Chapter 52
The elevator opens and Nadia steps in front of Vadim, jutting her chin at me defiantly. I hold back the impulse to scream at her when I meet Vadim’s crystal-blue gaze behind her. He smiles at me as he puts a hand on her shoulder.
“What on earth were you thinking, Nadia?” I step toward her and her chin wobbles before she hurls herself into my arms. Her voice is muffled by fabric as she buries her head in my chest.
“I just wanted Daddy to come home.” She wraps her arms tighter around my midriff.
“It worked.” Vadim moves toward me and pulls us both into the circle of his arms, and I finally let myself sink against him. I can feel my shoulders shaking as he wraps one arm around me and another around Nadia. He leads us both across the hardwood floors to the couch.
He pushes Nadia into the cushions, and her eyes widen as he removes his gun from its holster and places it on top of a stack of books on the coffee table.
“Nadia, do you realize that a stunt like that could have gotten you killed?” He sits on the coffee table, facing her as I look down at the two of them.
“It wasn’t real. Danni and I thought that if we pretended to get kidnapped, then you would come and find us.” She looks up at her father through long lashes. She and Danni were obviously experimenting with mascara while pretending to get abducted.
“And what did you plan to do on the streets of New York?” Vadim leans his forearms on his knees, forehead creasing with worry.
“Well, Danni said that her dad owns some bars and we could go and hang out in the back room for a night.”
Vadim blows out a whistle through his teeth and looks at the ceiling. “My god, this keeps getting worse. Why did she think you could go there?”
“One of her dad’s security guys likes her. He said he could look after us if we needed somewhere to hide, but Danni’s brother found out, and he said he was going to kill him. But that was just a joke, wasn’t it, Dad?” Nadia looks at the gun and back at me, her lip twisting. “He wouldn’t really do it, would he?”
Vadim looks over at me and reaches for my hand, twining his fingers around mine and squeezing. “Your mother and I think this is really serious. If Dante hadn’t overheard you and called me, I can’t imagine what could have happened. Those kinds of bars and clubs are not a place I ever want you or Danni to hang around. The kind of men that go there...”
He closes his eyes and swallows, shaking his head, and I rest my hand on his shoulder.
“Kesera.” He looks up at me, eyes pleading. “What do I do now?”
“Why don’t we all sleep on it, and we’ll talk about it in the morning. In the meantime, Nadia, you are grounded and there’s no screen time for a month.”
I expect a tantrum, but she just smiles at both of us. “Daddy came and found me, though,” she says, getting up and skipping down the corridor to her bedroom.
As the sun dips lower between the skyscrapers and the shadows lengthen across Central Park, I sink down to rest on the cushions. Vadim drops next to me and slings a heavy arm across my shoulders.
“I’ve never been so terrified in my life.” His deep voice shakes. “Come here, zolotaya.” He pulls me toward him, and I rest my head against his chest, breathing in the pine-and-salt scent of his skin and listening to the comforting thud of his heart.
“Do you have to leave?” I whisper.
“I’d prefer to be near you. I’ll sleep easier knowing you’re both close.” He looks down at me, the ring of icy blue around his pupils narrowing.
“I’m going to jump in the shower. Why don’t you go and sit with Nadia for a bit?” I smile at him. “Seems like she went to a lot of trouble to get you here.”
“I’ve never felt so wanted.” He huffs out a laugh, and I reach up to press my lips against his, taking his full bottom lip between my teeth and biting it. He groans and opens his mouth to deepen the kiss, pulling me onto his lap.
“You are wanted,” I whisper into his ear as he pulls my leg across his waist so I’m straddling him. The hard heat of his cock presses against me. I lean back and look at him, hands on his shoulders, and shake my head. “Not here. I need to be able to touch you properly. Go and say goodnight to Nadia.”
I walk to my bedroom and sit on the bed. I’m nervous. The jagged edges of my emotions smash against each other in my gut—fear, lust, relief, anger. The cocktail of feelings swirls around, making me nauseous. I don’t even realize Vadim has entered the room until I see him standing against the door frame, regarding me steadily.
“Does she always fall asleep so quickly?” His pastel stare is like blue fire.
“No. Not usually. It was probably the adrenaline. She must be wiped out.”
He stalks toward the bed and cages me in his arms so that I can smell the salt on his skin. “I feel like I’ve gone ten rounds in a boxing ring. Today was exhausting.” He rests his forehead on mine, the tenderness of the touch at odds with the next words. “Zolotaya, I need to fuck. I need to be back in control.”
I close my eyes and hear the click of a belt buckle and the slide of leather against fabric. I open my eyes with a question as he holds the belt in one hand and steps out of his trousers.
“Strip. Quickly,” he says.
I pull my shirt overhead, ripping a button on the cuff as I tear it off my arms. I’m reaching for my bra when Vadim leans down. Grasping both arms, which are already behind my back, he slides the leather over my wrists.
“Zolotaya?”
“Yes.”
The word comes out in a hiss, and he pulls the leather taught against my arms, belting them together behind me and thrusting my chest forward. He pulls the cups of my bra down and bites my breast, pulling it between his teeth and squeezing the other one roughly. Two twisting ribbons of pain and lust shoot down to the pulsing nub between my legs.
His eyes meet mine as he sucks away the pain, tonguing my sore nipples and drawing a low moan from my throat. Hearing the almost animal sound tear out of me brings me back to myself, and I look down at him in a panic.
“Vadim. The door . . .”
He stands up with a wolfish smile. “Let me see you struggle out of the rest of your clothes without the use of your arms, baby. Show me how you work for my cock.”
I watch him walk toward the door and hear the click of the lock as I rock back and forth against the edge of the bed, pushing the pants and panties I’m wearing lower by humping against the covers.
“That’s right. Show me how much you want me,” he says, standing at the door and watching me kick the clothes away.
I’m wearing nothing but his belt and my bra, my tits thrust upward. Embarrassed, I go to close my legs, but he shakes his head.
“Ah-ah, no.” He shakes his finger at me. “Spread your legs and show me what’s mine.” He pads across the carpet, sinking down between my spread legs and looking at me. “Wider, zolotaya. As wide as you can.”
Drawing on all the years of dance rehearsals, I pull one leg onto the bed and stretch it out, bearing myself to his flaming face. Heat races up to his cheeks, and I wonder if it’s matched by the fire that’s racing across my body.
He stretches out a finger and draws it through my center, pinching my clit before he sucks it into his mouth and closes his eyes as if he’s savoring the taste.
“Delicious. Just putting yourself on display for me makes you this wet.” He splays his hand against my stomach and gently pushes me against the sheets, the care of his movement at odds with the two fingers he jams inside me.
I cry out.
“Quiet, my little songbird.”
He leans down and takes a nipple into his mouth, sucking it hard as his two fingers curl upward against the walls of my pussy. He strokes in a circle and makes me whimper.
“My good girl. Being so quiet for me. You’re being so careful. Let me hear you whimper as you come on my fingers.”
He fucks me with his hand as he licks and bites my tits, a stream of Russian ghosting across my skin as I arch against him. With my heels against the mattress, I start to pant as I ride his hand.
Leaning back, he watches me. He adds a third finger, his gaze glued to the sawing motion of his fingers. The only sounds in the room are our harsh breathing and the wet noise of his hand moving inside me.
He leans down and sucks my clit into his mouth, and I go off like a firework. Sparks explode behind my eyes as he sucks and licks me like I’m an ice cream on a summer day.
My voice sounds like it comes from someone else as I beg. “Stop, baby. I can’t. It’s too sensitive.”
“You can. I love that I make you sensitive.” He looks up at me, one hand deep inside me and the other pressing my stomach into the bed. My arousal glistens on his lips. “I fucking want another one. I want to drink you down.” He lowers his head and mumbles between my legs. “I can’t get enough. Can’t fucking get enough.”
He punishes me with the flat of his tongue. I don’t have the leverage to get up. My arms are bound behind me, and I’m riding Vadim’s face to another explosion that has me shaking and trembling.
He gets to his feet and strips off his clothes. His cock stands out, red and angry against the geometry of scars and muscles across his torso, and he lifts me gently, rubbing up and down against my arms.
“You okay, my sweet zolotaya?” he says as my gaze bounces between the tender smile crinkling his eyes and the throbbing vein and red crown of his cock that’s level with my face. He presses his thumb against my bottom lip as he cups my chin and tilts my face upward. “My beautiful girl. Open for me.”
And I do, falling on him, licking and sucking him as if my lips can bathe him in every bit of devotion I feel. I sink my head as low as I can, taking him to the back of my throat and closing my eyes against the gagging sensation.
He leans back, watching me as I suck on the tip. I swirl my tongue around the crown.
“Fuck, fuck yeah. Don’t stop.” Meeting my eyes, he cups my face and threads his fingers through my hair as he inches forward. “My sweet little songbird. Look at you. Working so hard to love me.”
He feeds me half of him and stops, allowing me to breathe as he tenderly strokes his fingers across my forehead, along my eyebrows, until he cups my chin.
“Breathe in, zolotaya,” he says.
His hand remains around my chin as he watches my tits thrust forward with the in breath. Then he slides to the back of my throat, fucking me gently and bringing tears to my eyes.
“Fuck. You’re so good. So good the way you cry for me.”
He pulls back as I breathe out and take another breath in, and then he closes his eyes as he pumps back and forth. A series of grunts and Russian words fall from his lips as his face twists as if he’s in pain.
Pulling out, he sinks to his knees in front of me, thrusting his tongue into my mouth and kissing me deeply. He unties the belt and pulls off my bra before pushing my back onto the bed and climbing on top of me.
His fingers slide through mine as he pulls my arms over my head. “I need to touch you everywhere. Hold you everywhere,” he says as I spread my legs, twist my ankles behind his back, and draw him against me.
He stops and pulls back, watching me. He eyes the place where our bodies join as he slowly sinks inside me. My mouth falls open in a moan, and I lose myself to the kiss of his hip bones against my pelvis as I take all of him.
“Fuck, baby. I can’t be gentle. I need to fuck you hard.” And then he’s slamming into me, making the bed thump against the wall. The mattress slides against the headboard with a shudder, and he hits me with the full weight of his body.
I cry out, and he stops.
Letting go of my hand, he sinks his fingers into my mouth. “Suck on me, baby. Taste yourself so you don’t make a noise.”
My thoughts warp into incoherence, and I whimper as I tilt my pelvis toward him, sucking hard on his fingers as I push against him. Our eyes meet as he pulls his fingers away. He drops to his elbows and pistons into me, and my teeth sink into his bicep as I claw at his back, my pussy pulsing around him. He throws back his head with an almost animal groan.
Our bodies are slick with sweat as he sinks against me and rolls to pull me on top of him. I tuck my head into the crook of his neck and listen to the thud of his heart against my ear, the beats slowing as the sweat cools on my skin. The moment of space allows unease to creep in.
What we just did was animalistic, an explosion after the tension of the recent hours. It made me feel alive, but now I’m humming with nerves, bracing myself for another goodbye.
Vadim must sense the change because he pulls me tighter against him. “What is it?”
I don’t answer.
He rolls to his side, facing me as he strokes my hair away from my face. “Zolotaya, talk to me.”
“Are you leaving again?” I whisper as I listen to his heartbeat slow.
“I’m not going anywhere, zolotaya. I’m staying right here as long as you’ll have me.” But even as he looks at me, I have a gnawing sense there’s still something he’s not telling me.