I slipped into Dimitri’s room, quiet as a mouse, trying and utterly failing to forget what I’d walked into just moments ago.
Everyone was entitled to grieve in their own way.
Dimitri had chosen to grieve by keeping every single possession his wife owned before her death. That was normal… Right?
His room gave off a completely different vibe to the one before it, that vibe being “guest room”. There was nothing personal about it. No photos on the walls. No little knick knacks. Nothing to signify somebody actually lived in the room. Just four walls with the bare basics.
A king-sized bed. A bedside table. One lonely chair in the corner with a suit jacket folded over it. And a single pair of mens shoes sitting neatly on the ground at its feet.
That was it.
It was depressing as all hell.
Lying on his back in the middle of the bed was Dimitri. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness well enough that I could see that he was shirtless, the blanket falling down to just below his waist. His chest rose and fell with deep, even breaths.
He was still asleep.
My gaze travelled down his muscular, tanned torso, along his rigid six-pack and that clear, distinct V line of his pelvis as I slowly began to approach him. Heat skirted across my skin.
Fuck, the effect he had on me… I didn’t understand it. I’d been around plenty of hot men in my life. None of them turned me into a hot fucking mess. Set my blood on fire like Dimitri did.
I stopped at the side of the bed and just stared at him. He looked almost…peaceful like that.
My fingers curled around the hilt of my knife strapped to my thigh and pulled it free. I caught my bottom lip between my teeth, continuing to study him.
Ogle him is more like it.
He was right there, sleeping peacefully with no sense to the danger he was in, completely unprotected. I could slit his throat before he even knew what happened, ending all of my problems with one, clean slice of my knife.
I placed the blade between my teeth to keep my hands free as I climbed up, making sure the sharp edge was pointing outwards. The bed dipped slightly. I kept my movements slow and controlled so there was no risk of waking him. His eyes stayed closed, and there was no change to his breathing to indicate he’d been disturbed in his sleep.
Throwing caution to the wind, I put one leg on either side of his body, straddling him. I held my weight off him using my knees, took the knife out of my mouth and held it to his throat.
I sat there, frozen, unable to move. To take that next step.
Kill him. Do it, a voice said in my head. Kill him, and all your problems die with him. Do it.
The voice was right. All my problems would go away if I just killed him right then and there. So why was I hesitating?
I looked down at the blade pressed against his skin.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
“Are you going to kill me or not, malen’kaya d’yavolitsa?”
My eyes shot up and clashed with Dimitri’s very awake, very alert crystal blue orbs. He made no move to protect himself. To stop me. Just continued to lie there, casual as you please, curiosity streaking across his face.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I answered honestly. “How long have you been awake?”
“Since the moment you entered the room.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you stop me, then?”
His gaze ran over me, slowly, methodically. He shrugged. “Wanted to see what you would do. I like this,” he murmured, plucking the skintight fabric of my leather motorcycle pants. “You ride?”
“Yes.” The overwhelming urge to drop myself on him and ride him like a bitch in heat beat at my skin. “Do you?”
“Haven’t in a long time.” His hands moved, lightly touching both of my knees on either side of his body. It was the barest of touches, and yet, I felt it everywhere, my core throbbing for something more. “So, what’s it going to be, Autumn? Hmm? Are you going to slit my throat now?”
“If I said yes, what would you do? Hmm, Butcher?”
Something feral flashed in his eyes. “Then, I suppose I would have to stop you.”
“Stop me?” I scoffed. “How do you plan on doing that? I’m the one with the dominant position here—” a gasp flew from my mouth when he suddenly reared up and spun us so our positions were reversed.
He’d done it so fast and so smoothly, it was like I blinked and I was instantly on my back with him pressed firmly between my legs.
My insides burnt. I could feel him. Every glorious, hard inch of him. It made my pussy throb, desperation filling me. My knife was still somehow at his throat, a faint red line beginning to bloom along his skin.
He stared deep into my eyes as his head tilted quizzically to the side, studying me with every shred of his focus. That overwhelming sexual tension that was always between us burnt with the heat of a thousand suns.
My skin was hot. My mouth felt dry. My heart slammed so hard in my chest that I was sure he could feel it hammering against his own.
“How rude of me. I interrupted you,” he whispered huskily, his gaze locked firmly onto my lips. “You were saying?”
“That I…” I licked my dry lips and his eyes flashed. “I have the dominant position here.” Which, in truth, was technically still true since it was my weapon prepared to end his life.
“I see,” he chuckled darkly. “I wonder…” his hand slowly moved down my body. “Does it make you wet, holding a knife to my throat?” My breath hitched when his hand disappeared down the front of my leather pants. That first contact made me moan. “Ahhh, it does.” A sinful smirk curled on his lips. ‘My dirty little devil.’
His finger dipped inside me, and I panted, rotating my hips, searching for more. He put another finger in, and I couldn’t stop myself from moving. He watched me with hooded eyes, slowly moving his fingers in and out.
“Hmm, look at you. Fucking my fingers, your pussy just squeezing me.” He came closer, regardless of the blade digging into his neck, and placed his lips over mine, hovering just out of reach. “Did you miss me, Autumn?”
Sick of being at his mercy, I reached down with my free hand and grasped his cock roughly. He grunted, eyes flaring wildly. “I can see you missed me.” I squeezed, and he released a deep, masculine moan, thrusting his hips once, twice, almost like he couldn’t help himself.
How lucky for me that the man slept naked.
“I didn’t,” he panted, pumping into my hand. “I didn’t miss you at all.”
“Same,” I moaned as he started moving his fingers faster and faster. “I didn’t think about you.”
“No,” he agreed, still thrusting. His tongue came out and licked at my lips.
“Didn’t dream of you.” Pleasure shot up my spine. I arched into him.
“No,” he agreed again. His other hand came around and started shoving my pants roughly down my legs. I kicked them off frantically, along with my shoes. “Didn’t miss your touch.”
“No,” I whimpered, my hips swirling.
“Didn’t miss your taste,” he grunted. He removed his fingers from my pussy and plunged them into his mouth, completely contradicting what he’d just said. His eyes rolled into the back of his head. He moved down, tore my pants away and pushed my legs all the way up to my chest before closing his mouth over me.
“Oh, fuck,” he groaned, licking, sucking, biting me. “Yes, yes, fuck. More. Give me more.”
“Dimitri!” I thrashed, unable to handle the pleasure assaulting me. It was so fucking good, taking me over completely.
My knife slipped from my hands, landing beside me on the bed. Dimitri moaned, burying his face deeper into my pussy like he was the one about to cum. He licked me from ass to clit in one long, languid stroke. Then another, and another. He spat on my pussy and then went right back to eating me out, a mixture of salvia and my own wetness running down the insides of my thighs.
“I can’t wait anymore,” he almost whined, like he was in physical pain. “I need to be inside you.” He let my legs go and reared up to his knees. His hand grasped his thick, hard cock and pumped it up and down a few times before he went to move into position.
“Stop,” I panted. He did immediately, a flash of confusion streaking through the lust burning in his eyes. “More. I want to see more.”
He looked down at his hand, wrapped around his cock, and back up at me.
I nodded. Fuck yeah, I wanted to see more. He had no idea how fucking hot he looked right now, his muscles rippling, veins popping in his forearms as he flexed his hand open and closed over himself.
Hot, hot, fucking hot.
He started moving his hand, slow at first, and then faster and faster, all while he stared me in the eyes. His head tilted back slightly, exposing the cords of his neck. Teeth clenched, powerful body tight and tense, small grunts and snarls slipping from his lips, he made the perfect fucking picture. One I would take to my fucking grave.
“Does it feel good?” I whispered, moving one hand to unzip my skintight leather jacket. My breasts spilt out and his eyes flashed with something dark. Something feral.
“Yes,” was all he grunted.
I opened my legs and used my fingers to spread my pussy wide. He snarled like a hungry beast, and his movements turned chaotic. “Do you want to stick your cock in here?” I tapped a finger against my pussy and shuddered. “Deep inside me?”
“Yes,” he spat with anger and lust.
I knew I was playing a dangerous game, riling him up that way, but dangerous was the only game I liked to play.
“Then beg me.”
He cursed, looked away, looked back, all while he continued to pump his cock with his hand.
“Come on, Dimitri,” I panted, putting one finger inside. “It’s so nice and wet, and warm. You want to feel it, don’t you? Feel me, squeezing your cock—oh,” I put another finger in and my hips moved, swirling, arching. “Beg me for it,” I demanded.
“Fucking please,” he all but snarled at me.
“Take me, Butcher.”
He didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward and thrust inside me. It was hard, rough, with a slight burn of pain and it made me moan, long and low. He moved instantly, rutting into me with harsh, frantic movements, and it felt fucking amazing.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” he grunted into my ear. His teeth latched onto my neck in a savage bite.
“Ah, fuck,” I cursed.
He pulled back immediately. “Sorry, sorry.”
I gripped his head and shoved it back into my neck. “No. More. More,” I begged. “I like it.”
He groaned. “You’re fucking perfect.” He ravaged my neck with a mixture of bites and kisses. It was like he couldn’t get enough. Like he had to mark me everywhere. Touch his lips to every inch of my skin.
He gripped my hair and pulled my head back roughly before taking my lips in a savage kiss, his tongue plunging into my mouth.
“Mmm. Yeah. Squeeze my cock. Nice and tight. Yeah. Fuck yeah.” His words switched to Russian, and I had no idea what he was saying except that he was saying them with earnestness, his words coated in pleasure, his hips smacking into mine over and over again.
The sound of flesh slapping against flesh echoed around us, mixed beautifully with his masculine groans. He pushed up onto his knees, spread my legs even wider apart and fucked me ruthlessly while he watched my tits bounce up and down.
“Come for me, Autumn.”
My skin burnt, my orgasm just outside of my reach. I could feel it, right there. His cock felt so good, my pussy fucking drenched and throbbing, and yet, I couldn’t get there. I needed more.
“Come for me, Autumn,” Dimitri repeated, his hips powering forward in savage thrusts.
“I…can’t,” I moaned, arching into him. “I need…”
“What? What do you need?”
I shook my head. Men judged kinks. Even Mafia men. He wouldn’t understand. He’d want to stop-
“Tell me,” he demanded, fucking me harder. “Tell me.” Thrust. “Tell me.’ Thrust. ‘Tell me what you need—”
“Blood,” I blurted out.
He stopped moving and arched a surprised eyebrow at me. A sinfully dark smirk curled on his lips. He reached for my knife on the bed, and cut a line across his chest with zero hesitation. It wasn’t a deep cut that would require stitches, but it was deep enough that blood started to trickle down his abs.
My pussy clenched, pleasure spiralling down my spine.
He resumed his thrusting, his cock hammering into me over and over again. Flipping the blade in his hand, he offered me the hilt. “Cut me wherever you fucking want. Write your name into my skin, for all I care. That shit turns me on,” he grunted, moving faster and faster.
“You don’t…have…to do this,” I panted. The pleasure was so intense that I could barely breathe, but I also started to feel guilty. It was a chat we should have had before. I didn’t want to pressure him—
“Hey.” He gripped my face and forced me to look him in the eyes. “I’m not the kind of man who does things he doesn’t want to do. You want blood?” He ran his hand across his chest and then smeared the blood onto my face. I moaned, my tongue falling out of my mouth. “Take mine. It belongs to you anyway.” He kissed me savagely. “Now, fucking come for me.”
He fucked me like some wild, feral beast, never slowing down, never losing momentum. I grabbed the knife from him and held it to his throat. He pounded into me faster, breathing harder. I ran the tip down his neck and applied a small amount of pressure, a small pool of blood emerging. He groaned, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
He did like it.
Currents of white-hot, blistering ecstasy hit me out of nowhere, and I screamed, my orgasm smacking me right in the face. It was all too much, the feel of his cock ramming into me, his sounds of pleasure, his body, his blood… It all sent me torpedoing to the best climax I’d ever had.
Dimitri didn’t stop. He kept going like a man possessed, his deep, masculine, grunts ricocheting around the room. His thrusts turned wild, frantic, his muscles bulging, veins throbbing in his neck. He smashed his lips onto mine and moaned long and deep as he emptied himself inside me.
His whole body collapsed on top of me, and I sucked in a wheezy breath. “Heavy. Heavy.”
He groaned, shifting half of his weight off me. His arm curled around my waist and then he just lay there, his head resting in the crook of my neck.
It fell quiet between us, but not an awkward kind of quiet. A more peaceful, tranquil kind of quiet that I rather enjoyed.
I knew the peace couldn’t last forever, though. There was so much we needed to talk about. So much I still needed to tell him about his father. But I was hesitant to ruin the moment. That nice, loving moment between us.
I wasn’t sure how long we lay there together in each other’s embrace. It could have been hours. It could have been minutes. What I was sure of, though, was that Dimitri had somehow fallen asleep, and I knew that because he did something so un-Dimitri-like.
He. Snuggled. Into. Me.
That shocked me for a multitude of reasons, the main one being I never would have envisioned a man like Dimitri—rugged, hard, emotionally unavailable—doing something as mundane as snuggle. With me of all people.
The sex must have really worn him out. So much so that his guard had dropped, allowing a little bit of vulnerability to come through.
What we had to talk about could wait. There was still a week left on Sergei’s ultimatum. I didn’t want to ruin the peaceful moment for him. For us.
Slowly, quietly, I slipped out from underneath him and hopped off the bed. He groaned again and readjusted, moving to his back, but he didn’t wake. Staying on the tips of my toes, I made my way over to the en suite to clean myself up.
When I got a look at myself in the mirror, I winced. I looked like I’d just fought for my life, my hair in complete disarray, blood smeared across my face and neck. Desire pulsed low in my belly. Fuck, I want him again. Already.
God, help me.
Shaking my head, I wet a hand towel and cleaned in between my thighs. The blood though… I should have cleaned it, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to.
You can’t go out in public looking like this, a voice tried to reason.
An idea popped into my head. I grabbed my phone from inside my pants and took a photo of me through the mirror—one with nothing but my motorcycle jacket on—and another standing completely naked, covered in Dimitri’s blood.
That way, I would always have a memento from the moment.
When I was completely dressed and clean, I went back into the bedroom. Dimitri was still in the same spot, breathing softly. He was out like a light, and this time, I knew he wasn’t faking it because he didn’t move an inch when I began to wipe away the blood on his chest. His eyes didn’t flutter when I applied antiseptic cream to the cuts. In fact, he started to snore just a little. Not the annoying kind, more the adorable kind that made a smile curl on my lips.
During our entire time incarcerated on Talon’s island, I’d never seen him sleep so peacefully. It made me wonder if it could have been me. Could I have been the reason for it?
After I was done, I began to gather my things to leave when I noticed a notepad and pen on the bedside table.
Why the fuck not?
I wrote my number on it. I didn’t write “Call me” or “This was fun, let’s do it again sometime”. Just ten digits. There would be no pressure that way. If he wanted to reach out and talk to me, he could.
The ball was in his court.
I quickly gathered up my shoes and backed out of the room without one last look at Dimitri’s sleeping form. I feared if I were to lay eyes on him again, I wouldn’t leave. And I had to. The moment had been perfect, in part because he had fallen asleep afterwards. He didn’t have the chance to push me away like last time. If I stayed, if I fell asleep next to him, it gave him the opportunity to do exactly what he did last time when morning came.
I didn’t want that.
I could pretend, remaining in complete denial that this time, he didn’t regret the sex.
Shutting the door as quietly as possible with a wince on my face, I backed away from it one agonisingly slow step at a time. When it didn’t immediately open with Dimitri bursting out, I released a deep breath, my shoulders dropping with relief.
I turned to head back down the stairs and—
“Oh, Jesus fucking Christ,” I hissed under my breath.
Standing in front of me was Lukyan and Aleksandr, Lukyan with his mouth open and eyes wide in surprise, and Aleksandr with his arms crossed over his chest, face hard. An awkward silence passed between us as they stared at me and I stared at them. It was painfully obvious that I’d just been caught doing the walk of shame. My hair was a mess, I had my shoes in my hands, the zip for my leather jacket was still half way down. There was no denying it.
Say something!
I opened my mouth, snapped it shut. I had no idea what the fuck to say.
Then, Lukyan surprised the fuck out of me when he whipped around and slapped the back of his hand on Aleksandr’s chest.
“See! I told you they weren’t trying to kill each other!” He raised his palm between them, moving his fingers back and forth quickly. “Pay up.”
I frowned. Did they bet on whether Dimitri and I were having sex or trying to kill each other? The moment Aleksandr slapped a $100 bill into his brother’s hand, I had my answer.
Lukyan did an excited little happy dance. “Yes! I never win-hey!” he whined when Aleksandr snatched it back.
“You still owe me from the last one,” he grunted, pocketing the cash.
“Damn, you’re right,” Lukyan blew out. He placed his hands on his hips. “What about an IOU?”
“Uh.” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I think I’m gonna go now.”
Aleksandr narrowed his eyes. He looked so much like Dimitri when he did that, it actually freaked me the fuck out.
They were both blocking the entry to the staircase, so there was no way I could get off the third floor unless they moved out of the way. I didn’t look away from him, keeping my gaze locked with his. You never showed fear or discomfort to a predator, and Aleksandr was his father’s son to a tee. After a few seconds, he stepped back, and Lukyan followed.
“Use the front door next time,” he stated as I walked past.
“Come back again soon!” Lukyan said cheerfully. Aleksandr thumped him on the back of the head and he winced.
I raced down the stairs and out the front door without looking back.
