I don’t want to walk away and leave her like this, but I don’t have a choice. I can’t afford Tamara to find the printzessa with her skirt around her waist and my face buried between her legs. It would not look good for either of us, and besides, I still have Tamara’s comments about everything changing since Gianna’s arrival niggling away inside my head.
So, I leave Gianna safely out of sight, rearrange the bulge in my pants, and make my way out of the maze to find Olga approaching with my dog Marvel.
Tamara tracks my movements with narrowed eyes. Sergei, as always, waits with his feet firmly planted at shoulder width, and his hands clasped behind his back. I give them a brief nod, and smile as Marvel comes hurtling towards me.
He’s an all-black Belgian shepherd. Another rescue, like the twins. I discovered him filthy and starving wandering around the port one day, his fur matted with blood, his tail tucked between his back legs, his eyes hunted and wary. Despite the cruelty he had previously suffered, he accepted food from me and, in return, offered his unwavering loyalty.
The instant he notices me he lowers his head and slips his leash easily. He bounds towards me, leaping about like a kangaroo, his front paws almost reaching my shoulders. He would be intimidating if he wasn’t such a big softie, but I pity anyone who tries to attack me in front of him. He cries and barks at me playfully, always vocal, until I rub his back and his belly and stroke behind his ears. It took Marvel a long while to accept affection at face value, but even now, I am the only person he ever kisses or accepts a hug from.
“Hey, boy.” I nuzzle his face and wrap my arms around his neck. I’m buying myself some time to reassemble my thoughts while he licks my face as if he hasn’t seen me in months. He communicates through whines and playful barks in a language that only we understand.
I want to see Gianna’s face. What happened inside the maze was … not what I expected to happen. She gave herself to me so freely, so trustingly, that making her come was the only thing on my mind. I wanted to pleasure her. I needed her to know how I could make her feel, how I could make her explode all over me because it was what I wanted.
Because I was the one in control. I will always be the one in control.
But it was what she wanted too.
And here is where my thoughts become misty. Dangerous. No one has ever wanted me the way Gianna wanted me today. Not even Elena.
Elena only wanted the promise of what I could give her, of the life she thought she could have with me, of the woman she would become as Mrs. Leonid Ivanov. She said all the right things, pressed all the right buttons, spread her legs wide and begged me to fuck her senseless. And I believed her. Until I caught her on one of my own cameras fucking one of my men in the utility room of my mansion.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I didn’t see straight through her, but I was young, and she rode me like a fucking cowboy.
But I never once saw Elena come the way Gianna did with complete and utter abandon, losing herself in her orgasm until she was left limp and exhausted. I never knew how excited it would make me feel, watching Gianna’s orgasm ripping through her. Or how it would leave me desperate for more. Would she explode that way a second time? Or a third?
In the moment, Gianna felt to me like a rare and precious creature, someone to be nurtured, cosseted, adored. My printzessa.
I dismiss Olga, my housekeeper. I know that she is wary of Marvel; I also know that my dog takes advantage of this wariness, breaking out of his leash whenever the whim takes him, and chasing birds around the garden until he wears himself out. Only then, does he allow her to lead him back inside.
I straighten to find Sergei and Tamara watching me from just outside the maze’s entrance. If I wasn’t so preoccupied, I’d remind them that being besotted with a dog is not a sign of weakness. If anything, it is proof that I understand loyalty and trust and friendship, something that many people would benefit from learning.
Involuntarily, I lick my lips and realize that I can still taste Gianna. I can still smell her juices on my face. If it wasn’t for Marvel, I’d march straight back in there and finish what I started, but I remind myself that it’s better this way. Gianna will come to me again when she is ready.
My heart beats a strange tune when she finally emerges from the maze, her dress uncreased, her hair pushed back over her shoulders and secured into a messy ponytail. The only giveaway that anything sexual happened between us is the flush on her cheeks and her swollen lips, but an outsider might attribute this to the sun’s heat and the maze’s difficulty.
Her eyes barely skim mine before settling on Marvel.
She blinks. Her mouth opens into a round ‘O’ of surprise, and she doesn’t move.
“He’s friendly.” I wait for her to look at me, but she has eyes only for my dog. “Provided you show no animosity towards me.”
“It must be a lonely life for him then.”
I’m not sure I heard her correctly until I catch the brief smirk on Tamara’s face, and disappointment settles on my shoulders like a heavy cloak. Gianna thinks that I’ve used her the past couple of days and walked away as soon as I’d gotten what I wanted. My hands ball into fists. Does she not understand that if I’d wanted to use her to satisfy my own desires, she would’ve crawled out of that maze on her hands and knees with my cum trickling out of her swollen pussy?
If she wants to resort to the feisty printzessa role, I can step back into the dangerous captor persona just as easily. And I can make life a hundred times more difficult for her than she can for me.
Before I can think of a suitable retort, Marvel pulls away from me and goes trotting over to Gianna where he promptly licks her hands and face, and sniffs behind her ears to make quite sure that she’s a friend. I’ve never seen him react this way with anyone and it’s a pleasant surprise. Even if it is Gianna.
I approach them, trying desperately to keep my eyes off the swell of Gianna’s breasts beneath the fabric of the dress and the curve of her ass. “He likes you.”
“Of course he does.” Her eyes meet mine briefly before she aims her smile at Marvel. “We’re kindred spirits. I’m not allowed to run away either.”
“The difference is, printzessa, that Marvel would not choose to run away even if the opportunity presented itself.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know any better.”
She gazes at me now with those beautiful turquoise eyes and heat rises in her cheeks. Whether this is caused by the banter or the knowledge that I was able to make her groan with pleasure is unclear. But I am already imagining ordering Sergei and Tamara to leave us alone and fucking her right here in my grounds to prove that I am not done with her yet.
“You might be surprised.”
Perhaps something in my tone catches her unawares. She cups Marvel’s face in her hands and peers into his eyes as if they are communicating telepathically.
“Where did you come from, huh, boy?” she murmurs.
“No one knows.” I stand beside them, so close that I can see Gianna’s erect nipples through her dress and smell me on her. “But if I ever find out who was responsible for trying to break his soul, they will wish they’d never been born.”
Gianna nuzzles Marvel’s neck. Her face is turned away from Sergei and Tamara, and she allows herself this brief respite to hold my gaze. Perhaps she is looking for an acknowledgement that something has changed between us, or perhaps she is looking for something more, something that I can’t offer her.
Then she nods briefly as if she understands, and my stomach plummets.
I should feel elated that my plan is falling into place. Gianna Sedric wants me. She is not the same woman who boarded the flight in Montenegro to return home to marry a man she doesn’t love. But the plan is already turning sour in my mouth.
“Why did you name him Marvel?” The question breaks through my reverie.
“Because he is my superhero.” I have never told anyone this before, mainly because no one has ever asked.
“Marvel, sit.” Gianna stands up and offers the dog her hand. “Paw.”
He complies almost before the command has even left her mouth.
She glances at me sideways. “He’s obedient.”
A smile tugs my lips upwards. “He isn’t afraid of me if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t. It seems that you have a very different image of yourself to the one you present to the rest of the world.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, you act like you’re a demon in an expensive suit, but Marvel can see right through you. You see, Mr. Ivanov, dogs can’t smell guns. They smell love and fear and hate and they share their affections accordingly.”
“What can he smell on you, Miss Sedric?” I can tell when her eyes widen momentarily that the innuendo isn’t lost on her.
“Something that you might not understand. Kindness and honesty.”
Movement in the corner of my eyes claims my attention, and I find Ivana striding towards us across the neat lawn. She wears her customary black leathers, the green flicks at the corners of her eyes elongating them and giving her an air of intended wickedness.
A low growl rumbles somewhere deep inside Marvel’s chest, and he stands, placing his body between Ivana and Gianna.
“Down, boy.”
The dog doesn’t even acknowledge my command. His ears, usually large and proud, are flat against his head, and his haunches are lowered, ready to attack. He starts barking before Ivana is within touching distance.
She glares at him. “Shut the dog up, Pakhan.”
I bristle. “He is simply doing his job. What is it?”
“You should come.” Her eyes roam from Marvel to Gianna and finally settle on me. Then she turns around and heads back to the house.
“I should go.” I have no idea why I’m explaining my movements to Gianna, but I guess a small part of me wants her to know that, given the option, I would stay. “Come, Marvel.”
The dog doesn’t move. He sits down at her feet and watches me with his mouth open in what is unmistakably a wide grin.
“Can I have a bit longer?” Gianna’s eyes are wide and clear. “Please?”
“I’ll bring the dog back inside.” Tamara joins us, and Marvel immediately springs to his feet again, protecting his new friend.
“Fine.”
I follow Ivana inside, leaving the dog to settle the logistics of getting him back to the house. I can’t help smiling. It’s obvious who is going to win, and it won’t be Tamara.
Ivana is waiting for me in my study with my sister Victoria. She doesn’t sit down. “The Irish are retaliating.”
Another piece of the plan sliding into place. Not long ago, I ‘persuaded’ a member of the Irish clan to defect to my team; he proved himself useful by orchestrating Gianna Sedric’s abduction, while I made certain that Xander Amory would be able to trace his sister-in-law’s disappearance back to them. Now, I can sit back and watch this little distraction from the comfort of my own business, while the asset is in my garden playing with my dog.
“Is that all?” My mind is still outside; this is the reason why I have people like Ivana to see that my orders are carried out.
“The shipments.” She pauses, watching me coolly. “We have already missed two days.”
“We can proceed as planned with tonight’s shipment. I’ll send Sergei to oversee the delivery.”
“Perhaps we should postpone,” Victoria says. “There is too much at stake with the asset here.”
“Everything is under control.”
“Everything? Xander Amory hasn’t even begun his counterstrike yet.”
“And we will be ready when he does.”
I know Victoria is only doing her job, making sure that the lines I cross in the name of the Ivanov business are blurred beyond recognition when the Chicago Police Department comes to look at them. But Gianna Sedric is in my care, and I’m bristling at the thought of any interruptions from anyone… Including my own sister.
“What about the printzessa?” Ivana’s voice is all cold metal and barbed wire.
“What about her?”
“When will she be leaving?”
“When I am ready to let her go.”
I turn around and walk away, but not without catching the look of comprehension in my sister’s eyes.
