Execution (Off Balance, #2)

by Lucia Franco

but I didn't want him to know he still affected me after how harshly he treated me and think he could get away with it.

We could be so good together, and so bad.

I couldn't comprehend how he could go from being with me, touching me, kissing me, and saying what he did, to acting this way with Katja.

"First you pull me from the meet because of Hayden, then you tell me it's actually because of you and the ravenous desire you have for me, now you're making me go because of him? You make no sense, Kova. None at all. You're more frustrating to figure out than a female."

I gravitated toward him, we gravitated toward each other.

"Ria, you have a dream. I am trying to make it a reality. Go with it. Please, just trust me on this."

Sometimes the moments in life that caused the most damage to the heart put us on the path of reward and gratification. To the greatest glory. And in that moment, when Kova explained what I needed to do, I felt like

everything that happened up until this point, was meant to happen.

"The one who invented the Harry Potter? I do not know her name, but in one of her books she wrote, 'Anything is possible if you have got enough nerve.' It is true, and I have never forgotten those words. This—gymnastics—takes courage. It takes heart. And it takes nerve. You got this."

When he removed some of his layers and gave me a real glimpse of the man he was, I had an overwhelming urge to be closer to him. He was more laid back, casual, confident. Even flirtatious. He was rarely like that with me. If hundreds of people did not surround us, I would've thrown my arms around his shoulders and hugged the shit out of him.

This need had absolutely nothing to do with sex and everything to do with a deep connection to someone.

"What's your weakness?" "You," he said without hesitation. "Me?" I pulled back. Kova nodded and repeated himself. "You. Now tell me, what is your strength? What keeps you going besides your love for the sport?" You, I wanted to say. It was my first instinct.

Kova was my strength, but I was his weakness. A weakness he worked on to improve and make resilient. A strength that I drew from. God, the complexity of that tore at my center. We were going to sleep in different beds with the same appetite, wake up with the same drive and same focus, work together to come out as one. We were a team. "Say it," he pushed on in a whisper. I didn't need to, he could read the answer in my eyes. "I want to hear you say the words, Ria. I need to hear them." I swallowed, shying away. "You." My voice cracked. "You are my strength, Kova." God, it was so true, and it nearly knocked the wind from my lungs. He really was what I relied on to give me what I needed, and I didn't realize it until recently. He didn't gloat. "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. We fight together. We work together. It is an amazing feeling when you find someone who shares the same passion as you. The possibilities are endless. I am the beast beneath your beauty, pushing you. From here on out, we do it together. You come ...

I am fiercely protective over the ones I care about. All he had to do is say one wrong thing to you and I would have ended up in handcuffs. I am serious, Adrianna. I do not play games like that. Hurt what is mine and there will be consequences."

"Of course I care about you." He bristled. "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?"

"I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to show you that I want it, that you're not wasting your time with me. I'm going to show you that I'm worth it."

"I already know you are worth it."

me. "I always know, Ria. Let me give you what you need. I just need you to trust me."

"Trusting you terrifies me. You broke that trust once."

Kova was a poison, a drug. He made me wanton and untamed. I became someone I didn't know, but most of all, he made me feel desired and sexy, and I was realizing that I craved that feeling.

"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." I shook my head in disbelief.

"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."

I was mad at myself for not being strong enough to refuse him, because the reality was that I wanted him. Needed him on a primal level it scared me.

"I think my girl likes the idea of me holding her down and surrendering to me,"

he said, his words surrounded me like a tightening rope. I did. I really did. "I could take away your power, your control, and make you forget your name." Then he slid all the way in. I tensed. It hurt in this angle. It was different and not all that comfortable.

"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. Look how wet you get when my cock is inside you, how wild you get when our lips collide, how hard I am every single time I am around you. I do stupid things, I know I do, but when it is just us, it all makes sense."

"I wish you could see

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

"Do I have your trust? Say it." "Yes, Kova. You have my trust."

"There is no better way to wake up than with you in my arms. I wish I could wake up like this every day." His voice was rough from sleep.

"I want to fuck until we both cannot walk. Why, why, why…only with you do I ever act like a goddamned savage." His face was a field of ruined emotions. "Only you…"

"I know what my girl likes. I always know what she likes, even when she cannot admit it to me."

"I…cannot…stop… You are mine and only mine." He wrapped his arms around my back and grasped my neck and lower back as he pushed off the couch and drove into me like a fucking pro.

"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."

"Is this normal?" My voice cracked. "What?" he asked, not moving. My heart was racing, I could feel his heart beating against my chest. "When two people connect so deeply when they have sex, is this normal? I feel like I'm on another dimension when I'm with you." Kova looked at me. "No, it is not. It is not normal at all," he said with such genuine sincerity I knew he wasn’t lying. "Have you…" I glanced away for a second and licked my parched lips. "Have you ever felt like that with anyone else?"

"No, never. Only you."

"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."

"Yes," I said...

He kissed me like he loved me.

"For the record, I would never give anyone ammunition to use against you. Ever. Remember that." He dipped his head. "Now get back up on that beam and show me what you are made of. Do it with determination, do it with intent. Use your body and show everyone you want it without having to utter a word."

Strength didn't come from what you could do, it came from the power within one’s heart, a determination unlike no other to thrive. Sometimes I needed someone to remind me of that.

"It's just you are being nice and helping me like this… I don't know, Kova, it's too much for me, too much for us. It shows you care, and honestly, I don't want that."

"Because then you have officially crossed the line. It's one thing to have sex with someone when you're not supposed to, sex doesn't have to come with strings attached. It's another thing entirely to care for them emotionally. Whether you want to admit it or not, we're crossing that line. You care for me far more than you’re obligated to; you would not do the same for the other girls. You know I'm right."

If I was being honest, I’d admit I cared far more than I should too. I knew in my heart I did. That’s why I was trying to create some distance between us.

When we were together—intimate or just having a conversation—it was explosive, the chemistry combustible. Only we mattered. I got him, he got me. We complimented each other in the most unusual way, and it just worked…when it shouldn’t have. Kova glanced back at me. The onyx that flickered against the brilliant emerald of his eyes captured my attention. I stared back at him for a moment before he nodded, but just b...

"Does the fact that I have a girlfriend mean anything to you?"

"You are fucked up in the head, you know that? What if she was my wife? Would that make a difference to you then?"