He’s surprised at first, I think. His fingers linger against my jaw. Then he pulls me onto his lap and delicately pushes the robe off my shoulders.

He breaks off for a moment and leans back to look at me. His eyes scour my face, desire lighting up his blue irises. Then his lips drop down to my neck, to my collarbone, to my breasts. He uses one finger to push down the straps of my slip.

With his fingertips caressing the nipple of my right breast, he keeps kissing me. Long and slow, washing away all my doubts with desire.

By the time he pulls back again, I’m breathless and wet.

He grabs hold of me and lays me down on the marble floor. Then he pulls the slip down my body, freeing me of it completely. He hovers over me, but his body never touches mine.

“Kolya,” I whisper.

“Yes?” he says, his voice deep and gravelly.

“Will you be naked with me?”

He stares down at me, doubt raging in his eyes. I meant the question in its most literal sense. I want to see all of him. His scars and his tattoos and the stories they tell.

But I mean it in other ways, too.

I want to see all of him—his lies and his truths and his hopes and his fears. I’ve showed him all of mine, again and again. And he’s given me peeks of his. But I want him to bare it all. I want to know he trusts me.

I want to believe he’s capable of loving me.

The war in his face goes on a little longer. I wonder if he’s going to refuse me. And then he rocks back on his knees and pulls the shirt he’s wearing up and over his head.

He throws it to the side and then starts to unbuckle his pants. I want to sit up and do it myself, but I also want to watch. I can see his erection straining against the fabric. The moment his cock springs free, I lean forward and take him all the way into my mouth.

“Fuck,” he growls as I suck him deep down my throat.

He takes quiet rippling breaths that I feel in my chest as I consume him. Every one of them lights me on fire and builds the pressure between my legs. Loving him like this, pleasing him like this—I feel powerful and beautiful and free.

It’s like dancing, but with a partner this time.

Then he pushes me back gently and settles his hips between my legs. I’m trembling all over. His hand cups my face, but instead of kissing me like I expect, he turns my face to the side. I catch our reflections in the myriad of mirrors.

Me, lying on the floor, with my nipples pointed at the ceiling and my legs spread. Kolya, huge above me, his cock nudging at my pussy.

I can see his scars. They don’t frighten me the way they once did.