Rolling my eyes, I fought the urge to smack him with one of the thicker reports. "So I could be a little testy at times."
"Testy?"
I thought of the first few run-ins I'd had with Yuri, before we'd been friends and when he'd totally offended me. "Yes, I guess you have seen me at my worst."
"Sexiest," he clarified. "You have no idea how sexy you are when you cross your arms and tap that foot."
I gawked at him. "You're joking."
"No." He crossed the deck and nudged my thigh with his bare foot. "Move over."
I happily slid to the side of the wide, low chaise lounge so he could join me. When he was resting on his back, I curled up against him. "Is everything set for tomorrow night?"
"Yes." He threaded his fingers through my hair in that soothing way I'd come to love. "Niels has already spoken to the rest of the gang—Archer, Misha, and Tari—so they're fully apprised of the situation at hand and the necessity of me getting back that painting."
"Why can't you make an offer on it?"
"Niels already tried. He even tried again with an anonymous buyer but Jerry—the man who has the painting in his possession—knows the painting is hot. He doesn't want the wrong kind of attention right now."
"So what's the plan?"
"In a lucky coincidence, Jerry has been asking to join our poker games for years. Niels offered him a spot but only if he buys-in with the painting."
I thought of all the ways this setup could go wrong. "How good are you at poker?"
"I'm not as good as Mikhail or Tari but I'm all right."
"What if you lose?"
"It doesn't matter. As long as Jerry doesn't win—and he won't—the painting will end up in my hands tomorrow night."
"You sound very confident."
"I refuse to go into that game feeling anything less."
That was one strategy for keeping his head in the right place. "Are all of your friends already in town?"
"I saw a helicopter flying out to Misha's yacht a while ago. Tari came with him apparently. Archer and Niels are at a hotel in Monte Carlo. They invited us to a party they're having but I declined."
"Because of me?"
"No." He rubbed my back. "Because I'm tired and because I don't think you'd like the kinds of parties those two throw."
My curiosity wouldn't let me rest. "Um…what kind of party is that?"
He hesitated. "Let's just say those two are deeply into a certain lifestyle that involves a lot of leather and collars and riding crops."
Pushing up on my palms, I stared down at him. "No way! You have super kinky friends?"
He laughed. "These two make Dimitri's restraint fantasies seem like child's play."
"Wow." I started to put my head back down on his chest but another thought gripped me. Holding his gaze, I asked, "Have you ever been to one of their parties?"
He reluctantly nodded. "Once, seven or eight years ago, I went to the private club the pair owns in London. It was an eye-opening experience."
Feeling fluttery with excitement, I drew my initials on his bare chest. "Did you like what you saw?"
"Some of it aroused me but most of it was too far outside my comfort zone to make feel anything but distaste. I had my ass beat enough as a child to associate only pain and suffering with canes and paddles and whips. It does nothing for me."
I sensed he didn't want to take a trip down memory lane to his childhood in that rotten orphanage so I let that comment go. Instead, I focused on the part that interested me most. Walking my fingers down his tummy, I asked, "What did you see that aroused you?"
As if reading my mind, he shifted his hips. "Niels showed me to a private room. It had one of those one-way mirrors like you see on cop shows. You know, for interrogation rooms? I could see the group in the room but they couldn't see me."
My heart started to race as he described the risqué scene. I swept my hand over the tented fabric rising higher and higher just below his navel. "What were they doing?"
"There were four of them. Three men and a woman," he clarified. "They'd set up this kinky interrogation-themed fantasy. By the looks of it, the woman was supposed to be a hooker. The men were police officers. They were making damn good use of their cuffs."
I slipped my hand into his pajama bottoms and encountered his hot, naked skin. My fingertips brushed the steely heat of his erection. "Tell me more."
His breath hitched in his throat as I grasped his cock and stroked him slowly. "It was the first and only time I'd ever seen a real woman take more than one man. Not a porn star, you understand. It was—intense."
I let my hand move lower and cupped his heavy sac. Not sure I'd like the answer, I asked the question that had me a little worried. "Is that something you want to try in real life?"
His chuckle rumbled through his chest and into my cheek. "No. I think that there are some fantasies that are best left in that realm." Reaching down, he covered my hand with his. "I think I'd probably end up in jail if I had to watch another man touching you." He paused. "Unless you wanted to—"
"No," I hastily interjected. "I'll admit the idea of it is rather sexy. Maybe I'd even enjoy watching it from afar but actually letting two or three men go at me? No. It's not for me."
"I'm sure that has something to do with the places we came from, Lena. What others find illicit and titillating loses some of its erotic appeal when you've watched pimps force prostitutes into cars to be used and debased."
What he said made sense. The sort of violence I'd been forced to witness at such a young and tender age hadn't been a good thing. No doubt it had colored my outlook on all aspects of my life.
"But I don't want to think about those ugly things," Yuri decided. "I want to make love to you here in the middle of the Mediterranean."
"What? Out here?"
"Where else?"
"But someone might hear or see us!"
"This section of the ship is very well hidden." He dragged me onto his lap. "As for the other, you'll simply have to try to be a little quieter than usual."
I moaned as Yuri's lips moved across that ticklish spot on my neck. "I'm not sure I can do that. You make me lose all control."
"Oh, you know how to stroke my ego." He pushed my hand against his erection. "Now be a very good girl and stroke my cock."
"Like this?" I clasped his rock-hard shaft and stroked from the very base of him to the tip.
He groaned loudly. "Just like that…"
"Before you get too relaxed, you might want to remember that I'm not carrying a condom tonight. So unless you've got one hidden away somewhere in these pajamas of yours…"
His frustrated growl sent shivers through me. "Wait here. I'll be right back."
We untangled ourselves. While he darted into the bedroom, I stood up long enough to peel off my night clothes and place them on the pile of paperwork. Resting on my tummy atop the chaise, I placed my cheek against my arm and waited for him to return. The cool breeze washed over me. The sound of waves crashing against the boat provided the most wondrous soundtrack.