Page 46

YULIAN

I knew I couldn’t leave her.

Ever since this morning, I had a sinking feeling something was going to go south. Call me crazy, but I’ve learned to trust my gut. And my gut told me to stick around.

Now, with Mia in my arms, I’m glad I did.

As I put her in the back of my car, Isaak gives me the CliffsNotes of what happened. I wish I could say I blame him for dropping the ball, but I’ve known the guy too long. And I know Mia.

She refused to let him cross-examine Ginny.

She refused to put Eli on the stand.

She refused to let anyone get hurt.

I thank Isaak and tell him to keep me posted. He assures me he will. Then I’m driving.

Once we’re back at the penthouse, I tuck Mia into bed and lie down beside her.

“How is she?” Nikita calls to ask.

I have no idea. That’s the ugly truth of it. Physically, she seems fine, but mentally? She’s suffered the kind of blow I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy: betrayal.

I make arrangements with Nikita to pick up Eli from school in the afternoon. Afterwards, I call Maksim, leaving instructions on how to handle today’s matters at the office. Then I lie back down and wait for Mia to wake up.

It takes another hour or so, but eventually, her eyes flutter open. “Hey,” she mumbles. “What happened? Why am I…?”

“You fainted.” I squeeze her hand, tuck her body close against me. “At the courthouse.”

Her eyes go wide. Memories seem to be rushing in, each uglier than the next. “I lost the case,” she rasps. “Ginny… I…”

“You didn’t lose.” I stroke her hair, press my lips against the crown of her head. “Isaak’s on it. Though he wasn’t very happy you kept him from doing his job.”

“I’m sorry.” She sounds so sincere that I regret my words immediately. “I just couldn’t let him hurt her.”

“I know.” I kiss her again, this time between the eyes. “You could never hurt anyone.”

And I, you. It’s the reason I decide to keep my meeting with Desya to myself. Mia is going through enough—I’m not going to pile on with the life-or-death gamble I made.

She cuddles closer against me. I can feel her soft arms closing around my back, her belly pressing against me. Our child, snuggled tight between us.

“Where’s Eli?” she asks.

“At school.” I rub a soothing circle into her back. “Want to go get him early?”

She shakes her head. “He likes his routine. And he likes school. I’ll hug the living daylights out of him later.”

I can tell she’s mournful about it. It’s understandable: she thinks she might lose him. She has no idea I’d never let that happen, regardless of what any court of law said.

Mia sighs into my chest. Her arms wrap tighter around me.

“What do you need, kotyonok? ” I murmur into her hair.

She looks up at me. Her eyes are lucid with tears, but her pupils are wide, black and wanting. “I don’t want to think,” she whispers.

That’s all I need to hear.

Within seconds, I’ve got her on her back. I capture her lips with mine, savoring the taste with my tongue. Every inch of Mia is delicious, always, no matter the circumstances.

“Close your eyes,” I command.

She obeys instantly. “What are you…?”

“I’m going to make you feel good.” I can feel her shiver at my promise. “But you’ll have to trust me.”

She gives a slight, trembling nod. “I do.”

It’s intoxicating. Hearing those two words from her lips, having her unconditional surrender. I slip off my tie and wrap it around her eyes. I can tell the instant she opens them again. But her makeshift blindfold is snug, blocking out all light.

“If anything feels uncomfortable, you will tell me.” I tip up her chin and speak directly against her lips. “I’ll punish you if you don’t.”

She nods breathlessly. Good.

I get up from the bed. She makes a confused little sound, mourning the loss of my body on hers. But that’s what trust is, too: knowing I won’t leave her. Not for long, anyway.

I grab three toys from my drawer, then gather Mia’s wrists near the headboard.

Click.

“W-What’s that?” She sounds alarmed.

“Hush.” I press my finger to her lips. “No more questions, kitten. From now on, you’ll take what I give you.”

Her lips go slack at that. Shiny, red, pliant. I kiss them until they’re all bitten and bruised. Then I work off her clothes.

I slide her dress down her body. It’s sleeveless, so I don’t need to uncuff her to do it—a stroke of luck for her garment if nothing else. Any other dress, I’d have torn clean off her body. Her bra comes next, then her panties.

Fuck. She’s already wet, all soaked and ready. I could fuck her right now and she’d be screaming, begging for it.

But that’s not what we’re doing today.

I pick up the second toy: a black leather flogger. Mia asked me to switch off her brain, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

The moment I start dragging the tails up her thigh, Mia’s body jolts. She doesn’t ask what I’m doing this time—she’s learning—but I still want to hear her voice.

“Tell me how it feels.”

“It’s… tingly,” she breathes. “It tickles.”

I brush around her hip bone and keep rising, ignoring the spot she needs me the most. She shifts, trying to get touched where she wants—to yank back control.

I spank the side of her ass, hard.

She moans. I scrape my nails across the tender area. “Disobey me again, and there’ll be consequences.”

She flushes bright red. “Yes.”

“‘Yes, sir .’”

“Yes, sir.”

I continue my ascent. The flogger’s tails drag goosebumps out of Mia’s hips, her sides, the plump swell of her pregnant belly. Our baby’s in there, I remind myself—the baby I put there. A flare of possessiveness sparks inside me. A primal urge to keep filling her up, over and over again.

When the flogger brushes against her nipple, her whole body jumps. “Ah!”

“Tell me how it feels,” I command again.

“Good,” she gasps. “It—It feels good. ”

I’m hard as a rock. My cock is begging to be sprung free, but I restrain myself. This isn’t about my pleasure. It’s about hers.

And we’re only getting started.

Her nipples have pebbled now, desperate to be touched. I play with them a little longer like this, just stroking lightly.

Then, without warning, I whip her breasts with the flogger.

Mia’s back arches off the bed. I almost worry I’ve gone too far, but the moan that breaks out of her lips is so delicious, it takes every ounce of self-control not to fuck her then and there.

“Oh, God,” she whimpers.

“Not God,” I correct her darkly. “Me.”

Her throat bobs. “Yulian,” she gasps. “Please. I—I need more.”

“I’ll decide that.”

She sighs, melting back into the mattress. “Yes, sir.”

“Good girl.”

Without another word, I keep rising. Collarbone, throat, lips. Every spot I’ve ever touched with my mouth, I touch with the toy, making sure to linger wherever Mia’s most sensitive.

Then I tip her chin up with the butt of the flogger. “Open up.”

She obeys without question. I’m tempted to shove the whole thing down her throat, make her suck around the leather handle until she’s begging for the real thing.

But then I couldn’t fuck her with it.

Instead, I pick up the third toy I’ve chosen: a smooth, bright red silicone vibrator.

The second I push it between her lips, her thighs clench together.

“Dirty little kitten,” I croon. “You want this between your legs?”

She nods breathlessly.

“Then suck.”

She doesn’t make me say it twice. Her plump, red lips wrap around the head instantly. I watch her tongue dart out, looking for ridges that aren’t there, for the shape of a head or the taste of precum.

I imagine it’s my cock there. It twitches hard in my pants. But I remind myself that’s not the goal today. Instead, I turn the vibrator on. “I said suck. ”

The vibration is light at the lowest setting, but it’s enough to get her moaning around the girth of it. Without hesitation, she starts sucking in earnest.

I rock the toy gently in her mouth. With my free hand, I pick the flogger back up and start dragging it over her bound arms.

The handcuffs rattle. She’s struggling against them, desperate for more.

“Tell me what you want.” I pull the vibrator out of her mouth. “Ask for it, kotyonok. ”

“I want to come,” she gasps. “Please, I need to come, please?—”

A smirk blooms on my face. “If you insist.”

Without warning, I press the vibrator to her clit.

“Ahh!” She shifts her hips back in a panic. After the way I’ve teased her, her whole body is a live wire, sensitive to the point of overstimulation.

But she asked me to make her come, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.

I press the toy back against her. She starts squirming again, desperate to get away from too-soon-too-much.

I amp up the vibration in response.

“Y-Yulian,” she whines. “It’s t-too much. I… I c-can’t…”

“Can’t you?” I roll the tip over her clit. “Look at that pretty pink pussy of yours. It’s dripping for it.” I twist the toy, pressing down harder, dragging out a scream. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to come when you look like this.”

Her legs shudder. She tries to squeeze them closed, but I force them open again, settling between them to keep them spread. She’s drenching the sheets, making a mess. The room is soaked in her scent.

I’ve never been so hard in my fucking life.

“Yulian,” she gasps, “I-I’m gonna?—”

She doesn’t get to finish that sentence. Her orgasm tears through her moments later. I drink in every second of it: the violent buck of her hips, the helpless shudder of her body. It goes on forever.

I don’t take off the vibrator. Not even for an instant.

Finally, she slumps back into the mattress. Her resistance is thoroughly broken. Her clit twitches, red and overstimulated, against the vibrating tip of the toy, but she doesn’t squirm away. Doesn’t have the strength to anymore.

Good. She doesn’t get to turn down pleasure from me. “What do you want, kitten?”

“You.” She’s nearly incoherent, mouth gaping like a fish out of water. “I—I want you. ”

“I’m already here.”

She shakes her head. “Want you to fuck me.”

My cock is about to burst. But I force myself to remember what we’re doing, why we’re doing it.

Mia needs my whole focus. She deserves nothing less. And me, chasing my own pleasure—it would only be a distraction. I set the vibration to the highest setting and plunge the toy inside her.

Mia’s thighs start shaking. “Yulian!”

“Look at you.” I start pumping it in and out of her. “So hungry for it.”

She twists her arms against the cuffs. “I want your cock,” she begs. “I—I need ? — ”

“Not today.” My tone is firm. “Today’s all about you, kitten.”

“B-But?—”

I bury my head between her thighs and start eating her out.

Her protests die down after that.

It goes on forever. My wrist moving between her legs, my tongue dragging against her clit. After a while, I start fucking her in earnest with the toy. Hard and fast, just how she likes it. Meanwhile, I’m sucking on her clit like it’s the last meal I’ll ever have.

I lose track of how many times she comes. I don’t come. Don’t even touch myself. But it doesn’t matter.

This is all I need.