Dmitry shook his head.
“I’d like to go,” Tatiana said in a low voice, staring at her older brothers, her big hazel eyes wide and filled with anticipation.
Gio didn’t look at her, but he scowled and grabbed his whiskey glass, shooting back the rest of it.
“I thought you said those fights were nothing but a bunch of bloodthirsty savages?” Amara wiped Luca’s face after she spoke.
“No,” Dmitry bit out. “Absolutely not.”
“It’ll be safe, brother.” Nikolai’s brows lowered. “I’ll even bring Amara. She’s been wanting to check one out since the last time she snuck her perfect ass into the underground.” He turned his head to stare at her. “Remember, kotenok?”
He leaned in and dragged his nose along the shell of her ear. My sister shivered, and I felt weird watching this very clearly intimate moment.
“I had to kill some assholes who thought they could even look at you.”
Amara slowly blinked and a blush spread across her cheeks. Nikolai kissed her temple before facing his brother, holding out his hands, palms up, before dropping them back down. “See. It’ll be a family outing. We’ll bring in extra security, keep a safe section off for the girls, and they can get an adrenaline rush watching D'yavol beat some poor sap to death.”
Dmitry’s jaw was clenched tightly as he squared off with Nikolai, who just smirked like he was having the best time.
“What do you say, Gio?” Nicolai asked, drawling out those words as he smirked at my brother.
Gio was silent for long seconds before leaning back in his chair. “Maybe watching the fights will open their eyes to their world more.”
I was confused by Gio’s cryptic words.
“But don’t think I let this caveman shit fly with my sisters, Russian.”
Nikolai sobered instantly, all amusement fading as he stared at Gio. “Your sisters are married. They aren’t under your protection anymore, and you sure as hell don’t make the rules.” Nikolai leaned forward and growled something in Russian before saying, “Don’t think you tell me what to do.”
“Okay,” Amara said. “That’s enough. Claudia just got married, and this is supposed to be a nice after-ceremony lunch. All of you are ruining it.” The anger in my sister’s voice was thick, and Nikolai leaned back in his chair, Gio shut up, and Dmitry laughed softly.
And just like that, the atmosphere changed, everyone calmed the hell down, and we had a nice meal.
After lunch, I was eager to be alone with Dmitry. I even assumed he would be too, but I was surprised when he said we would go shopping instead of taking me somewhere private and fucking me.
He took me to so many shops I lost track. He even had one of his men follow us around in another SUV so we had someone to carry all the bags from my purchases.
Although I had money of my own, a card that allowed me to access funds from an account Gio had set up for me, Dmitry refused.
In fact, he told me if I didn’t let him pay for everything I needed, he wouldn’t fuck me tonight. Instead he’d bring me to the edge of coming and deny me. Repeatedly.
And then he’d let me watch him get off.
That threat had been whispered low against my ear, with the sales associate only a few feet away and watching us with wide eyes.
I could’ve called his bluff because I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to deny me, not when I’d beg and plead with him, knowing he got off on it, but I wasn’t about to risk it.
Besides, I could see the actual pleasure on his face when he did things for me, as if he derived pleasure from taking care of me.
And what woman—feminist or not—could say that didn’t do certain types of things to them?
But we would be having a conversation later concerning what he expected from me and what I expected from this marriage.
As we left the hundredth store we’d shopped at, I watched him slip on a pair of dark glasses, smooth a hand over the front of his suit, and felt him curl his hand around my waist as he pulled me to his side.
The only thing I could think about concerning this marriage and how independent I was going to be in it was how many times I could get my new husband to fuck me in a day.
Chapter 39
Claudia
Later that night, after a low-key, intimate dinner, we found ourselves at the most prestigious hotel in the city.
Dmitry hadn’t even said his name at the front desk before the front desk attendant was acting nervous as hell and booking us the penthouse Presidential Suite.
The room was incredible and dripped with luxury, with an amazing view that overlooked the entire city, and had private access to the rooftop pool.
I was suddenly so nervous, which I knew I shouldn’t have felt since I’d already been with Dmitry in so many filthy ways in just that one night, there wasn’t a part of me he didn’t now own.