Page 82 of Bratva's Mercy
There was a pause, then a subtle shift as he adjusted in my hold, his arms coming up around me in return. One hand settled at the back of my head, fingers brushing through my hair before he gave a light, absent pat. The move should have felt condescending, something you did to soothe a child instead of a man who could break bones with his bare hands.
But it didn’t.
It did something worse.
It unraveled me because he did it without hesitation, as if it were instinct and comforting me came naturally to him. He likely had no idea what such a small, thoughtless touch did to someone like me who hadn’t been touched by anything but violence since before I understood that people were evil—some just less so than others. Others needed a little coercion, and their monster would show.
“There, there…be good and allow me to breathe,” he said after a second. “I just went out to get us something to eat.”
I pulled back slightly to look at him, my gaze searching his face with more intensity than I bothered to hide.
“Are you sure that’s it?” I asked quietly. “You don’t regret last night? You’re not going to run again for two weeks the second I turn my back?”
A flicker of emotion crossed his features, but I couldn’t figure out what he was feeling in the moment.
“I could lie to you and tell you no.” His thumb brushed along my jaw, slow, grounding, and I felt the shift in himbefore he even continued. “But the truth is that when I woke up beside you this morning, I panicked. Because it felt so good. Just…being there. Next to you like that.”
A faint, almost self-conscious huff of breath left him.
“Then I remembered last night, and I panicked all over again. Because the sex was…” He gave a small shake of his head as though struggling to find the words. “It was really that amazing.”
My grip on him shifted, tightening slightly as I waited for him to continue, sensing he had more to say.
“I did think about leaving. That was my first instinct, but I didn’t. I changed my mind because I think we have something here. Something worth exploring.”
Both hands were on my face now, framing my cheeks.
“Sergei, the truth is, I can’t promise you I don’t feel guilty about moving on so quickly. It’s still there. I still feel it. But I also know if I walk away from this without trying—without figuring out what this is between us—that would be the bigger mistake.”
The air shifted, quiet and charged and impossibly fragile all at once. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.
This kiss wasn’t like last night. There was no urgency in it, no heat meant to catapult us into bed. He was careful and intentional. His lips moved against mine like he was learning the shape of me in a different way now, without the shield of lust to hide behind.
And I fell in love with him just a little bit more.
“Now that’s out of the way…” He released my face and turned back to the bags on the counter. “We can have breakfast, and you tell me what happened last night.”
I groaned. Despite the sweet nature of the kiss, I was rock hard. I walked up behind him and pressed my front to his back so he had no option but to feel the imprint of my erection against the curve of his ass.
“I’m horny,” I said into his ear.
He continued unpacking the contents onto the counter without missing a beat. “You’re a grown man. I’m sure you can control yourself.”
The smell of fresh pancakes and strawberry syrup wafted through the air, but it still didn’t deter me, even when my stomach growled. “Usually I can, but not when it comes to you.” I slipped my hand around him, down between his legs, and groaned deep in the back of my throat when I felt the weight of him in my palm. He was just as hard as me, yet acting as if the kiss hadn’t affected him.
“Sergei, let go of my dick.”
I slipped my hand into the waistband of the sweats he was wearing, which were baggy on his frame but so sexy. He was going commando beneath, and the realization only made me want him more. I stroked him from the tip down to his base, and his hips bucked.
I grinned in satisfaction. “See? You want this too.”
Leo gave a sigh, abandoned what he was doing, then turned around to face me. He shoved the sweats down his thighs, revealing my hand grasping him, and my mouth watered—not because of the food on the island but because there was a sticky bead of precum forming at his slit.
“You have one of two choices,” Leo said, his words even, although his breathing deepened. “You either release me, and we have breakfast, or you suck me off, swallow my load, then we eat breakfast.”
My breath got trapped inside my lungs. “What about—” I glanced down at my erection pressing against the front of my shorts.
“What about it?” Leo asked, not even blinking an eye.
