Chapter 21
Dmitri
I don’t see Cara much the next day, but that’s probably for the best.
After Luca flirted with Cara, I damn near lost my mind. I wanted to pull the plug on our business deal out of spite, but I need his goddamn trucks.
What I feel for her is starting to affect me. I keep looking at the photos of her on my phone like a damn fool. She keeps me up all night. And when I finally do fall asleep, she haunts my dreams, making me wake up restless, in a sweat, and painfully hard.
I’m running out of restraint.
Isaak and Gabe trail me as we head toward the office building after a business luncheon with some other Bratva leaders.
Several vor v zakone who think too highly of themselves because of their prestigious title.
They’re so eager for me to seal the deal with the Suyunovs, urging me to get it done so that we can increase our cash flow.
They don’t care about what I’m sacrificing. They don’t care that I’ll be stuck with a snobby princess. All they care about is what they get out of the deal.
Even if they name me Pakhan, I’m still just a cog in this machine that has run for generations. And I can’t be the one who runs us into the ground.
My father started out as a foot soldier in Russia and spent his life clawing his way up the ranks. Pakhan was the dream he never reached, so he handed it to me.
“How was your lunch, sir?” Gabe asks, holding open the lobby door.
“That red fish was terrible,” I say before walking inside, my mood already through the floor.
The sound of Cara’s familiar laugh makes me immediately look up. My steps abruptly come to a stop when I see her talking to a guy by the information desk.
“You should really check out that bar I mentioned,” I hear the man tell her, standing way too close to her. “It has the best drinks and food. I know the owner.”
“Really? You must be a regular,” Cara teases him as she brushes her hair back behind her shoulders. “Will you be around tonight?”
My entire body burns with anger as I watch her flaunt herself for him, pulling all the moves that she’s pulled on me. Now, she’s going to do all of this for him?
Fuck that.
If I learned anything yesterday when Luca was flirting with her, it’s that I’m going to be miserable watching her be with someone else while I’m stuck in a marriage that I don’t want. I’m not dealing with that until the paperwork gets signed.
I refuse.
“Cara!” I bite out.
She doesn’t jump in surprise. Instead, she looks over her shoulder at me and smiles. She fucking smiles as if she enjoys tormenting me.
“Hello, sir. Did you enjoy your lunch?” Cara asks me as I storm towards them.
Now I’m sir? I prefer it when she calls me by my first name. No, I think I would prefer to hear her screaming my name.
“Elevator. Now,” I tell her as I take her by the elbow and steer her away. To him, I say, “You’re done here.”
“Excuse me?” the brown-haired pretty boy in a cheap suit questions me, his eyes wide in bewilderment.
“Dmitri, what are you doing?” Cara questions me.
I turn on her. “What did I say?”
“Elevator,” Cara mutters before turning and walking in that direction to wait for me.
I whip back around to face the man. “I said, get the fuck out of here. Don’t speak a word to her again.”
“What the hell, man? Are you her boyfriend or something?” he spits out with narrowed eyes.
I can’t answer that. I don’t have an answer because we’re nothing but boss and employee. Still, she’s mine, not his.
“Make sure he leaves,” I tell Gabe and Isaak before shoving the man toward them.
Gabe and Isaak grab the man by the arms and drag him out of the building. Despite his protests about working on the second floor, his voice thankfully fades away.
I head to the elevator and jab the up button, my chest rising and falling heavily with angry breaths. Just the thought of him taking Cara to that bar and trying to flaunt how cool and great he thinks he is, makes me want to punch him in his smug face.
Once we get inside and the doors slide shut, Cara dares a glance at me. “Did I do something wrong?”
“I’d prefer you use your time at work to actually do your job instead of flirting with random men,” I tell her in a sharp voice, unable to fight off the raging jealousy burning through me.
I want her. And I can’t have her.
Cara looks away from me and clutches the purse on her shoulder tighter. “I was on my lunch break.”
“I don’t care,” I grit out as the doors slide open. I motion for her to walk ahead of me.
Her eyes narrow a degree, and I think that’s the first time that I’ve seen her allow herself to look frustrated with me.
She strides out of the elevator and to my office, not bothering to take a seat.
She tosses her purse down in the chair and then turns around, crossing her arms over her chest as I shut the door behind me.
“When I’m on my lunch break, I’m not on company time or your time. I can do whatever I want,” she states. Her sudden defiance is new and turns me on even more.
I slowly walk toward her, my teeth grinding in frustration. “And you choose to spend it with some nobody?”
Cara purses her lips. “He was hot and funny. Best of all, he was single.”
Oh, that’s funny. Damn right hilarious.
“Are you trying to show me what I’m missing out on?” I question her as I stand right in front of her, invading her personal space.
Cara doesn’t shrink back. She smirks instead, and it’s so sexy that it irritates me to no end. “I don’t have to show you. You already know. It’s not my fault that you’re engaged.”
“Not yet,” I grit out.
“Still,” Cara replies. “I’m not yours.”
She’s not mine? She really thinks that?
I grab the small of her back and pull her body flush against mine, my lips crashing down against hers.
Cara gasps into the kiss, her hands fisting the front of my button down.
I push my other hand into her hair, cradling her against me as her lips slowly glide against mine. She tastes even better than I imagined. Addictingly so.
Cara runs her palms up my chest and over my arms, lifting up on her toes to deepen our kiss. She makes the sexiest little moan when my teeth graze her bottom lip in a teasing bite, and I have to stop myself from bending her over my desk then and there.
This kiss feels like ecstasy. And vindication. I knew that she wanted me more than she was letting on.
I back her up toward the desk, my hands roaming over her body to appreciate the curves of her figure. It’s taking everything in me not to rip her clothes off.
Cara wraps her arms around my neck as I grab the back of her thighs and lift her onto the desk. She exhales shakily when I step between her open thighs, making her skirt slide up closer to her waist.
Heat rolls through me, working me up even more as we meld together. I can’t get enough of her sweet taste. Her soft figure. Her perfect sounds.
I want all of her.
I reach around and grab her ass, pulling her flush against me to grind our hips together, letting her feel what she does to me.
The friction makes her dig her nails into the back of my shoulders, a breathless moan leaving her lips. That sound suddenly makes her eyes jolt open like she’s been snapped out of a dream.
“Dmitri…hold on. S-stop,” Cara breathes out as she pushes me back so that she can squeeze her thighs together. She takes a deep breath, looking as beautiful as ever with flushed cheeks and messy hair.
“You really want me to stop?” I ask, watching the way that she rubs her thighs together. She’s just as turned on as I am.
Cara hesitates for a moment, but she then swallows hard and nods. “I can’t do this with you. You’re engaged!”
“Not yet, I’m not. And we already crossed a line,” I reply. I don’t get closer, though. I’m already on the cusp of losing her.
Cara gives me a pointed look before slipping off the desk. She adjusts her hair and clothes and lifts her chin. “You have a wedding announcement coming up, whether it’s official or not yet. That’s what’s stopping me. This, kissing you, was a mistake.”
“Really? A mistake?” I question her. She can lie to my face all she wants, but I can see right through her. She wants me, but she thinks she has to stick with her morals that don’t apply here.
I’m not in love with Annika. She isn’t in love with me. We’re only getting married as a business arrangement. I’ve never even kissed her. If I had, I know it wouldn’t come close to how fucking good it felt kissing Cara.
So, why can’t she see that nothing wrong is being done?
“Yes, it was a mistake,” Cara says firmly before grabbing one of the clasp envelopes off my desk. “I’m going to get these signed by Mr. Nelson. I’ll be back later, sir.”
In the blink of an eye, I’m sir again.
“You’re really going to leave? Just like that?” I ask her, a sting of pain filling my chest. I’m so damn hung up on her, but she can just brush me off and walk away like she’s not even affected.
Maybe she has turned me into a damn fool.
“I need to get back to work. You were right. I should be productive while on company time,” Cara says as she holds the clasp envelope against her chest, her eyes locking with mine. She could’ve been out the door by now. Yet, she’s lingering here.
“We were being productive,” I reply, catching a hint of an amused smile on her face.
Cara shakes her head. “We were doing something that we shouldn’t have been doing together.”
“Did you not like it?” I ask in a quiet, teasing voice as I step closer to her.
Cara lifts her hand and places it on my chest to keep me from coming any closer. Her thumb subtly brushes against the groove of my pec through my shirt, her breathing slowing down a little as she stares at my chest. “No, I did.”
“You have better self-control than me. All I can think about is bending you over my desk,” I tell her as I lean closer to her ear. “And making you scream my name.”
Cara’s lips subtly part as her breathing hitches. Her hand on my chest grows more relaxed, allowing me to shift closer by a few centimeters. “Dmitri…”
“It sounds so good when you say my name,” I tell her.
Cara breathes in sharply and lifts her head, her narrowed eyes piercing mine. “Dmitri, no.”
I frown as she draws away from me, leaving me cold and unsatisfied. I can feel what she wants, but she’s so damn stubborn. She’s told me multiple times to choose what I want, but she won’t take her own advice.
She’s a hypocrite and a goddamn tease. And I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.
Cara leaves my office, letting the doors thud shut behind her.
I sigh heavily and go to sink down into my chair, feeling achingly restless. All this pent-up need is killing me, and it’s only gotten worse now that I’ve finally tasted her. Kissed her. Held her.
I want so much more, but I might end up with nothing.
Nothing but a marriage I don’t want and a woman I can’t have.