Chapter 15
Ulayna’s consciousness slowly, lazily rises to the surface as she wakes up.
A heavy weight presses down on her, but instead of feeling suffocated, she feels cocooned in warmth and security.
She feels languid and relaxed. She doesn’t understand why until the weight on top of her wraps around her more tightly and nuzzles at her neck.
Her eyes pop open when she realizes that Alexi is asleep, his body mostly splayed across her and his face pressed into the crook of her neck.
Enjoying the sensation, she trails her fingers up and down his spine.
His skin is smooth beneath her touch as she explores the expanse of muscle. Even relaxed in sleep, he’s impressive.
When her fingers trail over a spot just above his ribs, he twitches.
“If you do that again, I’ll be forced to punish you,” he mumbles into her neck. His voice is sleepy and lazy sounding.
She smiles and does it again. He twitches harder this time. She giggles, the sound surprising her. She’s not sure she’s ever giggled before in her life.
“If only your enemies knew that the terrifying Pakhan of the Bratva is ticklish,” she teases.
Quick as lightning, he rolls fully on top of her and pins her hands to the mattress above her head. Straddling her, he presses his groin down against her, letting her feel how hard he is.
“Don’t worry,” she tells him. “I’m open to bribes. With the right payment, I promise to keep your secret safe.”
He nuzzles into her neck, breathing her in and nipping lightly at the underside of her jaw. She tips her head back to give him better access.
His lips caressing her skin, he asks, “Oh? And what would my Ptichka demand as payment?”
“I think daily orgasms would be sufficient.”
“Hmm.” He bites at the soft spot where her neck meets her shoulder, causing her to shiver and writhe beneath him. “Plural? That’s greedy. How many would satisfy this bargain? Two? Three?”
“Four, at least,” she teases, her voice breathy with her growing arousal. She’s barely able to focus on the conversation as his mouth moves lower, across her sternum, and between her breasts.
“Then I'd better get to work,” Alexi says against her skin before taking her nipple into his mouth.
“Ah!” she breathes out, startled by the sudden rush of pleasure through her body.
Reflexively, she tugs against where his hands hold hers captive above her head.
Alexi peers up at their joined hands, scowling. He looks down at her with a serious expression. “Is this okay? I don’t want to trigger you or ever make you feel unsafe.”
Again, Ulayna lightly tugs against his grip. But she presses her pelvis up to his and grinds against him.
“I promise to tell you if something feels triggering,” she says. “But I honestly don’t think it will. I feel safe with you, and I trust you. I want you to do whatever you want with me. If we find a limit, I’ll tell you.”
She watches as his gaze darkens, and his expression turns predatory. “Oh, Ptichka, you shouldn’t have said that.”
He bites gently at her nipple and has her gasping. But before she can enjoy the sensation too much, he rolls off her. He yanks her toward the edge of the bed and scoops her into his arms.
“What are you doing?” she asks, surprised.
“Showering. We’re still in last night's clothes, and I want to see all of you.”
She grimaces at the realization. She’d been so sleepy when they got home, she hadn’t even put on regular pajamas and had fallen asleep still wearing Alexi’s half-ruined shirt. She’s sure her hair looks like a bird’s nest, and her breath must be terrible, too.
She covers her mouth with her hand, suddenly self-conscious.
“Uh, where are we going?” she asks when he heads into the hallway rather than her bathroom.
They pass a maid whose eyes go wide with surprise before she ducks into a side room, giggling behind her hand.
“Alexi!” Ulayna whines as she tries to tuck his shirt around her exposed legs. “Now all the staff are going to think we’re together.”
He stops midstride and looks down at her. His grip around her tightens, and his jaw clenches. “Is that a bad thing?” His voice is tense, as if he had to force the words out.
She squirms in his arms, suddenly uncomfortable. “You can’t… I don’t…” she stutters, unable to meet his intense gaze.
He continues down the hallway, his long strides eating up the distance. He roughly kicks a door open at the far end of the hall and steps into a dimly lit bedroom. Sitting on the bed, he positions her to straddle him.
He tucks two fingers under her chin and forces her to look at him. “Tell me why you think it would be a bad thing for the staff to know we’re together.”
“It’s just… You’re the pakhan.”
“So?”
“Well…” She bites her lip, shame washing through her. “I'm a nobody. I don’t even have a last name. You can’t be with me.”
“You think I care about any of that?”
“No,” she says honestly, shaking her head. She knows Alexi isn’t the type of man to get hung up on antiquated Russian formalities. “But as the leader of the Bratva, it would look bad to your men if you were with someone like me.”
Alexi jerks his head as if rejecting her logic. “You didn’t seem to care about my men’s opinion last night when I kissed you in front of them, or later when I fucked you on the hood of my car.”
“That was different,” she insists. “It’s fine for the Pakhan to have a mistress. None of the men will think you’re weak if that’s all this is. But men don’t sleep in the same bed as their mistresses, and they don’t carry them half-dressed down the hallway in front of staff.”
Alexi frames her face with his hands. “I need you to listen closely. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks. You are mine. And anyone who says one bad thing about you will have their tongues removed.”
“But—”
“No buts. I’ll give you as much time as you need. And I will never force you to do anything you don’t want to. But you are mine.”
Not waiting for her reply, Alexi lifts her into his arms again and heads into the bathroom. Despite the chaotic emotions rioting through her, she can’t help but look around with curiosity.
She knows they’re in Alexi’s primary suite.
It’s massive and takes up the entire end of the wing.
This is where Alexi’s father, Boris, once chained her to a bed.
Luck was on her side that night when Alexi, with the help of the Irish, seized power from Boris, because Boris never had the opportunity to lay a finger on her.
She’s avoided this room because she thought it would bring up bad memories for her, but it looks nothing like it did that night.
Tasteful gray linen curtains have replaced the horrid maroon velvet ones, and the walls have been repainted a light tan.
A comfortable bed covered with a dark-gray comforter and mounds of fluffy pillows now sits where the huge, ornate four-poster bed that she’d once been chained to was.
She doesn’t get a chance to see anything else in the bedroom as Alexi carries her into the bathroom and sets her down on the counter. But as he steps away to turn on the shower, she looks around more.
She never saw the inside of the primary bathroom when it belonged to Boris, but she doubts it was this gorgeous space of warm white marble and gray tiles. Despite the bathroom's size, it feels cozy and relaxing.
“You redecorated?” she asks, using it as a way to avoid their previous conversation.
She knows Alexi meant it when he claimed that she’s his, and her heart squeezes painfully in her chest. But he’s too good a man to see how much damage it will do to his leadership to be with her in any way except as an affair.
He’ll realize it eventually. But until then, she really doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.
Decorating seems like a much safer subject.
“What?” Alexi asks, obviously still tense from their conversation, too.
She gestures around them. “It doesn’t look anything like it did when it belonged to Boris.”
Alexi stiffens as if she’d struck him. “Oh fuck.” He steps back to her quickly and cradles her face in his hands. “I didn’t think. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? We can leave.”
He moves like he’s going to pull her into his arms again, so she places a hand on his chest and pushes him backward.
“Alexi,” she says, her tone chastising. “I told you that I would say something if I felt triggered. And I might have been, if it still looked like that horrible man. But it doesn’t.
This is a beautiful space, and it doesn’t carry any of the weight it used to.
It’s light, open, and modern. Honestly, I wish the rest of the house felt like this. ”
Alexi grimaces. “I know. The first thing I did when I took over was have this space gutted and remodeled. The construction crew used the side entrance, and back then, you were still spending most of your time in your room, so I’m not surprised you didn’t know.”
“Why don’t you redecorate the rest of the house?”
Alexi shakes his head regretfully. “I’d love to.
I just don’t have the time or the patience.
I redecorated this primary suite because I couldn’t stand sleeping in a space that reminded me of my father.
But after just a few meetings with the interior designer, I realized I don’t have the patience for that kind of bullshit.
Picking out colors and pillows, and do I want sheer or semi-sheer curtains?
Drove me nuts. There’s no way I could stomach doing the rest of the house.
It honestly seems like it might be easier to burn the entire thing down and start over. ”
“No, don’t do that.” Ulayna shakes her head forcefully. “This house is gorgeous. Yes, it was decorated by an egotistical psychopath with a hard-on for velvet and gold leaf. But underneath all that, it’s got such great bones.”
Alexi can’t help it when his eyebrows meet his hairline in surprise. “You know about interior design?”
“No. Not really. But I’ve been in enough luxury estates over the past few years to know good style from bad.”
“Good enough for me. You’re hired.”
“Wait… what?”