Prisoner (Russian Tattoos Book 2) (19 page)

Maksim raised his hand to silence his pack. “If she’s still a virgin, I’ll double her bounty. Twenty million. Hell, name your price.” Maksim directed his despicable blue eyes to my chest. I felt a cool breeze on my skin and glanced down to see that my dress had ripped during the takedown and exposed my lingerie. I still had on the lacy white teddy I’d worn underneath my wedding dress.

Now that Vladimir was gone, so was the deal Dmitri had made with him about leaving the
Bratva
and taking his sisters to America. I wouldn’t have been surprised if his wheels were turning about making a deal with Maksim. I was his ticket to freedom, nothing more. What did it matter what happened to me now?

“You want Carter? You have to get through me first.” Dmitri hocked up a loogie and spat into the street. I tried to follow Dmitri’s lead, but my mouth was dry and I had nothing to contribute. I sprayed a tiny mist of spittle in his direction. It was the intent, not the delivery that counted.

“You are your papa’s son, Dmitri—a
murderer
. Don’t pretend his vicious blood doesn’t course through your veins,” Maksim said.

“I am nothing like my papa—I am
bodyguard
.” Dmitri dragged me away from the front lines, but instead of rejoining the family at the funeral, he shoved me in the back of the limo. He pulled off his tie and used it to secure my wrists behind my back. He stationed himself beside me, guarding me while I stared out the window and wailed as my husband’s casket was lowered into the ground.

I rolled on my back and pounded my bare feet on the door, trying to kick it open, but Dmitri restrained me so I couldn’t escape from the vehicle. He offered no words of solace and made no attempt to comfort me as I struggled to transition from blushing bride to grieving widow in less than twenty-four hours. In a few days, Boris would ship me back to America and I would be left to pick up the pieces of my shattered life.

Chapter 27

Rocked

Boris’s patience with me had reached the tipping point. After the funeral, he drove me straight to an airport without giving me the opportunity to say goodbye to his family—not that I cared or had anything to say to them, anyway. We took a private charter to St. Petersburg and arrived at the hotel a few hours later.

I had my suitcase and carry-on bag that I had originally packed for my trip to Punta Cana. I had all my belongings from America, including my tennis racquet. The only thing missing was the bracelet Benji had given me the night before I’d left. I never changed out of the funeral dress, so Boris made me wear a full length fur to cover up my muddy attire and ripped stockings when we checked into the hotel—the same hotel Boris had booked for our honeymoon. The thought of staying there without Vladimir was bad enough, but the thought that Boris would be sleeping there instead made me nauseated. There was no way he would leave me there alone and unguarded.

When Boris opened the door and led me into our posh honeymoon suite, I smelled roses before I even saw them. Dozens and dozens of Vladimir’s red and pink roses livened up our would-be love nest, platters of
zakuski
were lined up on a small dining table, and a three-tier white wedding cake mocked me in the corner of the room next to a heart-shaped bed. The suite was a lovers’ paradise with all the honeymoon essentials squeezed into one large room.

“No, no, no.” I backed up and knocked into Boris. “You sadistic bastard. I can’t do this. Please, don’t make me stay.”

“It’s what Vladimir wanted.” He coaxed me forward. “Be brave, Carter. We need to have a talk.” He motioned to a cozy sitting area next to a window with a stunning view of the city. “Sometimes bad things happen for a good reason. I know it is hard to believe that now, but in time you will understand.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

Boris glared at me.

“You’re not going to let me go home. I know too much. I’m a liability.” I took a deep breath. “You could poison me, slit my wrists and make it look like a suicide, toss me out the window—I’m sure you have plenty of ideas.”

“You are one twisted little
devushka
.”

“
Nyet.
I’m a realist. I don’t want to die for nothing. I have a better idea. Take me back to the city and give me a gun. Find a way for me to get inside Maksim’s compound and let me take that shithead out.”

“You’ll never make it out alive.”

“I know, but at least my death will serve a purpose.”

“You
want
to die?”

“Of course not. But I don’t see you letting me walk out of here alive, and I’d rather die a vigilante than a victim.”

Boris eyed my torn up hose and mud-splattered black dress. “I like it.” He scratched his bristly beard as he considered my request. “You came up with a good idea, but I’m going to stick with my original plan. It’s much better.” He grinned like the Grim Reaper hovering over a soon-to-be fresh corpse.

I nodded, acknowledging I understood that was code for
I’m going to stick with my plan of murdering you in this hotel room.
“I appreciate that you tried to help Vladimir and me. I know we haven’t always been on the same team, but I’m grateful.” I offered the remotest semblance of a smile. It was all I could muster for him. “What happens now? You’re going to kill me here in the honeymoon suite?”

“How many times do I have to tell I’m not a killer, Carter? My job is to
protect
.” Boris glanced over my shoulder. “I’ve done my job. I’ll let him take it from here.”

Boris must’ve hired an outside hit man to finish me off professionally. My fight or flight instincts kicked in. I jerked my head around to see who had snuck up behind me, ready and willing to find a weapon and fight dirty. If I was going down, I would go down swinging.

“Forgive me, Carter.”

I hopped off the couch and gasped. “Vladimir.”

“
Moy slomannyy angel
. Don’t be frightened.”

I crashed into his chest and wrapped my arms around his body. The sight of him caused my heart to race. Not trusting that my eyes or my brain were delivering the right signals, I had to touch him, squeeze him tight, smell his intoxicating scent. “How…Why aren’t you dead? You stopped breathing. Your lips were blue and I held you as you slipped away.”

“I ingested a drug that stopped my heart. When my men got me to the ambulance, there was a doctor waiting. He gave me the antidote, performed CPR, and brought me back.”

“It was a risky move, but we had no choice,” Boris said.

I kissed Vladimir as I cried tears of joy.

“You risked your life to go after Maksim at my funeral?” Vladimir smiled as he kissed my face and neck, turned on by my badass assassination attempt. “That’s so fucking sexy, Carter.”

“Wait.” I pulled back. “I thought Petr poisoned you.”

“Everyone thinks Petr assassinated me, but the toast was only ice water. I took the drug before I entered the nightclub. The Ovechkins think Petr did it too. He’s proven his loyalty to his new family.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Petr didn’t betray our family,” Boris said. “It was the plan we put in place and it worked perfectly. Petr planted himself in Maksim’s organization and is working on the inside to bring him down.”

“We may not be able to take Maksim out with a bullet, but we can destroy his credibility with Moscow and let them take out our trash.”

“So, after Maksim is out of the picture, then we are going back to Ekaterinburg together? The threat will be over and everything will go back to the way it was?”

Vladimir exchanged glances with Boris.

“No more questions,” Boris said. “You must learn to stay out of our business.”

“It’s best if you don’t know everything,” Vladimir added. “All you need to understand is that I love you, and we will live a long, happy life together.”

Having my husband back from the dead and knowing our forever life was back on track, I never wanted to let him go. I held him so tight, I worried I might crush him to death. Our honeymoon love fest got a little heated in front of Boris. He mumbled something in Russian and made his exit. My husband and I were alone at last.

“Let’s get you out of this filthy dress, Mrs. Ivanov.” Vladimir pulled off my mud-splattered dress, leaving me exposed in the white lacy lingerie and light blue garter belt I had on underneath.

Vladimir groaned and ran his hands across my hips. “You wore this to my funeral?”

I hummed in the affirmative and directed his finger to my garter. The fierce lust in his eyes alerted me that I was about to lose
it
. He picked me up and carried me off to our heart-shaped bed, laid me down on the silky red comforter, and tucked a pink pillow under my head. With a primal desire so intense, I could feel his carnal need for my flesh emanating from his pores.

His desire sent warm and wet ripples to my pleasure zone. I licked my lips, snapped the garter against my skin, and opened my legs to give him a peek, inviting my husband to come and get me. He stripped off his clothes and pounced on top of me. My body melted with excitement as he tore off my virgin white negligée and kissed my breasts.

Our naked bodies intertwined and I inhaled his musky, manly scent. I sucked on his neck and swiveled my hips against his growing erection, eager to get him fully aroused. He whispered in Russian and teased me by rubbing the tip of his penis across my opening. “You want this, Carter? Ready for all of me?”

I ran my long, fake fingernails down his back. “Put it in, boss.” I thrust my hips against him.

“Say it in Russian.” He straddled me and pinned my arms over my head. His eyes were fiery and vibrant, and I was aroused by the sexual power he had over me.

“Ya khochu—
um
…”
Dmitri had taught me a lot of Russian phrases, but “I want your big cock inside me” wasn’t one of them. All I could come up with was
I want
.

“You want what?
This
?” He slid it in just a little and pulled it back out.

I licked my lips and chanted “hurry” over and over. “
Davai, davai, davai
…”

He positioned it against my opening, and with one deep thrust, he rammed himself inside me, claiming my virginity. I gasped and dug my nails into his skin. It didn’t
hurt
, but the sensation of my body stretching to accommodate him and the strength of his erection came as a bit of a shock.

“Are you okay?”

I held my breath and hummed
mm-hm
.

“Relax, sweetheart. I’ll give it to you easy.” He kissed me sweetly as I exhaled a shaky breath. He pulled out a little and slid back in, pulled out, slid in… “How does that feel?”

“Fine.” Truthfully, I was stressed out and unsure exactly how to respond. I’d made him wait so long, I didn’t want to disappoint him by being lame and unresponsive. I was sure he’d been with plenty of experienced women, and it was only natural that he would compare me to all the others before me.

He paused, keeping it inside me but not pushing. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Keep going.” I closed my eyes and braced myself for another deep thrust that never came.

Vladimir touched my cheek and whispered my name.

I opened my eyes.

“Am I hurting you?”

“No, no, no. I’m worried about—I don’t want to disappoint you.”

Vladimir exhaled. “Never. Being with you here, right now, is the greatest moment of my life. I want it to be yours too.” He slid his tongue inside my mouth and kissed me, trying to put my fears and doubts to rest. “I love you, Carter.”

“I love you too.” After all the hell we’d been through, this moment was our sweet reward. We’d made monumental sacrifices to be together, and I wouldn’t let my negative thoughts ruin our first time together. I stopped
thinking
about how to respond and let my body take the lead, leaving my self-conscious thoughts in my wake. I wrapped my legs around his waist and thrust my hips, bringing all of him inside me.

“You are the sexiest woman alive,” Vladimir growled as our bodies intertwined and synced into a sexy rhythm. Sweat dripped off his body onto mine and our skin made a slapping sound as our flesh pounded together. “God, you’re incredible.” He slowed his pace, gently rocking back and forth so I could catch my breath.

While still inside me, he placed a pillow underneath me to raise my hips, then got on his knees, grasped my ankles, and lifted my legs straight up in the air. The way my body was tilted back, he reached a secret spot deep inside me that until that moment I didn’t even know existed. I moaned when his tip dipped in and out of uncharted territory. “It feels really good there.” I swiveled my hips and panted as his penis penetrated this super sensitive part of my body.

“I feel your warmth and wetness all around me. You’re so tight, your skin is so soft.” His voice was raspy and his grip tightened around my ankles. “It’s taking every ounce of self-control to stop myself from exploding inside you right now.” He took in a deep breath and exhaled.

“Don’t hold back. I want you to come. I want to feel you inside me.” Our bodies fit together perfectly and my core was throbbing from all the excitement. Not just from the physical pleasure, but the closeness of our bodies and our pillow talk and the fact that we had both lived long enough to make it to our forever. Having
this
to look forward to for the rest of our lives, Vladimir would have to drag me out of bed if he ever wanted to do anything outside the house.

“Patience, angel. When the moment is right, I’m going to come so hard in your tight little
pizda
, the force of our lovemaking will blow out the windows.” He rested my ankles on his shoulders, licked his fingers to wet them, and massaged my clit to take me there. He rocked inside me, bringing incredible waves of pleasure pulsing through my core as he fondled my sweet spot. I was so wet, he slipped in and out of me with ease, driving me crazy as warm, orgasmic ripples of satisfaction flooded through me.

“Keep doing that. I’m ready.” I panted when I came undone and cried out Vladimir’s name as I climaxed. My pleasure pulsed through my core and I sighed in relief as my body came down from my orgasm. Vladimir kissed my sweaty forehead and brushed my hair off my face. “Dear God.” I took a deep breath and exhaled. “You’re amazing.”

“Glad I could please you, angel.” Vladimir’s erection grew stronger, aroused by the warmth and wetness of my orgasm. “We’re not done yet.” He rocked me back, grasped the top of the headboard and thrust himself deep inside me. He was so big, filling every inch of me with his erection, and was riding me with such force and so much power, my breasts shook wildly and I could barely catch my breath as my husband rocked my body.