Chapter 24
brOOKLYN
Waking up the next morning feels like entering a new dimension. Or maybe I haven’t woken up at all, and I’m still dreaming.
This cannot be real.
Soft sunlight filters through the gauzy white curtains. One of the tall windows is slightly open, and the greenery in a vase of white hydrangeas sitting on a gorgeous glass and copper table close by moves softly in the breeze.
The whole room smells floral and so clean .
My eyes drink in the elegant, paneled walls with whimsical framed black and white photos of New York, the gorgeous furniture.
And the bed…
Heaven .
It’s massive, king-sized, with a down mattress, ridiculously soft sheets, and a duvet that I could literally wrap myself in forever.
The pillows are firm enough to cradle but soft enough to coax you into relaxation.
Translucent white linen drapes down from the top of the four-poster bed, making me feel like a princes waking from her beauty sleep.
I grin to myself.
How is this real ?
Just as I’m about to get out of bed, I freeze.
I went to bed naked last night. Which means…
I slip to the edge of the bed and push aside the curtains, and my heart leaps.
Laid out on the couch is a gorgeous summery outfit: a simple but beautiful white knee-length sundress, a lightweight, cropped white cardigan, strappy sandals, and…
Oh my.
A matching set of super elegant lacy white bra and thong panties.
As I’m staring at the outfit, I realize there’s more. On one of the sitting chairs across from the couch is the gorgeous Hermes bag that Kir gave me before.
Wait. That’s impossible. That was in my car the night I ran from James, and it was definitely part of the stuff that got looted before I could get back to Pearl.
Then it hits me: it’s not the same bag, he just got me another one .
I'm half expecting to see what I do when I open it, but it still hits me hard.
It’s all here again. Brand new, and mine.
The Nikolay Grishko warm up sets. The Luckyleo leotards. The Repetto slippers. Another note mentioning the two-hundred pre-ordered pointe shoes from Freed of London.
My heart lurches as I bring a hand to my mouth.
How the hell is this reality ?
I take a quick shower in the ensuite bathroom, then change into the clothes Kir’s laid out for me. Which feels a little strange for a second, like I’m a doll he’s dressing up.
But that quickly goes away when I slip on some of the most expensive, beautiful clothes I’ve ever even seen. I look at my reflection in the mirror and tingle. I barely recognize myself.
With a smile on my face, I step out of the gorgeous bedroom. I have no idea where I should be looking for Kir in the vast mansion, or what I’m supposed to do next. But then the smell of coffee fills my nostrils, and I follow the scent.
As I go down the hall, I catch sight of something outside in the driveway as I pass a window. Before I know what I’m doing, I race through the house until I find a door, and tumble outside.
There, in all her cracked, dented, dirty glory, is Pearl . A huge smile spreads over my face as I run over to the old girl, running my hand over the front fender. A mix of happiness and darkness swirls within me as I slowly walk around the car.
Happiness, because somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered that today was a street-sweeping day where I’d parked her. Which would have meant her getting towed if she was still there when the sweeper came through.
After Kir told me “you live here now”, I’d sort of resigned myself to the fact that Pearl was lost forever and felt a pang.
That's where I lived . For a year .
It feels like I spent the entire time I was doing that trying to normalize it in order to survive it. But after one night in Kir’s house, that normalization has broken apart.
How the fuck did I ever make it ?
I smile a melancholy, wry smile, running a hand over Pearl’s side lovingly before I turn and head back into the house.
The invigorating smell of coffee finally leads me into an enormous kitchen, and I stop suddenly when I see Kir already there—leaning against the kitchen counter in a sinfully well-fitted dark suit, no tie, reading the New York Times as he sips his coffee.
My core clenches when I zero in on his dark-framed reading glasses.
Like…are you fucking kidding me? It’s ludicrous: this man just keeps getting more attractive every time I see him. And the fact that he’s reading a physical paper instead of a phone or a tablet? It gives him this even more distinguished refinement that tingles through me.
I clear my throat and he looks up, his brows lifting and the corners of his lips curling upwards as he sweeps his gaze boldly over me.
“Beautiful,” he murmurs, setting down his paper and coffee.
“It’s...” I shake my head, my face burning. “ Thank you .”
He nods. “My people are going out today. Your closet will be full by tonight.”
I blink quickly. “My…closet?”
He cocks a brow. “The walk-in changing room. Off your bedroom. My people have your sizes, and the personal shopper I use is quite good.”
A walk-in changing room.
I’ve spent the last year with a duffel bag for a closet, which I kept in Pearl's trunk.
But then, something tugs at me. Namely, my lifelong issues with taking handouts.
“I…thank you,” I say quietly. “But you really don’t have to?—”
“I’m choosing to.”
I swallow as my eyes drag up to his. “I don’t have the money to pay you ba?—”
“You’re familiar with the concept of a gift, yes?”
My lips twist. “A place to stay is one thing. But a closet full of clothes?—”
“I’m going to make this simple,” Kir says with a sigh.
“I’m buying you clothes. You can choose not to wear them, but I’m still going to be buying them, and putting them in your closet.
I’m also going to be covering any and all of the rest of your expenses, including your stepfather’s legal necessities. ”
I blink, my pulse skipping as I stare at him.
“ Kir —”
“If you were under the impression that this was a discussion or a debate, allow me to redress that assumption.”
I can feel my cheeks simmering as my teeth roll my lips. But it’s also very clear that he’s right: this isn’t a debate at all. It’s just what’s happening.
And maybe you should just be okay with that, for once?
Kir’s eyes stay locked on mine. “How did you sleep?”
“Like a rock. I swear I just passed out last night.”
He smiles, a hint of smug devilishness in his eyes. “Imagine that.”
I blush fiercely. “I slept amazingly, though.” I shake my head. “A real bed. Who would’ve thought?”
He smiles, and goddammit , it’s hot.
And I’m feeling freer than I have in a long, long time.
Something sparks inside me, my heart beating faster as heat throbs in my core. I slowly walk toward where he’s leaning against the counter, my lip catching between my teeth as I slink right up to him.
Kir growls quietly and slides one of his hands over my hip.
“I slept well enough,” I say quietly, taking a nervous breath. “But I was lonely…”
My hands go to his chest, rubbing the pulse-heatingly hard muscles beneath his dress shirt, then his rippling six-pack.
My hand pushes lower, drifting down to his belt buckle.
“ Very lonely?—”
He abruptly takes my hand and yanks it away. Instantly, mortification floods through me.
Did I read this wrong? I mean the man pinned me to the bed last night and went down on me, giving me the biggest—and second real—orgasm of my life.
He told me I lived here now. That this house was my house. So?—
Then something else from last night slides into my thoughts.
“You’re not ready for the way I fuck, babygirl.”
Before I can ponder that further, his big hands slide over my waist. His fingers lace around me, and I gasp when he lifts me into the air like I weigh nothing at all. He sets me down on the counter next to him and moves between my knees, spreading my thighs either side of his hips.
Without a word, he lifts his coffee mug to my mouth, the ceramic brushing my lips.
“ Open ,” he says firmly.
I shiver as I obey, parting my lips. Without spilling a drop, he tilts the mug, letting me drink from it. For some reason, it's one of the most sensual, intimate things I’ve ever experienced.
I take a second sip of the warm coffee with a touch of milk before he pulls the mug away and sets it aside. His arms go to either side of me, boxing me in as I perch on the edge of the counter, my legs still spread around him.
“Why won’t you let me touch you?” I ask.
Kir’s head tips to the side. Slowly, he lowers his face toward me. My breath catches as he brushes butterfly kisses down the line of my jaw, making me tremble before his mouth stops and hovers by my ear.
“Because,” he purrs, “right now, I’m touching you .”
His hands move to my legs, and he slowly starts to push up the hem of my sundress, higher and higher. When I glance down, I flush when I realize the lacy white panties are now completely in view.
Without a word, Kir slowly lowers himself between my legs. I bite back a whimper when his veined hands slide up and his fingers hook into the waistband of the panties. He slowly draws them down my thighs, then my calves. Finally, they fall from one foot, catching on the other.
A whimper comes from my throat as he spreads my thighs wide, completely opening me to his piercing, dark gaze.
“Stay like this,” he commands in a low, authoritative tone before leaning in between them.
I gasp as I feel his breath tease over my thighs, then over the slickness I can feel coating my pussy.
Without warning, his tongue makes contact, and my whole world dissolves.
“ Oh… ” I whisper, the sound coming out in a rush as he drags his tongue all the way up my lips. He groans, pushing his tongue into me, and I moan as I feel it snake deep between my lips.
With a low rumble from his chest, his hands still on my thighs, Kir drags his tongue up and down my slit. My eyes bulge when I feel the teasing tip of it barely brush my ass, then move all the way up again until it swirls over my throbbing clit.
Sweet. Fucking. God.
Fireworks detonate through my body as I whine. My back arches, my brow caving as I look down between my legs at the gorgeous god of a man shoving my thighs all the way apart and feasting on my pussy.
With a low growl, he fastens his mouth over my clit, sucking hard and letting his tongue swirl around the throbbing bundle of nerves. I cry out sharply, panting as he strokes and sucks and nibbles, until my whole body is shaking.
He keeps up the same insane, soul-melting pace, his tongue batting back and forth across my aching clit, his groans rumbling through my core. My back arcs like a bow, my head dropping back and my hips shamelessly pushing against his mouth like they have a mind of their own.
The pressure builds, the tremors and little explosions in my body growing wilder until suddenly, my spine snaps rigid and my face collapses in pure, blissful pleasure.
“ Yes… ” I gasp, choking on my moans. “ I'm ? — ”
With a violent wrench of my body, the orgasm explodes through me, twisting me as I scream out pure pleasure. My hips grind up against his face, his tongue dancing over my clit as I come over and over against his mouth.
I’m still shaking when Kir slowly rises up between my legs. He fists the back of my hair, and I whimper when his mouth crushes to mine. I lose myself, kissing him madly, tasting myself on his tongue.
His hand slips between my legs and I gasp when he sinks two fingers deep into me. I moan when he curls them up against that spot inside, his palm grinding against my still-throbbing clit as he devours my lips.
He starts to stroke his fingers quickly in and out of me, his palm rubbing over my clit with every thrust of his fingers.
I cry out, already so keyed up that it feels like I’m going to explode.
The wet sounds of him finger-fucking my dripping wet pussy fill the kitchen as he bites down on my bottom lip, drawing it back until it slips from his teeth with a pop.
His mouth drops to my neck, sucking and licking the tenderest spots with his tongue before he drags his mouth to my ear.
“Your pussy is officially my new favorite breakfast, babygirl,” he growls quietly. “But I don’t think this greedy little cunt is ready for me to stop paying attention to it, is it.”
I shake my head violently as I struggle to breathe.
“ No …!” I gasp.
“No what ,” he growls.
Oh, shit.
“ No sir ,” I moan as his thick fingers ram into me, wringing more pleasure from my body.
“You want to come for me, don’t you.”
“ Yes sir !” I sob, clinging to his arms for dear life, my head lolling back as he growls into my ear.
“This pretty pussy is going to make a fucking mess all over my fingers, isn't that right, babygirl.”
I cry out in pleasure, my reality blurring and my body tensing as the pressure builds to a level I can’t contain anymore.
“Make a mess,” he snarls into my ear. “And fucking come for me like a good girl right now .”
“ Yes SIR!”
I scream as my body jolts and wrenches violently, twisting and spasming as the orgasm detonates through me. His mouth crushes mine, kissing me brutally and swallowing my moans as I come against his hand over and over.
My body is still shaking, my brain still completely unable to form words or even thoughts as he slowly pulls away.
He slips his fingers from between my legs and I shiver when he deftly reaches down, grabs the panties hanging off one ankle, and gently pulls them up, lifting my ass to get them up into place and smoothing my dress back down over my knees.
Kir gently cups my jaw, his dark eyes blazing as he leans down and kisses me deeply. Then he pulls away, his eyes locked with mine.
“I need to take a phone call.”
I blink. “Oh…okay.”
Oh, okay? Fucking really, self ?
He rolls his shoulders and straightens his suit jacket. Then, without any warning, he leans in and kisses me softly before letting his lips trail over my cheek to my ear.
“ Good girl .”
He leaves me with his mug of coffee, still sitting on the kitchen counter, my pulse still through the roof and my entire core shaking.
How is this real?