Still concerned about her injuries, he gently picked her up from the bed, loving how she cuddled into him with a happy sigh. “I clean you.”
The bathroom was as well-appointed as the rest of the home and he didn’t release Rya until they were in the white and blue tiled shower stall, its skylights showing the deepening blue sky overhead. Even in direct sunlight, Rya was so beautiful he couldn’t keep his eyes or his hands off of her. With the water falling over her she looked delicious and he couldn’t resist touching her, arousing her all over again so he could pick her up and fuck her against the wall of the shower, keeping his strokes gentle and making sure his hand was behind her back, protecting her still bruised body from the hard wall. This time he looked into her eyes as he took her and the connection between them left his mind and heart reeling. He had no idea sex could be this good, that the simple act of taking his woman could arouse him in a way even the kinkiest of acts with other women never did. With Rya, he was not trying to fill a hole in his heart because she was already there, already a part of him in a way he’d been craving his whole life.
His release seared through him, filling Rya with his seed as he held himself carefully off of her, trying to protect her injuries.
Moving very slowly, he removed them both from the shower and they dried each other off with lingering touches. Dimitri dropped to his knees before her with a soft, pained sound and examined her injuries. For every mark he found he kissed every inch of it with no more pressure from his lips than a warm breath. His mind raced with images of what could have happened to her, to the torture she’d endured because of her sin in loving him. The sight of the bruises marring her golden flesh made him grow cold inside.
Before his icy rage could fill him, a hot tear dropped onto his shoulder, thawing his anger and replacing it with deep thanks. He pressed the side of his face to her belly and wrapped his arms around her hips, taking in deep breaths of her clean skin. With a soft murmur Rya began to run her fingers through his hair, her gentle touch soothing him. His love for her overwhelmed him and he wished he could tell her how much she meant to him, but he didn’t have the words. Part of him wanted to ask her about the attack, but if he did, he knew his anger would overwhelm him. No, was better focus on the here and now, because he had Rya back in his arms, despite all odds, and he wasn’t going to lose her again.
She loved him, without a doubt. He wanted to tell her that he loved her as well, that he was both her Master and slave, but she had enough to deal with right now. Once they were in Russia and he helped her ease into her new life, he would let her know that he couldn’t let her go even if he wanted to. This crazy possessiveness was so unusual to him he had a hard time dealing with it. He wanted to put Rya in a gilded cage, to keep her safe, but she had a wild heart and confinement would kill her. So instead, he tried to bind her to him with pleasure, with his love, so that she would willingly come to him, and understand that he was strong enough to run with her, to live life at her side, to protect her always as they enjoyed everything the world had to offer.
“Tell me, dorogaya, what can I do to make you happy? I need to take this sadness from you, need to take care of you so you do not regret being my woman.”
“Dimitri,” she murmured in a soft voice that she seemed to reserve exclusively for him, “I will never regret my decision to come with you. The thought of waking up with you every morning…you have no idea how lost I was without you. It was like I’d been shown this amazing, wonderful world when I was with you, and once you left, I was thrown back into a mundane and dreary life. I thought about you all the time, wondering where you were, what you were doing. To say I was obsessed with you is a bit of an understatement.”
While her words eased his tension, he worried that she didn’t really know what she was getting herself into, that she had some romantic vision about what being his woman would be like. “You say this now, but what about when you are angry with me over the level of security that you will have to live with? What about when we have an argument that I am too overprotective, or you disapprove of my having to work long hours?”
“Then we deal with those things as they come up just like any couple deals with their problems.”
He wanted to argue with her, but when she yawned he shook his head and stood, sweeping her up into his arms. “We will take nap.”
“What about dinner?”
“I will call Ivan and ask him if it can be served a little later.”
“I don’t want to throw off their schedule,” Rya murmured as he scooted her beneath the covers.