Midnight Alpha Read online

  Gaia deliberated long and hard for all of the following day as to whether or not she should continue to work at Utopia, when not only had she brought herself to the attention of Gregori Markovic, but also The Wolf. And where Gregori had a veneer of urbane sophistication, Nikolai made no attempt to be anything other than what he was: cold and lethal.

  It hadn’t been lost on her that it had to have been on Gregori’s instruction that the other man drove her home in the early hours of this morning.

  Much to her surprise, Nikolai had been leaning against a limousine outside Utopia when she left the building after changing into her own clothes. He had instantly straightened to open the back door of the car with a flourish, as Gaia stood on the pavement looking for the taxi Gregori had told her would be waiting for her.

  Gaia had refused to get in the car, insisting that a taxi was perfectly adequate.

  Nikolai, like their mutual employer, wasn’t a man who accepted the word no.

  Gaia had very soon given up arguing with him in the face of his implacability. But not without a show of defiance—for Gregori, if he should happen to be watching them on one of his security screens, and she had a feeling that he was—by ignoring the back door Nikolai held open for her and instead climbing into the passenger seat beside the driver.

  Nikolai had given her an amused smile when he was the one to slide in behind the wheel next to her just seconds later. In fact, that smirk had continued to curve his lips for the whole of the drive back to her apartment.

  Gaia had learned the reason for that once the car was parked outside her building, and Nikolai went to open the trunk of the car so that he could take out her shoes and hand them to her. Obviously Gregori had given them to him.

  She had snatched the shoes and hurried across the pavement to her apartment building, refusing to look back even when she heard Nikolai’s amused chuckle.

  That whole night had been one embarrassment after another.

  Worse, she had drawn herself to the attention of these two powerful men.

  Which still left her with the dilemma as to whether or not she should go back to work at Utopia tonight, and behave as if nothing untoward had happened. Or did she stay away, and give thanks she had made a lucky escape?

  There was really only one choice Gaia could make: she had no option but to return to work tonight. To do anything else would look highly suspicious after she had been caught in that compromising position in Gregori’s office.

  Besides which, two of the most dangerous men she’d ever met knew where she lived.

  Not for the first time, Gaia questioned the sanity of what she was doing.

  At the same time as she knew she owed it to Angela to try to find out the truth. She had to go back to Utopia for her sister’s sake.

  Gaia ignored the mocking little voice inside her head that questioned whether the real reason she was going back was to take another look at Gregori.

  To see if the arousal she had felt in his company last night had been real.

  “Good evening, Miss Miller.”

  Yep, both the arousal and desire had definitely been real.

  Gaia’s hands shook so much from just hearing Gregori’s low and gravelly voice again that she spilled wine all over her fingers from the glass she had been about to place on her tray.

  She also knew from the direction of that voice that he was either standing or sitting further down the casino bar, silent now, watching, as he waited for her to respond to his greeting.

  Gaia’s cheeks felt hot, her breasts tingling, her nipples instantly going hard, and between her thighs—God, she could smell her own rush of arousal.

  Instead of answering or turning to face him, she gave Rick an apologetic smile as she quickly picked up a cloth and studiously began to mop up the spilt wine. Delaying the moment when she would have to turn and look at Gregori.

  But spilt wine could only take so long to deal with, and as she had to wait for Rick to pour a fresh glass, she also had no choice but to turn and glance over to where Gregori was sitting on one of the bar stools, watching her with those dark, all-seeing eyes.

  It was Friday evening, and the casino was hopping, and yet somehow he had managed to find an empty barstool in the area of the bar where she happened to be working?

  Coincidence?

  Somehow Gaia didn’t think so. Which meant that Gregori had to have deliberately sought her out. After first watching her on those damned security monitors in his office?

  The heat increased in Gaia’s body just thinking of him sitting up there watching her with those dark and enigmatic eyes.

  He looked—he looked fucking gorgeous was how he looked!

  Gaia didn’t usually use such graphic language, even in her head, but fucking was what this man made her feel, want, ache for.

  That feeling was wrong for so many reasons, and yet she couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away once she had looked at him. His jaw was clean-shaven this early in the evening, and he was wearing a black dinner suit and a snowy white silk shirt, along with a perfectly tied black bowtie.

  Because it had been his intention all along to come down onto the casino floor tonight, where all the members of the exclusive nightclub were also dressed in evening clothes?

  To see her again?

  That was probably allowing her imagination to go a little too far, Gaia allowed. Gregori owned this nightclub and casino, so why shouldn’t he come down and mingle if he wanted to. Except the gossip amongst the other waitresses said that he didn’t want to very often, that he preferred to leave the handshaking and charm to Claude le Coeur.

  It was impossible to miss the covetous glances being sent his way by the other women in the casino, the members of the club and the other waitresses serving drinks. There was also absolutely no reason for Gaia to assume he had come down here especially to talk to her, rather than one of the beautiful women who patronized his nightclub.

  Besides which, the two of them hadn’t exactly parted well in the early hours of this morning.

  After which he had arranged to have his own head of security drive her home…

  “Miss Miller?” There was an edge of impatience to Gregori’s voice now.

  He also had that mesmerizing, dark-eyed thing going on, Gaia recognized as she continued to inwardly panic. Dracula eyes. Captivating, mesmerizing eyes, luring his female victim to her doom.

  Or his bed…

  “Are you feeling unwell this evening, Miss Miller?” his voice lowered softly.

  “I… No, I’m quite well, thank you, Mr. Markovic,” she came back haltingly, followed immediately by her telling herself to get a grip, that he was just a man—

  Just a man? Gregori Markovic wasn’t just a man, he was sin incarnate—at least, he made her want to commit sin incarnate, which was the same thing, wasn’t it?

  She simply didn’t react like this to men. Yes, she’d had her share of boyfriends, had even had three relationships in the past five years that had gone further than just dating. But none of those men had made her feel like Gregori did with just a glance of those hypnotic dark eyes. As if she wanted to throw off all her clothes and shout for him to take her—

  “Can I get you something to drink, Mr. Markovic?” Rick Turner thankfully broke the silence as he moved solicitously down the bar to look enquiringly at their employer.

  “No, I’m good. Thanks, Rick.” The older man assured smoothly as he stood up. “Could you get someone else to deliver those drinks, I believe it’s time for Miss Miller’s break now?”

  Gaia gave him a startled look. How on earth did he know it was time for her break?

  Because he’s the boss, stupid.

  Well, yes, he might be, but there were over fifty people working in and around the nightclub and casino, so why did he know specifically when her break was?

  Because he made it his business to find out.

  Why?

  “Shall we go?”

  Gaia’s eyes widened as she realized that while her mind h
ad wandered, Gregori had moved down the bar and now stood just inches in front of her, a look of expectation on his face.

  Her tongue felt too dry for her to be able to moisten her lips with it. “Go where?”

  “My office.” Hard and mocking amusement now glittered in those dark eyes.

  His office. On the third floor. Far, far away from the noise of the nightclub downstairs. And other people. So far away no one would be able to hear her screams.

  Would her screams be ones of pain or pleasure?

  Oh God…

  Chapter 5

  Gregori kept a firm hold of Gaia’s arm as the two of them traversed the casino together, Gregori nodding acknowledgement of several people he knew personally but unwilling to allow himself to be drawn into conversation with any of them.

  He could also tell by the tension in Gaia’s arm that, given the opportunity, she was going to bolt. It wouldn’t do her any good, of course, because Gregori would only track her down, but he would prefer not to have to do that.

  He wasn’t in the best of moods tonight as it was, having spent far too much of his day thinking about Gaia Miller rather than getting the sleep he required to get through the long night ahead. An ice-cold shower before coming to Utopia tonight hadn’t helped in the slightest either, when he’d only had to take one look at Gaia on the security monitor for his arousal to return with a vengeance.

  He had spent the past two hours continuing to watch her as she moved smoothly and efficiently among the patrons of the casino serving their drinks. Once again wearing those four-inch-heeled, fuck-me shoes that he wanted to feel digging painfully into his back as he thrust deep inside her.

  Finally he hadn’t been able to stand his lonely vigil any longer and had gone downstairs in search of her.

  His mood of frustration wasn’t helped in the slightest as the two of them now stepped into the close confines of the elevator together, although Gaia took the opportunity to release her arm before stepping away from him as the doors closed.

  There was no way, in the enclosed space of the elevator, that Gregori could avoid smelling the lightness of the perfume she wore, as well as feel the heat of her body.

  The heated arousal of her body?

  Her arousal was a delicate, musky smell that teased his senses and caused his cock to swell, to thicken and lengthen inside his boxers. Telling him that he was about to do something incredibly stupid. Something that had been building inside him since the two of them parted so tensely in the early hours of this morning.

  Something as undeniable to Gregori as breathing…

  He waited only long enough to close his office door behind them before turning to slam Gaia back against it and claim her slightly parted lips in a crushing, hungry kiss.

  Oh God, her lips tasted and felt even better beneath his than he had imagined they would—and he had imagined kissing her and a lot more besides during the past nineteen hours.

  Gaia seemed too stunned to respond at first, but then her body relaxed into his and her lips parted on a sigh, allowing his tongue to move over the softness of her lips before exploring and then claiming every hot and erotic dip and hollow of her mouth.

  Gregori’s hands moved up to become entangled in the soft silkiness of her hair, and breathing deeply through his nose, he held her prisoner so that he could plunder that heady sweetness, tongue gliding alongside hers, tempting, enticing, needing—God, he needed…

  He gave a groan as her tongue touched and then stroked along the length of his, tentatively at first, and then more aggressively as she followed that temptation and her tongue entered his mouth.

  Gaia had lost every ounce of resistance the moment Gregori’s lips touched hers, groaning her surrender as she returned the scorching heat of his kiss.

  Nothing else existed but the two of them and this moment in time, mouths hungry for each other, her hands moving beneath his jacket as she restlessly caressed the lean length of his back, impatient with the clothing that separated her from touching all that muscled heat.

  She groaned as Gregori broke the kiss to taste the length of her arched throat, only for that groan to become a gasp, half surprise and half arousal as Gregori gripped the two sides of her shirt and ripped the material apart, buttons flying about them haphazardly.

  There was none of the cold and controlled Gregori in this wild and out-of-control man, his eyes the color of a moonless night as he gazed hungrily down at the heavy fullness of her breasts cupped in white lace.

  That dark gaze moved back up to her flushed face. “I’m going to rip your panties off now and fuck you up against this door,” he growled in warning even as he began pushing her skirt up her thighs.

  He was unrecognizable as being the man who had dismissed her so coldly this morning. Gaia couldn’t understand why she had ever thought his eyes were a cold matte black: at the moment they were deep wells of dark fire—hot, searing, and utterly possessive.

  His hand was a hot caress against her flesh as he grasped the top of her panties and ripped them away as if they were tissue paper rather than lace. “Sweet fucking hell!” he groaned as he looked down hungrily at the fiery red curls he had exposed. “Maybe I’ll just feast on you here for a while before fucking you!”

  Gaia was too mesmerized by this man’s unbridled passion, and by her own response to it, to do more than whimper as Gregori fell to his knees in front of her, unashamedly breathing in her scent as his fingers parted her curls and completely exposed the swollen nub of her clitoris.

  “You’re beautiful!” he groaned before his mouth claimed her, tasted her, tongue caressing that ripe, sensitivity berry even as one of his hands now moved between her parted thighs. “Your pussy is so fucking wet, Gaia,” he murmured in appreciation as his fingers stroked her there. “Undo your bra for me and let me look at those pretty nipples.”

  Her hands moved instinctively to do as he instructed. She felt as if she were locked in another reality, one where the suave and sophisticated, utterly controlled Gregori Markovic became someone else entirely. A man who spoke dirty and made love in the same way, giving no quarter, wanting it all and determined to take it.

  In the same way Gaia ached to give it to him.

  “Move the lace aside—God, yes!” He straightened until his face was on level with her bared breasts, holding her gaze with his as his tongue snaked out and licked and rasped moistly over one exposed nipple before moving to suckle its twin.

  Gaia gasped sharply as he drew her in deeply, just short of pain. He growled his approval as there was another hot flow of her juices against his fingers. He lightly caressed her clit and swollen labia, causing her back to arch as she silently pleaded for deeper contact.

  “Beg me, Gaia,” he encouraged throatily. “Beg me, damn you!”

  “I—” She rolled the back of her head from side to side against the door. “No!”

  His eyes darkened as his mouth closed over the whole of her nipple and the surrounding areola, suckling hard and deep, drawing hungrily, relentlessly on that sensitive peak until Gaia began to groan with each heavy drag on her swollen flesh.

  “Gregori! God yes, Gregori…!” Gaia was so aroused she wasn’t sure if she was pleading for her release or for more, only to groan long and deeply as she finally—finally—felt two of his fingers thrust up inside her dripping channel.

  She felt as if she was going out of her mind with pleasure as Gregori added another finger, stretching her as he thrust into her again and again, his thumb pressing and rolling her clitoris at the same time as he continued to alternately suckle and bite her nipple.

  It was too much—Gregori was too much—

  Her orgasm hit her with the force of a heavy wave washing over her, almost knocking her off her feet and taking her along with it, Gaia’s fingers clinging to the broad width of Gregori’s shoulders as she came in tortuous, gut-wrenching wave after wave of pure pleasure.

  And still Gregori wasn’t finished with her as he remorselessly continued to caress and su
ckle and thrust, taking her to that place time and time again until Gaia’s breath was nothing but a gasping sob, fingers too weak to cling to his shoulders any longer, her legs collapsing beneath her and she began to slide down the door to the floor.

  Gregori caught her beneath her arms and knees before lifting her up and carrying her across the room, his face flushed, dark hair tousled, his lips slick with her juices.

  Gaia’s body had the consistency of a rag-doll as he sat down in the chair behind his desk and placed her on top of him with her legs straddling his thighs. She watched in fascination as he unfastened his trousers to release the long, hard length of his fully aroused cock.

  A beautiful hard and silky cock, perfectly curved for penetration.

  “There’s a condom in the breast pocked of my jacket,” he encouraged throatily.

  Once again Gaia obeyed, even as a part of her wondered if he always had a condom in his jacket pocket or if he had known, planned what was now happening between the two of them. At the same time she questioned what had happened to her willpower, let alone her sense of self-survival. This was Gregori Markovic for God’s sake—

  “Put it on me, Gaia. Now, before I come all over you!” he added harshly as she fumbled unwrapping the foil.

  She had never done anything as intimate as putting a condom on a man before, and it was an intense intimacy. Gregori’s head lolled back against the chair as he watched her place and then roll that thin barrier down the length of his leaking cock.

  “Tell me you want this,” he encouraged through gritted teeth, dark eyes glittering like the night. “Tell me, Gaia,” he grated harshly. “Fucking tell me!” His hands reached up and grasped her arms painfully as he forced her to look at him.

  She did want him. She wanted Gregori inside her so badly she ached with the wanting. Just as she wanted him to stretch and fill her. To feel him so deep inside her there was no space between them.

  At the same time as she knew she couldn’t do this.

  Maybe it was the fact that Gregori was still fully and meticulously dressed in his tailored suit, shirt and perfectly knotted tie, while she was a mess in her ripped clothes and no panties, her bared and red and sore nipples, the curls damp between her thighs, but whatever it was, she suddenly realized this wasn’t her, damn it.