by Marian Tee
Vassi’s chest clenched at the rare sight of Seri being so vulnerable, and he found himself releasing a strained sigh. “Ah, leech.” He stroked her hair, and when her sobs still didn’t subside, he sighed again before giving them what both they wanted and to hell with the consequences.
Right now, Seri needed him, and in the end that was what he lived for: to be whatever she needed.
So Vassi scooped her onto his lap, and Seri immediately snuggled closer to him, rubbing her face against his chest as she breathed in the scent of him.
Vassi shook his head as he watched her, thinking that she had always been like this. Seri rarely fell sick even when they were young, but when she did, she often turned into the sweetest and weakest little kitten.
“Text,” she mumbled.
He stiffened. “Let’s not talk about it.”
She shook her head weakly. “Don’t get…mad.”
He scowled. How in hell would he not get mad, seeing some bastard making the moves on his Seri?
Seri chose that exact moment to rub her cheek against his chest. “Please?”
He stared down broodingly at her. She was too damn affectionate, always had been whenever she was sick. What if Seri happened to fall ill and neither he nor the rest of his family was around? What if it was just the other guy close by?
No one would be able to resist taking advantage of her if she was like this.
Especially not that guy, Vassi thought, recalling the way the guy had worded his text. It was fucking obvious that he wanted Seri, and he was certain the other guy was the kind who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
Dammit.
The thought made him scowl and he heard himself say, “You must get better, Seri.”
“Mm.”
“If you get sick again, make sure I’m the only one who’s around. Not any other guy, or I’ll kill you.” But even he was aware of how his tone was at odds with the tender way he was brushing the hair from her face.
“Mm.” If she hadn’t been too tired, she would have laughed out loud. Did Vassi realize how ludicrous his words sounded?
“And if you can’t help getting sick and none of us are around, you can only go to a women’s hospital.” As he spoke, Vassi mentally resolved to check a list of women’s hospitals in the area, and if there happened to be none, well, he would just persuade Fyodor to have one built. It was for Seri’s sake anyway.
She forced her eyes to open. “V-Vassi?”
“Yes?”
“Are you…jealous?”
Pause.
“Yes.”
His tone was laced with self-disgust, but even so she knew he was actually speaking the truth, and her heart made a little leap of joy.
Vassi was jealous.
Over her!
Turning to him, she said earnestly, “Don’t misunderstand…text.”
“So you’re saying nothing’s going on between you?”
She nodded.
“If so, then why did you kiss him?”
Oh.
Realizing she had fallen into his trap and knowing that she could no longer tell him the truth about the kiss being accidental, she said weakly, ‘I didn’t…kiss him. He kissed…me.” And inside her head, she issued Maximilian a silent apology for the lie.
“Bastard.”
She mentally winced, thinking, Really, really sorry, Max. But you don’t love him like I do anyway, so it’s better that he’s mad at you than at me.
“I’m going to kill that son of a---”
Realizing she had to distract Vassi before he made good on his threat, she quickly changed the subject, mumbling, “I t-thought you…weren’t going to…check on me.”
He snorted. “Like that’s possible.”
“I thought you were mad.”
His lips twitched, and he chided her gently, “Between the two of us, solnishka moya, who do you think has a stronger tendency to hold grudges?”
Instead of answering, Seri simply snuggled closer to him, and he chuckled because this was just like her, too.
Seri’s headache started to lessen dramatically the longer she spent in Vassi’s arms. Love was amazing, she thought sleepily. Who would have thought being near Vassi was enough to make her feel better?
She rubbed her face against his chest, liking the feel of cotton against the hard muscles.
Over her head, Seri heard him murmur in amusement, “You’re like a kitten when you do that.”
A kitten? Seri opened her eyes and gathered enough energy to look up. He was smiling down at her, and before she realized what she was doing, she curled her right hand into a fist, like a paw, and as she slowly waved it up and down, she said sleepily, “Meow.” Her eyelids drifted shut right after, making her miss the stunned expression on Vassi’s face.
Meow.
Vassi couldn’t get the image of a kitten-like Seri out of his mind.
Meow.
She had never done that before, and it was so damn…HOT.
His dick more than agreed, and Vassi didn’t know whether he was thankful or not that Seri seemed too out of her head with her fever to realize what was trying to poke through her pajamas. Instead, she was too busy squirming on his lap, trying to find a good position to sleep in, and all the while unaware of what those sexy little movements were doing to his body.
It took everything in Vassi not to clasp her by the waist and grind her pussy down his groin. She’s ill, he reminded himself. Only the shittiest guys would exploit someone made defenseless by her illness.
He knew this, but the problem was, his dick didn’t care.
It had grown into a full-blown erection, and every nerve in his body was stretched taut, his control just one stroke away from snapping.
Gnashing his teeth, he forced himself to move and lifted her off his lap. She mewled in protest, just like a sexy little kitten, and damn if he didn’t want to kiss her mouth and see if she could also purr just as good.
Meow.
Ignoring her soft, irritated grumbles, which were almost as cute as her mewls, he tucked her under the covers.
As he straightened, the door behind him opened.
“How is she?” Misha asked.
“Still hot,” he answered briefly.
On his other side, Sergei had his iPhone out, and a glance on the screen showed Fyodor on FaceTime, a concerned frown on his face.
“I wish I can stay to help out, but I need to stay overnight at the university,” Misha muttered tautly.
“And I need to join Papa in California by tonight,” Sergei said. “You think you can look after Seri on your own?”
“Of course.” He rolled his eyes at the look of concern on his brothers’ faces. “I’m not on my own here, and the two of you know it. We have a full-time staff, and yes, I will ask for their help if I have a need for it.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.” And he was. He was certain he could get Seri better, but what he was not certain was whether he could keep his hands to himself while she recuperated.
He had promised to himself to never cross the line with Seri. He was determined that she would stay a virgin until she realized that she was only infatuated with him. He had been counting on his brothers’ presence to keep him in check. But now that he knew he was going to be left alone the entire night with a sweet, kitten-like Seri?
A stream of curses filled his mind once more.
It was going to be a fucking long day.
Chapter Eight
When Seri woke up, the world outside her window was dark and her fever was completely gone. Turning to her side as she stretched, the first thing she saw was Vassi, sleeping peacefully on a wingback chair pulled next to her bed. With his eyes closed, he finally looked more his age – someone who was just one year older than she was.
But more often than not, she thought helplessly, he felt out of her league.
There were dark circles under his eyes, and her chest constricted when she thought of his busy schedule. H
e had been juggling work with school the past few days, and yet he had still made time to look after her.
He started to stir then, and she smiled uncertainly when his eyes drifted open.
“You’re awake.” She loved hearing the sound of his voice when it was scratchy from sleep, knowing that she was the only girl in his world who had heard it. He was infamous for never spending the night with any woman, and it had been the same even back when he was dating Shelby. The other girl had always gone back to her room after---
Vassi frowned when he noticed the unhappy look on Seri’s face. “What’s wrong? Are you hurting anywhere?”
Yes, she wanted to answer. My heart hurts, just thinking about what you do with other women. But she kept the words to herself in the end, knowing that there was no point raking over the past.
What mattered was what she could do now and for the future.
Vassi had leaned forward and was checking her forehead. “You don’t feel hot anymore.” He yawned the last word out.
She tried but failed to suppress a smile, knowing that this was yet another side that the other girls didn’t know about him.
And it was all hers, she thought selfishly.
“You think you’ll be okay if I leave you for a bit while I take a shower?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not a kid.”
He ignored that, saying, “Just call my name if you need me. I’ll use your shower, and I’ll leave the door open so I can hear you easily.”
She blinked.
Déjà vu.
He was going to use her shower, and he was going to leave the door open.
Vassi peered at her. “What’s wrong? You’re looking odd.”
Not odd, she thought, flushing. The ‘odd’ look he thought he saw on her face was Seri unable to keep herself from being aroused by the thought that history was repeating itself. The realization was so embarrassing that she couldn’t help shoving his face out of her way.
“Oooow.” He grunted in pain but obligingly moved back to his chair. “Guess you’re feeling better alright,” he muttered under his breath, “if you’re back to your old ways.”
“What do you mean old ways?” she demanded even as she kept her gaze on the windows, which was the opposite direction of where he was.
“You know.”
She frowned at his sly tone. “No, I don’t.”
“Pretending you hate me,” Vassi said over his shoulder as he headed to Seri’s bathroom, “when we both know that you always want me close enough to kiss.”
Gasping, she automatically grabbed a pillow to throw at him, but she was too late and Vassi had already gone inside the bathroom. Conceited jerk! She glared at the door, but soon her racing heart was beating fast for something else.
The door was left ajar like he promised, and when she heard the blast of the shower, Seri gulped, knowing what it meant.
Vassi was naked.
Déjà vu, she thought again.
And this time, the urge to ensure that history could and would repeat itself was too much to ignore. Getting up, she quietly and nervously made her way to him. She stopped when she was exactly where Vassi had stood that night, and from this angle she realized that back then---
He had been able to see everything of her.
Everything.
Just like the way she could see everything of him now.
Water streaming from the shower plate hit his golden skin, and she swallowed as she watched Vassi shampooing his hair, causing him to raise arms and exposing more of his big, beautiful body to her.
His back was all sleek muscle, his chest broad and his abs sculpted. His legs were long and powerful, and oh, his dick---
She squeezed her eyes shut.
His dick.
The same dick that she had sucked in her mouth---
The same dick that had shot cum down her throat---
Before she realized what she was doing, she was already dipping her fingers inside her pajama bottoms, her fingers gently drifting over the already wet and swollen folds of her pussy.
She remembered how he had made her pleasure herself with her own fingers, and she hastily swallowed back a moan.
Bo zheh moy.
Had it been this easy for Vassi, she wondered dazedly. Imagining what it was like to fuck her?
Because for Seri, it was so very easy.
Slowly, she started to stroke herself.
“What are you doing?”
Her eyes flew open.
The door was wide open, the shower still running in the background, and Vassi – completely nude and still dripping wet – was standing right in front of her, a smirk playing on his lips.
Gasping in shock, she stumbled back, lost her footing, and would have fallen completely if not for Vassi’s swift reflexes kicking in.
“Whoa.” Vassi managed to pull her towards him inside the bathroom before she could fall. He frowned down at her, saying disapprovingly, “Be more careful, will you? I don’t mind having to catch you every time, but I don’t like it when other men might have to do it for you.”
“Yes.”
“I mean it.”
“Yes.”
Vassi’s gaze narrowed. “You’re strangely obedient.”
And could he blame her, Seri wondered dazedly. He had her pressed against his body, and this close she was unable to stop her own body from reacting. Her breasts had started to ache as her nipples pouted to life. And with his throbbing dick pulsing against her belly, she was unable to stop the wetness from streaming out of her, drenching her panties and causing even a few drops to leak down the inner side of her legs.
He cupped her chin, forcing her to look up, and Vassi’s nostrils flared when he saw the way desire had clouded her gaze and caused her cheeks to turn red.
“So it’s like this,” he murmured.
“Like what?” she asked warily.
His voice lowering a notch, he said reflectively, “Who would have thought that my sweet little sister would be such a perv---”
She gasped.
“The way she gets horny, acting like some Peeping Tom as her brother takes a shower---”
“Shut up!” She tried to wriggle out of his arms this time, but it was no use.
“And now, I’m betting you’re all wet.” Bending his head down, he murmured against her lips, “Aren’t you?”
Aaaaah.
He was playing with her again, she knew he was, but somehow she couldn’t help wanting him more because of it.
“Yes,” she choked out. His dark low chuckle traveled down her spine like a forbidden, taunting caress, and she hated the way the sound both incensed and aroused her at the same time.
His smile as he gazed down at her was yet another cruelly beautiful thing, and it made her long to both slap it off his lips and drag his mouth to hers.
Eto prosto pizdets.
She was so royally fucked, with the way everything Vassi did making her want to give herself to him.
Vassi caressed her cheek, and his voice was a velvety purr as he murmured, “You’ve become a dirty little girl, leech.”
“S-shut up. I just learned it from you.”
He arched a brow. “What are you talking about?”
She lifted her chin. “I’m t-talking about that night I was having a shower---”
Vassi stiffened.
“And you saw me. You watched me, and you---”
He pulled away abruptly, shocking and confusing Seri, more so when she saw the shuttered look on his face.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Because I was afraid you’d stop, she thought. But she also knew if she said that, it would give Vassi even more hold over her, especially once he realized just how long she had been in love with him.
She heard herself say, “I thought it was fun to see you pretend that you didn’t want me afterwards.”
“And so all of this is a game to you then? You’ve never loved me at all?”
She couldn’t answe
r, suddenly realizing that what she had only meant to use as a way to tease him a little about the past had turned into something else.
“Vassi---”
He was smiling again, and it was as dazzling as ever, but somehow it was also painful to look at because she knew in her heart it wasn’t real.
He came towards her, and even though a part of her wanted to run away, Seri was unable to, the dark, hungry look in his gaze captivating her and leaving her immobile.
She stiffened when he reached her, but Seri couldn’t find the will to resist as he pulled her back to him. Her breasts flattened against his chest, and his dick pressed and throbbed against her belly.
Vassi looked down at his Seri.
Misha was right.
She was only infatuated with him, and it was his fault. She had seen him jerk himself off while watching her shower, and he knew that kind of experience would have imprinted itself easily on someone as young and impressionable as Seri.
She had thought it was love, to the point that she had wanted to confess to him, that she had even blackmailed him into being her boyfriend.
If she had really loved him, Vassi thought grimly, she wouldn’t be playing these games, knowing how much being part of their family meant to him.
For Vassi, all of it made sense now, and it never once occurred to him that perhaps all the games Seri had played were also precisely because she was young. It didn’t occur to him at all that Seri’s inexperience had made her hide behind her pride, her games, her taunts, because the truth was too terrifying, and it was that she loved him, but it was possible that he could never love her back.
So what now, he wondered tautly. Now that it was clear to him Seri was only sexually infatuated with him, should he step back and allow her infatuation to fade in time, maybe even disappear instantly if she continued dating Maximilian?
That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?
He knew it was, but he didn’t want to be right.
“I want you, Seri,” he heard himself say.
Seri’s breath caught. He had never been this straightforward, never, and she couldn’t stop herself from responding to it, her voice a shaky whisper as she said, “I w-want you, too. You know I do.”
