He came over and took her hand. “You have made me so proud today, zaika moya. Now, let me take care of you.”
Holding the box to her chest, she looked over at where Dimitri’s father lay sleeping and nodded. “Do you want to say goodbye?”
Dimitri’s expression grew cold and he shook his head. “We said our goodbyes years ago.”
She wanted to argue with him, to urge him to find some kind of closure, but she also knew the hard truth that just because someone was dying, it didn’t make them a saint. Dimitri’s father had made his life hell and even though he’d been nice to her, she hated him for everything that he’d done to her man, hated him for continuing this stupid feud that threatened her life, and hated him for making Dimitri the head of the Novikov family. While it was a great honor, or at least an honor among thieves, all she could think about was the fact that the price of loving Dimitri had just grown exponentially and she didn’t know if she could pay it without losing her soul in the process.
When they reached their apartment later that night she let out a sigh of relief, all the tension draining out of her. Maks was waiting for them and she winced when she saw the bruises on his face. One of his eyes had almost swollen shut and it looked like it really hurt.
“Maks,” she said in a rough whisper. “What happened to you?”
Dimitri growled and swept her up into his arms. “He failed you.”
Oh, that pissed her off. All this crap that she’d been through today, how well she’d managed to keep her shit together, and Dimitri had the balls to say that Maks failed?
“Um, excuse me. Let me tell you something. I’ve had a shit day. A really, really, really crazy shitty one. There were only a few bright points in this day. One of them being Maks doing everything he could to save me even when I made it impossible for him to do that. I went with your father’s men, kind of willingly.”
Maks stared at her like she’d lost her mind, and she realized she might have fucked up when Dimitri growled.
It was a very, very scary sound and she tensed up, then tried to wiggle away. The moment she shifted his grip on her tightened and when she looked up at him she flinched. Yep, she’d said something that really pissed him off. And he looked almost scared. That didn’t bode well for her.
Trying to alleviate the damage she patted Dimitri’s chest. “But I’m fine, I’m here, and we’re all good. Let’s go make love.”
Without looking away from her, Dimitri said, “Bring food and vodka to my room in an hour.”
For some reason, she’d lost all control of her mouth. “What? An hour? We’re going to be done by then? Man, I was hoping for a little more loving than that.”
His jaw clenched, but then the anger seemed to flow from him and he smiled down at her. “You are begging for it.”
“Begging for what?” Her pulse raced and she bit her lip with excitement as he smiled down at her.
“For my whip. You will get what you need, zaika moya. I will make it all go away, but you will accept how I do it.”
“Yes, Master.”
Maks snickered, and she was sure for a second there that Dimitri was going to drop her and beat the bodyguard’s already beat ass. She sank her nails into Dimitri and he shuddered hard, turning his glare on her. “Please, I need you.”
Looking into her eyes, he studied her face. “I am yours. You know this. Take what you need, dorogaya.”
After that she didn’t care where they were, or how they got here. The only thing she wanted was to be in their bedroom as quickly as possible. She began to tremble and Dimitri took her upstairs, yelling something over his shoulder in Russian before moving quickly to their room. The minute he stepped inside he dropped her and began to shred her dress from her body after kicking the door shut. She was mad for him, dying for his touch, needing to rub herself against him and breathe in deep. He’d come for her, he’d saved her. He loved her and she loved him so much. Words couldn’t begin to describe her need for him.
Once her dress had been reduced to tatters, Dimitri stepped back and began to take his own clothes off in a way that had her squirming. Every inch of skin that he revealed as his suit came off was sinful. There was just something about a man without a shirt on but still wearing his dress pants that did it for her. She really wanted to go down on him, but right now, Dimitri wasn’t showing much restraint. Seeing his fear for her reflected in his touch as he caressed her face made her tears slip free.
Dimitri made a low, almost cooing noise as he kissed her tears away. “None of this. You deserve joy, not tears. Please stop crying, zaika moya, is breaking my heart.”