Page 91 of Ace of Shadows
Ruslan’s on the bed next to me in a flash, leaning over me with one hand cupping the side of my neck. “Don’t youdaresay that,” he snaps, his eyes dark. “You are not a hassle, Ivy.”
“I am! Look at everything that’s happened!”
“None of that is your fault. You’re not the culprit here.”
“But I have n-nothing left!” Pain floods the cavern inside me. “I just buried my parents. Both of them. I-I know that’s something everyone does, but I—” The tears well up, catching on my lashes. “My life is over. Everything and everyone I cared about is gone. I feel like I’m just a shell left over, like everything inside me has been clawed out and there’s nothing left.Nothing. So who cares if I die? It would make everything go away.”
“Stop!” Ruslan barks suddenly. “I would care, okay? I would caregreatlyif you died. Do you understand me? Everyone here would care. I—” He stops suddenly, and his brow dips as his grip against my neck grows firmer. “Stop talking like this. I would care. I do care about you, Ivy. A lot. And I’m not going to sit here and listen to you talk about yourself like you don’t matter.”
His words, kind as they are, barely have any effect. “But?—”
“No buts,” he snaps lightly. “I would care. And also, the Suit would look like a pushover if we just handed you over without a care, so don’t you dare act like your life or your presence has no value. Even if you forget the Suit…” He pauses softly and our eyes lock. “You matter to me.”
“Why?” My pulse begins to race. “Why do you even care?”
“You think I shouldn’t, but I do.” His voice softens. “I care because you’ve been through so much that isn’t your fault. I care because you’re a good and kind person. I’ve seen that throughhow you treat me and Raven, how you were with Florence, even though she hurt you. You make me smile, you make me want to be better so I can do more for you. And sometimes, we don’t even need a reason to like someone because not everything can be defined like that.”
I didn’t expect him to have a speech. If anything, I expected him to falter here and prove my own point, but Ruslan’s one step ahead, it seems.
My chest aches and, unable to answer, I surge forward and kiss him. My tears mingle between our lips and my distraction isn’t the greatest, but it works. Ruslan, despite a momentary hesitance, kisses me back tenderly and strokes his thumb along my jaw.
“Sure,” he murmurs against my lips. “This can be a reason. And a tool.”
“A tool?” Just as the words leave me, Ruslan presses me down onto the bed and rapidly sheds his clothes.
Between kisses that grow in intensity, he helps me out of my own. My blouse lands on the floor, he’s successful in removing my bra this time which draws a laugh from him, and then his hot mouth trails all over my body in a path of kisses.
I should feel something.
Excitement.
Desire.
Lust.
It’s there, but it’s buried so deep in my mind that I can’t comprehend the attraction beyond the physical press of ourbodies. Grief clouds me, but I still clutch at Ruslan with both arms, determined to keep him as close to me as possible.
Skin on skin, sharing the same air between kisses and as heat builds, I’m ready to sink into another exciting fuck with Ruslan where I don’t have to think, where I can lose myself in him without a single care.
Ruslan has other ideas.
He waits until I’m strung out, until pleasure coils hot and low in my belly and my skin tingles with the paths he’s kissed over my chest, until my nipples are stiff and throbbing in time to my heartbeat thanks to his tender mouth.
He waits until his cock is deep inside me, his hands cradling my face while I cling onto his forearms like my life depends on it.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, his voice low and rough with each thrust into my body.
I don’t reply. I can’t. I focus only on the budding pleasure between my legs and the flutter of my heart. Faster and faster Ruslan fucks me, pounding deeper and deeper until my orgasm almost crests and I moan loudly.
Then he stops.
I blink, my chest heaving as lust ravages me like a fever and I clench down around him. “Ruslan.”
“Tell me how worthy you are.”
“What?” I blink up at him, panting. “What?”
“Tell me you’re beautiful.”
