Read Black Knight, White Queen for Free Online

didn’t understand. And it must have shown on his face because she smiled a little, lifted one hand and let it rest on his chest. “We’re the same under here.” She moved her thumb over his skin. “We both want escape. And we’ll take it where we can get it.”
    But he still didn’t understand what she was talking about. Because he wasn’t escaping anything. Not anymore. He’d left the Moscow streets behind. Had his own house in California. His own life. There was nothing he needed to escape from. She, on the other hand…
    “What are you escaping?” he asked.
    Deep in her eyes, pain flickered. Just a glimpse. “Reality. Myself.”
    The words were there in his mouth, the question of why. But it wasn’t a question he should ask. Because once he asked it, this thing between them would change. Become something more than stranger-sex. Become something deeper.
    A question he might have to answer himself.
    And he didn’t want that.  
    So he didn’t ask. Instead, he reached up and switched the water off. “Come on. Let’s find your escape.”
     
    Aleks dried her with one of the fluffy white hotel towels, taking his time. Treating her with care, as if she was made out of glass and he didn’t want to shatter her. Perhaps he only wanted to make sure she didn’t change her mind about staying, not that she was going to.
    Izzy wanted to stay with him. She had the sense that he needed her in a way that wasn’t only sexual. Just like she needed him.
    The bedroom was subtly lit, the sheets cool as she lay down on the huge, king-sized bed. Aleks had already pulled off the duvet and gotten rid of all the pillows so there were no boundaries or barriers. She watched him as he went over to a bag and took out a couple of brightly coloured silk scarves.
    A beautiful, sleek male animal. Long, lean muscles moved beneath tanned skin, the flex of his biceps as he reached for something, the bunch of his thighs as he bent to pick it up. The play of his abs as he straightened.
    Did he do this a lot? Tie women up in his hotel room? A little flicker of nervousness went through her. She’d never had a guy tie her up before. In fact her love life up until this point had always been fairly sedate. But she couldn’t deny that underneath the nervousness was a pulse of excitement at the thought of Aleks using those scarves on her.
    “Wow,” she said a little hoarsely. “You came prepared, I see.” Perhaps he did this routinely. Perhaps he picked up women and tied them up in hotel rooms all over the world.
    His eyes had darkened as he moved to the head of the bed, looking down at her. “I bought these at the market yesterday. For a friend.”
    Yesterday. So, not prepared then. For some reason she felt slightly less tense. “A girlfriend?”
    “No.”
    “Oh. Because if you had a girlfriend I wouldn’t—”
    “I don’t have a girlfriend.” He knelt on the bed beside her. “Lift your arms.”
    She obeyed him, relieved. “Well. That’s good then.”
    He pushed her bracelets up her arm and then the softness of silk wrapped around her wrists. As it tightened so did the nervousness, bringing with it a whole host of doubts.
    Here she was in a stranger’s hotel room, flat on her back, naked, being tied up. Had she gone completely insane?
    She turned her head and looked at him. The expression on his face was absorbed, focused intently on what he was doing. Like he’d focused on the chessboard up on the rooftop. As if what he was doing right now was the most important thing in the universe. His hands were quick, deft, tying the scarves tight enough to hold her but not so tight as to cause pain.
    Izzy swallowed, her throat dry. “If I wanted to get out, could I?” Yes, it had been her decision to stay, to submit to him. Her gut instinct told her she could trust him and she believed it. But though she’d always been a bit reckless, she wasn’t completely stupid. Being able to leave if she wanted to was kind of important.
    Aleks