Chapter Twelve
Letting Lisa go for the exhibition was thoughtful because, for the first time in a while, she was out of Nikolai's hair. But walking in the middle of all these strangers, with a glass of white wine in one hand, Lisa couldn't tell if she was enjoying it. The art hung on the walls was great, and it reminded her of all the timeless pieces she saw in the magazines she borrowed from the only classmate who spoke to her in high school. Lisa could never afford to go for these things because working at the restaurant wasn't giving her enough to live a decent life.
But Nikolai didn't think twice about these things before he spent money like he was born in it. The matron who took care of Lisa told her that he wasn't born with a silver spoon and had to work hard to get to where he was. Apparently, she had been in the family before he was born. She was there when he had lost his parents, and she told Lisa that those were the darkest days Nikolai had ever had to go through. She didn't think he would ever be able to recover from it.
It was no wonder there was always darkness behind his eyes, even on the days he laughed at her jokes. And his strong laughter always carried into the air, like a man learning to let go of burdens and just breathe. But it was a hard task for him because those moments never lasted. He saw her as a comic relief for mere seconds, and Lisa didn't think she would ever be more than that to him.
So why was she thinking about him instead of enjoying this exhibition meant for the wealthy class of society? Lisa felt like a fraud even though she wasn't dressed as one. This morning, she had found a box on her bed when she had woken up. Inside there was the most beautiful piece she had ever worn, but this was one of the things Lisa was talking about.
Nikolai confused her. He bought her dresses, yet acted like she didn't mean more than a fuck buddy to him. Was he that way with the other women in his life too?
Lisa couldn't forget the excited look in that woman's eyes as he carried her up the stairs, how Nikolai had acted like she was just a part of the wall, without a thought as to how she would feel watching him have sex with another woman right under her nose. She wondered if he had choked the woman too or asked her to look into his eyes as he made a phone call to God knows who. Had she cried out in pleasure as he released inside her?
I'm done with all of this.
The men whom Nikolai had instructed to watch over her moved at once as she turned away from the picture she was looking at, walking out of the gallery. Everywhere felt devoid of air right now, and the last thing she wanted was to go back to the mansion, to Nikolai, who seemed to suck all the air out tenfold. And worse was the fact that she enjoyed every bit of it.
Was that even healthy?
The men stayed close to Lisa as she waited for the car at the entrance. It came in a minute, and the door was flung open by one of the men, who only looked at her for a fraction of a second before conveniently looking at the space behind her. Lisa remembered Nikolai's threat last night, about how he had almost killed them all just for looking at her. She felt bad for putting them in that position, but was sure that talking to them now wasn't the ideal thing to do. Lisa knew they were loyal to Nikolai, even though she didn't know the exact jobs they did for him or why he even needed them in the first place.
He never told her anything.
That's because he doesn't want you to know anything . Lisa looked out the window throughout the drive back to the mansion, counting the minutes it would take before she reached the house. It was evening already, but she had no idea if Nikolai would be back by now. She hoped he wasn't so she could go to bed without thinking of all the ways she could hurt him, yet she was disappointed that she would never be able to.
Lisa wished she would be able to act as uninterested as Nikolai did with her, but the harder she tried, the more she fell into his web without a clue on how to get out of it. She needed space from him if she was going to make any decision - something Nikolai wasn't going to give her anytime soon.
The crunch of the tires of the car on the gravel brought her mind back to the present, and Lisa got out of the car. One of the men made to help her - she recognized him as the same person who helped her with the door on their way back - but he stopped in his tracks, the realization of its implication coming to him.
Fuck Nikolai! Now, even his men won’t as much as come close to me.
She headed up the stairs into her bedroom, not noticing anything out of place as she walked into the darkness and closed the door behind her. The first thing she did was to strip out of the two-piece Nikolai had gotten her, tossing it to one corner and muttering a string of unintelligible words.
But suddenly, she heard someone chuckle from her bed, and her senses were heightened immediately. Even without flipping on the lights, she recognized that voice. But the question was, what was Nikolai doing on her bed? Shouldn't he be working or something? Getting him out of her system was going to be harder if he kept on doing this.
Nikolai turned on the light on the nightstand and beckoned to her with just one nod, but it was enough to get Lisa moving like he had some strong hold over her. Maybe he did, because what other reason did her feet have for not listening to her brain screaming to stay by the door?
Stopping by the foot of the bed, Lisa felt shivers run up her spine as Nikolai sat up and leaned on his palm, his eyes caressing her from her hair swept up in an elegant ponytail to her low-cut black bra and her matching panties. She had even put on a little makeup, and Nikolai's eyes glowed in pleasure.
He liked it.
Lisa shouldn't have allowed that to get into her head, but she couldn't stop the warmth that enveloped her at the sight. It was the first time she was seeing Nikolai in something other than dark suits or sweaters. He was in a simple, plain black t-shirt and a pair of gray joggers. Lisa could guess that he made the detour to her room on his way back from the gym. Nikolai looked like a model even in something other than a suit, Lisa had to admit.
His straight dark hair fell across his face as he adjusted his hand underneath his chin, and Lisa took a step forward to push the hair behind his ears. But halfway, with her hands in the air, she changed her mind suddenly, and let her hands drop back to her side. Lisa told herself she wasn't doing this - that Nikolai didn't want the same thing she thought she wanted.
But how could she turn around when he kept on doing things like this?
Since Lisa could remember, no one had cared about her enough to get her new dresses or feed her without making her pay for them somehow. And he protected her from things she didn't even think were there, like at the exhibition today. Or was he trying to keep her from running away?
It hadn't even crossed her mind before, but now that it was there…
"I don't charge for people staring at me," Nikolai broke the silence. "But I think I want some payment for this."
Lisa rolled her eyes - a habit already - and the low growl from Nikolai made her realize what she had just done.
"What did you just do, krastoka ?"
"Stop calling me that! I'm not your anything!" She used so much force that her hair tumbled down her shoulders. Lisa seemed to be armed by another energy, one that was birthed from her displeasure at something Nikolai did. But he found it hot as fuck. Her eyes were red with anger, and her hair tousled all over the place as if getting ready for some battle.
Lisa might feel safe in his arms - she could admit that to herself but never to him - but the only way he saw her was as a sexual conquest, one of the many girls he had in his books. Lisa never wanted to be that to anyone. How long would it be before he discarded her like some used toy when he got something or someone more exciting? He didn't know how warmth rushed up her body when he called her his, but she hated feeling that way. Lisa belonged to no one. She never had.
A muscle clenched in Nikolai's jaw, and he swung his legs off the bed and sat on the edge. His eyes grew a shade darker, and he spoke with a calm that he did not feel inside him. "Did you have a bad day?"
"You don't get to ask me that either," Lisa said, with her anger in control now.
"I can do whatever I fucking want to do, Lisa," he retorted, with a calm that brought chills down Lisa's spine, but the sensational type of chill. If Nikolai as much as laid a finger on her, she was going to melt at his feet.
Why couldn't she control her body around him?
"Now, answer me. Did you have a bad day?"
Lisa felt a charge of sexual tension in the air and saw that despite the situation, she still clenched her legs together, trying to stop the wetness that was pooling in between her thighs. Nikolai's eyes followed her movements, but nothing changed in his expression. Instead, his eyes got darker.
A long silence resounded as Lisa refused to answer his question, looking straight into his eyes with a confidence she never knew she had. Suddenly, Nikolai got off the bed and stood in front of her. His breath washed over her face, and Lisa closed her eyes reflexively.
"I don't have to report anything to you," she whispered as Nikolai ripped off her bra so abruptly that the tiny pins fell noiselessly on the ground. He tossed it to a corner of the room just as her boobs sprung out beautifully in his palms. Lisa's breasts tingled beneath his touch, and she bit her bottom lip, determined not to give him the satisfaction he craved.
"Talk to me, Lisa," Nikolai's breath fanned her face, and Lisa reflexively took a fraction of a step closer to him. "What happened during the exhibition that has gotten you all wild and disobedient? Or do I need to punish you to get it out?"
Lisa's body tingled with the idea of getting punished by him, and she couldn't help it. Her nipples hardened painfully as Nikolai got their attention by tugging on the buds, still looking into her eyes, waiting for a response. He was going to do this all day if she didn't give him something.
And Nikolai would know if he was being lied to.
"Nothing happened," Lisa replied defiantly.
Done with taking it slow, Nikolai walked around and hauled her to the bed, letting her fall to the middle like she weighed nothing. Lisa sat up a second later, her heart thumping as he slid her pants down her leg, allowing it to join her bra on the floor. Lisa couldn't hold on to a rational thought as he discarded his clothes as well, his eyes still flashing a fierce anger. He climbed the bed, approaching her like the monster she thought he was.
The monster she feared she was falling for.
Nikolai hovered above her, careful not to place his entire weight on top of her. He raised Lisa's hands above her head and kept them there with one handcuffing her wrists together.
"This is the last time I'll be asking you what happened. You better fucking answer me. Did one of my men try something stupid?"
"Did I say this was about them?"
Nikolai glared at her. "You are not saying anything!"
"Because I don't want to."
"Fine."
Lisa felt his dick on her core as he settled himself there. She arched her back, ready for the thrust, but Nikolai did something else. He slid his dick through her damp clit, but didn't go in. His free hand tugged at Lisa's nipples, pulling them until they ached, and she let out a small cry. He would release them, and they would spring back into his face, causing him to repeat the cycle.
Lisa knew what Nikolai was doing. He wanted to show her he was in charge here, and she would have fought it if she didn't feel the waves crashing inside of her. She tried to concentrate on his hands on her breasts, to numb the arousal it brought, but that was impossible, with his dick messing with her mind.
And Nikolai knew it, which explained the cruel smirk on his face.
Lisa yelped out in pleasure as Nikolai's lips replaced his hands on her breasts, and he took each nipple bud between his teeth, rolling and tugging. A feral sound escaped from her lips, and Nikolai had a triumphant look on his face.
“Do you like it?”
Lisa couldn’t say a word, not with how her legs were shaky and her voice lost somewhere in her head.
"Are you ready to say something?"
"No!"
Leaving her breasts, Nikolai's hand caressed down her hips, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.
"Don't scream," he muttered as he thrust three fingers into her at once, and Lisa's back left the bed at once. Increasing intensity of pleasure mounted, so much that all she was able to pay attention to were his fingers and dick doing sinful and ravaging things to her body.
Lisa felt the whole world crashing on her suddenly as a harder wave hit. Her limbs shook and her eyes grew hazy, but all of that was gone almost immediately, as Nikolai stopped moving, staring at her with his dark eyes.
"Now, tell me what happened."
"Fuck!" Lisa moaned, needing to feel the way she felt a few seconds ago. She rubbed her hips against his, but Nikolai only strengthened his hold on her wrists.
"You know what I want to hear, krastoka . Why do you have to be so stubborn about it?"
"It's silly," she sighed. "I was having a relatively good day, and then it turned… it turned bad when I remembered the girl you brought home the other day. The Staircase Girl."
Nikolai's chest moved from a chuckle. "You even have a name for her."
"That is not the point, Nikolai."
"For what it's worth," Nikolai began, then thrust his cock into her, eliciting a sigh from Lisa. He settled into her and started pounding hard, lifting her right leg, so it was resting on his shoulders while he moved to sit. Lisa held on to the headboard as Nikolai left her wrists, holding on to her waist instead to keep her from slipping off the bed.
"I didn’t fuck her as hard as I fuck you, or as much. You shouldn't bother your pretty head with that." Nikolai continued sliding in and out, hitting spots Lisa never knew existed.
Although he said it with an authoritative tone, Lisa desperately wanted to take his words for it, like the only thing she needed to surrender to him. But how was that supposed to make her feel any better? She wasn't special to him. He probably had a pet name he called that girl, too.
Was it krastoka as well? Lisa wouldn't call such a provocative look beauty, but maybe that was what Nikolai liked.
As Lisa's mind battled with what Nikolai told her and how she felt, she felt a release coming along and held on to the headboard; her lips parted, and her eyes rolled back. Nikolai's eyes darkened as he took in the hot view, and he could have sworn that his dick had gotten harder.
Nikolai continued orgasm after orgasm, not giving Lisa a minute to recover after each one. He needed to pound it into her little head that he had no other person apart from her, even though he had tried to after Melody. It just didn't feel the same. Her pussy had entrapped him.
Finally, Nikolai came inside her, his body jerking along to his dick. A loud silence took over the room, and the only thing that could be heard was their raging breaths. Nikolai settled in beside Lisa and pulled her to his chest. Her heart picked up an annoying flutter as her breasts touched his skin, and the rest of her body followed suit. He was hard all around - evidence of devotion at the gym and a lot of good genes.
But that wasn't what got Lisa doing a little dance in her head. It was the fact that Nikolai had never done this with her before. He had said he never allowed anyone to sleep in his arms, yet here he was, seemingly doing just that. Was he really serious when he told her she had no reason to worry about the other girls?
"Why a bear?" Lisa asked after staying silent for a while. Her fingers traced the black ink on his chest that spread to a part of his neck and back. She had seen it only a few times when he was bare-chested with her, but the only thing her mind had been on then was his cock inside her. She’d barely noticed anything else.
Nikolai pulled her chin up and looked into her eyes. What he saw in there made his whole body stop abruptly. It was scary and, at the same time, enticing. Nikolai hated the conflict - hated being put in the middle of this type of conflict.
The next minute, he pulled away from her slowly and got up, putting on his clothes. "It's the Davydov family symbol," he murmured as he took care of the last button of his shirt. "My dad had one too."
Nikolai realized what he had just done and decided that he needed to get the hell out of there before he did worse. He had never spoken about his parents to anyone, and he was doing that casually with Lisa.
What had gotten over him?
Lisa watched him with a resigned look as he hurried out of the room. Nikolai should be the very last person she should fall for, with all the darkness and ruthlessness, and the fact that he did not care for anyone apart from his men - if one could call that caring. But Lisa wanted more. She needed more.
She went to bed with that thought messing with her head. Perhaps she shouldn't have, because then, when Nikolai came to check up on her hours later after spending time in his office, he wouldn't have heard her mumble that she was in love with him in her sleep, and nothing in him would have snapped.