Chapter Nine #3
It was Tuesday, the first day Mikhail had left the penthouse since we got married. He had spent a large part of the day before working, but that had all been in his home office, not out at his warehouse.
I could only blink as he kissed the back of my hand, his 5 o'clock shadow grazing my skin before he released it.
“I didn’t know you wear glasses. They look good on you,” I remarked, smiling at him.
“Hmm,” he muttered, chuckling. “How many mafia bosses do you know who need glasses to go through paperwork?”
“Uh…it’s your health. Why would I want to compare it with other mafia bosses?” I asked, frowning in mild confusion.
“It’s not just that.”
“So, what is it?”
He sighed before answering. “From needing these damn glasses to every other thing, I just can’t seem to measure up. To be good enough outside another’s shadow.”
That was totally not what I would have expected to hear from him.
“Well, I don’t see anyone’s shadow hovering over you. You seem to be doing fine on your own, to me,” I expressed, an unsure chuckle leaving my lips.
“You’ve not had any reason to measure me beside the others,” he negated, a faraway look in his eyes.
I was deliberating asking who the others were when he went on.
“Right from when I was a kid, as far back as I can remember, I’ve struggled to be up to standard, to be good enough.
Our father started training Viktor to be the next Pakhan, so he seemed to grow even faster.
He was stronger, smarter, and he judged better.
Besides age, the distance between us was a lot of ground I couldn’t cover.
But then, the distance between Roman and me became more and more insignificant as we all grew.
He became better than me in many things.
Even Konstantin has areas where he’s the best among us.
Not me. I was...in the middle. In everything, I was just good.
Nothing exceptional or remarkable. Even physically, look at us.
Roman is the second tallest after Viktor.
Konstantin comes next. I probably sound vain, too,” he stopped himself, chuckling.
“No, you don’t,” I cut in, my voice softer than I remembered it being.
“Height is a big deal for men. I know that because the girls who flocked around us as we grew up couldn’t stop comparing. The comparison would have meant nothing if I, at least, measured up in one aspect. I don’t have Viktor’s control or Roman’s sleek charm. But…it’s not something I can change.”
“So you just keep pushing yourself to silence the feeling of being average,” I pointed out.
He looked into my eyes like he was surprised I understood. Or that I cared enough.
“Mikhail, you don’t have to,” I told him, taking his hand between both of mine.
“You’re more than good enough. The only problem is that you’re too focused on every other person to see yourself.
You don’t need Viktor’s control or anyone’s height.
Damn, you don’t need anyone’s charm. I would have hidden my face from the wedding pictures if that were the case. ”
He chuckled, and I found myself doing the same.
“I’ve only known you closely for a few days, and I already know you’re kind and considerate- something people below you on the mafia ladder, even my dad, don’t have.”
My thumb went back and forth on his hand as I continued.
“You wear your heart on your sleeve, and you can be authoritative as fuck when you need to be.”
“Remembering our initial interactions?”
“Yes,” I confessed, rolling my eyes. “But, my point is, if that’s not a standard on its own, I don’t know what is.”
His other hand cupped the side of my face as our silent gazes remained locked on each other.
This was not the kind of secret I came into this office to find.
“You’re special,” he remarked, breaking the silence.
I shrugged in response, and his smile widened.
“Were you going to bed?” he inquired.
“Nope. A movie was the plan.”
“I’ll join you, then,” he disclosed, standing from the desk and holding a hand out for me.
“What about all the work you have to do?” I asked, looking over the various documents strewn all over the desk.
“Not touching anything else today,” he answered as I stood. “I just want to cuddle with you while we watch whatever.”
And we did just that.
**********
“Let go! You sleazy bastard,” I complained, making him laugh even louder.
We were playing a game where the first person to laugh was the loser, setting off the next round. Giovanni, after two consecutive losses, had resorted to pinching the bridge of my nose just to make me laugh.
“Hey, language, kid,” he chastised, still laughing as he batted my hands off himself.
“I’m not a kid. Leave me alone and just give up.”
“Are you sure?” he drawled, the side of his thumb rubbing the tip of my nose in a ridiculously slow rhythm.
I broke out in laughter, and he yelled, “Yes!”
“You cheated. You didn’t win,” I argued, rolling my eyes at him.
“Aw, don’t be bitter. You still have the high score,” he remarked, grinning as he went back to sit on the floor across from me.
“And that is the fact, at the end of the day. I’m above you, far above you,” I boasted, sweeping my hair to the side.
“There’s no above or beneath for us, Bella,” he corrected, his grin gone. “We’ll always stand together. We’re all we have.”
“Yes, and Dad.”
“Hm.”
My eyes slowly opened, and I was hit with the sharp realization that I had been dreaming. But a tantalizing shudder rocked my body, and I smiled, eyes on the ceiling. A smile that had nothing to do with the happy memories I had with my brother.
I felt fingers creep up my inner legs, and I licked my lips in anticipation, wondering if I had been tugged into a different, albeit erotic, dream.
Firm hands parted my legs, and I gasped as fingers pushed my panties to the side, sweeping over my clit.
Wet heat covered my slit, and I let out a soft moan as my hands went down, finding Mikhail’s insanely soft hair.
He sucked my clit, and I moaned louder, crazed with lust. His tongue flicked along my slit, making a shaky breath leave my lips.
He started moving his tongue against my pussy, strong and fast, leaving me moaning and panting helplessly.
Mikhail tongue-fucked me until my whole body was a weightless ball of desire.
His tongue moved with purpose until my back arched in ecstasy as I reached my climax, moaning his name.
When he was done licking every part of my oversensitive clit, he surfaced in my line of sight, his eyes hazy with desire.
“You called my name. When you were…you moaned my name,” he pointed out, crawling over me as I tried to get my bearings.
I realized, then, that he was dressed for work in a crisp white shirt and black trousers.
His lips landed on mine in a noisy kiss.
“Good morning, darling wife.”
“Morning,” I breathed.
“Off to the warehouse,” he informed, kissing my forehead. “Just wanted to give you a delightful morning.”
He crawled off the bed and headed straight towards the door.
“Your hair,” I called softly after him.
“Oh?”
He turned around and went to the dresser, gazing at his reflection. “Looks better this way.”
He winked at me through the mirror.
And then he was gone.
I sighed, my body still buzzing from my high. As the stars faded from my vision, I thought back to how my brother was no longer here because of them. Because of him.
From my dream about Giovanni to Mikhail waking me with an orgasm, things were getting muddled up.
The clear border line between my revenge plan and my attraction towards Mikhail blurred with each passing day. I wasn’t sure that my pulling closer to him was still solely for the sake of revenge.
**********
I caught Mikhail’s eyes before I could look away again. It had been this way all afternoon, us stealing glances at each other across the table like teenagers.
We were having brunch at Viktor’s house, an affair that was more about introducing me to the brothers. The youngest brother, Konstantin, was away and was the only one absent.
Roman had turned out to be friendlier than he looked, with him praising me for Mikhail’s ‘awakening taste’ because he wore a burgundy suit.
My phone vibrated with an incoming text, and I casually opened it while Emilia answered my question about the farmer’s market nearby.
“Can’t take my eyes off you. Definitely can’t wait to pin those fire nails above your head and NAIL you properly.”
I wanted to laugh and kiss him at the same time. He’d been calling my red nails ‘fire nails’ since I painted them in the morning.
He wasn’t looking at me when I glanced his way. He was busy discussing with his brothers as the help cleared away the plates. I couldn’t even picture him typing on his phone.
“It’s surprisingly well-stocked. You won’t regret going,” Emilia concluded.
“I’ll try it one of these days,” I replied, nodding as I picked up my phone again before muttering a ‘sorry.’
“It’s fine,” she answered, waving a hand. “I have to go check on Leonard, anyway.”
“Oh…okay.”
Viktor’s eyes shifted straight to her as she stood, his brothers on either side of him becoming secondary.
“Quick check. I'll be back,” she told him, to which he nodded.
I quickly typed my response to Mikhail.
“Why wait, then?”
I kept looking down at my phone, but he was in the corner of my eye. When I noticed him subtly pick up his phone with his left hand, I lifted my head. I saw the way his eyes flicked towards me and darkened before he typed on his phone.
I opened the text the second my phone vibrated.
“I think it’s time for me to collect that debt. ”
My heart beat faster as I looked up from the text to see him watching me. My hand instinctively went to my neck, suddenly hungry for his touch.
“Hold that thought, Roman,” he uttered, turning to face Viktor. “I’ll be back, brother. I promised to show Isabella something from your rooftop. We were talking architecture, and I need to prove my point.”
He was already on his feet as Viktor nodded.
“Let’s go,” he told me, going around the table to hold my hand as I stood.
We were going up the stairs in a minute. His hand held on to mine as he led us towards a door along the wide hallway.
His lips were on mine the second we entered the sparsely furnished room, and he shut the door. His kiss was fervent as his hands held on to my waist, moving me until my back was against the cool wall.
I broke the kiss, my hand moving to his crotch when he raised a questioning brow.
“I’ve got a debt to pay,” I told him.
“Oh, I changed my mind,” he said, shrugging.
His hands came to the hem of my red silk slip dress, and he lifted the material, eyes on me.
“You’ll only feel, not see it,” he rasped as his fingers hooked around the band of my panties and he pulled them down. He crouched as my panties fell around my black heels, collecting them as I stepped out.
He slipped the lace underwear into his pocket. With my ass exposed, he turned me around and held my wrists against the wall over my head. I heard the shuffling and jangling as he undid his belt.
His body covered mine from behind and, without warning, Mikhail slammed into me, making me struggle to hold in a moan.
“This is exactly what I’ve been thinking of since I saw those sexy nails of yours,” he confessed against the back of my ear, amidst soft pants. “Fucking you from behind. Against the wall. Just like this.”
A low moan left my lips; I couldn’t help it.
“Tell me, do you like it, too?”
I nodded.
“I want to hear your voice. Do you like being fucked against the wall by a greedy man like myself?”
“I love being fucked by you,” I answered.
He kissed me, swallowing subsequent moans.
I felt my peak get closer as he powered into me, his other hand holding my waist to his body.
He broke the kiss as he moved even faster, each thrust sending me closer to my climax.
I moaned softly as I came, my legs feeling like jelly as he spurted hotly into me.
He released my wrists as he pulled out, and I turned around.
“I couldn’t just hold it in,” he whispered, brushing down my hair as he moved closer. “Seeing you all sexy and…looking at me like that…I just…”
“Are you apologizing for giving me one of the best orgasms of my life?” I inquired, holding on to his shoulders to steady myself.
A smile crossed his face as he dropped a kiss on my lips. “You’re beautiful.”
**********
The brunch itself had become history. Emilia and I had gone back to the sitting room, while the brothers had a meeting in Viktor’s study.
But I decided to stalk towards the study door when Emilia excused herself for a minute.
“He’s been playing dirty for way too long,” I heard Roman say.
I took another step and found out the door wasn’t even shut.
“Marco has nobody’s interest at heart. Not the Bratva. Not even his kids. He’s all for himself,” Mikhail answered.
My dad?
“On all accounts, he’s a betrayer,” Viktor’s voice sounded.
A shadow moved, and I was about to turn around when a hand grabbed my wrist.
I’m in trouble.
I opened my eyes, which I’d screwed shut in fright, and found myself looking at burgundy trousers. Of course, it was Mikhail.
I’m not even halfway done with my plan. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. He’ll just kick me out and-
“Careful, little wife,” he warned, his voice low. “You keep watching me that way, I’ll think you’re falling in love.”
I looked up at him. He clearly had no wish to punish me for trespassing or anything. It made my heart clench.
“I was just wandering,” I explained. “I’ll go now. Emilia will be looking for me.”
He nodded, and I turned around, not daring to look back.
Right there and then, a realization flashed in front of my face. I had to be more careful. If not, he’d be on to me.