57. Elanee
I sit beside Ara in Cappa Café. This is the second time I’ve joined her and her three friends who sit across from us.
Her friend, Lily, who usually seems very sweet, is currently stabbing her iced tea with the straw. “My parents told me that I need to start dating seriously, or they’ll take the florist shop away from me.”
“What? But you love that place. And didn’t you buy that shop yourself?” Romi says. Her short, red-dyed hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a shirt that says Yoga Girls are Twisted. Apparently, she’d only returned from an art show in Europe two days ago.
“Not all men are bad,” Sienna says, taking a sip of her tea as she admires her engagement ring. The model apparently fell head over heels and celebrated a quick engagement.
Lily briefly glances over her shoulder at Lorenzo, who’s standing by the door. When his gaze lands on her she’s quick to look away. It’s obvious there’s something between them but I can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps an unrequited crush? Ever since Ara announced she was pregnant, Luca enforced that Lorenzo was to be with her when he himself couldn’t be.
After the incidents involving The Lion, Ara is the only person, besides my sister, who knows the truth of what happened. And I’m the only one at this table who knows that Ara’s husband isn’t just a billionaire businessman but head of the Italian mafia.
But hey, we all have our secrets, I suppose.
“Why don’t you see if Elanee can help you since she’s a matchmaker?” Romi suggests, bringing me into the conversation. Lily looks at me, hopefully, but I can tell without her saying it or glancing back that she’s not the slightest bit interested unless it’s a particular bodyguard.
“I can always keep an eye out if you’d like?” I suggest.
Her shoulders go inward, and she sighs as if doomed to her fate. Lorenzo snatches another glance her way, but I keep that observation to myself. Ara and I share a knowing glance.
“How about this? Luca and I are going to Italy for a few weeks before I get too fat with this baby,” Ara says as she places her hand on her stomach. I envy the touch. Although right now, it’s still unlikely I’ll be able to have children because of my years of malnutrition and abuse. I hope in time and years of correcting it, I might be able to conceive naturally.
Dmitri said he didn’t mind if we adopted either, but now that I had a future to look forward to, I wanted to give him a child. Many, in fact, if it’s possible.
“So why don’t you come with us to Italy?” Ara continues. Lorenzo’s gaze flashes to Ara, most likely because I doubt Luca Armani will appreciate anyone crashing his getaway with his wife.
Lily stares at her, her mouth opening and then closing again. “I couldn’t impose.”
Ara scoffs. “It’s just a few weeks for you to get out of New York and start thinking about what you really want. Not what your parents want, but you. ”
Lily bites her bottom lip, and the stabbing of the poor iced tea has lessened. “Really?”
“Of course. That’s what friends do,” Ara says with a smile and places her hand back on her stomach.
I try to hide my smile because this is nice. Before everything happened, I’d always been surrounded by friends, but all that had been taken away from me. But now I’d been given a second chance with these women who took me in without so much as a second thought.
I was starting a new life here.
“Okay,” Lily says with a coy smile. “I’ll go to Italy then.”
“Atta girl,” Romi encourages, nudging her on the shoulder.
My phone on the table lights up with Dmitri’s name. I flip it over, not wanting it to take away from our girls’ time. But Ara notices it, and she softly says, “How’s he recovering after surgery?”
“Good,” I say rather fondly. His tumor was removed three weeks ago, and he is back at home healing. I’d since moved in. In fact, it’d never become a discussion; he’d just had my things moved in from my apartment, but there wasn’t much I wanted from that old life and memories anyway. “This is the first time I’ve left him alone. Layla’s over there babysitting, but he’s probably becoming impatient. He already wants to go back to work.”
“Sounds like Dmitri Volkov,” Ara says, and the other women nod in agreement.
We’d been through so much these last six months, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, not if this was the only path that would lead us to where we are now. I admire my stunning engagement ring and the sizable diamond. I love it because it’s not overly big in size, it’s quaint like how I prefer my jewelry.
My body goes into shock, and I clench my thighs as my pussy is zapped, stirring a slow hum in my core.
“Elanee, are you okay?” Sienna asks, noticing my sudden change in demeanor.
The not-so-subtle vibration on my pussy goes up a level, and my throat tightens. “Yeah. I um. Can you excuse me for one second,” I’m quick to say as I grab my phone and try my hardest to walk normally to the bathroom.
My jaw is locked tight, and I immediately call Dmitri. He answers on the first ring. I open the door to the bathroom, relieved that no one else is inside.
“Cricket, you ignored my text message,” he says knowingly.
“You can’t be seri—”
The toy in my panties kicks up, and I almost keel over with it. I desperately enter the first toilet booth, close the door behind me, and sit on top of it.
“Dmitri. Stop, I’m ha-having coffee.”
Fuck, but it feels good.
“You left me all alone,” he says, and I can imagine him pretending to pout.
“You knew I was coming.”
He chuckles. “Oh yes, you are.”
I don’t have the energy to fight him on the ‘coming’ comment. I inevitably roll into the comfort of the toy and the sweet relief it’s going to give me. When I started working again a week ago, he made me promise to wear my panties so when he felt ‘lonely’ we could ‘be together.’ But this wasn’t in the office.
“Why so quiet, Cricket?” he asks and the tempo on the toy picks up.
“You don’t seem very sick right now,” I hiss. I’d never met a man to have such stamina, considering he’d faced death twice in the last six months.
“I’m fisting my cock right now because you’re not here to do it. So maybe I am feeling a bit lonely.”
The speed kicks up again, and my eyes are rolling into the back of my head. “Fuck me, Dmitri.”
“Tonight, sweetheart. But first, I want you to beg,” he says sensually as the tempo picks up again, and I’m teetering on the edge.
“You really are the devil,” I whisper as I’m about to break apart.
He chuckles as the toy goes completely still. My eyes burst open, expectantly.
What the fuck?
I was so close.
“Dmitri,” I growl.
“That’s not what I wanted to hear, sweetheart. You’ll really have to beg for it tonight.”
“Don’t you—”
He hangs up on me, and I curse under my breath.
This mother fucker. I bite the edge of my nail. Now my pussy is pounding expectantly, waiting for the high and explosion of bliss. And he knows without a doubt I’ll be straddling his cock within the next thirty minutes.
I look at my wristwatch, I should have time to go home for a quickie before work.
That mother fucker has me on an entirely different leash.
I can’t get enough of him.
My phone buzzes, and a text message appears. Dmitri sends through a photo of him standing in the shower, the water trailing down his chiseled abs as he holds his cock. I lick my lips.
Fuck.
I’ll never have enough of this man.
My soon-to-be husband.
And still the prick that used to tease me from college.
But at least now, he’s my prick.