Chapter Twenty-Five
Keira might be emotionally spinning, but the look on Dmitri’s face grounded her just as effectively as his touch.
He wanted her. He wanted her right there, in that chair, in the middle of the fucking restaurant.
He wouldn’t put her in that position, but the desire in his gray eyes had an answering tide rising in her.
She recrossed her legs, letting her skirt slide up a bit. An invitation.
He saw it just like she’d hoped he would. “You’ve been a very bad girl, Keira.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll put me over your knee and spank me for it?”
His lips curved. “I think you may like that too much to be an effective punishment.”
Her Russian was flirting with her. Of all the sides of Dmitri, this sly, flirtatious one might have been her favorite.
He seemed to save it only for her, and if it was just another part he played, she didn’t want to know it.
It might be a comforting lie to think he was giving her a piece of himself exclusively, but it was comforting nonetheless.
“Careful there, Dima. Punishment can go both ways.” She loved the way his eyes flared every time she used his pet name.
Another intimacy between them. Another bridge connecting them in a way she never would have guessed was possible.
“Knowing you are sitting inches from me with nothing barring me from doing this…” He dropped his hand to her thigh and slid it beneath her skirt, the move so smooth, it would have made her laugh if he didn’t choose that moment to cup her pussy. “This is punishment.”
“Let’s get out of here.” She wanted more than his hand between her thighs, and she didn’t want to wait. The only time Keira’s mind truly stilled was when she was with Dmitri, screaming his name as she came. She might be trading one addiction for another, but there were worse choices to make.
“Not before dinner is served.” He traced the band of her garter where it clasped the tops of her thigh highs. “How long can you last before you’re begging me to let you come?”
He was evil in a way that had nothing to do with being the head of the Romanov empire and everything to do with that wandering hand beneath her skirt. Keira dragged her fingers over his forearm, pulling him closer. “Do your worst.”
“Somehow, I knew you’d say exactly that.” He snagged his iced tea and took a long drink, as if he wasn’t tracing a circle around her clit with his other hand while he was doing it. “You are a true delight.”
She leaned against him, fighting not to lift her hips to make what he was doing easier for him, enjoying the closeness they shared.
It could have just been the two of them in this restaurant for all she noticed the rest of the room.
Dangerous. But then, what wasn’t dangerous about her life?
Keira turned her head and kissed him behind his ear.
“What happens after this reception is done? After you’ve hunted down the Eldridges? What happens with us?”
From his tension, she could tell he was considering playing the fool. Dmitri apparently knew better than that, though, because he shifted to cup her inner thigh and sighed. “I hadn’t put too much thought into it.”
“Liar.” She’d believe that of everyone else. Not him. If anything, he had several options laid out, depending on how Keira reacted at any given time. “How many outcomes did you plan for when it came to me as your wife?”
His lips quirked. “Three.”
She shifted closer and squeezed his thigh. The muscle clenched beneath his slacks, but he didn’t show any other reaction as she slid her hand higher. “In one of them, I’m the pretty doll who is happy to be locked in your room and taken out to play with or display as you see fit.”
“Da, though I think it’s safe to say that option was tabled shortly after you arrived.”
At least he was willing to admit it. She gripped his cock through the fabric and gave him a slow stroke.
“What are the other two?” He had to know that option wasn’t an option at all, but it was so very like Dmitri to keep it as a last resort despite that.
She kept stroking his cock, dishing out the same medicine he had.
His hand never left her thigh, though his fingers gripped her a little tighter. “In one, you’re either informant for your brother or sent to sow discontent and chaos in my household.”
It was a fair thing to plan for—he couldn’t have known her motivation when she met him on the street and agreed to marry him.
Dmitri would guess that it was because he manipulated her into a corner, but he wouldn’t be able to know for sure that Aiden hadn’t outmaneuvered him.
She respected that, even though part of her mourned yet another piece of evidence of the barriers between them.
Sometimes, like last night and earlier today, they seemed small enough to knock over with a single touch.
Other times, they might as well have been impenetrable. “Do you think that now?”
“I highly doubt it, though I’d be a fool to underestimate you.
You’ve proven yourself more than capable of being a spy.
” His hips shifted and his breathing hitched.
The slightest of reactions in response to what she was doing to him, but from Dmitri, he might as well have yelled to the heavens.
“That said, if you’re here with my destruction in mind, it’s because you decided on it—not because your brother sent you.
” He leaned back against his chair, the tablecloth hiding what she was doing from anyone curious enough to look.
The move gave her better access, and she had a truly wild moment where she considered unzipping him and freeing his cock.
The waiter approached, and she made as if to take her hand back, but Dmitri covered it with his free one in a silent command to stay.
They were silent as their food was laid out before them, and he only spoke after the man had retreated.
“It will take an act of God to ensure we make it home before I’m inside you. ”
That wicked, hopeful feeling in her chest blossomed until she was half-sure she shone with it. “I thought I was the one who’s supposed to be begging.”
“That was not begging, moya koroleva. That was a declaration of intent.”
To reach for her food, she’d have to release his cock. Keira decided she wasn’t that hungry, after all. She gave him another slow pump. “What’s the third option?”
“Hmm?”
She squeezed him harder. “The third outcome of us marrying.”
“I thought you would have figured it out by now.” He turned those gray eyes on her, and she couldn’t find the breath to respond. She didn’t need to, because Dmitri kept speaking in that low, rough voice. “You and I as partners, creating a dynasty to outlast all others.”
She wanted to believe that—she needed to believe that—but all she’d gotten from him was a painting with broad strokes and none of the necessary details. “What, exactly, does that look like?”
His gaze fell to her lips even as he twisted his wrist and pushed two fingers into her.
“I have a number of businesses that I’ve been neglecting in recent years.
They were all from families absorbed into the Romanov territory during my father’s time, and they function more or less on their own…
too much on their own if the Eldridges’ actions are anything to judge by.
I would have you reinstate ties and remind them who they owe everything to. ”
Only the slightest deepening in his voice showed that he was affected by his hand job.
She had a harder time moderating her tone.
“That’s… a big job.” She’d seen her brothers do similar things, though it was almost always Aiden who went.
To have Dmitri sending her… Holy shit, he might actually be telling the truth about what he wants from this—from us.
If she did this and fucked it up, it would have real consequences for him.
The level of trust he was putting in her by offering that job was staggering on a level she wasn’t prepared to deal with.
“I won’t throw you to the wolves, moya koroleva. We’ll ensure you’re up to par on all the details and players before you go out, and you’ll have a contingent of men with you to ensure your safety.” He slid a third finger into her. “After you’ve brought them to heel, we can discuss expansion.”
Yep, I most definitely love this evil fucker.
She should probably have a problem with the illegal aspect of his businesses, but Dmitri had never made any apologies about who he was and what he did.
If she was willing to judge him for it and not her brother…
No, she was raised an O’Malley, even if she was a Romanov now.
They really weren’t that different. She wasn’t that different from Dmitri.
If she wanted changes, she could be the one to implement them from within.
Her body tightened in response, and she bit back a whimper. “Dmitri—Dima—I’m close.”
He leaned down until his lips brushed her ear. “I know.”
Just like that, she couldn’t deny it any longer. Keira came, pressing her lips together so tightly, they hurt. She shuddered against him, her hand going slack on his cock. “Fuck, Dima. Just… fuck.”
He slid his fingers out of her, but kept cupping her. “Eat something so we can get the fuck out of here.”
Because he wants me. Dmitri’s expression had taken on the wild edge that she loved so much, the monster beneath the mask of civility he wore.
The fact he was still trying to get her to eat—to take care of her—despite the fact that he clearly wanted to drag her out of here by her hair and fuck her behind the nearest closed door… Her heart tried to burst from her chest. She clasped his chin and tipped his head down. “Get it to go.”
“Keira—”