Chapter 15 #3
“I’ll let your husband discuss the details with you,” Max replies. “Look, I gotta go. I have to finish this paperwork and then I have a meeting with another artist. But I’ll see you tomorrow at two. Ciao, darling.”
I’m just about to ask him to wait when the line goes dead. I pull the phone away from my ear, looked at it as if it were some alien creature. What was Max talking about?
“I do hope you’ve put some sunscreen on.”
Kirill’s voice makes me jump, and when I see him walking toward me, I ignore my body’s sudden yearning and frown deeply. He looked handsome as ever in his fitted black suit and cocky smile, and my body instantly begins to ache and throb with need as his powerful strides bring him closer.
Damn him! I silently curse. Even angry, I want him inside me.
“I’m sitting under an umbrella,” I reply with agitation as I point to the vast white expanse of canvas above me.
“Even still, I would prefer you put some on before you come outside,” Kirill replies, taking a seat on the edge of my lounger.
“Prefer?” I question. “Or demand?”
Kirill’s smirk widens into a smile.
“I take it you don’t approve of your new living situation?” he asks.
His laidback attitude only serves to annoy me further.
“What gave it away?” I ask, her tone oozing with sarcasm. “I wake up and find out I can’t leave, I only have clothes you picked out, I’m forced to eat, my appointments are cancelled, and no one seems to be taking my side!”
Kirill’s soft, charismatic chuckle in response to my outburst has me baring my teeth and ready to claw his pretty eyes out.
“Your confinement is only temporary. We’ve received a few threats and-”
“Threats?” I cut him off, feeling tension fill my shoulders. “What threats?”
Kirill shakes his head.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he replies, “But it’s best to keep you safe, and the safest place for you is here.
As for the clothes, if you don’t like them your old things will be here within an hour.
I’m tracking the truck. Food is essential to keep you and our baby healthy, and as for your appointments, I’m making it so they came to you.
I don’t see why anyone needs to take any side. ”
Kirill makes it all sound so practical. Logical. Which only serves to further my annoyance. Not because he’s wrong, but because he’s right. Yes, the choices might have been taken from me but what I’ve been given back is certainly more convenient.
“It’s not just my appointments, though,” I sigh, and hate that I sound like a spoiled child.
“Well, tell me what the issue is and I will solve it,” Kirill replies with a simple shrug of his massive shoulders.
“My studio is in the city,” I answer, “I have unfinished pieces there that need to be ready before my next show. My work is important to me, Kirill. I know you probably don’t think it’s that serious but it is to me. It’s my passion. It’s the one thing I’ve earned.”
I expect another smirk from him, but instead, Kirill only holds my gaze with deep intensity.
“Very well, then,” Kirill states a moment later, then stands up.
“Where you going?” I demand, sitting up as he turned to walk away.
“I only have a few minutes,” Kirill states, adjusting his suit. “I only came back to check in.”
“Why?”
“Because Yana informed me you weren’t settling in well,” he replies calmly.
I narrow my eyes, shoot up from the lounger, and grab Kirill’s shoulder to turn him around. I freeze as all at once three black-suited guards come out of nowhere, their stances predatory; their right palms wrapped around the gun each of them had holstered to their black belts.
“It’s alright,” Kirill tells them, putting up a hand toward them. He then turns around, facing me.
“Did you want something?”
I’m still eyeing up the guards; reeling over the fact that this is my life now.
“Were they about to shoot me?” I ask.
“Their jobs are to protect me, just as Yana’s job is to protect you.”
“That doesn’t answer my question!” I shriek.
“They know better than to fire at my wife,” Kirill replies. “The very worst they would have done was fire a warning shot into the air. Now you came at me for a reason. Forget them and tell me what it is you want.”
I slowly turn my eyes away from the guards, still leery of them despite Kirill’s assurance.
“I don’t like that Yana is spying on me for you,” I say, sounding more defeated than I would have liked. “I know she’s here to protect me but I want- I need some freedom, Kirill. I feel like I’m suffocating here and it hasn’t even been a full day.”
Kirill studies me for a long moment, then lets out a breath.
“Yana will back off a little,” he says at last. “But that’s all I can do.”
It isn’t exactly what I want, but it’s better than nothing.
“Thank you,” I sigh, running a hand through my long hair.
Kirill nods, then pulls me into his chest so quickly it makes me gasp. His kiss is deep and intense, giving me no chance to decide whether or not I want it. Suddenly my head begins to spin and my secret yearning intensifies - and then it ends before I can do anything about it.
“Have a good day with your family,” Kirill says, leaving me stunned and whirling from his kiss. “I’ll see you tonight.”