Chapter 14
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
ALYONA
The midday sun beats down hard on my back as I lie face down on a lounge chair. A soft ocean breeze attempts to offer relief, but it’s just a tease against the overwhelming heat. It’s another idle day in paradise with nothing but time to get wrapped up in the thoughts swirling in my head.
Last night was unexpected.
The ring.
The sex.
Pulling me back from the edge of a panic attack.
Memories flicker into my consciousness of strong arms wrapping me from behind, the heat of his skin searing into my body.
How he dragged me onto him and forced me to ride his face.
The way his tongue worked my sensitive flesh, lashed over my clit, made me come so hard I may have entered another dimension.
When I woke up, he was gone. The only thing left of him was his musk on the sheets. And I may or may not have buried my head in the linen and inhaled deeply, reveling in the sweet smoky scent that is Leo’s and Leo’s alone.
But he hasn’t made an appearance on deck today, and it’s left me spinning. Are things going to be weird between us? Did I let it go too far?
I groan and bury my head in my folded arms. Three days ago, I woke up on this yacht hating him and now …
the bitterness I once felt is losing its grip.
I don’t know if it’s because he’s kept me safe or because I can still see glimpses of the old Leo, the one that cares, that I can talk to about anything.
Or because what I overheard him say to Kira …
information that I’m still grappling with.
I made the only choice I could to keep the people I love from getting hurt.
I may never know what that means, but it has thrown a wrench into my I-hate-Leo narrative.
And now I’m wearing his engagement ring on my finger.
A ring I adore, and one he insisted very sharply I wear.
Everything is getting messy.
When we find the shitheads who are after me, I swear I’m going to castrate each of them with rusty nail scissors for forcing me back into Leo’s orbit.
If it wasn’t for those mudakys, I wouldn’t be here feeling confused and vulnerable.
I would be in Paris, living my perfectly pleasant, uncomplicated life.
“Hope you’re wearing some sort of protection.” A deep male voice disrupts my train of thought. I push up onto my elbows and slide down my sunglasses, revealing Jack standing over me. “It’s hard to tell with the breeze off the water, but the sun is strong this time of day,” he clarifies.
Right, sun protection. I sit up fully, adjust my bikini top, then rise from the lounge chair, uncomfortably aware of his gaze tracing my form. “Thanks for the reminder.” I give Jack a tight smile. “I put it on this morning, but I’m probably due for a reapply.”
A playful smirk flutters across his lips watching me reach for the bottle of sunscreen on the small table next to my chair laden with drinks and a paperback Genevieve lent me.
“So, did your man finally show you a good time last night?”
I bristle at Jack’s veiled suggestion, the implication that Leo is a shitty fiancé.
“Actually, we had an excellent evening. Leonardo took me to a jeweler friend in Lipari.” With a playful flick of my wrist, I let the honking engagement ring catch the light. “I’m now an officially engaged woman.”
Jack whistles and grabs my hand for a closer look at the ring. “Quite the rock you got there. You sure he isn’t trying to make up for something?” He says it in a joking way, but it’s annoying nonetheless.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Don’t you have somewhere better to be?”
“Nah.” He leans back against the railing. “I’d say I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Making myself useful.” He plucks the lotion out of my hand and motions with his finger for me to spin around. “Let me help with your back.”
I hesitate for a moment. I don’t want Jack to get the wrong idea, but there is no one else around, and it really is near impossible to apply sunscreen to your own back, and sunburns suck so …
“Fine,” I agree, turning. “But no funny business.”
He makes a harrumph-like sound from the back of his throat.
He sweeps his hands upwards, spreading the sunscreen over my shoulders, settling into a rhythm that feels a lot more like a massage than an efficient spreading of the cream.
“Where is he now? If I had a fiancée even half as hot as you, I wouldn’t neglect her for one second. ”
I roll my eyes so hard I nearly pull a muscle. “Yeah, well, I don’t see a ring on your finger. And you don’t strike me as a one-woman kind of guy.”
He snickers. “Yeah, maybe not. Although if you were single, I’d have to reevaluate.”
“Puh-lease.”
I’m about to tell him hands off when another voice slices through the air, seething with fury. “Get your filthy fucking hands off my fiancée.”
Startled, I whip around so quickly the lotion bottle slips from Jack’s grip, hurtling through the air.
I don’t know why I feel like I was doing something wrong, I wasn’t, but the atmosphere is charged with very aggressive, very male energy.
When I look up, I find Leo’s eyes flashing dangerously, his lips drawn into a thin line.
“No bother, mate.” Jack straightens to his full height and squares off with Leo. Stupid man. “I was just helping Aly with her lotion since there was no one else around to do it.”
“I am fucking bothered, mate,” Leo mimics, dark energy coming off him in waves. “I’m the only one who gets to touch her.”
Leo’s words of possessiveness set my teeth on edge. What right does he have over me?
Not wanting things to escalate further, I jump in between them.
Jack has no idea what Leo is capable of.
Hell, I have no idea what he’s capable of.
He was once laid-back, but years as a hardened vor means he doesn’t blink at the prospect of brutality.
And right now, he looks ready to murder someone. Jack in particular.
“Didn’t mean anything by it, just trying to be helpful.” Jack raises his hands and backs up slowly, correctly interpreting the murderous glint in Leo’s eyes.
“Next time you want to be helpful, stick your finger in an electrical socket.”
Jack throws a hard look over his shoulder before disappearing inside the yacht, leaving Leo and me to face off.
He’s vibrating with anger, but fuck him, I’m angry, too.
“That was completely uncalled for. I am capable of taking care of myself. And furthermore”—I stand my ground, head tipped up, shoulders squared—“despite this ring, I’m not yours.
You gave up that privilege a long time ago. ”
It’s then I notice he’s dressed in formfitting swim shorts … and that’s about it. The material stretches across his muscular thighs, emphasizing every bulge and ripple of his powerful legs. But it’s his upper body that makes my mouth go dry.
His broad tan shoulders and rippling biceps are on full display, along with a patchwork of scars and tattoos.
A lot of them. Way more than he had before he took the oath.
Ink depicting a menacing black eagle clutching a blood-red rose creeps up his neck, and over his right shoulder is a snarling wolf with piercing blue eyes emerging from a field of dark shadows, symbolizing his loyalty and ferocity.
But over his heart is a tattoo that makes my mouth go dry. A delicate butterfly, its wings adorned with vibrant hues of blue and purple, flutters gracefully. Its presence a secret language etched into his skin.
I swallow heavily. Am I the butterfly inked on his skin? It couldn’t be, could it? No, of course not. I bury that thought, locking it away within the depths of my soul.
“As long as you’re wearing my ring”—he thumps his chest—“you’re mine to protect. I won’t sit by while that mudak has his hands all over you.”
We lock eyes, tension thick between us. “Why? Are you worried that I liked it? That I craved more from him?” I didn’t. Jack kinda creeped me out, but after last night, Leo needs a reminder that he can’t slap a ring on my finger and act like a brute.
His hand reaches out and covers my jaw, his thumb rubbing against my bottom lip. I’ll bite it if he comes any closer to my mouth. “Alyona, don’t push me,” he growls.
Even though I promised myself I would stop provoking Leo, I can’t help it. I want to see what will happen when his perfectly composed facade drops away. “He’s sexy, don’t you think? In those little white shorts, all tanned muscular legs and—”
Without warning, Leo’s hand is at my waist, pulling me to him as he sinks into the lounge chair. Before I know it, I’m face down, deposited over his knee. In one brutal move, he rips off my bikini bottoms, yanking them around my knees. “I warned you, Aly. I told you not to push me.”
Oh, hell no. I thrash and fight him, but he’s too strong. With one hand flat in the middle of my back, he has me pinned into place, and that’s when he delivers one sharp slap to my ass.
Heat shoots through me so hard and fast that I have to bite my lower lip to keep from releasing a little moan. Still, this is ludicrous. He can’t get away with treating me like a child. “Leo,” I cry out. “If you do that again I will murde—”
Another slap, this one delivered to my other cheek.
It stings, but an involuntary shudder ripples through me.
“Anyone can see us,” I argue, but he rains down another smack, which has me tensing and squirming in his lap.
And that’s when I feel it, the weight of his thickened cock pressing into my abdomen.
Like me, his breaths are coming hot and fast. Instead of anger, there’s choked lust in his voice. “You deserve this, Alyona. You deserve to be punished for what you do to me. How you make me feel.”
Those words should send murderous rage through my bloodstream, but I’m past that point, bent over and bare, my skin alight—all I feel is deeply turned-on. Like I might explode all over his hands if he applies pressure any lower.
This time, the words that escape my lips are a desperate plea. “Please.”
He deals another smack, this time closer to the apex of my thighs, closer to where I need relief. “Is this what you need from me?” he growls.
Another smack sends a shock of pleasure to my clit. My limbs are taut with anticipation. A delicious ache spreads through my body. “More,” I beg. My breasts have fallen out of my bikini top and are now rubbing against the hair on Leo’s bare legs—the feeling so overwhelming it robs me of my sanity.
One hand drops between my legs, strumming a perfect rhythm over my clit, while the other administers another stinging blow.
“I think this is what you really need, isn’t it, butterfly?
One hand delivering pleasure, the other delivering …
” Smack. “Pain.” He adjusts me on his lap so my head is lower to the ground, and he has a perfectly level view of my throbbing cunt.
“I am going to give this pussy the relief it needs, but first”—I release a strangled moan and squirm on his lap—“tell me who it belongs to.”
Is he serious? Forget it. “It belongs to me,” I fire back.
Smack. He braces a hand on my back as he delivers another forceful slap against my swollen clit, and I fight to keep myself steady.
His two fingers push into my entrance, and the sound of my wetness fills the space between us.
He keeps rubbing and teasing me—his touch unleashes a tsunami of desire that threatens to swallow me whole.
When he abruptly pulls his fingers away, leaving me feeling empty, I whimper.
“Try again,” Leo bites. “And this time, I want the truth, or you don’t get to come.”
I wish I had the strength to fight him, to say anything other than what he wants me to admit, but I’m past the point of being able to resist him. “You, Leo. You own this pussy. You are the only one—”
The words aren’t even fully out of my mouth before he pinches my clit, making lights explode behind my eyes and sending a wave of pleasure coursing through my entire body. Another slap lands on my clit, lurching me forward, but this time, the mix of pain and pleasure pushes me over the edge.
I cry out, chasing the delicious high that only Leo and his evil hands can deliver.
“Fuck, baby,” he groans. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
The cold, hard reality snaps me back to the present. I push myself off his lap, hurriedly pulling my bikini back on. The repercussions of my reckless words hum under my skin. What have I done?
I just admitted the one thing I kept guarded from him, from the world.
That I’m still his.
Try as I might to deny it, Leo Kozlov still owns me fully and completely.