I had no real family. No one would miss me.
I pulled my dress to the side, still balancing my heels on the planter, and I lifted my leg higher.
Chapter Five
Alexander
There were beautiful women who belonged in the Bratva life and then there were beautiful women who were there to do my bidding. The two women Nikolai and I had started talking to were most definitely the latter. Beautiful and eager to please, but with barely a brain cell between the two of them. That was chauvinistic of me, that was just the way things were. They knew it, accepted it and loved it, and who was I to try to dissuade them.
I laughed at something one of them said, already bored with the flirty conversation.
I hadn’t met a woman yet that I would considerwife materialfor various reasons. One being that none of them seemed strong enough or smart enough to withstand the life I led.
The pretty blond I was talking to would do my bidding and she’d do it well, no doubt. She’d drop to her knees and take me in her mouth, or we’d find a secret spot and I’d take her from behind. Either way, our meeting would be brief and satisfying for us both. Each woman expected that they would sleep with me and they’d either change my ways or my father would see us as a good match.
Delusional. Every single one of them.
“It was Galina, right?” I said, my hand moving round to cup her ass over her dress.
“Yes, but you can call me whatever you want, Alexander.” Her tongue darted out, a promise of what was to come, and I smiled at the prospect. Easy, so easy. Her mouth was painted pink, full lips set in a pretty face, blue eyes, long blonde hair. She was the typical girl I went for, and maybe that was the problem. Maybe I needed to break away from my usual type and try something—or someone—new.
Nikolai and his girl were already kissing, her hands moving round to cup the front of his pants. She too was hungry for a step up the ladder to success, and that was what we were to these women. An expressway to change their status, their lives, their bank accounts. We got whatever we wanted because of who we were, and they wanted that too. It was never going to happen though, not with women so eager to please. Not with women that clearly had so little respect. But I wasn't complaining; we embraced this lifestyle, this expected perk of our stature, with ease.
Her hands reached up to cup my face, but I shifted my head to one side and tutted at her, gripping both of her hands in one of mine and pulling them away. No need for kissing.
Kissing was for people in love. For couples, or wives and their husbands. It was not for one-night stands who were attempting to claw their way to success through sleeping with me.
I was hard in my pants, more than ready to sleep with her. She was attractive but boring, and she hadn’t said a single word that interested me. I released her hands to grab the back of her neck. Leaning in, I pressed a kiss to her throat. She sighed, her hands sliding around my waist. She was greedy, too enthusiastic with palpable desire verging on desperation as she tried to control the situation. A quick slap to her ass cheek tamed her and turned her subservient to me.
Gripping her neck tightly in my hand, I pressed kisses up her throat to her chin, my hands still on either side of her face as she turned to putty under my touch, whimpering into the air.
“Shall we take this somewhere more private?” Nikolai asked in a flippant tone from beside me and I grunted in response, releasing the blonde from my grasp. Even in the throes of sex, Nik had this way of being casually disconnected. He loved to fuck, maybe even more so than me, but he’d never let a piece of ass know it. He always wanted them to realize that they were a passing fancy, a moment’s pleasure. Emotions weren’t part of the package.
I took hold of my current conquest’s hand and the four of us began to leave the balcony area. I already had a room booked upstairs and was eager to get to it with this little minx but movement to my left drew my attention. I knew Nik would groan at me for delaying what promised to be a gratifying fuck, but something tugged at me. The flash of color perhaps.
That silky rich green. A haze of copper.
A scent like coconut and freesia on the breeze.
I had to pause. Had to look.
The woman kept moving without me, following her friend and Nik. I didn’t care.
Ivan’s new wife, Marisha, was leaning against the balcony, her face in the warm evening sky looked stunning. The angle of her chin, the tip of her pert nose, the fullness to her mouth… they took my breath away. Red curls hung around her pale shoulders, and my hands itched to clasp her slender throat in it, squeezing just enough to make her chest heave and her eyes beg me.
Marisha was a picture of perfection as the fairy lights weaving in and out of the ivy trellis danced across her pale flesh. The dress hugged her modest curves, leaving little to the imagination. The silky green material was pulled to one side, showing off her legs, and I realized one of them was lifted, as if to swing it over the ledge.
She hurriedly lowered her foot back to rest on the flower planter and turned at the sound of the door opening as Nikolai pulled at it. Her cheeks flushed as our gazes connected and she realized she hadn’t been alone and that I had seen her at her most vulnerable. She gave a quick pat of her hand across her cheeks to dry them and turned away from me, clearly embarrassed.
What I would have done to lick those salty tears from her cheeks.
Nikolai cleared his throat and I looked back to him.
“I’ll only be a minute.” I shrugged, watching Nik usher the women inside with one hand, before responding in a low voice so that his words didn’t carry.
“She isn’t worth the trouble,” he said sternly, and I scowled. “Alexander, you know who that is.” He nodded over to where Marisha was obscured by the trellis and flowers. He must have seen her as he walked past, but he was smart enough not to mention her. Smart enough to know the consequences and focus on the drama free woman at his side.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied, and he smirked. “She looks upset. Ivan wouldn’t want his wife left alone while she was upset, now would he?”
