As I looked closer, I did see a silver chain around her neck. I couldn’t prevent my lips from lifting in an arrogant smirk. I knew what that chain meant.
Breaking her reverie, Mary seemed to give herself a mental shake, and got into the spirit of the day. She yelled back, “You can’t have her!”
“Tell me where she is now!” roared Dimitri with a wink at her.
Mary pointed to Emma’s bedroom door and mouthed in the closet.
It was part of the custom that the bride hid from the groom, forcing him to find her.
We then motioned for her to step aside. With each of us taking a side, we upended the sofa, allowing it to fall back with a crash. Mary picked up a glass and looked at us both. We nodded enthusiastically. She raised her arm high and threw the glass to the floor, shattering it.
I called out loudly for Emma’s benefit, “Not until you pay! Hand over the ransom.”
“There’s your payment. Now where’s my bride?” Dimitri crossed over the threshold into Emma’s bedroom.
We were left alone.
I took a few steps toward her.
She held up her hand in a defensive gesture. “Don’t. Just don’t. Today should be about Dimitri and Emma.”
She was right, of course. I had no intention of causing drama at my best friend’s wedding, but that wouldn’t stop me from taking advantage of the day. Ignoring her plea, I pressed close to her, inhaling the sweet scent of her perfume as I brushed her hair off her shoulder, exposing her neck. Fuck, I’d missed her. It had been two months, three days, fourteen hours, and thirteen minutes since the last time I’d been this close to her and I had ached to touch her every second of it.
I skimmed my lips up the soft column of her neck. I could feel her body tremble. Glancing down at the exposed curve of her breasts, I wished the corset-like top of her dress didn’t prevent me from seeing if her nipples were hard.
Flicking the tip of my tongue over the shell of her ear, I whispered, “Time’s up, krasotka. I’ve returned to claim what is mine.”
Her head turned sharply in my direction, her eyes wide as she searched my face. A spark of fire replaced the temporary sadness as her gaze narrowed. Her full crimson lips formed a pout. “You’re assuming I waited… or still want you.”
God, I fucking missed this.
I could already feel the warm blood pumping again in my veins, giving me renewed energy. I had to rein in my lust as I felt my cock stirring back to life. Never since puberty had I gone two months without sex, but after Mary no other woman held the slightest appeal to me. She was the one. The only one I desired and wanted in my bed.
Placing a fingertip under the silver chain, I lifted it slowly. She closed her fist around it in a feeble attempt to stop me. I raised an eyebrow and met her challenging look. Realizing she had no choice, she relented. I pulled on the chain, revealing the heavy signet ring I had given her two months earlier, nestled between her breasts. We both knew what it meant. I gave her a knowing wink. “There is no turning back now, beautiful girl.”
As Dimitri and Emma emerged from the bedroom, Mary snatched the chain out of my grasp and pushed the ring back between her breasts.
I smiled. “I’ll be thinking about where that ring is all day.”
Mary flashed me a glare before she stepped away to pick up a bottle of tequila and shot glasses on the counter, then greeted the happy couple. I followed close behind.
Emma put her hands on her hips and teased, “Is that all I’m worth? Two cheap bottles of liquor?”
I teased her back. “Actually, just one bottle of cheap tequila, I brought my own.”
“I refuse to buy that swill,” quipped Dimitri.
“A toast to the bride and groom before we head to the church,” called out Mary as she held up four shot glasses.
Dimitri and I righted a small table we had turned over. I stood close as she placed the four shot glasses in the center. I was pleased to see her hand shake slightly as she poured out two shots of tequila. I knew my presence affected her as much as hers did me. Unscrewing the cap to the bottle I held, I poured out two shots of vodka.
I held my shot aloft. “Za zhenikha i nevestu! To the bride and groom!”
“To the bride and groom!” repeated Mary.
I leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Now we chant Gor’ko. It means bitter. It encourages the bride and groom,” I stroked her bare arm with the backs of two fingers, “to kiss passionately to sweeten the day.”
Mary inhaled sharply as goosebumps appeared on her arm. Oh, yes, I had a feeling this was going to be the most fun I’d ever had at a wedding.
Stepping slightly away from me, she chanted, “Gor’ko! Gor’ko! Gor’ko!” I joined her.
Dimitri pulled Emma close and told her he loved her. “YA tebya lyublyu, moya kroshka.”
“Ya tozhje tebya lyublyu,” Emma answered. I love you too.
A tightness seized my chest with a harsh, deep yearning. I longed to hear Mary say she loved me in my native tongue. I captured her gaze and held it. And that day would come very soon. The moment this wedding was over, I would put my plan into motion.
Chapter 20
Mary
This was torture. Pure torture. There should be a law against being paired up at a wedding with ex-one-night-stand pseudo boyfriends. I thought I was prepared to see Vaska again. It was stupid to even think that. Nothing could have prepared me for the impact of finally seeing him standing in the middle of my apartment after weeks apart. At first it reminded me of the first time we met, him just arrogantly standing there as if he owned the place. Except this time something was different. It was hard to put my finger on it, but he didn’t look quite as put together as the last time.
He still looked devastatingly handsome in his tuxedo, but there was a roughness to him. His jaw not as smooth-shaven. His hair a little longer and less kept. And those intense blue eyes of his looked slightly tired. Could it be he’d suffered from our separation as much as me? Was it possible he truly meant it when he said he wanted us to be together? All this time I’d been forcing myself not to hope. Reminding myself he was a player and not the relationship kind. Trying to convince myself that at the end of two months he would have forgotten all about me. And when the two months were up and I hadn’t heard from him, I thought it was true.
Now he was standing near me, devouring me with his gaze. Unnerving me with slight brushes of his hand or whispers in my ear. Always standing just a little too close. It was torture, pure and simple.
We were standing in the center of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. We were about to start the crowning part of the Russian wedding ceremony. I took a deep breath as I took my place behind Emma. I could feel Vaska standing close. This was so weird. Standing here this close to the altar and priest, it almost felt as if we were the ones getting married. I took a deep breath and looked up, trying to focus on the elaborate gilt decor of the cathedral rather than the man standing by my side. All I could think about was how the sapphire blue robes on the angels surrounding the top dome of the church matched Vaska’s eyes. I was going to hell.
The priest handed me a heavy gold crown, then turned and handed a similar one to Vaska. It was now my duty to suspend it over Emma’s head. Apparently, this was the moment similar to the exchange of rings in the American marriage ceremony, the moment when my best friend would truly be married.