It took a great deal of effort, but she managed to lift her arm enough to run her fingers through his hair. “I’ll never leave you, Dimitri. I love you, I will always love you, and that will never change.”
He took her again, this time slow and gentle, and before her final orgasm of the night was even complete she found herself passing out into an exhausted totally satisfied sleep.
Chapter Twenty Five
Six weeks later
Rya sucked in a quick breath and let it out slowly, counting to ten and trying her hardest not to verbally tear Dimitri’s stubborn head off in front of Maks. Her chief bodyguard watched her square off with Dimitri with a highly amused expression, well, highly amused for Maks. The man almost never actually changed his facial features, he always looked arrogant and bored, but after studying him for three weeks, she understood that he was one of those people who hated to reveal anything about themselves. While he was good at masking his emotions, he couldn’t hide the occasional flash of humor or warmth that went through his pale green eyes. Like right now. His gaze sparkled with mirth and the faint lines around his mouth deepened while he watched as Rya threw a fit of epic proportions.
Smoothing her hands down her cardinal red silk dress she took a deep breath and looked up at Dimitri. “I’ve been out in public with you six times and nothing happened. I can’t stay in this building all day, every day. Don’t get me wrong, this place is beyond awesome, I mean I totally dig everything that you’ve given me, but I can’t be trapped here. I need to get certified in nursing, take classes, do everything that I have to do so I can work in Russia. I need to do my job, it’s…it is so important to me and I know that I am here for a purpose, aside from loving you. I feel like I’ve gone crazy. I need to ground myself in my work. It keeps me sane and you can’t be here with me every day, Dimitri. You have an evil empire to run and I hate being stuck inside when you’re not here.”
Maks was no longer laughing, instead giving her a surprisingly encouraging look as if to tell her she was doing well.
With a long sigh Dimitri rubbed his face and she could see how much the idea of her leaving the apartment without him terrified him. She took a step forward and laid her hands on his chest, stroking the soft material of his pale blue dress shirt. “Honey, I know how much you want to keep me safe. I’m not stupid and I won’t be easily caught. And I’ve been so good. Please. Your men are the best and they’ll keep me alive. Maks is pretty fond of his dick, as are most of the women in Moscow, so he would be most upset if something happened to me and you gelded him.”
Now, Maks didn’t look so encouraging. In fact, he looked like he wanted to take her over his lap and spank her. Dimitri actually allowed Maks to spank the hell out of her two weeks ago when she gave a homeless man some money in Moscow while she waited for Dimitri to finish speaking to an associate outside of the restaurant where they’d just had dinner. The homeless man had been panhandling nearby, and she approached him without thought, moving out of the protective shelter of the restaurant’s awning and crossing the street to where he sat on the frozen concrete in just a coat. She had no idea how dangerous that was and ignored Maks, right up to the point where they were suddenly mobbed by homeless people wanting money. When they got home Dimitri allowed Maks to spank her ass while he lectured her on taking her safety more seriously.
It was a lesson she hadn’t forgotten and didn’t want to repeat.
“Is too soon, Rya.”
“When will it not be too soon? Do the women of the other Bratvas live like this? Were they born never to be allowed to live? It must have driven them crazy. If I ever meet any women of the Boldin Bratva I’m going to give them a hug because this fucking sucks.”
“You want to leave me?” Dimitri asked in a cold voice.
That was so the wrong thing for him to say to her at this point. Dimitri was a master at manipulating people, and over the past six weeks she’d clued into some of his tactics, like using guilt to try and get her to do what he wanted. Though she had to admit, he did seem honestly worried that she was going to leave him at the drop of a hat. They really had to work on Dimitri’s trust issues before he worried himself into an early grave.
“Listen, buster,” Maks winced at her bitchy tone and she ignored him as she continued to lay into Dimitri. “You are stuck with me. Am I clear? You brought me over here, made me fall in love with you, and I gave up my entire world to be with you. I’m not walking out in a huff anytime soon. I’ll beat your ass before I let that happen. We’re in this for the long haul and I expect you to fight just as hard for us as I do.”