Chapter Eight
Amy
The women gathered around me, like a flock of giggling hens. Drawers were opened, and scraps of what looked like material were brought forth with even more giggles as the comb holding the long veil in place was pulled from my head, and I was turned and unlaced from the dress.
They pulled it down and ordered me to step out of it. Crossing my arms around my naked chest, I tried to tell them that this was all unnecessary because I was more than capable of undressing myself, but it all fell on deaf ears.
They were enjoying themselves as they dressed me in the scraps of material that I realized were meant to be underwear. The little nightdress barely covered my ass, gauzy and see-through with a push-up bra that forced my breasts uncomfortably under my chin. I was ordered to step into an even smaller scrap of white lace that was meant to be panties but was just a triangle held together by string.
“Let’s take your hair down.” One of them reached for the pins, and I stepped away quickly. My hair was like my security blanket. As long as it was up, I could handle anything life threw at me. And life was about to throw a Russian mobster named Alexi at me.
“I like it up,” I murmured. They were the first words I had said since being led up here, and my voice shook with nerves.
More laughter floated around me. “She’s nervous. That’s sweet.” Stepping back, the oldest gave me the once over. “But you don’t have to worry. Alexei will take one look at you dressed like this, and he won’t be able to keep his hands off of you. You are in for a wild night, Amy. If the rumors are true, Alexei is very skilled in the bedroom department and—” she winked. “Very, very well endowed.”
Their laughter seemed to mock me. Everyone was expecting me to sleep with him, and I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before.
Our whole relationship was a sham. I’d just presumed that we wouldn’t be intimate. But the women around me thought I was in for a wild night of lovemaking. Maybe, hopefully, Alexei wouldn’t want to touch me. It wasn’t like he was attracted to me after all. Maybe we could just pretend.
“This is the most uncomfortable,” I began to say, plucking at the lacy top of the white holdups. “Do I really need the heels and all of this just to go to bed?” I stuttered. “I mean, it’s going to come right off, isn’t it?” I added.
They laughed even harder. “Him stripping this from you, slowly, is part of the fun. Or maybe he will rip it all off in a fit of passion. Either way, this is all part of the night. You want to look amazing and sexy for your new husband, don’t you?” Her eyes bored down into mine. “You want to make him happy, don’t you, Amy?”
“Of course.” I lied.
“Good, then we will leave you. I think I heard him outside the door anyway. He’s very eager to be alone with you.”
They left, but the door didn’t shut behind them. Instead, it opened wider, and in the reflection of the mirror, I watched as Alexei stepped in and closed it softly. He didn’t say anything as he shrugged off his jacket and loosened his bow tie. It was only when the top two buttons of his shirt were undone that he finally lifted his eyes to me.
I watched as his chest heaved in a gasp. His eyes, so dark and dangerous, swept over my body quickly and then more slowly. His full lips parted.
“You look—” he stuttered to a stop.
“Ridiculous?” I finished for him. “I feel ridiculous.” Nervously, I plucked at the scalloped hem of the nightie, and his eyes were drawn down to the flesh between my holdups and it.
“Not quite the word I would use,” he said finally. He took a step forward. “I think they have left now.”
My eyes widened in shock, and I darted a look towards the door. “Were they listening outside?” I whispered.
“Sometimes they do. We have some old-fashioned ways. Everyone wants to make sure we consummate the wedding, and I’m pretty sure some of them quite enjoy it.”
The blood drained from my face so quickly that I swayed where I stood. “Will they listen to us?”
I couldn’t think of anything worse.
“No,” he shook his head and undid another button. Baring a triangle of tanned skin for my eyes to look at. Even with my heels on, that’s what was at my eye level. That beautiful, smooth triangle.
I swallowed hard. “That’s good. I mean, I doubt there will be anything to listen to, but—”
He caught me by the upper arms. “Why wouldn’t there be anything to hear, Amy. It’s our wedding night.”
Why did his voice sound so gravelly and rough? Like he had a lump in his throat that he couldn’t swallow, and there was a light in his eyes that I didn’t understand.
“I mean,” I stuttered to a trembling stop as his fingers swept up the inside of my arms and brushed against my breasts. “I thought we would, I don’t know, pretend to spend the night together. It’s not like you find me attractive, Alexei.”
“Don’t try to tell me how I feel, Amy.” He lifted one hand and easily pulled the pins from my hair so that my curls fell down in a wave over my shoulders. “That’s better.” His eyes swept over my face. “I prefer you with your hair down,” he whispered and thrust his face into the crook of my neck. I could hear him sucking in breath after breath, and then his lips found my skin, and I stiffened.
His lips dotted kisses against my throat until he found the spotunder my ear and sucked. My body turned into liquid fire, trembling with a need I never knew I could feel.
