I don’t know how long I stay inside the maze, leaning against the hedge, because I’m afraid that if I try to walk, I’ll collapse into a sloppy mess on the ground. I can still feel his finger inside me. I can still feel myself dripping down the insides of my thighs, warm and sticky as if I’ve come unplugged.
How can he do this to me?
How can I allow my father’s enemy to do this to me?
Leonid Ivanov must be almost twenty years older than me. He oozes the kind of life experience that I can’t even begin to imagine. But ever since he rescued me from Ivana and carried me up to my room, it’s as if I can no longer think of him as the enemy. I look at him and all I can see are amber eyes, strong shoulders, and jutting jaw.
I feel like an animal searching for a mate who will provide me with strong healthy children. My cheeks flood at the image of him impregnating me with his sperm.
Shit! I felt the bulge in his pants that seemed to go on and on forever, and imagine him filling me up, his cum overflowing and spilling out of me, and wonder what Mika and Cartier would think of me now. I remember Mika saying once that she viewed every man she dated as a potential husband, and I’d laughed because I thought she was joking. But she wasn’t. “Don’t you meet a guy and wonder what your babies will look like?” she’d asked.
Cartier and I had both said no.
I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I’d be wasting my time anyway, because my father would eventually arrange my marriage to a potential ally.
But Leonid must secrete the kind of pheromones that are irresistible to anyone who meets him. Jeez, I can still smell myself. I cover my mouth with one hand and exhale, praying that Tamara won’t be able to smell me too.
I shouldn’t be attracted to him. This is the man who arranged my abduction and calmly ordered the wicked witch of the west to teach me a lesson; if anything, I should be repulsed by him. But somehow, one kiss, and my knees are still trembling, and I want to yell at him to come back and finish what he started.
“I can’t have what I want.” That’s what he said.
I dissect the statement, word by word. He can’t have me because I’m an asset for him to barter with my brother-in-law. I’m his leverage. And if I’m no longer a virgin when he hands me back to my family, the war he is trying to win will escalate into a full-on nuclear disaster.
But then there’s the other half of that comment. What I want.
He wants me.
This should fill me with dread. But instead, like a little kid pulling petals from a daisy and chanting, he loves me, he loves me not, it sends a frisson of excitement traveling through me.
I knew what would happen today. Or at least, I half expected it when Leonid told me he wanted more than a kiss. I entered the maze knowing how it felt when he’d cupped my naked breast with his hand, and the part of me that is still throbbing between my legs was excited to find out how far he would go.
I could’ve refused to go for a walk. I’m sure it would’ve made Tamara happy. But I pulled this dress on with a thrill of pleasure knowing that I was naked underneath.
“Printzessa?” Tamara’s voice jolts me back to reality.
Pushing myself off the hedge wall, I straighten my dress and ball my hands into fists in case she smells my sex. I turn around to find Tamara watching me inside the maze with her brow furrowed.
“Time’s up.” She gestures for me to head outside first.
My legs carry me back to the house using muscle memory. My pulse is still racing. My heart is doing its own thing. My head is filled with the kind of images that have only ever existed between the pages of a book until now.
But for the first time since Leonid’s men brought me here, I can’t wait to be alone in my room, so that I can relive what happened inside the maze.
The next day, Tamara brings me breakfast as usual along with a jade green dress made of the kind of material that clings to every inch of my body. I spend twice as long in the shower and then moisturize my body from head to toe, imagining Leonid’s fingers sliding along my smooth legs and hesitating outside my pussy.
I don’t know if he will expect to continue the game inside the maze. But the dress suggests that he will, and suddenly, rather than praying for Xander or Seamus to rescue me, I feel like I’m counting down to my release and the last time I’ll set eyes on Leonid Ivanov with mounting dread.
I’m running out of time. Fuck going to Seamus as a virgin. I’ve had a taste of what I’m missing—just like Mika and Cartier said I would one day—and I can’t leave here without knowing more.
So, when I find Leonid waiting for me outside the maze, my heart starts doing a strange hypnotic dance, squeezing the breath from my lungs, at the promise of what today’s walk will offer.
“This is becoming a routine,” Tamara mutters under her breath. She keeps her gaze fixed straight ahead when Sergei tries to catch her eye. “People might start to question whether the Pakhan is a leader or a groundman.”
“People? Or you?” I sense the tension in her spine, but Sergei warns me to keep walking when what he really means is keep your mouth shut.
Unfazed, Tamara retorts, “Maybe I’ll accompany you today. We will see how much you enjoy the maze with a chaperone.”
She knows. Her expression gives nothing away, but she knows exactly what is going on between me and Leonid, and I don’t trust her.
Regardless of the pakhan’s orders, she is a woman, and I’m spending too much time alone with the man she loves. I try to imagine how Mel would react if Xander was going into a maze alone with a young woman every day, and my eyes water just thinking about what Mel would do to her.
“I could lose you inside the maze as easily as I lose Leonid.”
It’s as much of a threat as I dare to toss her way without risking her dragging me back down to the dungeon. I’m just hoping Leonid will order her to wait outside. He’s a mafia pakhan. He will soon tire of this game and then, not only will I never find out what it is he wants from me, but there is no guarantee that he will allow my exercise sessions outside the house to continue.
For now, perhaps, I have piqued his curiosity. But men like Leonid Ivanov can snap their fingers and have any woman they want. Any woman who knows what they’re doing.
“Tamara wants to join us today,” I blurt out at the entrance. Because why change a habit of a lifetime and allow her to speak first.
We’ll let Leonid decide.
And somehow, I feel a little less like a prisoner in this moment, than a boxer sizing up their opponent from opposite sides of the ring. I thought that Ivana was the dangerous one, but now, I think I might’ve been wrong.
My pulse seems to slow, and my blood turns cold in my veins while I wait for Leonid to answer.
“As you wish.”
And just like that, a huge gray cloud seems to hover above my head in the clear blue sky. I thought… I feel like such an idiot. A foolish, naïve teenager who still has everything to learn and has just realized that her future husband will only teach her what he wants her to know.
Whereas Leonid would’ve taught me everything. He would not have held back. I don’t know this for sure of course, I’m simply going by how he has made me feel so far. If he can keep me awake at night after one kiss, my pussy throbbing to feel his finger inside me again, imagine what else he can show me. Okay, so I might not be able to close my legs ever again, but oh the dreams I’d have.
Might have had. Past tense.
Because Tamara stands aside and gestures for me to follow Leonid into the maze while she walks in behind me.
The fun has been sucked out of the day. I study Leonid’s straight spine, the neatly groomed line where his jet-black hair meets his neck, the broad shoulders and narrow hips, and I realize with a jolt of reality that the excitement was never about trying to find my way out of the maze before him. It was about being inside the maze with him.
My captor. The man whose balls will be served up for breakfast by my father when he finds me. The same man who can set my skin on fire with the slightest touch of a fingertip.
He follows our usual route, but today he goes deeper still into the maze. The familiar heavy silence settles around us, the shadows provided by the dense hedges raising goosebumps on my arms. When he finally stops in a clearing with four potential pathways, I suddenly find that I lost my bearings a while ago.
But Leonid’s face remains impassive. “Gianna, you can choose which direction you wish to take first.”
Tamara’s eyes narrow briefly, but she remains silent while I choose my pathway, which I’m not entirely convinced is the way we came.
“Tamara.” He inclines his head.
“What about the printzessa? She is going alone?”
“She has a one-in-three chance of completing the maze before we do, and Sergei is waiting for her.”
“That way.” Tamara points to the path behind Leonid.
Her shoulders have lowered a fraction; she wanted to chaperone me, to stop me from being alone with her boss, and now she finds herself competing in a race that she’s uncertain of winning. I’d bet she’s a sore loser too.
“Which path will you take?” She watches Leonid closely.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
He doesn’t meet my eyes, but a shot of excitement pulses through my veins.
I don’t wait around. Maybe he was lying when he said that he didn’t know the layout, but I have the overwhelming sensation that he will find me whichever way I go or however many wrong turns I take.
Despite the cool soothing atmosphere created by the hedges, sweat is soon beading on my upper lip and between my breasts. I stop momentarily, my breath hitching in my throat when I feel something trickle between my legs, and clench my pussy, forcing the image of Leonid sliding his hand beneath my dress from my overactive imagination.
I don’t know how long I’ve been running around the maze when I turn a corner and spot Tamara at the other end of the pathway. I quickly reverse behind the trimmed bush and pray that she didn’t see me. Then I run in the opposite direction. I might not bump into Leonid, but if I do, I’m going to try my damnedest to make sure that I’m alone.
The thing with mazes is that every direction looks the same. This coupled with the oppressive silence is disorienting, and I have no idea if I’m going around in circles or getting closer to the exit. I can feel the heat in my cheeks, the dress clinging to my body, and the thump-thump-thump of my heartbeat.
Then I round another corner and stop so abruptly that my feet skid across the grass.
The entrance is just ahead, and no one else is there.
I should want to win. It won’t gain me my freedom, but it will give me a one-up against Leonid in whatever strange captor-captive game we’re playing. But walking out of the maze will mean that I’ve chosen winning over being alone with him, and my stomach twists at the thought of standing out there with Sergei and waiting for him to find me.
So, with Mika’s voice in my head reminding me that we only live once, I back away from the exit, heart thumping, and my brain shaking its head in despair.
Around the first corner and I collide face-first with Leonid.
He raises his finger to his lips, warning me not to say a word. Like I need to be told. We only go a few steps though, just enough to not be seen from the exit should Sergei peer inside, but not so far that we both get lost again.
Before I can breathe a word, his lips are on mine, and his tongue is filling my mouth, and my hands find their own way around the back of his head, pulling him closer to me. I feel his hand in my hair, his other hand cupping my buttocks. He glides me against him, and the bulge in his pants is even larger than before if that’s at all possible.
“Leonid…” My voice is swallowed whole by his mouth. “What about…” I was going to say what about Tamara, but his kisses are demanding, greedy, insatiable, and I can’t even hold on to my train of thought.
“Do you want me to stop?” His lips barely leave mine long enough to pose the question.
It feels like an ultimatum. Now or never. And the tingling between my legs answers for me. “No.”
“You know what I want.”
I don’t know how, but he has parted the top half of the dress, exposing my breasts. He lowers his head, pushes my breasts together and sucks on both nipples at the same time. He nibbles them between his teeth, and I reflexively arch my spine, thrusting them deeper into his mouth.
I swear he has grown an extra pair of hands.
One hand is around my back, and the skirt is up around my waist.
I try to remember why we shouldn’t be doing this. Why I shouldn’t be practically naked in the outdoor maze. Why I shouldn’t even be here.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Gianna.” His lips are pressed up against my ear, and who knew that could feel so goddamned sexy. “There are so many things I want to do to you.”
A shudder travels down my spine. “Like what?”
“I want to fuck you till you can’t walk.” He pushes his tongue into my ear, and I groan out loud. “I want to fuck you till you scream out my name. And then I want to bend you over and fuck you some more.”
“I…” I don’t know what I’m supposed to say, and my brain is struggling to form a coherent sentence anyway with the nerve endings sending electric pulses through my body.
“Has anyone ever told you how immensely fuckable you are?”
It should be an easy question to answer, but his tongue traces a line from my ear to my collarbone and down between my breasts, sucking on the skin as he goes. All I can do is pant.
He sucks my nipples, and they grow pink and swollen, while my pussy throbs for some attention.
His face reappears in front of me. “I told you what I want, Gianna.” He nibbles my bottom lip, sucks on it, his tongue flicking in and out of my mouth while his finger slides inside my sex. “I want this. I want you. I want all of you.”
Our eyes lock, and I hold onto the golden flecks while my heart races.
“Tell me you want me, or I’ll stop.”
“I want you…” I breathe the words without even thinking about what this means.
But Leonid is about to enlighten me anyways. “Be warned, Gianna, I hold onto what’s mine.” He slides a second finger inside my sex, and I gasp. “So, fucking tight. How does it feel?”
I try to answer, but no words come out.
Leonid sucks my bottom lip until I feel the blood pumping around it. “How does it feel?”
“It feels … good.”
He pulls away and lowers his eyebrows. “Tsk. Tsk. You can do better than that.” He probes my sex, exploring me with his fingers, his palm rubbing against my clit and causing my breaths to come in ragged gasps.
“It feels … sexy.”
“Better.” His warm breath tickles my ear. “Do you want more?”
“Yes.” My neck is arched, my face tilted towards the sky.
He grips my chin firmly with his left hand and lowers my face so that I’m gazing directly into his eyes. “Tell me you want more.”
I can barely move my lower jaw, but I whisper, “I want more.”
“I want you, Leonid. Say it.”
“I want you, Leonid.”
He smiles. “Good girl. You can have me, but then you will be mine, Gianna. No fucking around. You will be mine to do with as I please, and in return I promise to make you feel special.”
I’m not really listening because he had me at ‘good girl’. He must feel my sex tighten around his fingers because he smothers my mouth with his, and it’s hard to breathe, but I couldn’t stop him even if I wanted to.
Then, without warning, his fingers slide out of me, and the emptiness makes my heart clamor against my ribcage. But before I can react, I’m clutching the skirt in both hands, and Leonid is on his knees in front of me.
He spreads my thighs wide, and licks my sex back and forth, rasping over my clit, taking his time so that I can feel every part of his tongue. I tilt my head backwards and lean against the hedge. It’s the only thing that keeps me on my feet when he opens my pussy with his fingertips and inserts his whole tongue inside me.
Then his fingers are inside me too. On my clit. Rubbing, teasing, flicking, while he licks and sucks and licks some more.
My orgasm explodes onto his tongue. My body is writhing and bucking like he just sent a million electrical pulses through me, and I can’t even think about the thorns scratching my scalp, or the sound of Leonid’s name being called from somewhere nearby.
He hears it though.
In one easy casual movement, he picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, and carries me deeper into the maze. He stops around the next bend and sets me down. He lowers the skirt and straightens the bodice with apparent ease as if nothing just happened between us.
“Take your time. You can’t come back looking like you just had the best orgasm of your life.” Then he turns around and walks away without a backward glance.
My pussy is still clenching and unclenching in the aftermath of my explosion. My inner thighs are saturated. My nipples are stinging. And my legs feel so weak that I sit down on the grass and hug my knees to my chest.
I replay what just happened on repeat inside my head.
And each time I get to the part where he tells me not to come back looking like I just had the best orgasm of my life, my stomach twists.
Is that it? Was it just a game to him? Did he say all that stuff about not being able to have what he wanted just to persuade me to give in?
I squeeze my eyes shut. He used the oldest trick in the book—telling me what I wanted to hear—and I fell for it.
