ANTON
“It’s two in the morning. What are you doing up?”
I was reading in bed when my bedroom door opened slowly. Instinctively, I reached for the gun in my nightstand, but then I saw a flash of her red hair as she poked her head in and I relaxed.
She’s standing there in one of my shirts that’s just barely hanging on her body, her long red hair is tousled, casually hanging around her shoulders in oddly sensual waves. Just seeing her wakes up the sleeping giant in my boxers.
She steps into the room coyly. “I couldn’t sleep. The storm and sleeping in a new place…” She pauses, her eyes roaming over my impossibly large bed… then to my bare chest. She looks away quickly.
“I saw your light was on,” she said. “I thought maybe we could talk?”
I set my book down. “Talk? About what?”
She shrugs innocently, truly living up to the nickname I’ve given her. Her innocence is so raw that it almost seems like it’s an act.
“I thought we agreed we’d remain platonic.”
“Who said anything about that?” she asks. “I really just want to talk to you. Or maybe just… I don’t know, waste a little time? I just don’t want to sleep in my own bed tonight, Anton.”
I narrow my eyes at her. Her coy defiance is interesting… but my resolve is still strong. “Go back to your room, Natalya. We can talk in the morning.”
She stands there and I can see signs of indecision on her face. Then she stiffens her chin and says, “No.”
“No?”
She lifts her chin with determination. “No. It’s too freaky in that room right now and I don’t want to go back there.”
My cock is awake now. This display of bratty behavior is different… intriguing. “Are you openly defying me,Devushka?” Her face flushes as I call her that. “You’d better think that through before you push it any further.”
She walks all the way into the room and sits on the corner of my bed. “What are you reading?”
All right. She wants to make this hard. “I’m not going to ask you again.”
“I already told you,” she says. “I’m not going back in there. So you’ll just have to entertain me, won’t you?”
A smile flutters at the corner of her mouth. She knows exactly what she’s doing. I get out of bed and walk to the door. Nottonight. I meant what I said at dinner. “Out,” I say, opening the door.
She looks me up and down briefly, then stands up and walks to the door… and shuts it. “Make me.”
I chuckle. “You are tempting me in the wrong way, Natalya,” I say to her. “I am as skilled in pain as I am in pleasure. Are you willing to find that out tonight?”
She stares at me and for a moment, I think she’s going to back down. She doesn’t, however. Instead, she says, “You know, no one will know what happens with the shades drawn and the door closed. We’re alone in this house.”
“I told you I won’t lie to my men.”
“Okay, so, then don’t. I thought you were king of this Bratva. A king doesn’t have to explain anything to his men that he doesn’t want to.”
Unbelievable. I have a mind to pick her up and toss her out on her ass… and if she weren’t making me so fucking hot, I might’ve.
“If you want me to tuck you in tonight, Little One,” I say, closing the gap between us. Her breath gets shallow as I tower over her. “I’ll oblige you.” She reaches for me, her hand moving to my boxers. I bat it away. “You think you can just take your toy without paying the price for your bratty behavior first? I don’t think so.”
She’s looking up at me, her sapphire eyes shaking with excitement and fear. “So, you’re just going to deny me? Really?” she asks in a small voice. Damn, she’s getting me so hard right now.
“Take off the shirt.”
She starts unbuttoning the shirt. I walk away, going to my trunk of toys in the far corner of the room. I pull out rope, my riding crop, and some clothespins. “Keep your panties on and get on the bed.”
I don’t hear her move, so I add, “I can make it worse if you continue defying me,Devushka.”
