29. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Isabella
B right light cascades into the room, waking me up way before I’m ready to leave my dreams. I draw the covers to my chin and scowl at the source of the light.
“Good morning.” Drawls Nikolai.
“Why do you always have to get up so early?” I snap, hiding my head under the covers.
“I like to be prepared for anything.” His footsteps followed his voice as he walks over to me. “We have an appointment, so I need you to get ready.”
“Five more minutes.” I mumble into the pillow.
He chuckles, sitting next to me on the bed and pulling back the covers back just enough for our eyes to meet. “If her royal highness needs five minutes, she can have them.”
I narrow my eyes at him and plot how I’ll kill him in his sleep.
“But when my princess is awake, I need her to do something for me.”
“If this is how you ask for favours, you need to practise more.”
Nikolai leans in closer and snatches me from my grogginess with a passionate kiss. His lips lock with mine and his hands pull me into him. My heartbeat doubles and the ache between my legs wakes up before my brain does.
“Is this more convincing?” He drawls through a kiss, pulling his lips from mine and planting them on my neck.
“Getting there.” I moan softly.
His lips trail from my earlobe to my collarbone, tender but firm. He holds me closer, my breasts pushing into his tensed torso.
His lips brush against my ear. “I’m taking you out today. You’re going to wear something beautiful, but you’re not going to wear panties.”
“That didn’t sound like someone asking for a favour.”
Nikolai pulls back, his eyes pouring into mine. “Because it wasn’t a request.” A smirk tugs at his lips before he leaves me with one last kiss. “Meet me downstairs in half an hour.”
He cups my chin between his thumb and forefinger, gazing at me for a moment. Nikolai presses his thumb into my bottom lip, dragging it down to part my lips. I see the thought bubbling in his eyes; his thumb in my mouth. His body pressing into mine… He pulls his touch away and leaves me with a heart rate that would worry any sane doctor.
The maroon sundress I'm wearing makes Nikolai’s eyes widen like saucers. He takes my hand as I slip into his car and then drives us into Righteous Cove. He doesn’t tell me where we’re going until we’re in the lobby of the building. All the places he knows seem to have hidden luxury complexes. We’d walk into a huge glass building and find ourselves at a private show, or secret casino.
“Let me guess.” I say, catching Nikolai’s green eyes, “it’s a rare book dealer? A private audience with a rock star?”
“No, but I’ll be taking those ideas for the future.” He pulls me closer, sending a dancing jolt of electricity across my skin. When I look up at him, and that electricity simmers into a warmth through my body, I feel safe.
“Come on, put me out of my misery.”
We take an elevator to the top floor, and as we step out, Nikolai finally explains.
“Since you’ve come here, you’ve been wearing clothes given to you by everyone else. I thought you might want some time to choose a new wardrobe for yourself. And get something special for Aleksander’s party.”
We step into a room with huge glass windows that look out over the city. Natural light streams in and bounces off the white walls, making the room seem even bigger than it already is. Modern art sculptures and rare paintings decorate the walls, peeking out from behind the green sea of hanging plants.
A woman jumps out as if she’s been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make an entrance. Her eyes immediately lock on Nikolai, and she barely even acknowledges my existence.
“Mr Ilyin.” She flashes a warm smile and goes in for a hug, but Nikolai only offers a firm handshake and a disgusted look.
Yeah, back off.
She flips her hair before regaining some composure and flashing the same smile. “What can I do for you today?”
Nikolai’s cool gaze flicks over to me. He pulls out a credit card and hands it to me. “You can give my wife anything she wants.”
“Be careful what you wish for.” I laugh, taking the card.
Nikolai shrugs. “Money isn’t something that worries me. Max out the card if you can.” A little smirk tugs at his lips as an idea enters his head. He turns his body to mine. “In fact, let that be the challenge. If you max out the card, I’ll give you another to spend with. If you don’t max it out, you don’t get the next card.”
Even I raise my eyebrows at that. “That doesn’t really give me a choice.”
“Exactly.” Nikolai licks his lips.
I look over at the girl. “Where do we begin?” I ask, feeling more clueless here than I did running away from Callum O’Shea’s assassins. I have my style, and my dad always made sure I kept up appearances, but never with this sort of freedom. Every item of clothing needed to be approved by him, or I’d end up watching another pair of Doc Martin’s go up in flames.
The girl suppresses the jealousy in her eyes and leads me through the options at hand. The room opens on to several other rooms full of clothes and a walk-in wardrobe with enormous mirrors. She has a laptop open too, in case I want anything specific ordered in. There are already enough clothes for three lifetimes on this floor alone. After the first fifteen minutes, the girl leaves us alone to enjoy browsing.
I spent the afternoon looking through the clothes with Nikolai. I picked out a red dress for Aleksander’s birthday and convinced Nikolai to get a suit that compliments it.
He took some convincing to try it on, and when he did, I waited on the other side of the curtain like a giddy teenager.
“Can I see yet?”
After a moment, Nikolai opens up the curtain and steps out in front of me, and I can’t suppress the smile on my face.
“You clean up well.” I drape my arms around his shoulders and kiss him.
He holds my waist until his hands wonder down to my ass and squeezes. The ache between my legs gets louder as his hand trails to the slit in my dress and onto my naked thigh.
“Did you do as you were told?” He growls. I catch his eye and nod. He trains his dark gaze on me, devious thoughts swirling between us. “Good girl.”
Nikolai kisses me, his grip tightening with every desperate parting of our lips. A deep, low groan leaves his lips. He pushes me against the wall, pinning me in his arms.
“You look fucking amazing in that dress.”
“How amazing?”
“Like the sexiest woman in the fucking world.”
He kisses me until I’m seeing stars. His grip is so tight it might rip the brand new dress.
“Don’t ruin the dress.” I whisper seductively. “Control yourself until it’s off.”
My words pull a frustrated smile onto his face. “You’re killing me.” The bass in his voice sends shivers through me.
His fingers dig into my skin for one last moment before he drags himself away and breathes in like he’s finished a marathon.
“You have twenty more minutes to decide what you want to buy.”
“What? There was no mention of a time limit.” I pout.
He closes the space between us until I feel our bodies pulsing in sync.
“Twenty minutes, princess. Then I’m taking you home. I’m taking that dress, and I’m making you mine.”
I swallow. For once, I can’t summon any anger at the word princess. He smirks in the silence, his eyes lingering for an oh so suggestive moment.