26. Matvey

26

MATVEY

"Evening, boss."

I return Grisha's greeting with a nod. Standing here again, in front of April's door— my door, I remind myself—makes my mouth water. After last night, the wise thing to do would have been to keep my distance. Let this heat simmer down to a smaller flame.

Unfortunately, I made my own bed. I was the one who demanded family dinner every night. What kind of man would I be if I backed out now?

I've never backed out. Of anything.

A pretty face isn't going to change that.

With that grounding thought in mind, I ring the doorbell. Dinner is dinner; it doesn't have to come with dessert. I've steeled myself against the cold of Russian winter, the pain of gunshots, the bitter taste of defeat. I can steel myself against April Flowers.

And then she opens the door, and I change my mind.

She's wearing a dress. Not just any dress: a stunning maternity dress, the deepest midnight blue. It looks like it's been poured onto her—a liquid veil to lap gently over her curves, masking them from view.

But not enough.

Nothing could hide that belly from me, swollen with my child.

"Grisha…" I clear my throat. "You can go now."

With a flourish of his hand, Grisha obliges.

I wait until his steps have faded into the hallway. I wait until I hear the telltale ding of the elevator. I wait for the doors to close.

"Hi," April breathes. "The food's already inside, if you want?—"

Then I don't wait any longer.

I grab April by the back of her neck and tilt her head up to meet mine. My mouth is on hers in seconds, claiming those sweet, plump lips without a moment's hesitation.

April is on me just as fast.

I kick the door shut behind me, yanked forward by eager hands pulling on my tie. We stumble inside like a pair of goddamn teenagers, too swept up to even look where we're going. I bump against a chair and secure my arms around April's waist, preventing her from tripping. As long as I'm here, I will never let her fall.

But fall apart is something different entirely.

I don't separate from her until I absolutely have to. I feel her gasping for air against me. "The food— Don't you want—" she tries, but I silence her with a finger on her lips.

"I want ," I growl, dark and commanding, "something else."

Then I dive into her again.

I kiss her until she's moaning. Until she's pushing against my chest with both hands, begging to breathe. I'll decide if she gets that. I'll decide anything she gets tonight.

And I'll decide when .

Finally, I let her pull away. She's breathing hard, chest heaving against mine. I want to rip that pretty dress off of her and strip her naked, expose those gorgeous breasts to the air and bite into them. To devour April Flowers whole.

She looks up at me, her hazel eyes now dark and hooded. Her pupils are blown to high heaven, letting only a ring of those forest-green irises survive my assault. If I had my way, there wouldn't be anything left.

I drop my gaze to her lips: kiss-bruised, bitten, red. Shiny and ready to be claimed raw, over and over again.

I want.

I want.

But I won't take any more unless she begs me to.

For a long moment, April doesn't speak, just keeps breathing hard against my body, driving me insane. Those quiet little moans of effort… I want to hear them grow louder. I want them to haunt me.

But she must want it, too.

I see her steel herself. For one devastating second, I think she's going to be braver than me. That she's going to push me off and away, shove me at a safe distance once again. As she should.

But neither one of us is doing what they should tonight.

So April looks me dead in the eye and breathes the answer that seals it for both of us: "Then come and get it."

I don't need to be told twice.

I hook my palms under her thighs and hoist her up on the table. With one long swipe of my arm, I sweep everything away, sending it flying on the floor. It's just a teacup and a cookie jar—the food's still safely on the tray—but I wouldn't have cared either way.

With April Flowers in my hands, I don't need anything else to eat.

"Matvey," April sighs against me, wrapping her legs around me, "that was rude."

Laughter bubbles up to my lips. "I pay housekeeping well," I tell her, smothering a chuckle in the curve of April's neck. God, this woman will be the death of me.

"You're such a— ah! " April gasps, digging her fingers into my hair as I eat her whole. "Nightmare… customer?—"

I lick a wet stripe along her jugular, right up to her soft earlobe. "I've never had any complaints."

"You—liar?—!"

April's voice breaks as soon as my teeth come out to play. I nip at the shell of her ear, drinking in the sweet sounds pouring from her lips.

How many times can I make her fall apart? How many ways?

Let's find out.

I kiss and suck at every place I can reach. Bruises, bitemarks—I want her covered in them. I want her covered in me.

Her belly juts against me, reminding me, You've already done that. Look at the proof.

It's not enough.

I grab her dress on either side of the plunging V-neck, wanting to rip it off of her. April seems to guess my plan, because her hands rush to cover mine. "Oh, don't you dare. "

I smirk. "But it'd look so much better on the floor."

That's a lie. It's just that she'd look so much better without it.

"Kill my dress and I'll kill you."

I grab her chin and tilt her to the side, making room for myself to whisper in her ear, "I'd like to see you try, kalina. "

Just like that, we're kissing again, open-mouthed and dirty. I decide to spare her dress—I do like it on her, after all—and settle for yanking the cups down, taking her bra with me. I squeeze her breasts in my palms: full, ripe, mine. A feast for one.

I duck my head to take one into my mouth, and April keens. "Oh, God?—"

"God has nothing to do with this," I snarl. "It's all me. It's my name you should be calling."

I bite down on her nipple, dragging a gasp from April's throat. I suck, circling it with my tongue, taking advantage of these gorgeous breasts for as long as I can have them for myself. No offense, kid—Daddy can be a little jealous.

I run my hands up her thighs, prying them apart. April doesn't get the chance to beg for her lingerie: as soon as my fingers find the lacy hem, I tear her panties right off.

"You…!" she gasps, outrage and pleasure mixing together. "You owe me a new pair."

" I'll buy as many as you like."

"Matvey…!"

I plunge my fingers inside, finding her wet and needy. Fuck. She's drenched. Ten minutes, and she's already like this.

"Did you miss me this much?" I tease, circling her clit with my thumb. It's the barest hint of pressure, and yet she's already moaning.

"No," April lies, hips fucking back onto my hand.

"Mm. Is that so?"

Suddenly, I pull away. April blinks, dazed and lost, until her gaze meets mine. "What…?"

I tut her. "Naughty kalina. Lying to my face. I think you deserve to be punished."

Her eyes go dark and hooded. "Is that so?"

"Mm," I hum, picking up her wrist. "That's right."

Then I cup myself with her hand.

I watch her gasp, clearly trying to repress it. It's the hottest thing in the world. "You want it?" I whisper, leaning in close. "Then earn it."

For a second, I wonder if April will refuse. If her pride will triumph over her desire. I know, if it were me, that it would.

But April isn't me.

Trembling, her dainty fingers find my belt. They work it open slowly, embarrassment covering her every gesture. It's clear she isn't used to this—being ordered around. Being guided.

Luckily, I'm a patient teacher.

She pops my buttons, then frees me. At the first touch of those delicate fingers on me, I inhale sharply. " Blyat', kalina. "

It's feather-light. She doesn't grip the base crudely or attack my sensitive spots right away. Instead, she brushes over the full length of it, dragging goosebumps in her wake.

If she wasn't pregnant, I'd take her hard enough to make her scream.

April furrows her brow in concentration. "Like this?" she asks, closing her fingers around me in a too-gentle grip. When her palm drags against the tip, smearing precum in its wake, I groan.

Taking it as an encouragement, April repeats the motion.

I severely underestimated my opponent. That's not a mistake any pakhan wants to make. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this little vixen was teasing me on purpose.

Oh, well. Two can play at that game.

I grab both of April's wrists, pinning them behind her back. April gasps, "M-Matvey?—!"

"Now," I murmur against her lips, one hand around her wrists and the other on her ass, "time for your punishment."

I plunge into her. I don't give her a second to prepare, to think, to breathe. She's so wet it doesn't take any time at all. One good push, and I'm sliding right in.

"Oh, God," April sobs, arms struggling against my grip. "Matvey…!"

I set a quick, shallow pace, not bothering to give April the real fuck she's yearning for. If she wants it, she'll beg.

And if she knows what's good for her, she'll do it soon.

I grind my head against her sweet spot, but only for a second. On the next thrust, I avoid it completely.

"Matvey," April whines, high-pitched and keening. "Matvey, please. "

"‘Please' what, kalina ?"

A frustrated groan. "I lied, okay?! I missed you, I missed you so much, wanted you to fuck me into the floor last night— Now, will you please just?—"

Without warning, I slam deep into her. April's voice twists into a scream, her thighs trembling on either side of me.

I breathe into her neck, "As you wish."

I don't stop until she's jelly. Until she's quivering with every thrust, forming words that aren't words, begging me, Please and Yes and More. Too much and not enough.

"Matvey," she moans, fluttering around me, fucking herself back onto me. "Matvey, I'm?—!"

"Come," I order. "Now."

April shudders, hard .

She arches off the table, but my hands are there, pinning her into place. With a broken whimper, she thrusts back against me, riding the wave of her orgasm with a violence I didn't think she was capable of.

I come so hard I nearly white out.

We stay like that for a while, catching our breath. April whines as I fill her up, clutching her thighs around me to avoid making a mess. Good , a savage part of me snarls. Keep it all in.

You're mine.

When I finally pull out to look at her, I could come again just from the sight. April is marked. Everywhere I lay eyes on, a fresh bruise is blooming, purple and beautiful, on her skin. Around a few, bitemarks pop out, angry and red. A claim.

And now, everybody will see it.

April gazes back at me. Her shiny lips part around a word, but she seems to think better of it, closing them immediately. But I know what that word was.

Stay.

Last night, I didn't. I couldn't. If this was allowed to spiral any further, it would've spelled disaster on both our lives.

But now, I realize I'd miscalculated. I'd failed to account for one, fundamental variable in my plans:

I want her.

And nothing's gonna change that.

So when she starts scooting back to make room, fixing her dress to send me off, I kiss that goodbye straight off her mouth.

"Did you think," I growl against her lips, "I'd let you off that easy, kalina ?"

April swallows. I watch her throat bob with the hunger of a predator.

Then she yanks me back to her.

It's hard to think of anything else after that.