Execution (Off Balance, #2)

by Lucia Franco

"Listen, human nature is fucked up. It’s more honest, and more humane, to just lie." —Anonymous

Execution The performance of a routine. Form, style, and technique used to complete the skills constitute the level of execution of an exercise. Bent knees, poor toe point and an arched or loosely-held body position are all examples of poor execution.

His job was to catch me if I fell. Not sweep the rug out from under my feet and watch me hit the ground.

The man was gorgeous on the outside, but I had to question the color of his soul.

"This is what you do to me." He

"Every time I am near you, every time I think about you, I feel this way, malysh. You have awakened a beast inside me."

"Every fucking time. Never in my life has this happened to me. It drives me crazy that I cannot get enough of you."

"Lyubov' ne to, chto vy mozhete ponyat', eto to, chto vy chuvstvuyete v svoyem serdtse. Net slov, eto prosto tak."

"If you ever call my daughter a slut again, I will ruin you. Do you understand me? Ruin you. You'll never be able to show your face in this town again."

OMG go dad

"You look breathtaking tonight,"

"Because it screams sex, Ria. I want to rip that dress off you and spend hours inside you."

"Hot, sweaty, rough sex in ways you have never even dreamed of, until you cannot walk. I had no idea you could look so… so…" He scratched his jaw. "I have no words."

"Tell me something, anything, I don't already know, and I'll stay."

"Pozhaluysta…"

"You are not going to like what I have to say,"

"I am right where I want to be,"

Oh mah lawd swoon

"My guilt does not compare to my need for you, Ria."

"Krasavitsa,"

"Five." I shook my head. "No." "Four." His hand slid to the small of my back as he pulled me into him. "Kova, please…" "Three." He threaded his fingers through my hair and leaned down. He licked his lips. "We can't…" My grip tightened, holding him to me. He froze for a beat, then his lips tipped up in a sultry smirk. "One. Happy New Year."

We could be so good together, and so bad.

"Another time, another life… You look absolutely breathtaking tonight, malysh."

"If you will excuse me, I am going to devote my time to someone who truly wants it. My girlfriend."

Ouch

"You are my strength, Kova."

"What inspires you?" "You," I said softly. "Ask me what inspires me." I asked him. "You," he said. My stomach fluttered. "What drives you to push harder?" "You," I said.

"We are a team—I exhale, you inhale.

I am the beast beneath your beauty, pushing you.

"I am not the asshole you think me to be." "It was an asshole move, Kova. Therefore, you're an asshole."

I am an asshole, and I can be overbearing and bossy, among other things, but one thing you must not have realized about me is that I am fiercely protective over the ones I care about.

Hurt what is mine and there will be consequences."

"You said mine, though. You said, 'hurt what is mine.' I think you care about me way more than you let on. Am I yours, Kova?"

"When was the last time you had an orgasm?"

"I know you didn't just ask me that question." He grinned. "God! You are so abrasive. What is wrong with you?"

"I just call it like I see it. You are wound tight and overworked, have been for weeks now. Then you come in here like you took a hit of crack. You look like you could use the release."

"Ride me hard and fuck me good, Ria. The way I fuck you. Let me inside."

"Why are we having sex?" "Why the fuck not," he retorted, pushing hard into me. "You want me, I want you. End of story. Now shut up."

"Not everything is what it seems, Ria. Just because I am with Katja, do not presume you know what goes on behind closed doors, even if I insinuate there is more. Everyone's life is nothing but a façade. We all lie."

"Feel that between us? That chemistry, that fire. The harmony of two people who are so wrong for each other but somehow come together, throwing everything off balance to the point that nothing makes sense but it feels right. That is us. That is trust. You do not let someone into your body you do not trust.

"I wish you could see yourself through my eyes, only then would you realize how much you mean to me."

"I…cannot…stop… You are mine and only mine."

"Only you, Ria," he groaned, "only you. I cannot live without you or this feeling you bring me. I want to be in you every day, all day, for the rest of my life. I want to wake up next to you, make you only mine, and do this every fucking day. This is heaven. You are my everything."

"Only you, Ria. Why do you think I cannot get enough? I have never felt like this with anyone else, and I do not know was it even is. All I know is that I am hooked on all of you. Hooked on your body, hooked on your smile, hooked on your personality, hooked on your ambition, hooked on you. I can only hope you feel the same way."

"There is a god! I'm so glad you recognized your dickness for the first time in your life. I feel like we should have a moment of silence."

"Yes, your default personality is a dick. It means you can be an angry Russian asshole sometimes."

An energy between two people so powerful it couldn't be contained, no matter how much they tried. No matter how wrong, how illicit, how morally sinful.

Some things were meant to be without reason.

"Because it is not what I wanted!" he roared, spinning to face me. "I told you, I did not want this, but you push, and push, and push until I break. I do everything I can to keep you away. I take you out of a meet, I am purposely mean to you, and yet you keep coming back. But then I see you need help and I cannot stop myself. Anything you want, I want to give you. I cannot not bend to your will. I wish I could, but I cannot. I do not understand what else I can do anymore. You are breaking a man. Do you not get that? You are breaking me,"

"Oh fuck me. What is wrong with you? It's like you have Lucifer on both of your shoulders cheering you on. The louder he gets, the dumber you get."

"It just happened." "Ria, it doesn't just happen."

"We've gone over this, you can't just fal...

I cared deeply for him. And no matter how fucked up this relationship was and what we were doing, deep down, I knew he cared about me too.