Chapter 15 #2
Two hours later, I staggered into our house, giggling again when I nearly wiped out on the tiles in the front foyer.
“Careful,” Axel said as he held me up by one arm.
I spun in his arms. “Unzip me.”
“Mila,” he warned.
I stomped my heel on the tile. “I can’t get out of this dress myself, so you have to unzip me.”
I felt his fingertips at the back of my dress and then the coolness of the air as he brought down the long zipper of my dress. I let it slide down my body and pool at my feet.
I stepped over it and then stood there in front of him, wearing only my matching lingerie.
His jaw was tight, and he looked strained. “Time for bed.”
I stared at him. “Excellent idea.”
“Separate beds.”
I looked down at my mostly naked body and then ran my hands over my breasts. Under the lacy fabric, my nipples were as hard as pebbles. “Your fuck doll is ready.”
He stepped in close, lifted my chin, and made me look up at him. “My fuck doll is drunk.”
“So?” I stepped closer, pressing my body against his. The feeling of him being fully clothed against my near nakedness made me feel deliciously wanton.
“You’re too drunk to know what saying yes means.”
“Just touch me,” I whispered, trying to tempt him further.
I groaned with satisfaction when his hand moved beneath my soaked thong and he buried two fingers deep into me. His voice was so low it was almost unrecognizable. “Is this what you want?”
“I want us to have sex. Lots and lots of sex,” I moaned as he scissored his fingers within me, bringing me to my tippy toes.
His words were hot against my mouth as he pulled his fingers back out. “We’ll talk about it when you’re sober.”
His kiss was a mixture of heat, skill and tenderness. I moaned into his mouth, loving the taste of his lips on mine.
I tried to steer his hand back between my legs, but he resisted.
“Touch me,” I cried out in frustration.
“Not until we talk.”
“When?” I asked, lifting his big hand to my breast.
He didn’t disappoint, and the sensation of his fingers squeezing my nipple nearly made my legs buckle. “The next time I’m home.”
I pouted as I moved his other hand to my other breast. “That’s not fair. You’re never home.”
He cupped both my breasts with his hands, and he was doing things to my nipples that made me squirm with pleasure. “God, Mila. You’d tempt a saint.”
Sensing I was at an advantage, I managed to choke out the words, “I want a dog.”
He laughed as he dipped his head, and pressed a hot kiss to my neck, sending shivers up my spine.
My frustrated cry echoed through the foyer, but he lifted his head and stepped back. “Now be a good girl and go to bed.”
If he wanted to tease, two people could play that game. I bent over to pick up my dress, trying to give him a decent shot of my ass.
It would have worked, too, if I hadn’t nearly staggered off my heels in my attempt.
He grabbed me by the waist and set me on my feet. “Careful.”
I trailed my fingers over the bulge in his pants before grabbing hold of the railing and carefully walking myself up the curved steps.
Halfway up, I had a great idea. I bent over suggestively, giving him a nice shot of my behind before looking over my shoulder at him. “Your fuck doll is giving you the money shot.”
I ruined it by giggling and nearly falling up the stairs.
“You’re pushing your luck,” he warned.
“I’m drunk.” I stood up and started to climb the stairs, which was hard to do in my heels. “But I still want the dog. And you might not realize it, but I was basically offering myself to you right there.”
“You’re lucky you’re not sober,” he warned.
“I don’t know why you care.”
“Good night, Mila.”
“I’m getting the dog,” I warned, as I used the wall to hold myself up on the way to my bedroom. “Don’t you dare forget any of this.”
He remained at the bottom of the stairs, watching me. “If you still remember this conversation, we can talk tomorrow.”
I waited nine full days for my husband to come home, but I never managed to cross paths with Axel.
I made amends with Anton and Oleg for my antics at the nightclub, did my homework, learned how to make stew with Jordan and researched dogs.
But he never came back.
I lay in my bed and replayed the memories I had managed to retain from that night. They were tangled in a hazy, alcoholic fog.
I remembered Axel touching me when we got home.
I remembered him teasing me with his fingers and then stopping just when it was getting good.
And I remembered the taste of his kiss.
Every time I had those memories, my body remembered too, aching for something I didn’t fully understand.
I knew my husband wanted me, but he didn’t want to want me. I couldn’t quite imagine sex, but I knew from what we had done so far that it would be unimaginably good.
I also understood the concept of possession in our world. My uncle had perfected the art. Even people were fair game to him. Everyone, in their own way, was something to possess and control.
With Axel, I had acquired a taste of freedom that I had never experienced before, and I didn’t want to lose that. So when he warned me that things would change if we consummated our marriage, it concerned me. A lot.
I understood on some level that he was staying away for those reasons, but he’d told me that the next time we talked, we could discuss getting a dog.
That, more than anything else, was testing my patience.
The animal shelter smelled like bleach, wet dog and fear. Behind the reception desk, I could hear the lonely and persistent barks of dozens of dogs, as if they were all desperately calling for their lost owners.
The receptionist looked overworked. “The cost of adoption covers basic vaccinations, spaying or neutering, and a microchip, which we register to the new owner. Every adult in the home needs to fill out an application and meet the staff before we allow an adoption to proceed.”
“My husband works a lot.”
“We will still need to meet him.” She pushed papers toward me. “You can set up an appointment now.”
Without asking Axel, I signed him up to come to the animal shelter the following afternoon.
“Can I see the dogs?”
She nodded and motioned with her head to the door behind her. “You need to ask the staff back there if you want to interact.”
I looked over my shoulder at Anton. He gave me a resigned look and sat down in one of the waiting chairs.
The main kennel area consisted of three long rows of sturdy enclosures that housed one dog each.
The sound of barking was deafening, and I felt tears well in my eyes before I even saw my first dog.
There were dozens of them, all shapes and sizes, but they all had the same glazed, stressed look in their eyes.
Some barked at me in anger, and some immediately came toward me with wagging tails and pitiful looks of desperate need.
Every single dog tugged at my heart, and I wished that I could take them all home. There was a kennel with five puppies, all chubby rolls and cuteness, looking for a new home two weeks from today, and there were two kennels that had dogs that were only six months old.
The kennel farthest from the door looked empty at first, but then I saw a dark pile of black and brown fur tucked in the corner. I wasn’t even sure he was alive.
A staff member behind me was dragging a hose along the floor.
“Can you tell me about this dog?”
“Bandit’s been here nearly four months because of a couple of failed adoptions.” They looked regretful. “Some dogs just don’t take to a second home that well, which is too bad, because underneath all his trauma, he’s a good dog.”
I looked back at Bandit, who still hadn’t bothered looking at me. “What kind of trauma?”
When Anton and I got back into the car, I said with determination, “Take me to Axel.”
He looked at me in the rearview mirror. “I’m not sure if I’m allowed.”
“Anton, he’s my husband. No phone calls, no warning. You drive me to him right now.”
Anton looked anxious when he pulled our vehicle past the large bay doors of a warehouse. I looked around in surprise. I didn’t expect Axel to be working in a warehouse.
Before Anton could speak, I stepped out of the vehicle. I was halfway across the tarmac when Giselle stepped out of the door at the back. In contrast to my jeans and white sneakers, she was fully decked out in a white and black power suit and killer heels.
“Mila,” she greeted me in her cool French Canadian accent. “Axel didn’t mention you were stopping by.”
I scanned her beautiful face, trying to look for evidence of her being Axel’s mistress, but I saw nothing that resembled guilt. All I noticed was how her porcelain skin, wide eyes and perfectly shaped lips added to her beauty.
“He didn’t mention you’d be here either.”
She studied me back with an expression mixed between curiosity and confusion. “How do you like being back in Canada?”
My eyebrows shot up at the fact that she knew anything about my life. “It’s fine.”
She reached out and touched my arm. “Axel told me that you were in Russia for four years.”
I shoved my hands in my back pockets, feeling young and unsophisticated in her presence. I didn’t particularly like the idea of Axel discussing me with her, especially when my own husband had been deliberately avoiding talking to me for days.
Part of me wanted to be really rash and dramatic and ask Giselle to her face if she was sleeping with my husband, but I doubted she would tell me the truth. Plus, if they thought I suspected them, then they’d be even more secretive.
Giselle looked at me expectantly, yanking me back into the conversation.
“I met Axel in Russia. We got married there.”
That put a small smile on her lips, like she knew a secret I didn’t. “That’s nice.”
Her look made hot anger flash through my body, like an electric current. In my heart of hearts, I think I had my answer. I felt tears prick the back of my eyes.
“I should get up there. I know he’s waiting for me,” I murmured before turning away.
“It was nice to see you again, Mila.” Her lyrical voice followed me.