CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Everything you can’t control.
Ari
Every woman in the Cosa Nostra knows the more your husband desires you, the safer you are...which is why I’m going to consummate my marriage tonight.
At least, that’s the lie I’m telling myself.
The truth, of course, is much more complicated.
But an examination of that little bomb will have to wait since a beautiful Russian criminal is staring at me like I’m the answer to a question he doesn’t dare ask.
Taking a step forward, I watch him inhale sharply through his nose.
His eyes. His goddamn ice-blue eyes are warmer than anything I’ve ever seen, making every inch of my skin burn like I’m standing in the center of a fire.
“Beauty is the gift you were given to control those around you.”
“That’s not—” His hand reaches up, fingers brushing my cheek.
“Chaos is the energy that swirls around you, and attention is the thing that keeps you safe.”
My heart slams against my ribs.
“But eros,” his thumb traces my jawline, “is the one that could control everything.”
Heat radiates from his touch as his hand slides from my cheek to the back of my neck, pulling me closer until our breaths mingle.
“Maxsim—”
“Trust me,” he whispers. Not a request but a command.
“Why should I?”
“Because,” he says, his voice dropping even lower, sending a shiver down my spine, “I am your husband.”
My breath catches, and everything else fades away. It’s just him and me, standing on the edge of something neither of us fully understands.
He lifts me and strides purposefully into the bedroom, kicking the door shut with his foot. Sealed in, I fill my lungs with air as he sits heavily on the bed.
Capturing my mouth, his kiss is both demanding and tender. I’m lost within seconds and let my fingers slide into his hair. Softer than I imagined it would be, I feel greedy and tug on it, wanting something I can’t name.
A low growl of pleasure rumbles through his chest as his kiss flips from gentle to hungry. Muscles I didn’t know existed wake up as desire unfurls like a flower.
A pulse beats between my legs, and my breasts feel heavy. How can Maxsim make me feel all these things with only a few kisses?
Breaking away, I gasp and drag air into my lungs. Unsteady, I slowly open my eyes and find him staring at me with…desire. Raw. Unfiltered. He doesn’t try to hide it.
“Goddamn, Ari.” He breathes slowly. “What will you do to me?”
“Bewitch you,” I whisper. “So that you will always choose me first.”
His big hand wraps around my neck, and he holds me close, drinking deeply from my mouth.
“Closer,” I mutter against his mouth, pressing my hand against his warm skin. “Let me become the temptation you never deny yourself, the place where your darkness can shine without retribution.”
“Darkly, delicately. You are mine.” I shudder as his mouth drags along my neck. “It’s time to taste my wife.” He dips his hand inside my loose lounge pants.
I run my hand along his jaw and realize nothing is more attractive than a monster trying to keep himself in check. His jaw is tight as his fingers slide beneath my lace panties.
“Soaked,” he whispers as he plays with my clit. “My sweet wife is thinking about riding my cock.”
“Maxsim!” I mean for it to come out as an admonishment, but it sounds more like a plea.
He pinches my swollen clit, and I gasp. “I think that means more,” he growls.
As one of his fingers slides inside me, I close my eyes and let the exquisite pleasure roll over me in waves. Moaning, I rock against his hand.
“That’s it, wife. Let me pleasure you.”
Pressing his thumb to my clit, he slowly works a finger in and out, fucking me with it. I shudder, dropping my head against his shoulder, swallowing the unholy sounds I want to make.
A dark moan falls from my mouth as he adds another finger and latches onto my throat with his hot mouth.
Showing no mercy, he sucks on my neck and finger fucks me…sending me to a place I’ve never been.
“Do you want to come like this, wife? Or do you want my mouth?”
My eyes roll into the back of my head. “I like fingering your gorgeous wet pussy, but I want to eat you.”
“Maxsim!”
He rocks his hips in response, and I feel his enormous erection press against my hip. Kissing a path down my neck to my chest, he bites down on the swell of my breast.
“I’m going to taste every inch of you,” he whispers. “Tell me every filthy thing you’ve dreamed of, and we’ll do it together.”
He pulls his fingers out of me and slides them up and down my soaked folds. “Do you want to come, Ari?” I raise my eyes and stare at him in a daze as his fingers move back and forth over my throbbing clit. “Tell me.”
Arching back, I suck in a breath as he slides his finger back in. Crooking it, he hits a sensitive spot inside me, rubbing it slowly. “Keep your eyes on me, wife.”
Reluctantly, I do as I’m told. “Yes. husband.”
“To all of it?”
I nod. “All of it.”
Crushing his mouth to mine, he ravages me as he works his fingers in and out. I moan into his mouth and spread my legs.
Fireworks go off behind my eyes as I come with a full-body jerk. Maxsim hums his approval as my body clenches around his fingers until I collapse. Shaking and spent, he holds me with one strong arm as he slips his fingers out and slides them into my mouth.
Dizzy, I watch him lazily lick his fingers, savoring my taste.
“Never tasted anything better in my life, Mrs. Volkov.”
Happiness floods my cells, and I close my eyes, wondering how I will survive this union.
I watch my husband push himself to his feet and peel off his clothes. Shoes and sox go first. Thank God. Even someone as sexy as Maxsim couldn’t come back from the whole black sox thing. Next comes the shirt. One stupid button at a time.
Leaning back on my elbows, I watch inch by beautiful inch of his body revealed. Drool-worthy. Of course. He’s not muscle-bound, but every inch of strength is from a hard won battle.
Nerves begin to flutter in my stomach…the adrenaline from earlier has disappeared, and now that I’m faced with…him. “Maxsim—there is something you should know. It’s not a big deal but—”
“Your reputation is more fiction than fact,” he says simply, dropping his pants in one swift motion.
“Well, yes.” I sit up and feel self-conscious in a way that I never have. Like I’m caught on my back foot. “But I have—”
His hand goes up as he pulls my lounge pants off and then slides my top over my head. “Don’t need the details.”
I huff out a breath and swat his hand away as he slides his finger under one strap of my bra. His cheeks are slashed with red, and his breaths are short. “I think it would be best if—”
“Ari,” he lifts me up and settles me on the pile of pillows. “If you give me a name, I will have to kill the son of a bitch.” He leans back on his knees. “Right now, you have no blood on your hands.”
Never one to obey, I scoot up so I’m able to look him in the eye. “Steve.”
Each muscle in his body stills. “Some fucking American.”
I smirk, knowing this will be the last second I have the upper hand. “Chinese.”
“What?” he roars. “How the fuck did you manage that?”
“I have Amazon Prime, and they deliver straight to my door. Usually within twenty-four hours.” His face is blank, and I hold back a smile. “Steve is purple and has a whole range of settings.” Trailing my fingers down his chest, I bite my lip. “By the looks of your straining jockeys, you’ll measure up just fine.”
A crack of laughter that shakes the windows falls out of my husband’s mouth as he rolls me over so I’m lying underneath him. “But kudos to you for finding the magic spot on your first try. It took Steve and I a whole month to discover it.”
“You have no idea how fucking happy I’m about to make you.”
Leaning up, I press our mouths together. “There isn’t much to recommend this whole marriage thing, so believe me, I am counting on your reputation being one hundred percent true.”
Responding in Russian, he kisses me like we’re about to die. “English, please.”
“Your language doesn’t have the right words.
“For what?”
“How incredibly beautiful you are.”
His gaze never wavers, and I catch a flicker of something raw and unguarded before his mask slips back on.
My very own demon, will he ever lower his guard?
His mouth lowers to my breast before I can come up with an answer. He sucks my nipple through the lace of my bra, and I can’t think—only feel. His touch is both a demand and a promise.
“I knew you would taste like this.” He moves to the other breast, swirling his tongue around and around until it’s taut and aching.
I close my eyes against the unfamiliar sensations and slide my hands over his enormous shoulders. My hands move on their own, exploring the ridges and valleys of his torso. His breath hitches, and I silently celebrate having an effect on him.
“Don’t get used to it,” Maxsim growls as if he can read my mind. He kisses his way down my stomach, nipping gently with his teeth.
I wiggle this way and that.
“Ticklish,” he murmurs against my skin. “I can work with that.”
The command in his voice feels like a stroke against my skin, and I do everything I can to stay still.
Moving lower, he bites my inner thigh, one after another. It’s not hard, but it’s very dominant. And it turns me on. “Mmmm,” I murmur, tugging on his hair.
“You like that,” he asks against my skin.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He gently bites me between my thighs, and I suck in a breath, stiffening. Not because it hurts but because it’s shocking to be bit in such an intimate place. He rips my panties and settles himself between my legs.
A puff of hot breath almost makes me jump out of my skin. “You’re safe, Ari.”
“I doubt that,” I mutter as he laps at my folds with this tongue. Groaning, I know there is nothing remotely safe about my husband’s mouth.
Working me like a master, he opens my legs wider. “Look at this pretty pussy.” He lashes his tongue against my clit. “After you come on my face, I gonna fuck your pussy and make you come again.”
Responding with a garbled sound, I focus on his tongue running up and down my center and his finger moving deep inside. My hips buck and his lips fasten onto my clit. Close to blacking out, I grind helplessly against his mouth and climax.
It rips through me like a storm as he takes me higher than I thought possible. Not one to give an ounce of mercy, he works his mouth until I beg him to stop. “I’m dying.”
“Not yet,” he replies with a satisfied smile. Rising to his knees, he rips off his boxers and fists his cock in his hand.
My heart skips a beat. His shaft juts out proudly. The crown is fat and red, and the slit glistens with a drop of cum.
“The look on your face tells me you might not kill me in the first month of our union.”
“We’ll see.” I laugh roughly. “It will largely depend on what happens next.”
“Good to know,” he says through gritted teeth.
Positioning himself between my legs, he slides the head up and down through my wetness. “Since you have all that experience with Steve—” he slides inside me in one powerful thrust, “I can fuck you how I like.”
My mouth opens, and nothing comes out. I shift my hips and silently thank my little silicone friend. “Sweet mother of bratwurst.”
“What?” he grits out.
“Nothing.” I sink my fingernails into his back as he leans down, resting his forearms on either side of my head.
“I knew you would feel like this.” He snaps his hips. “Heaven.” Thrusting hard, he drops his head next to mine.
The closeness. It’s not what I expected.
One sensation after another assaults me while Russian words spill from my husband’s mouth.
“Fuck silicone,” he roars before shifting and hitting the spot Steve knew so well. “Nothing is better than the real thing.”
Holding my gaze, he fucks me hard and fast, hitting the spot again and again. I feel like a prisoner as a wave after wave crashes over me.
Maxsim’s usual control melts and he lets out a guttural sound. My breath hitches, and he gives into his release, filling me with his seed.
A wave of emotion slams into me, squeezing my chest.
Turning my head, I close my eyes, but it doesn’t help. I still feel it. Everything inside me aches and burns. All my cells are calling my husband’s name.
A dangerous weakness I can’t afford.
Huffing out loud breaths, he collapses on top of me. “Real life just kicked fantasy’s ass.” He lifts his head. “You are a witch.” Pressing a kiss to my head, he stays still for a second. “And I am under your spell.”
“Good,” I reply quietly. Feeling exposed in a way I’ve never have.
“This—” He rolls off me. “It’s... unexpected.”
“Unexpected?” I raise an eyebrow. “Like finding a grenade under your pillow kind of unexpected?”
“More like realizing the grenade didn’t explode,” he counters, pulling me into his arms.
I close my eyes and wonder if what just happened will ensure my safety or destroy me.