She clutched the sheet tighter at her breasts, acting like I was about to attack her virtue. Which perhaps I was.
I only relented so she would eat, and we could get on with the day. Lingering in bed with this voluptuous woman did not figure into my plans or my future.
Waving to the food, I watched as she took a first tentative sip of coffee I’d laced liberally with heavy cream.
She murmured a low mmm before daintily plucking up a strawberry and biting into the juicy fruit. After polishing off the fruit salad, she made a little sandwich of buttered toast and crispy bacon.
With curves like hers, it made sense that she wasn’t one of those girls who only nibbled on raw vegetables and eschewed anything that had any flavor whatsoever.
I ate with all the appetite she’d awakened in me, watching her with just as much hunger.
Once we finished, I piled everything back on the tray. “Come.”
“Where?”
“I thought you might like a shower, but if not . . .”
She hopped up immediately, tugging the sheet all around her body, and I led the way to my normal bedroom, which had been completely freshened up.
“You took care of the mess I made?” Her soft gaze met mine.
“Da.”
Lucia nodded, something close to tears glimmering in her eyes as if she were not used to someone taking care of her.
And it wasn’t my place to do so either.
Bridging the space between us, I gently closed my hand around the front of her neck. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Her breath hissed in then she stilled completely.
“So don’t you dare think about doing anything stupid, Lucia. Because the next time you hurt yourself, I’m going to chain you to that cross upstairs and cane your ass until you understand your body is mine until I say otherwise.”
She swayed toward me, a shudder coursing through her. “I won’t. I promise.”
I turned to leave, and she called out, “What about the bandages?”
Her question halted me and struck something in my heart.
My words came out brusquely then. “Should be all right. Try not to get them too wet.”
I left to carry the tray to the kitchen, but I returned quickly.
Hearing water pouring from the shower, I glanced inside the bathroom.
I meant only to check on her but seeing her figure all glossy wet beneath the hot spray made my hands itch and my mouth water.
Blyad.
She was pure sin, and I wanted to tame her completely to my touch.
In the bedroom, I sorted through her clothes she had not bothered to put away last night.
Perhaps she thought I’d give her back soon.
She was oh so wrong on that score.
There was a chance I’d return her to her father, but only for a hefty sum of money and a promise the Sicilians would never try to attack the Bratva again.
Nothing less would do.
I laid out an outfit for her that I deemed acceptable and, when she emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a fluffy towel with her hair turbaned too, I pointed to the clothing.
“Dress.”
Her docile act dropped in an instant. “You’re going to dress me now?”
“Da.”
With a roll of her eyes, she slinked forward, then fire leaped like gold flames from her irises. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I am perfectly capable of choosing my own attire, Arkady.”
Trailing my hand up one bare arm, I bent toward her. My lips hovered just out of reach from her pouty mouth, and I deftly snatched the towel off of her.
“Arkady!”
“Unless you want me to strut you around naked in public, do as I say.”
She growled, fists on her hips with all her glorious body on full display. “You’re a bully.”
A bully who wanted to bed her.
“Da,” I agreed. “I am also a mafia underboss so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll do as I say.”
With a huff, Lucia began dressing.
I lounged in a chair, watching the whole show.
Her body was built for pleasure and, as she pulled on the satin panties, I was treated to a world class view of her breasts hanging down.
She popped on a matching bra, glaring at me, almost daring me to do something.
I prided myself on control, but she tested me.
Assuming a relaxed pose even while blood rushed to my rapidly thickening cock, I hooked up an eyebrow.
She zipped up a simple linen dress, encasing her curvaceous body in the expensively tailored outfit. The dress would be demure on a woman with fewer curves. On Lucia, the sheath only served to highlight her more than abundant assets.
Last, she stepped into a pair of stilettoes, and I rose from my seat.
She became even more statuesque in the heels, yet I topped her by a good foot as I strolled to her.
I tipped her chin up to me, taking in her fascinating features only slightly marred by the bruise from the alleyway attack.
My thumb swept across her full bottom lip, and I murmured in a low voice, “You really are beautiful.”
She seemed to be caught off guard, and the thick fringe of her eyelashes fluttered to her cheeks. “Thank you.”
Retracting my hand, I gestured to the door. “We are going out.”
“Where?”
I declined to answer that time.
She would soon learn her place.
Ushering her downstairs and outside, I locked up.
Several soldiers remained stationed around the townhouse, unobtrusive to the untrained eye.
After last night’s attack, I would take no chances with Lucia.
And those Sicilian sukas would learn their place too.
Minutes later, I drove through the gate leading to the Zolotov compound and The Cat and the Sickle. If I’d learned anything from last night, it was that I couldn’t just lock Lucia away and leave her to her own devices.
Seated in the passenger seat, she wisely held her tongue during the ride over but as soon as I parked in the loading bay, she screwed her pretty face up. “I don’t want to be here again.”
“You don’t have any choice in the matter.” I hopped out of the SUV then opened her door.
“Why? Why do I have to keep seeing Kirill? I hate him,” she spat out.
I had little sympathy for her. “My brother only did to yours what any man would. To protect the woman he loves. You cannot blame him.”
“Like hell I can’t.”
Regardless of her defiance, she obediently let me usher her into the nightclub.
I smelled lunch cooking and knew Baba and Sasha must be here as well.
Entering the kitchen with Lucia silently simmering just like the pot on the stove that Baba stood over, I greeted both my brothers.
Lucia only bristled more.
“You will stay here while I talk to my papa.” I propelled her to a chair and pushed her down.
Kirill gave her a curious glance and Maksim barely looked at her.
Baba clucked her tongue in my direction while Jo quickly came to Lucia’s side.
“Don’t worry, hon,” she spoke to Lucia. “Their bite isn’t as bad as their bark and they aren’t half bad to look at either.”
“Beg to differ about the first bit, malyshka,” Kirill murmured.
“Don’t leave me again,” Lucia gripped my hand, and I was tempted to simply succumb to these unwelcome feelings for her.