Chapter 12
Cara
After hours of silence, I finally hear the front door open and shut.
It’s confusing. Whenever I hear Dmitri come home, my heartbeat immediately quickens, but fear now lances through me too. I don’t know what to expect from him anymore.
I don’t know what to expect from anything at all. He hasn’t told me much about what’s happening on the outside.
Have the Irish reached out about me? Has my father even realized I’m his prisoner yet? That Brendan is likely dead?
The door to the bedroom opens. Dmitri’s face is even more unreadable than before, but he doesn’t look angry. He looks conflicted in his wrinkled suit pants and dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms.
“You talked to Brendan about what I told you?” I say as I watch him linger in the doorway.
“He said your father wanted you to break up my marriage to attack the Bratva from the inside,” Dmitri tells me.
I frown and nod. I hadn’t been able to tell him that myself yet, but it’s a detail that doesn’t matter anymore.
“He also told me that your father chose you because he thought I would want you,” Dmitri continues.
My heart drops into my stomach.
I guess it didn’t take long to convince Brendan to run his mouth about everything.
“He also told me that your father wanted you to kill me,” he says.
I breathe in shakily through my nose and nod. “I told him that I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. That’s when he…he promised to punish me, to make me earn back the money he wasted on me.”
“You’re scared of him,” he murmurs as he moves closer to the bed.
I shift my teary eyes to his. “Terrified.”
Dmitri kneels on the bed and moves toward me. “You didn’t want to hurt me.”
Warmth fills my chest as I remain still, letting him come closer. Does he finally believe me? “I didn’t want to hurt you. I wanted to protect you as much as I could.”
Dmitri moves over my legs, stopping before our chests can touch. His fingertips graze my cheek as I look up at him with all the remaining hope that I have in my eyes.
“I believe you.”
Before I can even let out a sigh of relief, he closes the distance between us and captures my lips in a surprisingly tender kiss.
I stiffen at first, my mind spiraling with confusion. Before he was just yelling at me and threatening to kill me.
Now he’s kissing me?
But he said he believes me. He understands now. Right?
Despite my confusion, I kiss him back because kissing him is like coming up for air, and it feels like I have been drowning the past few days. I’m not about to let this moment slip through my fingers.
Dmitri reaches into his back pocket and pulls out the key to the handcuffs. He unlocks them, freeing my wrist so that he can pin my hands down against the pillows on either side of my head.
I want to reach out to him and touch him, but I don’t protest as he holds me down, his lips working wonders on the sensitive skin of my neck.
Dmitri nudges my thighs apart as he settles on his knees between them, his hips pressing down on mine.
The friction coaxes a soft moan from me as I tilt my head back. I still can’t believe this is happening, but the pleasure makes my brain hazy. I can’t think straight when he touches me like this.
Dmitri releases my hands for a moment to pull my shirt off, but they’re immediately pinned back down as he lowers his mouth to one of my nipples. His tongue teasingly swirls around the hardening peak before his lips wrap around it, sucking hard.
I arch my back, following his touch as bolts of pleasure shoot throughout my body. My thighs tighten around him, holding him close as his erection presses against my center through our clothes. Too many clothes.
Dmitri moves to the other nipple, not saying a word but speaking through his touch, like he’s cherishing me. He lightly drags his teeth across my nipple, making me gasp before he sucks it back into his mouth.
I draw in a deep breath as his hand moves down my stomach and dips under the waist of my pants and panties. The moment his fingertips graze over my clit, my entire body tenses with the ecstasy.
Dmitri’s fingers rub steady circles against my clit as his mouth continues moving from breast to breast. Sucking. Licking. Biting.
My breathing becomes heavier as he marks the soft skin, marking me as his. My hips buck against his hand as he continues touching me until the thin material of my panties are soaked.
Dmitri slides his fingers lower, collecting my slickness before sinking two of them inside of me. He thrusts them deep, hitting that spot within me that makes my thighs tremble on either side of him.
“Dmitri…” I whine desperately as the heel of his hand grazes against my clit with each rock of his fingers. He already has me so close to the edge.
Dmitri leans back up and presses his lips to mine, his fingers working in and out of me at a perfect pace.
I tense as the pleasure crests, my mouth parting with a soft cry that’s muffled by his lips. I shudder through my orgasm as it thunders through me from head to toe, leaving me shaky and breathless.
Dmitri slides his hand out of my pants and breaks from our kiss to remove the rest of our clothes.
I lean back on my elbows, watching him with a small frown on my face. He’s quiet, but he doesn’t seem cold. He doesn’t even seem distant. “Dmitri?”
He responds by moving back between my thighs and cupping my face, his lips meeting mine once more in a gentle kiss that takes my breath away.
I hold his wrists, a happy ache filling my chest as he pours his all into the kiss. He’s baring his soul without a word.
Dmitri reaches down and lines himself up with my entrance before pushing inside.
A passing thought about a few missed pills disappears as soon as he’s completely filling me.
I gasp into his mouth as I take all of him, warmth pooling low in my stomach. I wrap my arms around his neck as he hovers over me, wanting to be as close as possible.
Dmitri pulls out and thrusts back in, going deep and slow at first. It’s…loving. Not lustful and frantic. He’s patient and full of care.
I slide my fingers into his soft hair, my lips brushing his as he rocks into me over and over again. Warmth spreads throughout my entire body, the heat rising with each motion that he makes. A steady, promising build up.
Dmitri picks up his pace, finally going harder and faster.
I let one hand drift down to his shoulder blade, my nails dragging across his skin. It spurs him on even more, and I don’t stop. I bite his lip. Pull his hair. Scratch lines down his back.
Everything that drives him crazy because he already has me primed and ready for another release.
Dmitri grips my throat possessively, almost like a threat before his face presses into the crook of my neck as he drives me into the mattress.
Tension builds within me, nearing its breaking point. “Dmitri, please!”
He gives me exactly what I need. He slides his free hand under me to hold the small of my back, tilting my hips up just right to hit that spot within me again and again and again.
I come apart at the seams, my nails piercing his back as I let the pleasure consume me. His name rings from my lips, filling the bedroom as he continues rocking into me.
Dmitri holds me tightly as he manages a few more thrusts before finishing, groaning into the crook of my neck.
I lightly shudder at the sensation, the aftershocks, my chest rising and falling as I catch my breath. He doesn’t say anything, so I don’t either. Instead, I stroke his hair and place a few gentle kisses against his cheek and temple, reminding him that he isn’t alone.
I’m here with him. No matter what, we can figure things out. We can handle the storm that’s coming.
Dmitri eventually pulls out of me, but he doesn’t go far. He tugs me into his arms and carries me to the bathroom before carefully putting me down to turn on the hot water for the shower.
I watch him, taking in his features. They aren’t as stony and stiff any longer. He almost seems relaxed, but there’s something still holding him back.
Taking my hand, he leads me into the shower with him, pulling me under the spray of hot water. He holds me close, guiding my arms around his neck as he slides his around my body.
I lean my chest against his, my wet hair falling down my back as I gaze up at him. “I’m sorry. I—”
Before I can finish, he’s silencing me with another kiss. I don’t know if he’s just tired of hearing me apologize or if he’s tired of talking about things. Honestly, part of me is exhausted from it too.
I just want to be here with him and forget about everything else.
Dmitri presses a lingering kiss against my forehead before grabbing the bottle of citrus-scented soap and lathering his hands up. He moves them up and down my arms, gliding over every inch of my skin.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he tells me, finally speaking for the first time in what feels like forever.
My heart skips as I gaze at him. “Thank you.”
He trails his hands down my sides, and I take that opportunity to soap up my own hands and run them over his bare chest. Our touches roam and linger, exploring and caressing.
We’ve shared a lot of vulnerable moments together, but I don’t think that I’ve ever felt so close to him. He seems unguarded. Willing to expose himself to me and only me.
Maybe he’s realized that I love him, and that he can trust me. That my loyalty no longer belongs to my father, if it ever did.
After we rinse and dry off, Dmitri grabs us both a fresh pair of clothes so that we can get dressed. When I’m finished, I linger on the spot, unsure of what happens next. I’m scared to ask.
Dmitri takes my hand again and leads me back to the guest bedroom, making my stomach flip-flop. What if he handcuffs me again? What if he just wanted to have sex and nothing more?
My fears are quelled when he pulls me into bed with him and covers us with the blankets. My muscles are stiff, but I let him pull me down next to him so that I can lay my head on his chest.
He wraps his arm around me, holding me close under the sheets. Turning his head, he presses a gentle kiss against the top of my head. “Get some sleep.”
I want to ask him what happens tomorrow. The Bratva Council still wants him to kill me, so are we going to run? Stand up to all these people? Try to weather out the storm?
Gradually, my racing thoughts slow and fade into the background. Being held by him is so comforting that it makes me sleepy. My eyelids grow heavier by the second.
I part my lips to wish him goodnight, then I sink into his comfort as sleep overtakes me.