against his crotch. She’d dressed carefully for tonight. Soft leggings, and a sheer tunic top over a clingy tank. No bra. Silky thong panties. Everything soft and flowing and easy to get off. Now she tugged the tunic over her head and let it fall in a flutter of fabric off the side of the bed. Sitting up straight, she took Nikolai’s hands and slid them up her body to cup her breasts.

  He thumbed her nipples, teasing them into tight points. “This body. Mmm, mmmm, mmm.”

  “I like it when you touch me.” She rocked against him, loving the pressure of his hardening cock on her. She tugged the neckline of the tank down, exposing more cleavage but not yet exposing her nipples.

  Nikolai dragged his fingertips over the new expanse of flesh. Then over her nipples again, first one, then the other, tweaking each gently so it was her turn to gasp. His gaze burned into her as he licked his lips.

  She wanted his mouth on her. All over her. Alicia leaned forward. When he buried his face against her flesh, she shook. Eyes closed, mouth open. Hair hanging all over the both of them. She gripped the headboard with one hand and used the other to cup his chin, urging him to feast on her.

  Nikolai tugged her shirt down farther, at last, yes, freeing her to his hungry mouth. Wet heat skidded over her skin. His lips closed on one of the sensitive peaks he’d already teased with his fingertips. His hands cupped her, keeping her close.

  She muttered something incoherent and ground herself against him. Nikolai released her nipple to flick it with his tongue. She wanted to move, she wanted to kiss his mouth, she wanted to pull off his clothes and get him naked, but right in that moment, all she could do was give up to the serious waves of desire coursing through her from the expert efforts of Nikolai’s lips and tongue . . . and teeth . . .

  “Ah!” She yelped, sitting up straight and covering herself with her hands. “No, no . . .”

  He laughed, rolling them both so he was on top of her. “No? You don’t like it when I bite, huh?”

  It hadn’t hurt, of course. Just surprised her. She pulled her knees up to grip his hips as he kissed her.

  “I guess not,” she said into his mouth, and sucked his tongue before letting him pull away.

  Nikolai braced himself on his arms to look down at her. “So much to learn about you, Ms. Harrison.”

  “You know a lot about me already.” She slipped her hands beneath the bottom of his T-shirt again, warming her chilly skin against his heat and laughing at the way he hissed in a breath.

  “You have cold hands—I know that,” he agreed, and shifted to cover her with his weight so she didn’t have room to get her hands on him again. “But there’s a lot I don’t know.”

  “Hmm, oh, yeah? Like what?” With someone else she would’ve pushed him off her, feeling trapped or squished, but Nikolai’s body fit hers with perfect precision. And that was with their clothes on, she thought with another thrill of sensation rolling through her. What was it going to be like when they were both naked?

  “Oh, for example . . . do you like this?” He traced his lips along her jawline, making her shiver.

  “Yes.”

  She felt his grin pressed against her. He tugged her earlobe with his teeth. “This?”

  “That’s good, too,” Alicia said. “But I think you need to move a little lower.”

  He laughed, and she loved that he did. For sure, there’d been lots of times over the years when Nikolai Stern had not laughed with her. To have this now, here, was more surprising to her than wanting to get naked.

  “Ah. Gotcha. Here?” He nibbled lightly at her throat, and when she sighed and shifted beneath him, he chuckled again. He feathered kisses over the slopes of her breasts. “Here.”

  She let her fingers wind in the thickness of the hair at the nape of his neck. “Oh, definitely there, yes, but . . .”

  “Lower?” His tongue swirled over her nipples, one at a time.

  She sighed out a slow, aching breath. “Yes.”

  He shifted her to pull off the tank top, then knelt to pull his shirt over his head, using that sexy over-the-shoulder grab that always looked so casual but had to be deliberate by the knowing grin he gave her. Oh, yeah, she thought. Nikolai knew exactly what he was doing. And she was totally going to keep letting him, at least for as much time as they had.

  He popped his button and nudged the zipper down, but only a notch or so before bending back to press a line of kisses over the curve of her ribs. The hollow dip of her belly over her navel. He mouthed a hip, then looked up at her.

  “Lower?”

  Alicia smiled and, by way of an answer, let her fingers rest on the top of his head. No more laughter now. Nikolai’s gaze went dark and liquid. Consuming her. He dipped his fingertips below the elastic waistband of her