Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole Page A

approval.
    “I need you to do something for me,” he said. Sofie nodded, although she didn’t think she would be capable of much. His big hands were cupping her breasts, his thumbs brushing over the tender peaks in a way that made her lose all consideration for what she should or shouldn’t be doing. Each caress was tightening something in her, some degenerate part of her that craved Ivan in the middle of a boxing ring instead of a fine, upstanding citizen who wouldn’t want to touch her until marriage.
    “What is it?” she asked.
    “Tell me that I’m moving too fast. Tell me that you don’t feel something crazy between us.” His voice was rough as he spoke.
    “If I say that, will you stop touching me?” she asked. Her hands went to his waist, and her thumbs hooked into the belt loops on his jeans. She felt him tense, and his eyes closed for the briefest moment.
    “This isn’t an ultimatum, Sof. If you want me to make you come right here on the mat and then part ways forever, I’ll do that.” He gave a deep laugh at whatever expression flitted across her face. She wasn’t completely untouched, but she was fairly certain no man had ever made her come, go, or anything in between before. He ran a hand over the buttons of her blouse and began sliding them out, one by one. “But I think there’s more to us than wham bam thank you ma’am.”
    He lowered his forehead to hers. His hands slipped into her open shirt, his rough palms encircling her the bare skin of her waist. “I’ve never stopped thinking of you, Sofronia. I always kept an eye out for you, hoping one day we’d see each other. Then I’d either know I was wrong and move on, or this would happen.”
    Sofie ran her hands up his chest, over the corded muscles at his neck, and threaded her fingers at his nape. “What do you mean by this ?”
    “That I’d see you and want to be with you more than ever.” His eyes were closed, like he was confessing something painful. She ran her fingertips over his long lashes, and then over the bumps at the bridge of his nose.
    “Ivan…what we’re doing right now? It feels right. That’s what my instinct is telling me. Maybe the crazy is catching, but I want to be with you too.” His eyes fluttered open and she was flummoxed by the naked need she saw in his gaze. No one had ever looked at her like that before. She swallowed and then said the first thing that came into her mind. “I want you to touch me the way you look at me, like me being nice is the last thing you’re thinking of.”
    His head tilted quick as a flash and then his mouth was on hers. He kissed her without mercy, as if her request had allowed him to unleash the true level of his desire for her. He wasn’t rough, despite his vocation, but he kissed her as if it was the last thing he would do in this world and he wanted to make sure it was done well. It was all Sofie could do to remain standing; not because her knees were weak, but because if she pulled him to the ground like she wanted to, her church clothes would be ruined and there’d be even more gossip swirling around. Ivan backed her up against a corner post and gently untucked her shirt. His hands groped at her hips and her backside, and then he threw his head back in frustration.
    “Where’s the zipper?” he asked.
    Sofie froze. What was she doing there with him? Was she ready for whatever he had in mind? And then he smiled at her, that sheepish, chip-toothed smile, and she reached for the hidden zipper at the side of the skirt without hesitation. “I might be too good of a seamstress,” she said as she worked it down.
    “I’ve noticed,” Ivan said. “Even your most demure outfit has the opposite effect on me.” Then he slid his hand into the loosened waist of her skirt and rubbed her through her panties, and all thoughts of sewing techniques went out of Sofie’s head. One of his hands went behind her waist to lift and support her, while his mouth forged a trail from the