Bloody Lace

23. Dimitri

23

DIMITRI

W hen I’m interrupted by a call from Gus, telling me that there was an incident but that Evelyn is okay, if a bit shaken up, my vision goes red with anger.

Not with her this time, or even with him. From what I know right now, at least, Gus did his due diligence. And he said he took down two of the men who tried to grab Evelyn, which means he moved fast. He made sure she was safe, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what really matters.

But what also matters is who the fuck thought they could make an attempt to kidnap my wife—and if it’s Barca Valenti and his Crows, how he’s become so goddamn confident that he thinks he’s a match for the Yashkov Bratva.

Because he’s not. Not one of them is. If anything, Gus just proved that by how quickly he took out two of those men, if that’s really who they belonged to. And I’ll find out soon enough. I fire off a text to Vik as I pace my office, gritting my teeth as I wait for Gus to get back with Evelyn.

If only she’d fucking listened to me. Why can’t she listen?

But the truth is, I don’t think I’d feel the way I do about her if she did. Her fire, her independence, even her infuriating stubborn streak all contribute to the ways she drives me absolutely fucking insane—and make me wonder if I’m really going to be able to let her go when the time comes.

Of course I will. Thinking anything else is ridiculous. There’s never been a woman in the world that I haven’t been able to walk away from, and Evelyn Ashburn should be no different. Even if every muscle in my body is currently strung tight, thinking about the fact that something could have happened to her. That something almost did happen to her.

And he said that it had something to do with Nicci, at that goddamned lunch that I didn’t want Evelyn to go to in the first place. He said she got away, fleeing in a different car while Gus was focused on taking down the men that tried to grab Evelyn.

My jaw clenches even tighter, fury churning through me at the thought that the conniving bitch I almost married is somehow caught up in Valenti’s scheming. That she’s so unwilling to let me go that she’d let herself get wrapped up in this. And how ? Did they approach her? I can’t imagine she had the balls to go to them.

I’ll find out soon enough. Vik and the men he trusts the most will find out who else was with the men Gus shot today, and they’ll bring at least one of them to me. And then, no matter how much blood I have to spill to do it, I’ll get answers.

I’ll find out why the hell they thought they could get away with coming after my wife .

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m aware that I’m furious about this for what should be all the wrong reasons. My anger has very little to do with the fact that the Yashkov authority in this territory is being threatened, and more to do with the fact that Evelyn is being threatened. She shouldn’t be my first priority, not when our marriage is nothing but a sham. But she is.

I know she is. And until the moment that I hear the front door open and Gus’s heavy boots in the foyer, she’s the only thing on my mind.

The moment I hear their voices, I stride out of my office, intent on making sure Evelyn is alright. I see her taking off her coat and boots, and my gaze instantly snags on the dried blood coating the back of one of her legs.

“What the fuck?” My voice carries, and they both instantly look over at me. “ L’vitsa , are you hurt?”

Evelyn shakes her head. “It’s from the other guy.” There’s a clear attempt at humor in her voice, but I hear the way it shakes, just a little. I can see that her cheeks are paler than they should be, rather than rosy from being out in the cold. Her hands are trembling slightly when she sets her boots aside, and it’s the way all of that tugs at my chest that makes me react the way I do, as much as anything else.

I can’t afford the way this woman is starting to make me feel. Now, more than ever, I can’t afford to be weak. And that’s what love is. A weakness that gets you killed.

“Evelyn.” I stiffen my spine, taking a step backwards. “I want to talk to you upstairs.”

She narrows her eyes, but whether she’s too shaken up from what happened to argue, or just doesn’t want to argue in front of Gus, she nods.

I turn on my heel and stalk towards the stairs, my own hands balling into fists as I think of what nearly happened. Of how someone tried to take her from me.

When I hear the sound of her feet coming up the stairs, I have to resist the urge to go to her. To pull her against my chest, wrap her up in my arms, and tell her how it would have ripped my heart out to have lost her. How I would have cut a bloody swath across New York to get her back.

But that will help neither of us.

“I should have tied you to the bed when I had the chance earlier.” The words come out rougher than I intended, rasping from my lips. The thought sends an instant jolt of arousal through me, even as I try to quell it. This isn’t the time for that—but my cock twitches all the same, my body suddenly prickling with awareness of the fact that I told her to come talk to me in the bedroom.

“You could have tried.” Evelyn tips her chin up. “I’m going to change. We can argue about this when I’m done.”

A sharp laugh bursts from my lips, at the same moment that my cock jerks against my fly again at the thought of her naked. The casual way she tells me when we’re going to talk about something, as if she hasn’t the slightest idea of who I am, is both infuriating and arousing all at once. As is the fact that I know she knows she shouldn’t speak to me that way. That no one else speaks to me that way, and lives.

She just doesn’t care.

She walks past me, yanking open a dresser drawer and grabbing a pair of leggings and a t-shirt. And my stomach tightens, imagining her stripping off her clothes in the next room. A door between me and all of my wife’s bare, smooth skin. Skin that I feel like I’m dying to touch.

Before I can fully think about what I’m doing, I take a few quick steps backwards, flipping the lock on the bedroom door. Evelyn hears the click and her gaze shoots to it, her eyes narrowing.

“What are you doing?” she asks sharply, holding the clothes in her hands closer to her.

“We’re going to argue about this now,” I tell her firmly, closing the distance between us once again. “And if you want to take off your clothes, you can do it right in front of me.”

“We talked about this. We’re not?—”

“And I told you there were things we could do that won’t have consequences. Or are you regretting what happened up on the roof last night?” My chest tightens when I say it, because I don’t want to hear her say yes . Something in me feels like it can’t take hearing her say she regrets anything that’s happened between us, and that’s a dangerous feeling to have.

It’s one I should be trying to get rid of, instead of feeding it like this.

“I thought we were arguing about how I shouldn’t have gone to the lunch.” She throws the clothes that she’s holding on a nearby chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “And how apparently kidnapping your wife is better than letting her use her own judgement.”

“Your own judgement almost got you kidnapped!” My voice rises, because apparently I’m as ready to have this fight as I am to fuck her. I’ve never had the experience of being half-hard during an argument before, but then again, I’ve never cared about a woman enough to fight with her. All the arguments in my life up until now have been with my father, or with Vik.

Neither of which give me an erection. But it’s very clear that fighting with Evelyn does.

“How the fuck was I supposed to think that Nicci would do that ?” Evelyn throws up her hands, her eyes narrowing. “You can’t tell me that you believed for a second that that’s what would happen. You didn’t want me having lunch with your ex, but you didn’t think she was going to try to have me snatched. I know you didn’t.”

“How?” I snap, even though she’s right. I thought Nicci was up to something, but I didn’t expect this. I didn’t think she had it in her.

“You wouldn’t have let me go if you’d had an inkling that this might happen.”

She’s right, and something tugs in my chest again at the realization that she knows me that well. That Evelyn has paid attention to what I say and do. That she’s taken me at my word. But I shove the feeling down, abruptly.

“You’re right,” I say tersely. “I wouldn’t have.”

“Because you get off on controlling me,” she snaps, and I feel a grin tug at the edge of my lips.

“ L’vitsa , you haven’t begun to see what gets me off.”

Something flares in her eyes, but she shakes her head, her lips pressing together in a thin, stubborn line. “Stop changing the subject. There’s no reason that I shouldn’t have been able to go to that lunch, logically, without being paranoid that something that neither of us could really have anticipated would happen. So why are you acting like this? Like I did it on purpose. And why—” She hesitates, briefly, in the middle of her rant before flinging the last words at me. “Why do you even care so much?”

“Because I want you safe.”

I can tell that’s not what she expected me to say. Her expression blanks for a second, as if she was prepared to throw something back to whatever it was that she had expected, and then she frowns.

“Why?”

I step closer to her. I can’t help it. She feels like a magnet, drawing me in, and even though there already wasn’t much space between us, I close what distance there was. “You’re my wife,” I murmur, and it feels as if that answer should have been obvious. As if I could never not protect her.

Evelyn flinches. “It’s not real,” she whispers, and for the first time, it sounds almost like she doesn’t believe what she’s saying. Like she’s struggling to remind herself of it, too.

And looking at her, feeling that pulse of rage still at the thought that anyone would dare to try to take her from me, I know one thing is true, whether either of us likes it or not.

“Some part of it is,” I murmur. And then I lean in, tangling my hand in her thick black hair as I drag her mouth to mine.

She resists for a split second, stiffening. And then my lips slant over hers, my hand pressing against the back of her skull as I pull her into me, dragging my tongue over the seam of her lips.

She gasps, her mouth opening under mine, her hands coming up as if to push me away, but instead they curl into my shirt as my tongue slides into her mouth. She tastes sweet, earthy, like red wine, and I growl as I twist her towards the bed, backing her up.

“Dimitri—” She manages the shape of my name against my lips, but the sound barely comes out, swallowed up in the kiss as I withdraw just long enough to nip at her lower lip before devouring her again.

I can feel her chest heaving against mine, her back arching, her body seeking out the pleasure that she now knows I can give her at the same time that her mind is fighting it. Her hands push at my chest, then tug at my shirt, her tongue dragging against mine as I deepen the kiss again.

I reach down with the hand that isn’t knotted in her hair, dragging her sweater up, the softness of her skin against my fingers sending a jolt straight to my cock. I groan against her lips, dropping the sweater abruptly to loop my arm around her waist, lifting her up as I tumble us both back onto the bed.

I need her underneath me. I need to feel her body pressed against mine, her legs wrapped around my hips. My cock is throbbing, rock-hard and aching, and I nip at her lower lip again as I reach down to drag her sweater the rest of the way off.

In the brief moment where I have to break the kiss to take off her sweater, Evelyn tries to squirm away. I pin her underneath me, tossing the soft fabric to the side as I grab both of her wrists and lift them over her head. Her eyes go wide, and she freezes underneath me, the only movement her chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath.

“I won’t fuck you,” I promise her silkily, even as my cock jerks in protest. “But I think it’s best if you’re tied to the bed while we finish this conversation, l’vitsa . Just as I promised.”

Her eyes go even wider, her lips parted, her skin flushed with desire. I reach down with my other hand, flicking open my belt as I jerk it free of the loops, and I feel her tense at the sound of the leather slipping free.

“If I didn’t know better,” I murmur, reaching up to loop it around her wrists. “I’d think you might be wet just from that sound, l’vitsa . Just as wet as you were when I spanked you.”

“I was not ,” Evelyn spits, starting to wriggle again as I loop the other end of the belt around a space in the headboard. “I?—”

I press a finger against her lips, and she goes very still again. “What did I say about lying? I won’t hurt you, Evelyn, but I can think of other ways to show you what happens to that pretty mouth when you use it to lie to me.”

A tremble runs through her, and I know desire when I feel it. For all the defiance in her eyes, the sharp jerk of her chin as she looks away from me, she wants me. She wants this . And I intend to enjoy every moment that I can get.

When her hands are secured to the headboard, I push up to my knees, looking down at my wife’s captive body. “Perfect,” I murmur, reaching down to adjust the thick length of my cock. It throbs against my palm, straining to be free, but I force myself to wait. I want to drive us both to the edge, and the best way to do that is by keeping myself restrained in some way, too.

“Dimitri—” She whispers my name again, and I can’t tell if it’s a protest or a plea. She yanks against the belt around her wrists, but it’s impossible to know if she’s trying to get free, or if she’s trying to get closer.

“You know what it does to me when you say my name, l’vitsa .” I lean forward, yanking open a drawer next to the bed. There’s a hunting knife inside, inside a leather sheath, and when I take it out and toss it on the bed, I feel Evelyn physically recoil, a squeak of fear leaving her lips.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” I look down at her, seeing another quiver pass through her soft, pale body. “I would never hurt you, Evelyn.”

She looks up at me, and I think she believes me. Her eyes are wide, her body still trembling, and I feel her shiver as I reach down, flipping open the button of her jeans with my thumb.

“You wanted these off, didn’t you?” I give her a wicked smile as I hook my fingers in the edge, dragging them down her hips. Her panties underneath are red silk, a small velvet bow at the top, with lace panels on the sides. My cock jerks instantly when I see them, and I feel a bead of pre-cum slide down my shaft, my breath catching in my throat at the sight. “Did you wear these for me?”

I skate my fingers down the sides of her hips as I say it, and Evelyn glares up at me, clearly not willing to give in so quickly. “No,” she bites out, and I chuckle.

“I believe that, l’vitsa . But I like them all the same.”

I reach over for the knife, sliding it free of the sheath. Evelyn’s eyes flick towards it again, and I see her breathing pick up as she watches me move. When I press the tip of the knife to one of her bra straps, she goes very still, and I chuckle darkly.

“Good girl.”

I’ve fantasized about this before. Thought about this exact scenario with my hand wrapped around my cock, a sharp blade cutting through fabric, baring inch after inch of perfect skin to my hungry eyes. But I’ve never done it before. And somehow, the fact that I’m doing it with Evelyn feels infinitely more intimate than it should.

“Be very still,” I murmur, slipping the blade under the strap. My cock throbs, my head swimming with arousal, and I remind myself that I promised not to fuck her. That I can’t fuck her.

Each slice makes my cock jerk, reacting with every bit of her bra that I cut through. I grit my teeth against the wave of arousal, exquisite frustration rippling through me as I slice through the last strap, tugging the fabric away to reveal her perfect, full breasts.

Her nipples tighten instantly, and I groan, dropping the knife as I reach up to cup her breasts in my hands. Evelyn lets out a shocked whimper, her head falling back as I roll my thumbs over her nipples, the arousal that I feel at the softness of her flesh in my hands dizzying.

I’ve never been so turned on by a woman. Never felt my self-control fraying just from the sensation of breasts cupped in my palms. But Evelyn makes me feel as if I’m losing my foundation, as if everything I’ve ever been certain of is on the verge of crumbling beneath me, just from touching her.

I squeeze her again, pinching and rolling her nipples lightly, and a soft, mewling whimper slips from her lips. Her hips arch up, and I pinch again, reveling in the way her skin flushes and that whimper turns to a moan.

I slide my hands down her waist, bending to brush my lips where my fingers were a moment ago. I feel her twitch and shiver under my hands, those soft, pleading noises slipping faster from her lips now, her legs moving against the bed as she writhes at my touch.

“Dimitri, please .”

The sound of her begging makes me dizzy with need. I don’t know if she’s pleading for me to stop or to keep going, but she hasn’t said stop , and unless she says it, shouts it, I won’t. I can’t . It’s all I can do not to strip those red panties away and drive my cock so deeply into her that she’ll feel me inside of her for days.

I drag my tongue over her nipple, sucking it into my mouth, nipping sharply at the peak and making her cry out before moving to the other and doing the same. I tease her breasts until her nipples are puffy and swollen, and then I slide my tongue down the valley between them, dragging my lips over the taut flesh of her stomach until I reach the edge of her panties.

They look so perfect on her, clinging to the edges of her hip bones, smooth against the curves of her skin, and I almost don’t want to take them off. She looks like art, lying there like this, the flushed red of her lips and nipples a sharp contrast to her pale skin and dark hair, the red silk matching them. But I want to see what’s beneath them more.

I slip my fingers under the silk, sliding them down. Evelyn’s breath hitches, her body tensing for a moment, going very still as if she’s forcing herself to not help me take them off. Her chest heaves in quick, sharp breaths, and I see her teeth sink into her lower lip.

“You’re not fooling anyone, l’vitsa ,” I murmur. “Not me, or yourself.”

And then I drag the panties down her hips, tossing them aside as my gaze locks between her thighs.

She’s wet. Dripping for me, her outer folds swollen and parted, the slick arousal beneath visible to my gaze. I reach for the button of my pants without thinking, my cock desperate to be free, my own arousal too insistent to contain any longer. I strip away my clothing in the same moment that I lean down to press my mouth between her legs, shoving her thighs apart with one hand as I strip myself bare with the other.

“Dimitri!” She cries out as my tongue lashes over her clit, lips sucking at her folds as I devour her. I’ve never wanted anything more than I want her taste on my tongue at that moment, to feel her throbbing and writhing beneath me, the muscles of her thigh twitching under her palm as I drive her closer and closer to the edge.

Making her come feels like an addiction. A need . The way she tastes, the scent of her, the slick wetness of her arousal on my lips and tongue, all over my face as she finally gives up trying to pretend that she doesn’t want this as much as I do, and arches against my face, gasping.

The feeling of her grinding against my face nearly pushes me over the edge. I reach down, fisting my cock as I slide two fingers into her, thrusting them in the same rhythm that I use to stroke myself. My shaft is slick with my own arousal, the wet sounds filling my ears and making me even more desperate to come, but I’m not ready yet.

I might not be able to come in her pussy, but I’m going to come inside her, all the same.

I tighten my mouth around her clit, sucking hard at her throbbing flesh as she moans, letting go of my cock for a moment in an effort to stave off my own orgasm. I feel her tighten around my fingers, arching up against my hand and mouth, writhing as she reaches the edge—and then her head falls back, her hands yanking at the belt as she starts to come.

She floods my mouth with her arousal, the sound of her pleasure mixing with my groan as she arches again, straining for every last bit of her orgasm that she can reach. I curl my fingers inside her fluttering pussy, thrusting them harder as she grinds into my mouth, and for a moment, I think I’m going to lose control. That my aching, twitching cock is going to spurt all over the sheets, instead of inside of her where I mean to come.

Nothing has ever turned me on more than eating Evelyn out.

When she sags back against the bed, gasping, I lean back, grasping her hips as I flip her onto her stomach. She lets out a yelp of surprise, her fingers clutching at the belt as she twists her head around, her eyes widening as she sees me grip my cock with one hand and line myself up.

“You promised!” she gasps, trying to twist away. “Dimitri, no?—”

“I’m not going to fuck your pussy,” I murmur. “No matter how badly I want to sink into you and fuck you so hard that you feel it for days. But remember, l’vitsa , I told you there were other ways to fuck you. Ways that come without consequences.”

I angle my cockhead down, bumping the swollen, sensitive flesh against her clit and making her cry out. I thrust once, rubbing against her, and she moans, twisting against me in a way that almost makes me come undone once again.

She feels so fucking good. I could spend days with her in this bed, showing her every single way I could make her come. Fucking her again and again, in every hole. Taking her until she’s mine entirely, until she’s ruined for all other men. Until she’ll never want anyone else but me.

The possessive need that sweeps over me is startling. I’ve never felt this way before, never felt a need to make any woman mine . If anything, I’ve very much always wanted the opposite. Once the high of pleasure wears off, I’ve always wanted them gone, to be alone again, in my own space and solitude. And I’ve never felt this for anyone.

This driving need to claim her. To make certain that she never forgets what it feels like to have my cock inside of her.

“Dimitri!” she gasps again, and a shudder runs down my spine, my cock throbbing dangerously as I drag it through the slick wetness that drenches her entrance, up to her tight asshole. “Wait, I?—”

“Have you ever been fucked in the ass before, l’vitsa ?” I reach down, brushing my fingers over her swollen clit, and she jerks, pushing back against me. My tip starts to press into her ass, and she squeaks, trembling beneath me. But her back is arched, her breathing coming quick and sharp, and I’m not sure she’s as resistant to the idea as she’d like for me to believe.

“No,” she whispers, and my blood roars in my ears. I’d had no idea that any part of her was still virginal, that there was anything I could take for my own. But now that I do, there’s no chance Evelyn is leaving this room until I’ve filled her ass with my cum.

“Good,” I growl, my fingers pressing harder against her clit. “I can’t wait to feel you come with my cock in your ass.”

“I—” The word dissolves into a moan as I start to rub, those tight, small circles that I know set her on the path to another climax. As I do, I tilt my hips forwards, pressing my cock against her tight entrance, aching to feel her clasped around me.

“ Fuck ,” I growl, as I feel her start to give. The pressure is intense, the need to be inside of her even more so, and I quicken the pace of my fingers as I thrust, my cockhead popping inside of her in the same moment that her head falls back and she cries out with pleasure.

Her thighs splay wider, her hips grinding into my hand as her fingers clutch at the pillow above her head. I’ve never seen anything more erotic in my life than Evelyn in this moment, her ink-black hair spilling everywhere, her hands bound with my belt as she claws at the pillow, her skin flushed with arousal as I sink my cock into her perfect ass.

“I won’t last long,” I murmur as she envelops another inch, the tight heat of her making my head swim. “But I’m going to make you come again before I give you my cum.”

Evelyn moans, her head twisting to look at me, her eyes glossy with arousal and a hint of pain as I slide deeper. But it seems to turn her on, the same way the spanking did, that mix of pain and pleasure only pushing her closer to the edge as I rub her clit faster, sinking deeper into her ass.

She feels incredible. I haven’t done this often, and never without a condom before. Her tight heat sears into the sensitive, straining flesh of my cock, my balls tight with need, a tingle running down my spine that tells me that I’m close. I’m so fucking close. But I want to feel her come.

I rub my fingers against her feverishly, gripping her hip with my other hand as I lean in, my lips brushing against the shell of her ear. She smells divine, like orange and spice, her soft hair brushing my cheek, and I know I’m about to lose control.

“Come for me, Evelyn,” I whisper, and she does.

Her back arches, her head falling back as her fingers dig into the pillow, a cry of pleasure escaping her lips as I feel her start to writhe beneath me. She pulses against my fingers, grinding into my hand, and I can’t hold back a second longer.

My hand digs into her hip, and I feel myself explode.

“ Fuck! Oh god, fuck , Evelyn—” I moan her name aloud, and I feel her jerk against my hand at the sound, another shock of pleasure rolling through her. My cock spurts inside of her, filling her ass with my cum, and I come harder than I think I ever have before. She looks gorgeous under me, wrecked and shuddering with pleasure, and the thought of her coming all over my fingers while I have my cock buried in her ass sends another jolt through me, a groan escaping my gritted teeth as I thrust once more, drowning in pleasure.

She collapses onto the bed, her hands trembling against the pillow, and I fall forward onto one elbow, trying to keep from putting too much of my weight onto her as I try to catch my breath. I don’t want to slide out of her, don’t want it to end, but as my cock softens and the sensations become too much, I reluctantly pull my hips back, slipping free as I roll to one side.

Evelyn’s face is turned away, and she doesn’t say anything for a long moment. My heart thuds in my chest, a sudden fear filling me that I’ve hurt her, that I went too far. It feels strange, and I suck in a breath, trying to regain my composure.

She twists her head around finally, her gaze meeting mine. “We have to stop doing this,” she says softly. “We can’t do it again.”

A quip rises to my lips, the urge to remind her that she’s said that before. But instead, I surprise myself by simply asking, “Why?”

Evelyn pauses, her throat moving as she swallows. “I told you,” she says softly, her cheek resting on the mattress. Her hands are still bound, but she’s stopped struggling, and there’s something intensely intimate about the moment that makes a strange feeling crawl through my chest. “I can’t do casual.”

For the first time in my life, as I look at her lying there, I want to tell her that that’s okay. That I want anything other than casual with her. That I want her , and that I want to change the terms of our marriage. That I don’t want a divorce.

But love is deadly. It makes men weak. And with her in more danger than ever, weakness is the last thing I can afford.

“Alright,” I murmur quietly, and reach up to undo her hands.