My orgasms leave me feeling weak and limp, like I could sleep for a month. But Leonid turns me around and eases me onto his cock so that I’m facing him.
“Ride me, Gianna.”
I can’t look away from him. He doesn’t allow me to feel self-conscious about being a novice at this. The gleam in his eyes makes me feel like the most beautiful woman alive. Like a … princess.
“Good girl.”
It isn’t meant to be patronizing, and it’s what I want to hear. Each time he calls me his good girl, I get a surge of adrenaline through my veins, and any shyness I felt the first time he kissed me in the maze evaporates a little bit more.
He squeezes my breasts, and I lean into him, our skin slamming together as I thrust my hips back and forth, then pausing to grind in circles. I slide off him and lick my taste from his cock. Then, I guide him back inside me and kiss Leo, sharing my juices with him.
It’s hard to believe that I’m doing this. Me. The twenty-three-year-old virgin promised to a mafia boss. Ex-virgin, I remind myself. Because Leonid is like a rare dish that, once tasted, will never be beaten.
I want him. I want him with every fiber of my being. I could no more walk away and forget this ever happened, than I could stop breathing. He, this, our bodies coming together, has become my oxygen. Leonid Ivanov is the fix that I need to keep me functioning, and I want to spend whatever time we have left together exploring every part of him.
“Fuck me, you little minx.” He pulls my hips above his face and lowers my pussy onto his tongue. “Fuck my tongue, Gianna.”
And I do. Using the wall as support, I ride his tongue, my orgasm shuddering through me again and again.
Leonid sits on the edge of the bed, and I sit on his cock, riding him from behind. He grips my hips, making my thrusts more powerful. I hold onto his thighs, back arched, and head tipped backwards, my breasts bouncing with each movement. When he comes inside me, his hand wraps around my neck, he tilts my face towards him and fills my mouth with his tongue.
I feel him inside me, his body jerking with his own orgasm, and I never want to let him go.
We collapse into a sweaty heap on the bed, and he pulls me to him, his arms wrapped around me almost tenderly. He smooths my hair away from my face and smothers me with kisses.
“You’re so beautiful, Gianna. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, do you hear me?”
Tears prickle my eyes, and I try to blink them away.
“Hey, what are these for?” he murmurs, catching them with his fingertip.
“I don’t know.” The lie is spontaneous.
Of course, I know. It sounded so final, don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, do you hear me? A reminder that this thing between us has an end date. That one day soon, I’ll go back to my family and be expected to return to a way of life that no longer exists now that Leonid Ivanov is a part of it.
I’m not the same person I was when I arrived. Whether it was intentional or not, I will never be the same person again, but I don’t know what the new me is supposed to do now. Perhaps Leonid did intend to corrupt me, but there isn’t a chance in hell that he considered his actions might have such a devastating effect on me.
“No one ever told me that I’m beautiful before.”
His eyes darken momentarily. Then, he grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger and kisses my lips. “They must be blind. But perhaps I should be grateful to them.”
“Why?”
“Because this beauty is all mine.” He kisses me harder, his lips crushing mine, his tongue forcing my mouth open. “You’re all mine, printzessa, and I guard what’s mine with my life.”
“But—”
“No buts.” His face is so close to mine I can see the brown and gold flecks in his amber eyes. “Do you trust me?”
Do I? I know what Tamara said, but his actions say something entirely different. He took my virginity already, he didn’t have to come back for more, and although he knows that Tamara and I lied about my botched escape attempt, there have been no repercussions. For me at least.
And when he says that he will protect me with his life, I believe him.
“Yes.”
He pulls away just enough for me to see his smile. “Good. Because I promise that I will always look after you, Gianna. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
More tears spill over my bottom lashes. “You shouldn’t make promises that you can’t keep.”
“I don’t.”
He settles my head on his shoulder, pulls the comforter over our naked bodies, and closes his eyes. He falls asleep almost instantly.
I watch him sleeping. Supporting my upper body on one elbow, I study his face, the lines fanning out from the corners of his eyes, the dark stubble on his jaw, the narrow scar that slices his left eyebrow in two, the tattoos covering his torso, neck and arms. Even in slumber, he is like a coiled spring waiting to be released, and I wonder if he ever truly relaxes.
I eventually fall asleep in his arms to the tune of his steady heartbeat.
He is gone when I wake up. I sit up and stretch, the comforter sliding off my naked body revealing swollen nipples and faint marks across my pale flesh from the stubble on his chin. I trace the marks with my fingertip down to my sex and the raised marks on my inner thighs.
This beauty is all mine.
Maybe it shouldn’t make me smile, it’s possessive after all, but it does. It fills me with a sense of contentment that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before. Is this how Mel felt when she met Xander? Mel changed too when they first met; it was as if a light had been ignited inside her, and she glowed whenever Xander’s name was mentioned.
I wish I could talk to Mel. I know now that I’m not ready to leave Leonid, but I just want one conversation with my sister so that she can tell me she felt the same way about Xander. So that I can start to figure out what this is.
I shower and towel-dry my hair. When I hear voices outside the room, I barely have time to pull on the clothes that have been left in the closet for me before the door opens and Leonid appears with a wide grin on his face.
“You didn’t lock the door.” I didn’t even think of checking when I woke up, but from the voices I heard outside, it’s obvious that Leonid didn’t leave me unguarded.
“It can be arranged.” He half-turns back towards the open doorway. “But I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” My eyes flit back to the door expecting Mel to walk in at any moment and tell me off for not calling her sooner. But no one comes in.
Despite the immaculate suit and freshly shaved jaw, there’s a lightness to Leonid today, like his aura somehow turned from midnight-black to sunny-yellow overnight. Okay, so maybe not sunny-yellow, but the hazy colors of a summer dawn instead.
“Are you coming with me to find out what it is, or do I need to send it back?”
“I’m coming.” I cross the room, stand on tiptoes, and kiss him on the lips, heat spreading from my chest and into my face when I spot the guard watching us from outside the doorway.
Leonid doesn’t react. He turns around and escorts me from the room ignoring my sideways glances and the excitement oozing from my pores.
“Stop looking at me like that. If I tell you now, it’ll spoil the surprise.”
“Is my sister here?” I blurt out before I can stop myself. “Is Mel here?”
Leonid’s expression is impassive. Even when we reach the kitchen, and he opens the door wide for me to enter first, he still gives nothing away.
Then I hear the bark that sounds nothing like Marvel, and my heart somersaults as a fluffy, tan-and-white puppy comes skittering across the tiled floor towards us. I crouch and scoop the puppy into my arms, while she climbs up me, placing large front paws onto my shoulders so that she can lick my face.
“Her name is Lucky.”
I giggle in between sloppy kisses and give up trying to deter Lucky from her public display of affection. “She’s … so … cute,” I manage, narrowly avoiding her over-enthusiastic tongue. “Who does she … belong to?”
“She’s yours, Gianna.” His voice takes on a serious tone. “If you want her.”
My chest aches at the unexpected gift. I squeeze Lucky so tightly that she squirms and wriggles out of my clutches, skidding back across the floor and colliding with the bowl of water that has been set down for her.
I stand up and slide my hand into Leo’s. “Why did you…?” I don’t even know how to finish the question.
“I saw how easily Marvel warmed to you, and I didn’t want to lose him.”
I try to ignore the reference to me leaving again. I don’t want anything to spoil this moment. “Thank you. She’s beautiful.”
“Like you.” He takes my chin between his thumb and forefinger, but before he can kiss me, Marvel barks at us from his crate on the other side of the room.
I pull away, grinning. “How does Marvel feel about his new companion?”
“He’s already in protective big-brother mode.”
I slant my eyes at him. “Maybe I should try to escape more often. You have room for a few more dogs at least.”
Leo’s kiss is demanding, and I feel the air leaving my lungs as he presses his body against mine. “Next time, you might not be quite so fortunate.” His amber eyes lock onto mine. “Promise me that you won’t do anything foolish.”
“I promise.” My heart is thudding inside my chest. It’s an easy promise to make.
I spend the next few hours playing in the garden with the dogs while Leonid goes to the office. He was right, Marvel is already acting like the doting big brother, refusing to let Lucky out of his sight, while the puppy masters the art of wrapping everyone around her little finger.
In typical puppy-fashion, she finds everything an adventure. She darts towards the edge of the pool and would dive straight in if she doesn’t catch a glimpse of a butterfly flitting around the buddleia bushes. She chases a ball around the lawn, tumbling over it and face planting the grass. She tries climbing up Marvel to kiss him and isn’t deterred when, every time, he shrugs her off and sideswipes her with his hind legs.
“Lucky.” I pick her up and nuzzle her fluffy face. “You’re a determined young lady. I think that you and I are going to be best friends.”
Leo didn’t mention what would happen when I return home, but he said that she’s mine, and whatever happens, I’m not leaving her behind.
When both dogs are exhausted and napping in Marvel’s huge crate, Lucky tucked between her big brother’s paws, I go back to the guest room. It feels wrong to be hanging around the house when Leo isn’t here. But the guard is waiting for me, and the door is open.
“What’s happened?” I ask, trying to peer inside. I’ve had no conversations with anyone other than Tamara, but my pulse is racing too quickly at the prospect of a repeat performance of yesterday’s escape bid.
“The pakhan asked that you be moved to his quarters.” There’s no hint of emotion or judgment in his tone; he’s simply stating a fact.
“He did?” I try to quell the excitement gurgling inside my chest.
I want to ask what this means, but Leo isn’t back yet, and he didn’t give me any warning that this was going to happen. Is he worried that Tamara might try to help me flee a second time? Or does he feel, like me, that the air he breathes isn’t the same when we’re not together?
The guard, whose name I still don’t know, waits outside while I enter Leo’s room. I don’t know what’s expected of me, but I feel like an intruder, until I see the small dog bed in the corner of the room. Braver, I enter the walk-in dressing room and find one side filled with clothes that all appear to be my size. Does Leo keep a selection of outfits just in case the need should arise, or did he send Tamara shopping for clothes this morning? I can imagine how well that would’ve gone down and make a mental note to check the clothes for strategic rips and sharp objects hidden inside the seams.
I haven’t eaten yet today, so I walk back to the guard and ask him to escort me to the kitchen. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but there seems to be more security staff than usual positioned around the house. I instinctively glance up at the ceiling and catch a glimpse of the flashing red light of the camera.
Tamara and Ivana are in the kitchen, seated at the breakfast counter with their lunch and a couple of cans of soda, and my stomach twists. I hoped that the room would be empty. I get the impression that Olga doesn’t particularly like me, but she’s less abrasive than the two sisters, and keeps her opinions to herself while she gets on with her work.
I feel awkward helping myself to food with them around, so instead, I find the dog treats and sit on the floor with Lucky, trying to teach her to sit and give me her paw.
The guard who accompanied me sits with them, and the three speak in hushed tones. I try not to listen, but the atmosphere in the room is oppressive, like the calm before the storm clouds start rolling. Each time there’s a lull in their conversation I feel their eyes boring into the back of my skull. Lucky is oblivious, and I try to be more like her, but it’s difficult when the only person who is happy about my presence in the house isn’t around.
Marvel keeps one eye on the group sitting at the counter behind me, and lies with his haunches poised ready to spring him into full-on attack mode. More guards appear in the doorway and walk away again once they’ve accounted for everyone present.
Something bad is going down. I sense it. I know what it’s like to live with the constant threat of danger hanging over my head, and I can feel the tension emanating from the other people in the room.
“Who’s handling it?” the guard asks.
There’s a pause before Ivana answers, “Andrej.” Her voice is rougher around the edges than her sister’s, a heavy smoker’s voice.
“He was here yesterday,” Tamara adds. “Pakhan said it was time.”
Time for what? And who is Andrej? I shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but there’s no mistaking the bitterness in Tamara’s tone.
“We hit them last night.” Ivana drops her voice a notch, but either she wants me to hear their conversation, or she never learned to be quiet.
Either way, she can only mean one thing: Leonid’s men hit Xander Amory’s mob last night while Leo was in my bed. Something cold and slimy slithers down my spine. Was I a distraction to take his mind off what was going on outside? Or had he not intended to spend the night with me when he came to my door?
Before I can think about what this means for me, I hear the screeching of tires outside the house. The two women and the guard are on their feet in an instant, guns in their hands.
Panic solidifies inside my stomach.
Has Xander come for me? Where is Leonid? Will the guards try to stop him from taking me or will they hand me over. What if someone gets killed…?
Without thinking, I scoop Lucky into my arms and put her back inside the crate with Marvel, locking the door so that they can’t escape. Then I stand in front of the crate, shielding them with my body as best I can.
My heart beats erratically when Tamara and Ivana place themselves between me and the door, while the guard presses his back against the wall behind the door, both hands wrapped around the handle of his revolver which is raised to chest height. They’re expecting trouble. Despite everything, the sisters’ instinct is to follow orders and protect me, and for once, I’m grateful as no one is likely to hand me a gun to defend myself.
Footsteps inside the house.
A voice calls out, “Don’t shoot. It’s Marco.”
A glance passes between the sisters and the guard, but no one moves. Until a short, stocky man enters the kitchen carrying a sturdy box in front of him, followed by several more armed security staff all dressed in black. He knows his way around, and they obviously know him. Tamara and Ivana wait until he places the box on the island counter and steps away, then they sweep in and peer inside.
Their faces are turned away from me, but I watch their spines stiffen. The temperature inside the kitchen seems to drop a few degrees.
“Who?” Ivana asks.
“We don’t know yet,” Marco answers.
“Has anyone told Leonid?” Tamara slides a phone from her pocket.
Marco nods. “He knows.”
“Andrej worked his magic last night.” Tamara again. I still don’t know what’s in the box, but she sounds disappointed that she missed whatever magic display Andrej put on.
“Maybe the printzessa will recognize it.” Without warning, Ivana removes the object from the box and turns around to show me.
My stomach churns, and I have to cover my mouth with both hands to stop myself from being sick when I see what she’s holding. It’s a hand. It only takes me a beat to understand that this isn’t some Halloween prop for a costume party, and that the blood and flesh clinging to the wrist is real.
Did Xander send this to Leonid? What kind of grisly warning is this supposed to be? Why didn’t he just track me down and set me free? Why did he have to kill someone and deliver their hand to his enemy in a box?
What kind of man did my sister marry?
It’s late when I sit up in Leo’s king-sized bed and switch on the lamp on the nightstand. My sleep has been fitful; it feels like it should be almost dawn but it’s only a little past midnight. Still, Leo’s side of the bed is untouched.
I lean across and breathe in the smell of his pillow. It’s cold to touch even though I catch the lingering scent of musky cologne that sends a shiver traveling through my body.
He didn’t come home after the macabre delivery earlier today. He didn’t get a message to me, and no one would tell me where he was or what he was doing; I guess it’s on a need-to-know basis, and I don’t fall into the right category.
But I can’t stay here knowing that he might be in danger.
I get up, pull a bathrobe on and fasten it around my waist before heading to the door. As expected, the guard is instantly alert.
“Where is Leonid?” I don’t give him the option to tell me that he can’t answer the question, but he remains silent. “Is he in the house?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Take me to him.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I—”
“Take me to him or I’ll tell him that you entered his room unannounced while I was sleeping in his bed.” His expression tells me all I need to know—Leonid would kill anyone who dared to approach me without his knowledge.
He inclines his head and walks off, and I follow him along the softly lit corridors and downstairs to a room that I haven’t yet been inside.
“Thank you.” I offer him a smile that goes unacknowledged. Perhaps he will be in trouble for bringing me here, but I’ll fight his corner if I must and tell Leo that I insisted.
I knock softly and enter the room.
This must be Leo’s study. Lamps are lit on a bureau behind the wide mahogany desk, casting a golden glow across the room that doesn’t quite reach the corners. Leo is sitting in a high-backed leather seat behind the desk, a bottle of vodka and a shot glass in front of him. His suit jacket is hanging from a coat stand. He has removed his tie and opened the top couple of buttons of his shirt, but it is the weariness in his eyes that makes me gasp.
“Leo?”
He rises, swaying unsteadily on his feet. “Gianna? What are you doing here?” His eyes instinctively drift towards the closed door.
“I made him bring me to you. I was worried about you.”
He shakes his head, a small smile appearing and vanishing in a fraction of a moment. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Here as in your study or do you mean here in your house?”
“I shouldn’t have dragged you into this, Gianna.” He sits back down heavily in his seat, refills his glass with vodka and knocks it back in one.
I walk around the desk, his eyes following my every move, and kneel in front of him, spreading his legs wide so that I can shuffle in between them. “I’m here now. Will you tell me what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” He makes no move to touch me. When he speaks, his voice is slurred. “I wanted to keep you out of it. I wanted to protect you from it, from seeing the kind of man I am.”
“You didn’t deliver someone’s hand in a box.” His eyes linger on mine and something melts inside me. “You can’t protect me from reality, Leo. I’m a Sedric, remember?”
“You don’t understand…” His hand drifts towards my face and I grab hold of it, pressing his knuckles to my lips.
“I understand more than you give me credit for.” I push him back in his seat and unfasten his pants. “I understand that you want me as much as I want you.”
“Gianna.” He tries to push my hands away, to stop me from touching him, and I move his hands down by his sides. “Stop.”
I smile. “I’m not one of your men to be ordered about. And we both know that if you really wanted me to stop, you’d be on your feet and dragging me back to the guard waiting outside the door.”
His eyes snap towards the door and back again.
I tug down the zip of his pants, slide my hand inside, and free his cock. “Now tell me that you don’t want this.”
In response, he raises his hand to the back of my head and guides my mouth onto him.
I watch him closely as my lips close around his erection and I lick the head, already sticky with pre-cum. In the glow of the table lamps, his cheekbones appear even more chiseled than usual, his eyes so dark they’re like bullets. But his features soften as I slide him deeper and deeper into my mouth fighting the gag reflex because being his ‘good girl’ is what we both need tonight.
His hands fist in my hair, and he holds me still, sliding my mouth on and off his erection until tears trickle from my eyes. “Make me come, Gianna.” He sounds so vulnerable that I grip the base with one hand and squeeze tightly while I suck until my cheeks ache, the fingers of my other hand trailing over his balls.
I feel the pulsing through his length a moment before he grips my hair so tightly my scalp burns. Then his cum spurts down the back of my throat and coats my tongue and the back of my teeth. I swallow.
But before I can react, Leo lowers me backwards onto the floor and opens the bathrobe, ripping open the buttons of his shirt that I was wearing in bed. He studies my naked body like I’m a priceless painting, and I already know that no one else will ever look at me this way.
He gets down on his knees and raises my feet so that they’re over his shoulders. “Hold on tight, printzessa. I’m going to make you come like you’ve never come before.”
He raises my hips off the floor, supporting my lower body with his thighs, giving me an unobstructed view as he buries his face in my pussy. His tongue is hot and wet, and my pussy constricts around it welcoming the first orgasm almost immediately.
But Leo doesn’t stop. He licks me inside and out, his tongue hitting the spot every time. I reach behind me, holding onto the legs of a sturdy seat pressed up against the wall, and ride the crest of an orgasm that just keeps on coming. Then he’s inside me, his body crushing mine, his fist gripping my wrists behind my head so that I’m pinned to the floor.
“I’ve never seen anyone come the way you do,” he murmurs, grinding his cock so deep inside me there isn’t a part of me that doesn’t feel it. “You love coming for me, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
His hips slam against me, driving his cock even deeper. My knees are almost touching the floor behind my head, and I can feel the burn of the carpet on my back, but if I could suck him in deeper I would.
“Say it.”
“I love coming for you.”
“Come for me now, Gianna. Show me how much you want me.”
He grinds his cock into me, round and around and ever deeper until I can’t think about anything else but the pleasure exploding inside my body.
“There’s my good girl.” He smothers my mouth with his kisses until our bodies finally stop shuddering.
