else I am expected to behave. If I just went by Momse’s set of moral codes, I would just do this cheerfully. Every single day for a couple of years. Then I’d marry some suitable boy, pop out a couple of great-grandchildren, and sort of fade away.”
Erik frowns. “That’s what you think is expected of you?”
Shrugging a single shoulder, I pull a face. “I know that it is. It’s what my dad’s sisters did. And the generation before that… and the generation before that…”
“But you don’t want that, I’m guessing.”
I smile a little ruefully. “No. I mean… do I want kids someday? Yes, absolutely. And I don’t want to sacrifice my life for theirs. But I also don’t want to be…” I pause, hesitating. “I don’t mean to sound selfish. I just don’t want to repeat either my mother or my grandmother’s mistakes.”
His eyes narrow. “What do you mean by that?”
“I just mean I don’t want to raise children that are complete strangers to me. But I also have no desire to control every single aspect of my unborn children’s lives. I’d like to find a balance, I guess.”
“Ah.” He nods, looking off. “Yeah. It’s hard to even think about being a parent right now. Like… how do you know for sure that you’re not completely screwing them up?”
I try to think of the best way to phrase my question. “Is that what you think your father did? Screwed you up?”
He scrunches up his face ever so briefly. “It’s hard to say,” he says, avoiding the subject neatly. When he looks back at me, he smiles. “It’s time for a change of topics.”
I look at him, at his golden hair and bewitchingly fiery eyes, at his cheekbones and jawline carved of rock. Raising a hand to his face, I gently trace my fingers along the length of his jaw, up the side of his face to feather along his temple.
He allows my light touches, closing his eyes briefly. God, he is insanely gorgeous just now.
“You’re not at all what I imagined,” I murmur.
He opens his hazel eyes, smiling a little. God, I would do anything for him to keep looking at me with that expression on his face.
“Is that so?” he asks.
I trace my touch back down to his jaw, trailing it along the skin outside his mouth. Shaking my head, I smile. “No.”
He bites his lower lip for just a second. “Nika,” he rasps. “What are you doing to me right now?”
I move closer to him, pressing the gentlest of kisses against the very corner of his mouth. He stiffens, going still.
I grab his hand and put it around my waist. “Kiss me, Erik,” I beg him softly.
I can feel his fingers flex against my back. “Nika…”
When I close my eyes and lift my mouth to his once more, a hungry little growl escapes his lips. He pulls me closer and sets his too-hot lips against mine. I draw him in, running my hand up into his short hair.
Erik nips my lower lip hard, making me gasp. Then he bends me back, spearing his free hand in my hair. He kisses me again, so deeply and with so much passion that it takes my breath away. I curl my fist in the collar of his suit jacket.
He closes his hand in my hair into a fist and draws my head back, making me gasp more loudly.
He could do anything with me. He holds all the power now and we both know it. His lips traverse down the narrow column of my neck and leave fire in their wake.
But when he kisses his way down between my breasts, that’s when I actually lose my breath. He buries his face in my cleavage, then turns his face and places a hot, stinging, hard hickey on my left breast. It hurts… but it also makes me want more.
My eyes widen. My hand tightens in his hair.
Erik breaks away to kiss my lips again, as brutal and as punishing and as real as anything I’ve ever experienced. I moan and open my mouth to him, making a soft sound as he sweeps the sweetness of his tongue against mine. My hand clutches at his suit, trying to pull him closer. I would bring him inside of me just now if that were physically possible.
I want him. My breasts ache. My pussy drips. I’m as ready as I have ever been.
If only we weren’t out here in the open, where anybody at all could