Page 54 of Devious Corruption

Well, he can wait.

A moment later, his men enter the room carrying my bags.

“Maxine. Now.” Lev’s command gets sharper.

“I’ll just leave them in there.” Dominick carries everything into the bedroom where Lev is waiting for me.

When he comes back through, he gives me a small glance.

“Is he standing in there getting mad?”

“Mad? No. Lev doesn’t get mad, but he’s not a patient man, either.” Dominik pauses, reaching his hand out to pet Marion.

He’s rewarded with a hiss and a swipe of her paw at him. His reaction time is impeccable, and he gets away without getting scratched.

“I’m so sorry.” I glare down at Marion. “She’s just scared with everything that’s happened.”

“It’s fine. Never been much of a cat person, myself.”

Lev appears in the doorway, like the shadow man he is. After snapping something in Russian, Dominik lowers his gaze and heads out of the room.

When my gaze locks with his, a tremor runs straight through my middle. Apparently, he’s finished pretending to have any patience left. He raises his arm and crooks his finger at me. A silent order that isn’t all that silent.

Considering he did shield me from flying bullets and is giving me a place to stay for the night, I decide to give into him. Just this one last time.

As I make my way to him, the fierceness of his expression softens. But only by a fraction. To anyone who didn’t know him, they’d think he was ready to go into battle with the tension in his jaw.

When I get to him, his turns his crooked finger around, hooking it into the top of my shirt and pulling me closer to him.

“When I call you, Maxine, you come to me. Understand?”

“I’m not some pet to be beckoned, Lev. Do you understand?” I’m not exactly sure where I find this bravado, because the way he’s staring me down should be making my bones shake inside my skin.

“My pet?” The left side of his mouth kicks up. “That has promise. But for now, we’ll get your cut cleaned up, and you tucked into bed.”

“I’m not a child; I can take care of myself.”

His eyebrow lifts, and I wonder how many people have ever stood up to this man and lived to tell the tale.

Drenched in his silence, his gaze wanders over me, my chest, my hips, all the way down to my toes, and then crawls back up to my eyes.

“No. You’re definitely not a child. And just because you can take care of yourself, doesn’t mean you have to. Right now I’m going to take care of you. Now. The bathroom is through there, get going.”

He unhooks his finger from my shirt and steps to the side, giving me plenty of room to pass him. I touch my neck, ready to show him that it’s not even a scratch, but when I take my hand away, my fingertips are covered with blood.

“If I have to tell you again, I’ll be bending you over my knee for the trouble.”

“I’m never letting you spank me again, so make all the threats you want, it’s never going to happen.” I raise my chin, tuck Marion further into my chest and charge past him.

His open palm lands hard against my ass, propelling me a foot.

Marion jumps from my arms, running to the four-post bed and making herself comfortable. I’m not sure who to glare at first. My traitorous cat or the man who keeps manhandling me like he has any right to.

There had to be another name for Lev’s bathroom.Because this is not the same thing as what the rest of the world has in their home.

This is not simply a bathroom. Aside from the standing shower large enough for three people, with a built-in marble bench and three shower heads, there is a jacuzzi tub built to fit Lev’s enormous frame and another person. I stop at the first of the double sinks to check out the cut in the mirror.

The collar of my sweatshirt is soaked in blood. I use it to wipe away more blood to get a better look at the actual cut.