Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
ALYONA
Goddamn, I hate running. It’s not a good sign when I voluntarily get on a treadmill and pound the pavement so to speak, trying to outrun my twisting thoughts.
Beads of sweat travel down my body, pooling under my sports bra, but no matter how high I crank up the speed, my thoughts flit back to the one place I wish they wouldn’t.
The fact that Leo spanked me. And I liked it. No, I loved it. I thought hate fucking his face was as good as it gets. Turns out the raw energy of being tipped over his knee and punished was way beyond anything I’d experienced before.
There must be something wrong with me. I went from furious at Leo to wet and needy in, oh, five seconds flat.
I’m still trying to digest it all. Leo’s jealousy.
My own petty games, taunting Leo about my nonexistent attraction to Jack.
The butterfly tattoo flitting above his heart, which may or may not mean a thing.
All the feminism abandoning my body when he threw me over his knee, only to send me soaring like a firework.
Screw it. I slam the red button on the treadmill, coming to an abrupt stop.
After guzzling water, I towel off and head back to my stateroom.
Well technically, our stateroom. Thank the gods he knows better than to make regular appearances.
Other than last night, he’s slept in his office, only coming in for showers and to get his clothes.
As I enter back into the room, I notice a nondescript package lying on the bed. I tear it open, and pull out a cell phone. Although it’s not mine, there’s a little note stuck to the front.
I’ve set up a secure line. Expect a video call from Kira soon.
The note is not signed, but it’s clearly from Leo. No mention of what happened earlier. But really, what is there to say? Anyhow, I’m too excited about being allowed contact with the outside world to complain.
I take a seat in the elegant armchair by the window. I only have to wait a few minutes before the video call rings and Kira’s face comes into view.
“Look at you!” Kira’s sweet smile brightens the entire screen, coaxing tears to my eyes.
It feels like a lifetime ago since I last spoke to my friend, before my life spiraled into chaos.
I hadn’t fully grasped how lonely I feel, being so far removed from everyone and everything familiar.
Yet seeing her now brings all my swirling emotions into sharp focus.
“Georgia, get your butt over here,” Kira bellows over her shoulder at her sister-in-law and my friend. “You need to see how … glow-y Alyona looks.”
What!? I glance in the dresser mirror. I am looking rather flushed, and I dunno, dewy, but it must be from the workout. Or maybe time spent in the sun.
“How are you? I’ve missed you both so much,” I exclaim when Georgia’s face comes into focus, her head pressed against Kira’s in a contrast in colors. Georgia’s raven hair to Kira’s honey-blonde locks.
“We miss you, too!” Georgia croons. “Are you okay? Seriously, Aly, what is going on?”
I bite my nails, a terrible habit I dropped long ago, except when I’m stressed. Like really stressed. “I don’t even know. It’s been a crazy week.”
“Of course, you were nearly abducted!” Kira cries. “Although kudos to you for unaliving that mudak who came after you.”
A shiver blasts down my spine. “I’m still processing the trauma of that day, but honestly, there’s so much else happening, my mind can barely keep up.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” Georgia frowns. “I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been. I hope you can at least relax now that you’re safe on the yacht.”
I blow out an exaggerated breath. Fuck, if she only knew. “I guess. It’s a bit messed up having to pose as Leo’s fiancée and all.”
My two friends exchange a look. Georgia’s eyebrows press together. “Sorry, what did you say?”
I shift in my seat. It almost sounds more ridiculous when I say it out loud.
“It’s part of our cover with the yacht’s crew.
We’re posing as a rich, newly engaged couple.
” I hold up my finger with the sparkler to the camera so they can both take in the lengths that Leo is going in order to sell our story.
Kira’s jaw drops. “Whoa. That ring is serious business. Is it real?”
I gulp. “Yes.”
Beside Kira, Georgia looks like she’s fighting a smile. “So, what’s all included in this fake engagement? Hand holding? PDA? Hot al-fresco sex in the Mediterranean sun?”
My face glows with embarrassment. I didn’t plan on telling my friends the details of what’s going on between us, but I’m afraid my face says it all.
Kira elbows her sister-in-law with a frown. “What is wrong with you?”
“Okay, I was kidding about the sex. But seriously, what’s involved in pretending you’re engaged?”
I shrug, feeling oddly self-conscious. “First of all, let’s be clear, this was not my idea. Second, it’s nothing like that. A little hand holding here, a peck there, just so we’re believable.”
Memories of writhing on Leo’s face surface before I push them down and force a neutral expression on my face.
Kira tilts her head to the side. “And that’s not weird for you guys to be … touching and being all lovey-dovey?”
While Kira knows all the gritty details of our tumultuous past, Georgia assumes it was a hookup that didn’t pan out—a narrative I’m happy to maintain.
I clear my throat. “Not as weird as you’d think.” I’m not ready to share everything that’s happened between Leo and I when I can barely figure it out myself. “Anyways, what happened between Leo and I was so long ago. I barely think about him,” I lie.
“If you say so,” Georgia mumbles at the same time as Kira says, “Uh-huh,” in a way that suggests neither is buying what I’m selling.
“Fine,” I concede, sitting back in a huff.
“I do think about him sometimes, but only because the sex was so good.” I take a moment to brush an imaginary piece of lint off my workout pants while my friends stare back at me.
When the silence gets to be too much, I add, “And maybe … he’s the only guy to ever deliver the big O. ”
Georgia’s eyes nearly bug out of her head. “As in— Oh god, oh shit … I’m going to—”
“Yeah, that O,” I interrupt.
Both women are quiet for a moment. Stunned maybe. Georgia looks slack-jawed when she says, “Okay, this is news I was not prepared for. Aly, what the fuck? You’ve been with a bunch of guys after Leo, right? Is it a French-guy problem, or a Leo-has-mad-skills situation?”
Leo does have mad skills, but it’s also his dominance. His dirty talk. The way he knows exactly what I need. How he gets off on my pleasure. And maybe, just maybe, it’s tied to the fact that he’s the first and only man to capture my heart. Try as I might to ignore it, the connection is still there.
“It’s not a French-guy issue,” I mumble, my cheeks reddening. I hate having to admit this. I’ve been with enough guys that someone else should have blown my mind. Or at least made me come. But nope. “I’ve dated every nationality under the sun, it’s just a me-and-him thing, I guess.”
Part of me hoped when I mounted Leo’s face that he wouldn’t be able to get me there … but oh shit, he got me there and more. Pretty sure I skyrocketed to the moon.
“I’m not surprised,” Georgia adds, raising her eyebrows.
“Every time you two are in the same room, it feels like explosives are about to go off. Listen, I know you two have history, which you’re both super weird about.
” She adds a playful eye roll for effect.
“But that aside, maybe this is an opportunity to break your orgasm dry spell. I mean, you’re stuck on a yacht off the coast of Italy. Enjoy yourself.”
I twist his ring on my finger, hating how much I like its weight and everything that it represents. Even though I’m still annoyed at how he dealt with Jack, a small part of me found his possessiveness hot—although I’ll never admit that to another person.
“You are a bad influence,” I mutter, even though I’ve been spinning the same idea since I came on his face.
Maybe hooking-up is what I need to do to get on with my life.
Revive my sexy time mojo. Cause god knows it’s been bleak for way too long.
I’m in my twenties, I should be in my sexual prime, not feeling empty after every sexual encounter.
“Oh, there’s my baby!” When I glance back at the phone, Georgia’s nanny is placing her baby daughter in her lap. Anya’s cherub cheeks and gummy grin immediately lighten my mood as Georgia drops a kiss on her baby’s head.
“Hello, beautiful girl,” I coo into the phone. “She’s gotten so big. I’ve missed so much of her babyhood already.”
“And that’s why you need to move back to New York.” Kira grins hopefully. “You can still have your fabulous career and be close to your family.”
And Leo. Which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing. “I can’t think of what’s next,” I say sadly. “I need to get through this current threat. Whatever it is. I just want this all to be over.”
“We all do,” Georgia agrees. “I’m sure they’ll have answers soon, especially with Andrei joining Daniil in Moscow.”
“He is? Leo never mentioned it.”
“He only just left. Hang in there, Aly. It was so good seeing you, but I need to put this little one down for her nap.”
Georgia waves before slipping off-screen, leaving Kira to stare at me. She narrows her eyes and tilts her head. “You’re not just glowing from the sun, are you?”
“Seriously!?” How does she know?
“I can tell,” she says, nodding sagely. “Was it good?”