Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
Audrey
It wasn’t until the fourth night and the fifth orgasm that Carina came sniffing around. We’d been careful. Maybe we were trying too hard but I didn’t care. I could hardly think for myself or of anything but Alexei’s mouth. As soon as he saw me, he was diving between my legs. We weren’t having sex. I hadn’t even seen his dick yet, but here we were, having the time of my life. But with as much enthusiasm as he showed my body, it seemed like he was having the time of his, as well. I offered to repay the favor, I tried to derail him and take his pants off but he would just move me out of the way as if I weighed nothing. He was certainly affected by it all, I could see the evidence in his pants, but he would not let me return the favor, no matter how many times I tried. He shrugged and told me he was making up for lost time and lack of orgasms.
“So what’s going on?” Carina’s words pulled me out of my sex thoughts.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as I dug into the omelets Georgie cooked for us. She was like the house ghost. You didn’t see her but she left incredible goodies no matter where she went.
She crossed her arms over her chest and ignored her food. This was serious then. “I don’t buy it. What’s Alexei doing here as often as he is? Ace won’t tell me anything. But I see Alexei come in and then he leaves and he’s like a ghost. I don’t know why he’s in our home, but if he’s harassing you, you can tell me. I won’t let him treat you badly. I know you were worried about him annoying you. I can put this to a stop if he is.”
I almost choked on my food. The last thing he was doing was annoying me. I mean maybe a little, with the fact that he wouldn’t let me take care of him. The only reason he annoyed me before was because he’d wiggled himself under my skin and into my head when I’d convinced myself all I needed was Brian. I’d been so obsessed with the idea and thought of being in love and wanting to be loved that I didn’t care about anything else. I’d ignored every single red flag for Brian just for the idea of comfort and stability. Looking back I couldn’t believe I did that and convinced myself it was love.
“It’s not like that,” I tried to recover but I was pretty sure there was a bit of omelet stuck in the back of my throat. I took a gulp of my freshly squeezed orange juice. A moan almost escaped me, I needed to find a way to smuggle Georgie out of this place when it was time for me to leave. “Um.” I cleared my throat. How did I tell her this? It had been so long since I’d shared glory details from a sexual encounter. “I’m having some great orgasms.”
“You found someone on that dating app?” Right over her head.
I cleared my throat again. Would she be happy? I wasn’t so sure. “Yes and no.”
I went on to explain what happened with Axel and then Alexei and Axel being his trainer and best friend. Her eyes grew large as every detail was unearthed.
“You’re lying!”
I laughed. I was so glad I wasn’t. It didn’t feel like anything serious but it also didn’t feel like anything temporary either. It was nice. Euphoric almost.
“I’m not.”
She sat back in her chair and blinked. “Ace told him to leave you alone. A few times actually because he was worried that Alexei would hurt you. I tried to tell you about how you should give Alexei a chance. I guess all it took was you seeing it with your own eyes.”
I rolled my lips. “More like I had no more restraint left to keep him at arm’s length.”
“Ace worked me down bit by bit too. I didn’t wanna give him a chance either. I mean, they’re like too good to be true, right?”
The next day there was another engagement party. I was fully convinced it was so rich people could remind each other over and over again just how rich they were to each other. But this time Carina’s mother was in attendance. I don’t know what changed. I don’t know if my words impacted her or if she was simply tired of not being there for her daughter. Whatever it was, I was just happy to see her. She’d gotten in late the night before and we hadn’t had the time to catch up. Emeline was quick as a whip this morning. She whisked Mrs. Phipps off for a full day of pampering. She was getting a full makeover and shopping spree. I knew Mrs. Phipps didn’t appreciate the efforts of being bought but she practically glowed across the dance floor. Single, older men flocked to her. She was the life of the party. I wasn’t surprised, now that she’d been taken care of all day, she was where Carina got all of her good looks from. She looked refreshed and not overworked. This life would be good for her. Maybe she would marry again—someone much richer and more passionate than before.
Even though I was ecstatic to have Carina’s mother in attendance and experiencing all the finer things in life, I was too entirely focused on the hard launch that was about to happen. There was no lead-up to it. There was no communication. We hadn’t even discussed going public or being together in public. We’d gone on a few dates, that I wasn’t sure were really dates, and he’d made me cum more times than I could count. But being public with his family? There hadn't been anything that prepared me for it.
Alexei and I hadn’t talked since he left my room the night before and seeing him across the room with his white button-down rolled-up over his muscular arms almost had me to my knees. He was in the middle of what looked to be a very important conversation but every so often he would flick his gaze to me and smirk. I knew it was coming. I could feel it.
I could hardly breathe as I waited for Alexei to make his move. Carina and Ace were too busy frolicking around and showing face to even notice me shaking in my sky-high heels. I should have known better. I probably did it to myself with this little number I chose to wear. It was a light pink romper that barely covered my ass. I’d triple-checked with Carina before I walked out of the room with it on. She whistled and fist-pumped the sky. She told me I was only allowed to wear this and nothing else. She was the best hype girl. I’d even snapped a pic and sent it to Lu just to get a second, unbiased opinion, and she said the same. This outfit was made for me and my beautiful legs. I knew the moment I stepped onto the sky deck of this incredibly expensive restaurant that Alexei’s eyes were bugging out of his head. He’d seen me in sweats and jeans and nothing over the top. I was determined to be casual with him and to take it slow if I needed to. I couldn’t woo the man. If I did, dangerous things would happen and I wasn’t ready for that.
I brushed my hair over my shoulder as I sipped my water. I’d been extra careful lately to not go hard-on the alcohol with Alexei around. He already made it hard to think, I didn’t need anything helping that along.
“You look decadent,” A whisper of a kiss brushed over the back of my neck and my entire body erupted in goosebumps. “Good enough to eat. Do you want to slip to the bathroom and sit on my face?”
If I clenched my legs together like I desperately needed to, it would only fuel the fire. I leaned my head back against his chest and whispered back, “I would have to get naked to do that, this is a one-piece.”
“ Damn , and it looks so good on you too,” His lips ghosted back over my neck and I could have turned into a puddle right there in front of everyone. “I would hate to ban it.”
I shrugged against his chest as his hand found my hip. His fingers dug into me and it took all of my strength not to drag him down the hall and out of this place. “What are we doing?”
“What kind of question is that?” His fingers gripped me harder before he twirled me around. “I’m showing the world who my girl is.”
“Oh?” I looked up at him and his eyes gazed down at my mouth. His eyes were dark with hunger and I found myself not caring who saw.
His lips claimed mine too quickly before he pulled back and yanked me to the dance floor. Carina and Ace were too wrapped up in their bliss to notice anything else. I could have sworn the grannies said something from the sidelines but I was too busy listening to Alexei whisper naughty things in my ear to really notice anything else.
All of a sudden reasons why this wouldn’t work slammed into my head. Maybe launching in front of his family wasn’t the best thing. We hadn’t talked about futures or me even staying in New York. Lu talked me up about publishing but I didn’t even know if that was something I could do—something I could accomplish. “I haven’t even been to your house.”
He leaned down and ran his nose up the side of my neck as he spun me around the dance floor. “I plan to rectify that soon. Maybe dinner at my place tomorrow?”
I shook my head. “What if I don’t stay in New York?”
He pulled back and his brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“What if I find that I want to live closer to my parents or maybe travel?” It was like I couldn’t stop. I could think of tons of reasons why this wouldn’t or couldn’t work.
“I’ll go with you.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “What?”
He was completely serious. “This makes no sense.”
“You’re preaching to the choir. I’ve been thinking that since the moment I saw you.”
“Stripper glitter and all?”
His lips curled. “Cheap perfume too.”
What was happening?
The song ended and he twirled me to the side of the dance floor where Carina’s mother was watching me with her mouth hanging open. Well, if she hadn’t spent her entire day with the Cristof brothers mother she would have gotten a heads-up. I could just picture the conversation that would happen later. I’d signed my soul over to the devil too.
Oh well.
This devil worshipped between my legs, still wouldn’t let me take care of him, and we hadn’t even broached having sex yet. He wouldn’t hear it. He said we had plenty of time but there was no way he wasn’t sexually dying inside.
Alexei kept his hand firmly on my hip. Emeline breezed by us and did a double take. She blinked between his hand and then his face as he leaned down to press a kiss to my bare shoulder.
“Well, this is certainly unexpected.”
I raised my eyebrows and laughed. “Isn’t it?”
“I definitely didn’t have it on my bingo card for this year,” Dimitri raised his champagne flute to us as he passed his mother. I hadn’t seen any of the other brothers yet and figured they would all turn up right before it ended. All they needed to do was show face for their mother.
“It’s about damn time,” Nana said as she patted her daughter’s shoulder before she turned her eyes on Dimitri. “When are you going to find a lady?”
Dimitri coughed. “I have a lady, thank you.”
Grandmother chose that moment to make her appearance. “Strippers don’t count.”
His cheeks colored. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And you think I’m stupid.” She whacked him with her cane and he doubled over. “I’m old. I’m not dead. I see things, hear things, and know many things.”
Dimitri tried to hide behind his skinny glass. “That’s frightening.”
She tapped him with her cane much softer now. “Find a lady.”
My mouth soured at the comment.
Nana grabbed Grandmother’s hand and pulled her to the bar. Emeline clasped her hands together in front of herself. “I hope you stay around, this is delightful.” She rushed forward and grabbed my hands. “I was always worried I wouldn’t like the women my boys chose, but I am delighted.”
It took everything in me not to run and hide from that comment. We hadn’t been seeing each other that long. The most he’d done was worship me and talk dirty. I didn’t even know what he did during the day though I had a feeling it was highly illegal. Especially after he showed up at Ace’s the other day with a fresh bruise coloring his eye and a few cuts on his knuckles. When I asked him about it, he pulled me in for a searing kiss. Anytime I tried to get information about his life outside of the bedroom, he would distract me with his tongue and his fingers. I wasn’t complaining, but I also wasn’t ready to be public with someone I knew next to nothing about but I couldn’t say any of that to his mother so I just smiled. But I wouldn’t let it die now, I wouldn’t allow him to distract me again.