HANNAH
Several hours later we descend to the kitchen both our stomachs rumbling with hunger. A sex-a-thon will do that to a person I’ve come to find out. Morning has moved to late evening and the sky is still dark with rumbling clouds as if Mother Nature is hungry too.
The downstairs layout is a vast open space that blends from one section to the next. The living room becomes the dining room, the kitchen becomes the sitting area as I turn in a complete circle. He scoops me up and plants me on top of the large island counter. It seems to spread on for miles with enough space to feed a family of forty people.
“Do you like pasta or rice?” He turns those bedroom eyes on me like he’s asking me if I want to do reverse cowgirl or doggy.
“Both. Bona fide carb lover here.” I watch him busy himself opening cabinet after cabinet filled with what looks like several weeks’ worth of food. From the looks of it, we could stay on this island for a long while before needing anything from the outside world.
“Maxim. Don’t take this the wrong way, but what if I want to leave?”
He pauses in front of the refrigerator with storm clouds matching the ones rumbling overhead in his eyes.
The carefree version of him becomes serious. Shit. I should have at least let the hum of our shared pleasure fade a little before talking about leaving.
I’m wearing his pullover again and nothing else. He pulled on low-slung jeans leaving the button popped and the zipper halfway down. My eyes fall there while I kick my ass for ruining the mood.
He crosses the kitchen and tilts my chin up. “Look at me.” When I do, the sudden swirling confusion in his expression is replaced with understanding. “You are not my prisoner. But where you go, I go. Accept those terms and you are free to travel to Mars if you like.”
Oh. I blink several times.
“All this is for you. The food in this kitchen. The clothes in the drawers upstairs, this house, this island.”
I hold a hand up and Maxim grins at me. A genuine expression of humor makes him appear lighter. “Wait. You bought me clothes?”
A dark brow hooks upward. “I offer you a multi-million-dollar island and you focus on the clothes?”
I shrug. “It seems so personal. Only my father ever bought me clothes and when that happened it was always a ‘here’s my card, take a taxi home’ kind of thing. No one else has ever cared enough to make sure I have life’s essentials.”
The muscle in his jaw ticks as I talk about my dad. He doesn’t like the man, I see.
“I will forever take care of you. This whole place is for you. For me. We can stay here and get to know each other since we will be raising a family together.”
“You have this all planned out, don’t you?”
He advances on me, pushes between my legs, and palms the back of my head. He takes my lips in a hard kiss and I can feel him getting hard.
“Again?” I tease.
“I can’t seem to get enough of you. Your voice, your touch, your juices.” He scrapes his hands through his hair. “You are my siren, only I hope you don’t lead me to my death.”
There is a seriousness to his voice that has my hands falling to his shoulders and then resting over his heart. I don’t know I am doing it until his hands come to rest over mine. He draws them up and then places gentle kisses on the insides of my palms.
“I don’t know what magic spell you have cast over me, charadeyka, but I’m firmly caught.” He moves a warm hand over my stomach. “Would it be so bad to have my babies?”
“Charadeyka?”
“Enchantress.”
“I’ve always wanted a large family.”
His mouth pulls back into the biggest smile I’ve seen on him to date. “I will make a promise to you right now. I won’t let anything happen to you. Trust me on this. Everything else…we can figure out. But your life is protected by my own.”
I feel the weight of his words and the look in his eyes says he doesn’t give the promise very often or at all.
He kisses the tip of my nose as the lights die. “Did the storm kill the power?”
“Shh, malyshka. With me. Now.” I’m quickly pulled off the counter and forced to kneel on the floor. Maxim shields me with his massive body and I can’t see anything past the expanse of his back. I don’t know what is going on until I see the flashes of muzzle fire and hear the crack of glass as it shatters.