Chapter Twenty-One #2
“And, even as we got married, I seemed fine with the idea. Too fine,” I pointed out, releasing a silent sigh. “Well, it was because I had a motive. I thought you were making it even easier for me when you mentioned marriage.”
His gaze remained steady on me.
“I was so sure you ordered the hit that killed Giovanni. I thought you were responsible for his death, with you being the most explosive of the Lobanov Bratva brothers and whatnot. I was so deep in pain over losing him that working out a plan to avenge him was the only thing I could pour all my energy into. I blamed you for taking him away from me,” I revealed.
“It’s hard to miss that. You always said it,” he remarked, his voice calm.
I nodded before continuing.
“I had a plan, a motive. I didn’t mind marrying you at all because I wanted to ruin you.
My plan was to get close to you, get all your Bratva secrets and maybe some personal ones, and then betray you.
I pretended to be resigned to your decision solely because I was sharpening my plans against you,” I confessed.
I had expected him to let out an angry bellow that I was a liar and a manipulator. Or stalk out silently, looking down at me with disgust and irritation at my betrayal.
An image I didn’t dare conjure in my head was one of him chuckling or remaining calm beside me. But that was exactly what he did.
Mikhail chuckled, and I turned to face him.
“I can’t say I’m surprised to hear this. I mean, I’ve always had a vague idea,” he disclosed.
A confused frown crossed my face.
“Come on, you were ready to have my head at your brother’s funeral. And then all that fire was suddenly nowhere to be found; it couldn’t have been random, could it?”
“How can you be so casual about this?”
“Isabella, your actions are totally understandable and expected for someone in your position. Only a crazy person would have been all smiles with the person they assumed killed their only sibling.”
“You mean…you’re not mad?”
“I'm not mad at you,” he assured. “I appreciate you telling me all this. You didn’t have to. So, thank you.”
I swallowed, not quite knowing what to say in response.
“There’s nothing to feel uneasy about,” he persuaded. “You’re no longer going through with your plan, are you?”
“Hell no. Why would I? I now know I’ve been blaming you wrongly all this time.”
“I admire how brave you are, baby,” he stated, claiming my right hand with his left one, bringing it to his lap.
“And I’m not talking about you telling me this alone.
I’m talking about how you hold your own regardless of what situation you’re thrown in.
I’ve seen it in many instances, and I must say it’s one of the many things I find endearing about you. ”
“Thanks, I guess,” I uttered. “You said I had no reason to tell you. Well, you were wrong. I have.”
He raised a questioning brow.
“Mikhail, I care about you. You’ve come to mean so much more to me than I could have ever thought. It’s not just about how you embrace all my quirks and make me feel valued. It’s more about how you’re…human, with me.”
“Human?”
“I know one or two mafia bosses, and their frozen composure is impenetrable. They relate with everyone, like the tiniest show of feeling makes them less dangerous. But with you, it’s all warm and cozy.
You don’t hold back from me, and I don’t think there’s anything I love more than that.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’ve become a part of me I wouldn’t want to be rid of. ”
“You drive me crazy and make me speechless, have I ever told you that?”
“Maybe,” I uttered.
“I don’t know much about love. But I know without a doubt that my whole being opens up to you. I know that every part of me is attuned to you. All you have to do is be in the same space with me. And, yes, I never want to be separated from you.”
After a silent second, he went on.
“If you, however, want out…”
“No, Mikhail. I thought I made it clear just now.”
“I just wanted to put things out there,” he uttered.
“Forever is the destination,” I told him.
“Careful, darling wife. You keep throwing these words around, I’ll be tempted to resound my affirmation,” he said, his voice going lower as he added, “And it won’t be with words.”
“It’ll be with what, then?” I asked, my tone equally low.
“You already know,” he answered, a sly smile on his face. “With my body.”
“What if that’s exactly what I crave right now?” I inquired, shifting closer to him.
“Hmm, crave is a big word, baby,” he pointed out, his hand tracing the side of my face.
“Take me, Mikhail. If this is going to be the end of us, I want to face it as your wife. Fully. No forced commitments. No compulsions. No schemes.”
“I won’t let harm come to you. I’ll do my damnedest to keep you alive and safe,” he vowed before his lips came down on mine.
In the next minute, he was lifting me and crawling to the center of the bed. My back landed softly on the lush mattress, his kiss pinning me down as he hovered over me.
“You’re mine,” he claimed, his authoritative voice carrying an undertone of tenderness.
“I’m yours,” I agreed right before he kissed me again. Slower, this time. But not any less ardent. Our tongues fought for domination as we both poured our hunger into the kiss, my hands tugging gently at the hair behind his head while his roamed.
He ended the kiss but didn’t break eye contact with me as he knelt beside me, his hands pulling the hem of my dress up. Every inch of skin his fingers touched was covered in goosebumps as he took off the dress, along with my underwear. His hands went to unbutton his shirt, but I sat up.
“Let me,” I urged, my hand over his.
He let go, and I undid every button under the unmissable hood of his stare. He got off the bed and removed his trousers, also freeing his hard length from his boxers.
I instinctively licked my lips at the thought of all that veiny hardness inside me.
He was hovering over me again in the next second, his dick poking blindly at my lower stomach.
He dropped a kiss on my lips. And then, with his fingers tracing my face in featherlight touches, he kissed my forehead.
I couldn’t contain my smile as he kissed my eyelids next.
Then my nose. And my cheeks. And then he was back on my lips.
“I don’t deserve you. But I’ll do everything to keep you.”
“Mikhail, you do deserve me,” I countered softly, pulling his neck closer and kissing the corner of his lips. “And I don’t need you to do anything. I’m going nowhere.”
“Isabella,” he uttered my name like a prayer.
I could feel him opening up to me, pulling me in with that look in his eyes.
I kissed his lips before my head came in contact with the bed again.
He brought his dick to my entrance, the tip lined up at my slit. The fact that he didn’t bother with foreplay was proof of how attuned we were to each other. Not that I needed any other proof to know that.
He entered me, stretching me until I took him to the root.
“I want you to feel me, baby. Every thrust, every touch is me showing you how much you mean to me. How I want you, and not just for your body.”
I nodded twice, urging him to start moving.
He slid all the way out before sliding in again. Then he started moving inside me, his pace totally unhurried. His hands roamed my waist, the sides of my breasts, and my face. He didn’t slam into me, but with every thrust, his dick went deep inside me, emitting moans of pleasure from me.
He brought his thumb to my lips, and I opened my mouth in instinct, sucking on it, my hitched breath matching the heat in his eyes. Removing his wet thumb from my mouth, he brought it to my clit, rubbing and flicking, making me roll my head back as he catapulted me closer to my climax.
“Look at me, Isabella,” he demanded.
I did as he said, and he continued moving inside me, his hands on my breasts. He started moving faster as my body tightened at the edge of a building peak. Mikhail spurted into me and kept moving as his release crashed into mine.
“Mikhail! Oh!” I moaned as every part of my body tingled and shuddered as the ecstasy washed over me.
He slid out of me, and my eyes, still bleary, made out his body crouched down, his face to my soaking wet pussy.
My hips bucked off the bed when his tongue licked along the length of my slit.
He held my waist down and continued licking and sucking, driving me crazy as my body chased after another climax.
I came in his face, and he didn’t stop moving his tongue over my pussy until the second orgasm crashed into a third.
He kissed me slowly when he resurfaced, my limp body unable to fight for domination as his tongue explored.
We were both breathless when he dropped on his back beside me.
“I’m obsessed with you, you know that?” he rasped as he pulled me into his chest a moment later.
I chuckled, and his chest expanded beneath my head as he sighed.
“Now what?” I questioned, my low voice breaking the silence.
“We wait for them, as one.”
As we ventured in and out of sleep, my uncertainty about what the future held for us barely ebbed.
A gunshot.
I could recognize the sound any day. And I knew it was what I heard. The way Mikhail jumped told me I was right.
It was a few minutes, or maybe hours, after our intimate moment, and the time of waiting was up. We were thrown into the war, just like that.
“They are here,” Mikhail declared, his eyes on the shattered window a few inches away from our bed.
“So soon,” I breathed.
“Didn’t expect it, either,” he revealed. “But we’re anything but unprepared.”
He picked up his phone and dialed a contact.
“Roman. Bring the men.”
Here we go.