Men like me don’t marry for love. We don’t look for women to be ourpartners. We look for beautiful women, pliable women, women who can bear our children and raise them, women who can run a house and go to functions on our arms and make us the envy of other men.
I’d believed Caterina was all of those things when I’d married her. And she is all of them—except for pliable.
But she’s so much more, too.
She’s strong, intelligent, brave, and tenacious. She’s the kind of woman who, on her own, would be a formidable match against a man like me. The type of woman you meet once in a lifetime, perhaps. The kind of woman that men in my world do their best to subdue.
And the truth is that I have no idea how to make a life with a woman like Caterina. All I’ve ever known is to try to make her bend to my will, to bring her to heel and force her to submit.
But I don’t want to lose her.
I want this.
Forever.
I kiss her again, hot and fierce, as I pound my cock into her, wanting her sore tomorrow, remembering how this felt with every movement. I want her marked inside and out, and from the way she clings to me, her nails digging into my shoulders as she kisses me back, she wants the same.
“Oh, god, Viktor—” she moans my name against my mouth, her body tensing in my arms as I feel her on the verge of coming again, and I can feel my own climax rising hot and fast, quicker than I’ve ever come for a second time. I feel her tighten around me, her head tipping back as her back arches, and I could hang onto it, could make it last longer, but the draw of the pleasure is too much, the allure of coming with her. I want to pour myself into her as she convulses around me, and as I feel her start to shudder, I let it go.
It feels as if my soul is coming up through my cock when I drive into her, a torrent of cum bursting from me as I fuck her hard, pressing her down into the blankets as her nails score my back, my name tearing from her mouth as she comes again. We’ve both lost count of her climaxes, and I hear myself muttering through my own, words spilling from my lips before I can stop them between kisses.
“Caterina—bladya, Lyubov moya, bladya—”I thrust into her again, reaching for her wrists and pinning them above her head as I grind my mouth against hers, biting at her lower lip, groaning my pleasure as I fuck her hard enough to break her, wanting every drop of pleasure that I can wring out of this moment between us.
Lyubov moya.I hear it again, my own voice saying it before I can stop myself, and as my sense returns, I thank god that she doesn’t speak Russian. I’m a fool to say such things, even in the throes of pleasure, but I can’t stop myself. She makes me feel as if I’d throw everything to the wind for another night like this.
When I slip out of her, this time, I roll over onto the bed, pulling her into my arms as I move us both to lie on the pillows. We’re both panting, sweaty and exhausted, and Caterina slumps against the stack of pillows on the bed, her eyelashes fluttering closed as she tries to catch her breath.
“Ah, you still look so gorgeous,” I murmur, pushing a piece of hair out of her face. “Krasivaya malishka.”
“What does that mean?” Caterina asks softly, her eyes still closed. “You said it, when—”
“Beautiful. Beautiful baby.” My fingers are still running through her thick dark hair, her naked body cradled in my arms, and I wonder how long it would be before I could be ready to take her again. It’s been a long time since I’ve fucked more than twice in one night, but I can already feel my desire rising again, just from the feeling of her breasts against my chest and her slender body in my arms.
“Oh.” Caterina breathes in, and I wonder if she’s going to ask about the other, what I’d said as I came the second time.
I’m prepared to lie because I’m not about to admit to it. But instead, to my surprise, she pulls away. Quickly, almost methodically, she extricates herself from my arms and sits up, moving towards the edge of the bed and reaching for the torn puddle of silk on the duvet.
“Where are you going?” I stretch out, reaching for her arm. “Come lie with me for a bit,malishka.”
“I think I likedprintsessabetter.” Caterina tries to pull her elbow away, but I tighten my grip, suddenly irritated.
“You hate that nickname.” I frown at her, feeling some of my pleasure in the moment we were sharing start to slip away. “What’s wrong? Come lie with me. Maybe in a little while—”
“We’re not going to fuck again.” Caterina jerks her arm, harder this time, ripping it from my grasp. “I only meant for us to do it once. I got carried away when you—”
“When I fingered you and made you come again? Yes, I know how quickly your pleasure makes you forget what youmeantto do.” I can hear the sarcasm creeping back into my voice, hear myself getting colder. I’d softened with her tonight, let the way that she’d given herself to me get under my skin. But it’s becoming clear that she’d meant something different than I’d thought by it, and that makes me angry.
“I don’t like being tricked or deceived,” I tell her, my voice low and dark. “Nor do I like being used. Not even my wife will get away with those things, so if you meant tonight to be something other than pleasure,printsessa,I suggest you—”
“Ah, there it is.” Caterina stands up, still beautifully nude, but her expression is as cold as mine. “The Viktor I know is back. Not the one who whispers sweet nothings to me in Russian. There’s theUssuriI married.”
I glare at her. “I’ll whip your backside again, wife, if you haven’t had enough—”
“Oh, I’ve had enough for tonight,” Caterina says. “And all the nights.”
“If you think you can tell me—”
Caterina balls the silk up in her fist, her expression darkening, too. “I think I can, Viktor,” she says quietly. “Unless you want your family life to be miserable, which I don’t think you do. You didn’t marry me for lust or for love. You married me for two things. You said so yourself. You married me because you needed a mother for your children and a son to inherit.” She takes a deep breath. “Very well. I’ll do what you married me for. I’ll care for Anika and Yelena and raise them as my own, and I’ll give you another child if I can, despite what the doctor said. I’ll fuck you until I’ve given you a son, we’ll do it the natural way, just as you desire, but this is thelasttime that it will be intimate.”