Chapter 14 - Anatoli
The last thing I expected was for Masha to patch up my arm, but after Dimitry made such a mess of it, I had to admit it felt a lot better.
She wasn’t just using it as an opportunity to stick a needle in me, and I was begrudgingly grateful.
I also didn’t expect her to do a single thing else for me after that, which was why I had to pull out the big guns, or rather, the hidden bombs.
Did she believe me? Didn’t matter. If I knew anything about my tempting little torturer, it was that she’d never risk her family.
Despite holding their fates over her head, she was shockingly cheerful on the plane on the way to Russia, and we talked the entire way.
It was odd seeing her as someone other than an enemy, though I was under no illusion that she was anything but that.
She was just… surprisingly human. I learned things about her I never would have guessed in a million years.
For instance, she sometimes had self-doubts.
Maybe it was cracking open the second bottle of wine that made her admit it, but it was clear it was the truth by the way she turned bright red and obviously wished she could take it back the moment the words were out.
And what was it that made me admit things I’d never told anyone else before?
It wasn’t the wine, because I held back, not about to let my guard down around her.
For a brief moment on the plane, I got a glimpse of what it might be like to actually be married to someone I cared about and who cared about me in return. It was only an illusion, however, or perhaps even one of her clever ruses.
As soon as we touched down on Russian soil, she was as intractable as ever, fearless and stubborn even with my threats hanging over her head. “Holy cow, how is this Russia?” she said when I guided her under my watchful eye from the plane to the waiting car.
Sweat beaded on her brow, and she gathered her thick dark hair into a ponytail, tying it in place to keep it off her neck in the early fall heat.
“We’re quite a bit further south than people who grew up in Moscow are used to. This is nothing compared to summer. Winters are still harsh as hell, though.”
She kept her attention on everything we passed and anyone else I would have thought was just trying to see the sights of a new city, but there wasn’t much of interest to see in Volgograd. She was Masha, after all, probably looking for potential escape routes.
When we arrived at my penthouse apartment in the city, one of the few nice buildings in the Soviet-era wasteland of my hometown, I told her to get some sleep because there was going to be a dinner in our honor with everyone in attendance that night.
She tried to be defiant, but a huge yawn cut the act short, and she reluctantly agreed that I might have good ideas once in a while.
After checking in with my uncles, and making sure the guards understood that Masha wasn’t to leave the apartment for any reason—not even a blazing inferno—I barely made it to my own bed, crashing and sleeping half the day away.
Never one to succumb to jet lag, I was refreshed and ready to face my hellcat bride. She was already awake, but admitted that she had just rolled out of bed and was snacking on some Khvorost that my Aunt Nadia had sent over.
“Careful,” I warned. “I haven’t told you about her yet. Those just might be poisoned.” To show her I was mostly joking, I popped one of the powdered sugar pastries into my mouth. “Hurry up and finish that so I can show you something.”
I made sure everything was the way I’d ordered before leaving LA, and when she followed me to the big closet in my bedroom, I showed her that half of it had been filled with clothes for her.
“I told you not to worry,” I said, waiting for her reaction.
My people had worked hard to get everything I wanted. Designer dresses, jewels that cost a small fortune, and matching shoes for everything. I wondered if Nadia had jumped in and helped out with this particular task, because it all looked like any woman’s dream.
Except, apparently, my wife. Masha barely glanced at the stunning gold gown I couldn’t wait to see on her, rolled her eyes at the jewel display, and went straight to the jeans.
“I’ll be glad to get out of these clothes,” she said, sliding open a drawer and rifling through the T-shirts. “Isn’t it crazy how gross you feel after a long flight?”
What was crazy was that she wasn’t impressed at all, and why my feelings were so stung by her lack of interest in my lavish gifts. Why the hell should I care? She’d wear what I told her to wear, whether she liked it or not.
Since the formal gold dress was for another party, I picked out a royal blue one and held it up, pointing at the matching shoes with my free hand. Then I nodded at the sapphire necklace and earring set lying in their open velvet box on the center console.
She laughed. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Since when did I tell you to think? Put the dress on. Do I have to remind you what’s at stake if you don’t properly play your part?”
She sidled up to me, batting her big brown eyes. “Oh, I’m fully prepared to act like a loving wife,” she said, running her hands up my chest. “But not in something like that. I won’t be able to run worth shit in those heels, and the dress is way too low cut.”
The dress wasn’t low cut at all, but I leered down at her ripe breasts under her silly cartoon t-shirt. I had thought it was funny at first to order the closet in LA to be full of clothes she’d be sure to hate, but she barely seemed to care and still looked hotter than blazes in them.
To pay her back in kind, I ran my hands up her chest, leaning gently on her shoulders as I loomed over her. “There will be no need to run, and if for some reason there is, I’ll carry you to safety… my love.”
She scowled hard at the sarcastic endearment and jumped back as if my touch had burned her.
Her cheeks were red, and she turned away, pulling a pair of black trousers and a simple white blouse from the rack.
They were more suitable for a job interview than a celebration dinner, and I cursed whoever chose them.
“Nope,” I said, taking them from her and dropping them to the floor. “Everyone there will be dressed in their finest, and I expect you to outshine all of them. Now, put the blue dress on.”
After a brief staredown that involved her eye starting to twitch, she finally conceded defeat. What else could she do?
“I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes,” she said. “Now, can you give me some privacy?”
I was irritated, bordering on being pissed off. I shook my head. “So you can wear what you want and make us late? I think I’ll stay and watch to make sure you don’t defy me.” Her eyes narrowed, but I reminded her that I didn’t want to kill anyone in her family, but I would if she pushed me.
That pissed her off, but she grabbed the blue dress from the rack and shook it almost violently off the padded hanger. When it fell to the floor, she kicked it, grabbing it when it floated up to her. It was all I could do to keep from laughing until something in her attitude changed.
When it was very clear I wasn’t leaving, she stood in front of me, staring me dead in the eyes as she slowly pulled her shirt over her head.
Letting it drop from her fingertips to the floor, she ran her hands up her sides and turned around, looking through the drawers until she pulled out some lacy black lingerie, holding it up as if she was thinking it over carefully.
“I wonder if this will show through?” she asked in a low voice, finally turning back to me and unclasping her plain white bra and letting it follow the t-shirt to the floor.
My breath hitched in my throat as I let my gaze drop to her perfect, ripe, round tits on full display. Her arms rippled with goosebumps despite it being a comfortable temperature, and she slowly, oh so slowly put the black bra on, her taut pink nipples showing through the lace.
Leaning over, she shimmied out of her jeans, letting her white cotton panties slide down her legs with them. All too soon, she had the matching black ones on and made a big show of bending over to slip into the high heels while wearing only the lingerie.
My mouth was bone dry, and my hands curled, my fingers aching to reach out and touch her.
She wasn’t the first beautiful naked woman I’d ever seen, but if she was the last, I would have been fine with it at that moment.
She was exquisite as she licked her lips and moved closer to me, one of her lithe, muscular legs nudging between mine as she pressed her body against me while pretending to reach for something over my head.
The whole show was a game, but I was happy enough to watch.
As she let the silky fabric of the dress slide down her body, I drank in every inch of her.
There was a long, thin scar on her side, another one on her thigh.
They didn’t mar her beauty, but enhanced it.
If she hadn’t been making me so angry with that little vixen act that didn’t suit her, I would have asked how she got them.
Smoothing her hands down her sides, she smiled up at me, batting her lashes again. “What do you think? Will I outshine everyone?”
The dress hugged every perfect curve, and the color made her whiskey colored eyes darken to a rich coffee shade. Her hair fell in smooth waves over her shoulders, framing the subtle hint of creamy skin at her neckline.
She was toying with me, and as much as it pissed me off, I liked it even more.
Was she trying to make me lose control? To put her in her place again, I filled the mere inches between us and wrapped all that loose, shining hair around my hand, tugging her head back.
Her gasp as her mouth fell open was the final straw.
I claimed that lush mouth, the one that had been teasing me, the one that always had something defiant to say, the one that had been calling me to kiss her since the day I grabbed her and made her mine.
She stiffened, shoving me, but I held on tighter, my hand sliding down her back to grip that tight little ass she’d been shaking only a few minutes before. I felt her begin to melt against me, the hands that had been pushing at my chest now moving up to grab onto my shoulders.
Was this part of the game? Did I give a shit as long as my tongue was in her mouth and she was gasping for more?
It seemed like I did, because I pulled away, giving her a long look.
She trembled, leaning against me, her fingers digging into my shoulders as she searched my face with wide eyes.
I stepped back, out of her grasp, and left her swaying on her tottering high heels.
Maybe I won this round. Then again, maybe I didn’t.