His head dips farther and he pulls the sides of my borrowed button-down shirt to the side to draw a nipple into his hot, hungry mouth. “Such responsive, pretty nipples. So fucking suckable.”
“You are my payment.” He growls around a mouth full of me and I won’t lie. I go completely freaking weak in the knees. I’m pretty sure a dandelion’s stem has more strength than me at the moment.
“I belong to no one.” I straighten my spine and pretend it’s made of steel instead of putty.
There goes that dark, almost menacing chuckle again. Like I’m cute in thinking I have a choice.
With a juicy pop, he releases my nipple, stands, and pushes me against the nearest wall, his hand a heated collar around my throat while the other slips between my legs.
Between us, I feel the hard length of his cock. I mean the slow-slung shorts do nothing to hide the impressive size, to begin with. My body thinks it’s go time for round three and the second he swirls a finger over my aching clit and tightens his hold on my throat I cream all over his hand.
“Good girl,” he purrs.
Whoa. The husk of his voice. The accent. He wields the combination like a weapon to disarm me.
He looms over me all taut muscle and looking like a gorgeous god. “You can fuck me a million times. I still won’t belong to you.” It takes a gargantuan amount of energy to not ride his finger when he slips it inside my velvety walls. And like a complete psycho I almost give in, I really do. But law school taught me how to hold out and he’s about to see the stubborn side of me.
I wrap my hand around his wrist and press his fingers deeper into my flesh until I can feel the bite of pain and the rush of adrenaline.
Using his other hand, his fingers start to tease and stroke all the while our gazes remain locked. The stubborn streak that has won me more than one case in the past starts to crack to reveal the softer woman beneath that tough exterior who just wants to feel and find peace in a world of chaos.
“Let me put it to you another way, malyshka. I return you to the people wanting to give you a watery grave or you can have the best time of your life in my bed. In return, you give me an heir.”
My brain might be battling through the fog of lust but I recall his earlier words of wanting to see me round with his child.
“You meant what you said? Earlier, I mean?”
He nods and his eyes turn to obsidian pools filled with the very sin and lust I crave to lose myself inside of. And hand to God, I grow wetter at the thought.
“Me? You want me?” I don’t believe in fairy tales. Serenity’s good fortune was a one-off. Right? How likely is it that two best friends can find happiness with mobsters? Ha. I’m not destined to find a happily ever after. Not like Serenity. There’s probably some old wives' tale floating around that proves my point.
All that said, I’ve gone so long without knowing the touch of another. The desire to belong and wanted is intoxicating. But if I do this and give in to his demand, I am just another piece of property to a man who already has everything.
Maxim releases the pressure around my neck but our gazes remained locked. Warm wind whips at the dark strands of his hair giving him a playful playboy vibe. But only briefly. The darker aura of his lifestyle breaks the spell and I see him for the Bratva man that he is. Behind him the black waters of the Atlantic glitter in the moonlight as if saying to me in the darkness there is light. But is it with him or am I suffering through wishful thinking here?
“Come,” he coaxes his voice steely and rough. “Let’s rest. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
“I’ll go with you, Maxim, but once we are back at the port I have a life to get back to.”
He draws me into his arms and leads us back to bed. Neither accepting nor acknowledging what I’ve said. With an arm around my waist, he tucks me beneath his chin and holds me. It’s not long before his chest rises and falls with even breathing.
I don’t belong to anyone. And definitely not to a mafia man. I was stupid to think a one-off would be a good idea. I wanted to feel and man did he deliver in spades, but men like him don’t stop at making their women feel good. They want to own them and one mafia king known as Maxim Novak is as possessive as they come.
I trace the pad of my finger over the snout of a dragon slumbering over his right shoulder.
I wish things were different. I wouldn’t mind having an obsessive lover who devoted themselves to me and only me.
But honestly, I see myself as Cinderella caught up in a fairy tale where this princess has to go back to her one-bedroom castle and slip into her maid’s uniform before sunup and I don’t have much time left. I don’t belong with him. If anything, his world wants to see me dead.
Wrapped in his bodily warmth makes it hard, but I manage to stay awake until I hear the captain throttle back the motor and dock. I wait another ten minutes to make sure Maxim doesn’t wake.
I press a light kiss to his lips and feel a zing of electricity. I brush it off as left-over endorphins. My ears are still warm from the sweet murmurings of wanting to see me round with his child. But in the real world I know that isn’t going to happen.
I grab my shorts and bathing suit and make quick work of pulling them on in the muted light of the cabin. I make my way portside and slip silently off the massive yacht. The guard at the gate lets me out and I don’t dare look back for fear of running back to the man who saved my life.
Dangerous thoughts of needing his brand of passion have my feet dragging but I push on until I have the lights of Miami in sight. It takes me half an hour to reach my tiny one-bedroom apartment and as soon as I am inside, I sink to the floor, tears in my eyes.
* * *
Maxim
Iwatch as my siren sneaks off the back of my boat and runs down the pier.
Itake out my phone and pull up a starred contact. “Follow her. Time how long it takes the East Syndicate to find her and call me the second you pick up the tracker nearing her location. Make sure nothing happens to her. She’s already carrying Novak blood. Anyone fucks up, it’s their balls in a jar on my desk.” I hang up.
I’ll let her think she’s gotten away for now but it won’t be long before she’s back in my arms, in my bed, and round with my baby.