by Sienna Blake
When his tongue flicks against my clit, I jolt. A cry rips from me. He laughs again and it sounds like triumph. Before I can say a thing, he assaults me again with his mouth. Pleasure smashes through my body. My eyes roll into the back of my head and I let out a moan. He keeps licking. In five strokes he’s given me more pleasure than my husband has in five years. More, I want more.
He lets go of one hip only to push my legs farther apart, giving his tongue and lips more access. I obey. I can do nothing but obey.
He wraps his lips around my clit and sucks as he flicks the end with his tongue. I moan and buck against him, pleasure tightening like bands inside my core. He chuckles before he pulls his mouth off me. I let out a whimper. For a second, I think this is his cruel plan. He’s going to push me to the edge and never let me come. Oh God, I won’t survive it.
He runs his fingertips along my seam and slips a finger into me. I let out a cry, half pleasure, half relief. A curse falls from his mouth. He adds a second finger. And a third, stretching me to my limit. I suck in a breath, trying to stay relaxed.
He starts to move, his fingers thrusting in and out, curling to rub against that sensitive spot inside me when they push deep within. The pleasure returns in waves, this time like the bass of a song, thick and low and full. A low groan rumbles from me.
When he adds his tongue again, I swear I almost die. The strands of my pleasure twisting like harmonies. I curse, I cry, I scream. My legs shake so hard, I have to grip onto his hair to stop from collapsing.
Dear God. At last. After seven years of loving him, of wanting him, and not being able to release it, at last. I let go. I give in. I come hard around his fingers, against his tongue, my head knocking back and his name tearing from the depths of my soul. I am lost in the waves of pleasure on and on until they sink like a lowering tide, exhaustion chasing after it.
I start to drop.
But I don’t fall. Dimi is there holding me up, crushing me against his hard body with his strong arms. Even after I’ve had the orgasm of my life, my need is not sated. It has just been awakened. Years it has been waiting, needing, starving for Dimitri.
“You brought me here.” His voice rumbles into my hair. “Even from across the ocean, I could still feel your claws in me, dragging me here.”
I fix my hungry eyes on him. “Dimi—”
“Does your husband want you like I do?” He grinds his hardness against my hips. “Does he need you?”
“Please, let’s not talk about him.” We have one night. One night together. I don’t want to waste a second.
“Even if he wanted you with every breath of his soul, he couldn’t want you in a whole lifetime as much as I want you right now.”
I moan as he rubs himself against me. “Please, I’m begging you…”
“What?” he growls. “What?”
“I need you inside me.”
His erection twitches against me. He lets out a groan. Then pulls away. “Get on the bed.”
I obey. Because all I can do is obey.
Our eyes lock, even as I circle him, backing up onto the bed. I lie back, waiting, his eyes pinning me to the sheets. He kneels at the end of the mattress, pushing my knees apart. I let them drop, exposing myself to him. His hungry eyes brush over my exposed sex. I have never been so bare, so naked. I’ve never been so turned on in my life. I might die if he doesn’t get here and sink into me right fucking now.
He tugs his robe off and drops it off the end of the bed. Dear God, he is so perfect. So aggressively male. Rounded shoulders, sculpted lean muscles. His blue eyes flashing with wild hunger. He is so beautiful I want to cry. It’s not just his body. It’s him I want. All of him. His mind. His heart. His soul. I want to be inside him.
Even if he and I only get tonight, it will be worth it.
42
____________
Dimitri
Alena lies on the bed naked, her body open for me. My body surges with so much need that I swell to bursting. As I crawl over her and slip my knees between her soft thighs, the ice wall that has protected me for so long cracks.
This is not part of the plan.
As I gaze down at her, her hair wild about her head, her eyes open and vulnerable, her lips parted, begging me to finally, finally sink into her, to surrender to her, the wall begins to crumble. Five years I’ve waited for her to look at me like this. Five years I hunted her ghost.
She is a conquest. A prize. That’s all.
That’s a lie. When I saw her yesterday, handing over food to the school, kneeling to speak with that child, this cold heart of mine began to thaw. As soon as she walked into the room, I began to lose my control.
Instead of feeling triumph, I feel raw and exposed. Naked. Vulnerable… Just like I did when I sank to my knees in front of her five years ago and begged her to choose me.
She can see it. Is that smugness in her eyes?
She planned for this. She is a siren trying to lure me onto the rocks. I can’t give in to her. I know better than to hand over my heart. She will rip it to pieces. Again.
I slam my fear and lust—everything—into a box in the icy depths of my heart, the part that has not forgotten what she did to me. I yank myself off her so violently I almost tumble back onto the floor.
She sits up, snapping her knees shut, clutching at her naked chest. “Dimi? What’s wrong?”
I stand there, staring at the mistake I almost let myself make, my breath heaving out of my lungs. I can’t do this. I can’t let her force herself back into my heart. I can’t let her wind her claws around my soul. I will not survive a second time.
The way she’s looking at me now, so full of concern, so longingly, it makes me pause. My certainty wavers.
I need her to leave before I give in. I force my face into a cold mask. “Get out.”
“W-what?”
“I changed my mind. I don’t want you anymore.”
“Liar! You want this. You want me.” Her anguish is like a knife twisting in my gut.
I rip my eyes away from her, afraid that I won’t be able to resist throwing myself at her if I keep looking at her.
Dimitri Volkov does not beg.
I keep my voice cold, even as my heart screams in my chest. “I thought I wanted you. Turns out, having you just bores me.”
I see the moment her heart breaks. I see it shatter behind her autumn-leaf eyes.
I should feel good that she’s hurting. Instead I feel like a piece of shit.
She grabs her robe, snatching it around her body. She picks her lingerie up and stuffs it into a pocket. “You are such a bastard.” She strides past me, the scent of her perfume mixed with the musk of her lust hitting my lungs.
“No,” I yell after her. “You are Frankenstein. And I am your monster.”
My door slams in response.
43
____________
Alena
I can barely look at Dimitri at breakfast the next morning. My husband can barely look at either of us. I didn’t tell him that I didn’t stay the night in Dimitri’s room. I didn’t tell him that Dimitri ripped my heart out instead.
I want to hate Edgar. I do a little. But he’s desperate. I can smell it on him. I know he had no choice but to hand me over.
All my hate centres on Dimitri.
Dimitri scowls at me. I can feel his glare, boring into me like it could set me alight. He’s furious. I have no idea why. He was the one who rejected me last night. I was there, naked and open and ready for him and he rejected me. My stomach still burns with it. I try to console myself that I never really wanted him anyway. I try to tell myself that his rejection means nothing. He means nothing to me. Not anymore.
I look up to find Dimitri’s eyes are filled with sorrow. They glisten with what looks like regret. Confusion tumbles around in me and I have to tear my eyes away from him. So what if he regrets last night? Who cares if he’s sad? I just want to hate him. It’s easier to just hate him. Anything else is too damn painful.
Only Emily chatters away, oblivious to the silent tension strung among the three of us.
After breakfast I leave the manor to visit the local school with my basket of leftovers. I walk. It’s not far. And the weather's still mild, although overcast.
As I turn onto the slim laneway towards the school a familiar figure slips out from the gates ahead and into a waiting car.
I halt, the gravel crunching under my feet.
That was Dimitri. I’d recognise his stern walk and proud figure anywhere. What is he doing here? The car pulls away, driving off in the other direction, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
He hadn’t seen me.
Anger slithers through me. Why was he here? What business of his was it to come here? This is my place, the one good thing in my life that he hasn’t tainted.
Yet.
The blood drains from my limbs and I almost drop my basket. Surely—surely—he wouldn’t be so cruel as to destroy a school just to punish me? He couldn’t hurt all these children. Oh God. What has he done? What has he done?
I run, ignoring the basket slapping against my hip. I keep running until I reach the headmaster’s office, bursting through his door without any announcement.
Richard starts in his chair, looking up from behind his desk. “Oh, Alena.”
I heave in breath, my lungs struggling to suck in enough air, cramped by my effort and fury. “Dimitri Wolf was here.”
He blinks. “Why, yes—”
“Why?” I stride up to his desk and drop my basket to the floor. Richard is a kindly man in his mid-forties. He’s been headmaster of this school for almost a decade, having attended this very school as a child. He would never let Dimitri destroy this place, would he?
Dimitri is good at sniffing out people’s weaknesses and using them. Just like he did with my husband and his failing company. Just like he’s doing with Emily and her silly crush on him.
Richard and I are friends, or at least, I thought we were. Now as he squirms in his chair, avoiding my eyes, I have to question it.
Dimitri is messing with my husband’s company, he’s driven a wedge between Emily and me, and now here… My blood boils. He can’t mean to take everything away from me, can he?
After what you did to him five years ago? I shove this guilt-thorned thought aside.
“Why did Dimitri come here?” I lean over the desk, my palms flat on the surface. “Tell me.”
A frown appears between Richard’s brows as he meets my gaze. “I’m sorry, Alena. The purpose for Mr Wolf’s visit is confidential.”
“If it has something to do with me, I have a right to know what he’s done,” I squeeze out through gritted teeth. “If you were ever a friend to me, you have to tell me.”
“You?” Richard’s frown deepens. “Alena, you’re mistaken. His visit had nothing to do with you.”
I straighten up behind his desk. “Then why was he here?”
Richard sighs and gets up from behind his desk. He walks over to the door that I left wide open and shuts it, turning to me. “What I’m about to say hasn’t been announced yet, so you’ll keep it to yourself.”
“I… Of course.”
“Dimitri Wolf has donated enough money for us to refurbish our library.”
“What?”
He nods, his face bursting with the joy of being able to share such wonderful news. “He came here to ask what needed to be done to the school. I told him about our recent need to raise funds for the library.”
I had tried to help with that. I had begged my husband to let me donate the money they needed. He refused me. I have no money of my own to give. I’d secretly gotten the help of the cook and the kitchen staff in baking an array of cakes for a bake sale. It had been a success but it had raised less than five hundred pounds. Not nearly enough.
Richard grips my arm. “Alena,” his voice lowers to a hush, “Mr Wolf just handed over a check for ten thousand pounds!”
“What?”
“It’s more than enough for the library upgrade. We’ll have money left over to upgrade our science lab and our gymnasium. Oh, Alena, he is a Godsend. Is he a friend of yours?”
I sink into one of the chairs in front of Richard’s desk. I can scarcely believe what he’s saying. Ten thousand pounds!
Why did he do that?
He did it for you, Alena.
I shove that thought away. “Did…did Dimitri say why he donated all that money?”
Richard shrugged. “Only that he was inspired to do it after he drove past the other day and saw our grounds.”
I have misjudged him. Completely. I have to thank him. I have to apologise…oh God, the names I called him. The accusations I hurled at him. How nearsighted I have been. He is still the same Dimitri underneath. He’s just hurting on the outside. He let himself get close to me and he got scared.
“Alena, you can’t tell him you know he was the one to donate the money.”
I look up to Richard. “Why not?”
“He made me promise not to reveal it was him. I only told you because you just looked so terrified at his intentions. I know you can keep a secret.”
I nod, my head spinning.
I’m in a daze as I make my way home after dropping off the food I brought. How am I supposed to act now when I see him?
My heart is softened towards him. But I can’t reveal that I know.
This proves he still cares for me. Dimitri still cares. Underneath his cold, ruthless armour, he is still the warm, caring soul I love. He’s just a wounded animal lashing out in pain. I just have to find a way to open his heart. I have to find a way to bring the old Dimitri out. I won’t give up on him.
I arrive home forty minutes later. One of the maids opens the front door of Worthington Manor for me. I rush past, throwing my light coat and scarf in her arms. “Is Mr Wolf in?”
“Yes, miss. He’s in the formal living room, but—”
“Thank you,” I call over my shoulder.
I burst into the living room, a stately room centred around a low antique table, enough seating for over a dozen. I come to a halt. Dimitri is here, yes. So are Emily and my husband.
“Ah, Alena,” Edgar says, “you’re here. We have some wonderful news.”
I glance at Dimitri. He looks stern and a little pale as he sits next to Emily, but it doesn’t take away from his beauty. I yearn to run to him, throw my arms around him and thank him for what he did for those children. I can’t. For so many reasons.
“Really?” I say. “What news?”
Emily curls her arm through Dimitri’s. “We’re engaged.”
44
____________
Alena
Engaged.
I let out a laugh. “Be serious.”
Emily looks a little miffed. She forces a smile, pressing closer to Dimitri’s side. “I am.”
It’s then that I notice how close they’re sitting. Their bodies pressed side by side. Cold realisation travels through me like a deadly frost.
This is a joke.
A nightmare.
A mistake.
My gaze snaps to Dimitri’s face. “Dimitri? Is this true?” He won’t look at me. I see his insides churning even from here. I remember the way he looked down at me last night, how the fear stole across his face and he leapt back as if I had burned him. Oh God. What has he done?
“Of course it’s true,” Emily says.
My head spins. I can’t say a thing. I am too much in shock. I grip onto the sides of my dress because I need something to hang on to.
Dimitri looks at me. “I know Emily looks upon you as a sister. That’ll make me your new brother, won’t it?”
My brother. His words are a direct attack. They pierce me through my chest.
He has not forgiven me. He is not done making me suffer.
“Won’t you congratulate us, Alena?” he says, his words soaked in bitter triumph.
I force a smile even though my heart is breaking. “Congratulations.” W
hat a sham this engagement is. They won’t go through with it. They can’t. “When is the happy day?”
“In four weeks,” says Emily, beaming up to Dimitri.
Four weeks.
Oh God. He means to go through with it. Just to hurt me? Or…has he really fallen for Emily?
I swallow down the ball of thorns in my throat. I stagger over to the closest chair and sit. “Sorry,” I say, my hand pressed to my stomach, “I’m just overwhelmed with the news. This is all so sudden.”
“Actually,” Dimitri’s voice is cold, “it’s been inevitable for some time.”
This was his plan all along. He manipulated his way into our lives, he seduced Emily in front of me. This was all to hurt me. This was all for revenge.
Anger thunders through me. Well, let him ruin his own life if he wants. Let him marry a woman he doesn’t love. At least he won’t be around here anymore.
I choose my words carefully. “Four weeks. I see. Then you’ll move to London, I suspect.”
Dimitri smiles, patting his fiancée’s hand. “I’m sure Emily won’t be in a hurry to leave her childhood home. We’ll stay here until we find a suitable house nearby.”
“Nearby?” I choke out.
“Of course.” His eyes glitter with triumph. “We wouldn’t want to move away. We’re all going to be one big, happy family, after all.”
Dear God. My nightmare is not over. It’s barely begun.
45
____________
Alena
I corner Dimitri alone in the corridor in front of his guest room. I grab his arm and swing him to face me. “You can’t do this. You can’t marry her.”
His features are cold as he stares down at me. I almost don’t recognise his man. “I’m afraid I can do exactly as I like.”
“What about last night? Before you freaked and threw me out? You felt it, I know you did. You still love me.”
