Chapter 26
ARTYOM
“Is this what your life is?”
Nina gestures around at the archery course at the back of the Estate. We’ve just come back from a week on our private island in the Caribbean, and I think she’s apprehensive about returning to work.
I feel a rush of sweet relief every time I see that ring that I put on her finger.
The trimmed lawn is fringed by trees, and there’s a rose garden to the other side. We can still see the complex of houses, and in the distance the skyline of the city, but the archery course is peaceful.
She’s pouting at me as I notch another arrow into the bow. I let it fly, watching it soar in a perfect arc to hit the target. It’s not my best shot. I’m distracted by my wife, and it’s throwing off my normally perfect aim.
I can feel Nina simmering away, her gaze hot on me. She’s cute when she’s mad at me.
“Sometimes, this is my life, yes,” I reply slowly, turning my gaze to her.
I didn’t think that having Nina around would be so distracting, but all I can focus on is her.
She’s shaking her head now. “It’s so not real.”
I set the bow back on the stand and turn to Nina, looping an arm around her waist and pulling her close.
“Trust me, this is real, Nina. Things can work out. Things have worked out for us. This is our happy ending.”
I show her how to use the bow. She fires an arrow that gets nowhere near the target, but I watch a smile creep over her face.
“You can do better than that, Nenoka.”
“Fuck you, Art. That was my first one, ever,” she pouts. I hand her another arrow and she lets it fly.
It soars in an arc and lands in the grass, still miles away from the target. “That was an improvement.”
“Give me another one.”
I hand her another arrow and help her string it to the bow again. She bumps me away from her with her hip when she’s got it in place. “No more help from you.”
Every arrow that misses the target only makes Nina more determined to hit it. When she finally gets close, glancing the very edge of the target, I squeeze her against my chest and take the bow away.
“You know what? I think if I let you get too good at this, I might end up with an arrow in my favorite sports car one day.”
She’s still pouting, but she starts to smile as I cover her mouth with mine, sliding my hands over her shoulders and forcing her to unwind some of that tension.
All week in the Caribbean, I would catch her glancing at the ring on her finger, then at me and Ava, with a dazed expression on her face. As though this were some kind of dream she was having instead of reality.
“Do you think you could get used to this?” I smirk, sliding my hand down to cup her ass.
I’d fuck her in anything, but damn, it has been nice to see her spend a couple of weeks out of hospital scrubs. Today, she has her curves on full display in a tight dress, and I think it’s a crime that she normally has to hide her body.
“Well, someone told me there was no divorce in the Bratva, so I guess I’ll have to.” She sighs dramatically, flipping her hair over her shoulders, and wraps a leg around me.
I want to fuck the brat right out of her, here on the archery course, and I let her know it, pushing my hardening bulge right against her pussy as her mouth parts open sweetly to let my tongue explore her.
“Art, people could see us.”
“If I want to fuck my wife on my archery course, that’s entirely my business.”
Nina’s eyes darken, that defiant fire flickering in her eyes. “I think I have a say in it too.”
I slide my hand up her soft thighs. My cock hardens as I find her panties already damp. “Mmm. And your say in it is that your pussy is absolutely soaked and I can already feel your nipples rubbing against my chest.”
Nina casts an apprehensive glance over the lawns towards the house, until I pull her to the ground. She lets out a shocked laugh.
“I guess they can’t see us if we’re on the ground.”
She doesn’t pull away as I hike her dress around her waist and slide down her panties, pulling her onto my lap.
“If you didn’t want me to fuck you on this archery course, you shouldn’t have looked so damn irresistible today.”
“Only because it’s the last day of our honeymoon. That is the only reason I’m letting you fuck me out here, Art. Don’t get any ideas.”
I roll my hips against her. As I expected, she’s wet and hot and ready for me.
“Don’t lie to me, Nina,” I murmur, my mouth close to her ear. “This will not be the last time your needy pussy demands to be fucked outside.”
I push inside with one slow stroke, and Nina gasps, her hands gripping my shoulders for support. She feels so good wrapped around me like this.
I drop my hands to wrap around her waist and she starts to ride me, her face shifting from concentration to pleasure as she gradually relaxes around me.
“You know, sometimes you feel so tight, it’s like you haven’t done this in a while.”
Nina sinks onto me with a sigh, leaning forward over me so that her faces is just inches from mine.
“I haven’t.” She gasps as I reach forward to tweak her pointed nipple. “I’ve never done this with anyone else, Art.”
I freeze, gripping her waist with a groan. “You haven’t?”
Nina shakes her head, her dark curls shining and a pink flush creeping over her face.
God, yes. In five years, my perfect Nenoka has never fucked another man. She’s all mine. My heart thuds against my ribcage. The knowledge sends heady satisfaction right through my body.
“I didn’t exactly have the most thrilling social life as a med student with a four-year-old, Art.” She says it as if it’s a problem, not the best thing I’ve ever heard.
“Well,” I bring her deeper onto my cock. What does it matter? We’re married. Nina isn’t going anywhere. “I didn’t exactly have a thrilling social life as a man who was so hung up on his ex that his family sent him to therapy.”
“You— what are you saying, Art?”
Nina’s mouth parts open, her warm brown eyes on mine. She brings her hand to my jaw. “What do you mean?”
I gasp as Nina starts to ride me harder, her hips grinding against me irresistibly. Fuck, she’s getting me so close.
I confess something. “There was no one else, Nina. In the past five years. And… fuck.”
I have to collect myself, because something about this conversation has me nearing the edge, even as Nina just barely grinds her hips against me.
“When you kissed me… when you asked me to kiss you, after I drove you home from that shift.”
“After you broke my car so you could give me a ride?”
“Yes,” I grunt, so close to the edge now. “I came in my pants, Nina. Just from kissing you. Just from that one, brief kiss. Like a teenager.”
“Oh, fuck.” She lets out a shocked laugh. “I thought— The way you froze. That maybe you regretted kissing me. That maybe it hadn’t been what you expected.”
I drop my hands to cup her ass, lifting her on and off my cock. “You are every-fucking-thing I expected, Nina. Better than you were, if anything.”
Then there are no words anymore. There’s just Nina’s mouth, searching, tender on mine as I give her everything I have to give, as she rides me to completion then stays with me, my cock still inside her, as I hold her and kiss her all over.
As I sweep her hair back from her forehead, I remember the insane social schedule we have coming up. “You should buy a new dress. For the next wedding.”
Nina props herself up on her elbow, placing one hand on my chest. “You’ve already given me a wardrobe full of designer clothing. Why would I need another?”
I loop an arm around her waist with a growl.
“You're a Petrov now. You have to look the part.”
“It's unnecessary. I’ve already done more shopping in the past month for the wedding than in my entire life.”
“I’m in charge of the spending for this organization,” I drawl. “It's necessary if I say it is. And right now I do.”
Nina heaves a sigh.
“I’ve never seen such complaining about a woman having to spend money on clothing.”
“Well then, you shouldn't have married me,” she replies. “I’ve gone for years living on the bare minimum. You live in this insane house which has an archery course, Art.”
She gestures at the manicured lawn, the tennis courts, and the swimming pool.
“Like seriously, were you thinking of hosting the next Olympics?”
I chuckle and pull her close. “We just like sports.”
Nina has that look in her eye right now like she wants to fight, but I'm not gonna give it to her. So what if she doesn't want to spend my money?
It's not a real problem, even if it does hurt that she's so reluctant to take my instructions on my world, which is totally new to her.
I hold up my hands. “Fine. Don't spend my money.”
She'll come around at some point. If there's one thing no one can resist, it's money.