28. Natalya

Chapter 28

Natalya

“ G et back in bed you dumb asshole.” I try to steer my big, idiot husband away from the bathroom, but he gently waves me off.

“I need to piss. You gonna do that for me?”

“Sure, I’ll hold your dick.”

He rolls his eyes and flicks me away. “Give me a second, will you?”

I hover outside the bathroom door, nervous as hell. It’s been a day since he was shot and the doctor said he shouldn’t get out of bed for a while. But of course, Alex decided he knows better.

“Stop fussing. I’m fine.” He limps past me. I try to steer him toward the bed, but he does down to the kitchen instead.

“You’re not fine. You were shot, and now you’re being an idiot.”

He ignores me and starts making coffee. I stand there, glaring, not sure how I ever let myself start to feel something for this moron. When I thought he was dead, it was like my whole world was crashing down around me. How could I keep on going without him?

Now I’m starting to wonder if I’m not better off without this crazy person in my life.

At least him nearly dying brought me and Lev back together. I don’t know if my relationship with my brother will ever be perfect, but it was good talking to him and starting to move on a little bit.

“The bullet went straight through.” He gestures at the bandage on his leg. “If I hadn’t been running so hard, I wouldn’t have lost so much blood. Otherwise it’s barely a scratch.”

“What about all those other wounds, huh?”

“Shrapnel from the containers. They’re just scratches.” He rips off his shirt and shows me the cuts and bruises all across his torso. I stare at him, mouth hanging open. He’s right, they’re not that bad, but my god.

He somehow looks even sexier with all those injuries.

Which I know makes me sick.

“You still shouldn’t be putting weight on that leg.”

“I’m not lying in bed. I told you already. I’m fine .”

Frustration rolls through me. “Have you ever listened to anyone else in your life?”

“All the fucking time.”

“Yeah? Like when?”

“Your father. Your brother.”

“Great, because they’re your superiors in your stupid little Bratva. What about anyone else?”

His jaw works slightly. “Nobody else knows my body better than I do.”

“Great, now you think doctors are too stupid and you’re much smarter, is that it?”

He slams his coffee down. “Are you going to be on my ass until this god damn minor cut is closed up?”

“It’s not minor,” I say through a clenched jaw. “You got shot . You nearly died .”

“The wound’s stitched up and the blood’s back in my body.” He comes toward me, looking menacing. “What do I need to do to prove that I’m okay?”

“Maybe show me that your brain’s working by listening to reason for once.”

“That’s unlikely.”

“No kidding.”

He stops inches in front of me. I’m very aware of his shirtless body, the cuts and the marks on his tattoo-covered skin. Without thinking, I touch him gingerly, letting my fingertips brush down some of the wounds.

“I don’t regret going back,” he whispers, very softly. “I was ready to die for Lev like I would’ve died for Stepan.”

“I know that.” I chew my lip and glance up. “But what about me?”

“You’re the only reason I hesitated to begin with. If it weren’t for you and the baby, I would’ve been at his side when Adriano sprang that ambush.”

“I guess I saved your life then.”

He tilts his head and touches my cheek with the back of his hand. “Maybe you did.”

I lean into him. He wraps his arms around me and hugs me tight. He’s so warm and he smells so good, and it’s amazing that only a day earlier, he looked like a pale corpse. Now he’s big and dark and so incredibly alive.

His hand moves up into my hair and he gently pulls me back before pressing his lips against mine.

The kiss is tender at first like he’s testing how I’ll respond. I answer by plunging my tongue between his teeth, and he growls his pleasure at my brazen hunger.

He isn’t gentle. He grips my hair and kisses my neck. I undress in a frenzy, letting the sheer need roll down my spine. He licks my nipples and pins me against the counter, tugging down my pants and forcing my legs apart. He drops to his knees, and I think he’s going to lick me from behind, but instead he comes back up with my underwear in his hand.

“You’ve been too mouthy lately,” he whispers as he pulls my hair and shoves my own wet panties between my lips. “I like you when you’ve got a gag in.”

“Fuck you,” I mumble but the words are muted by my filthy wet panties.

He smirks and slides his fingers inside of me from behind. I moan as he does his, his mouth kissing my neck, his other hand holding onto my hair.

“Soaking fucking wet. You filthy, messy girl. You really were worried you’d lose me, weren’t you?”

I moan, arching into him, because yes, that’s exactly what I was afraid of. I don’t know what our relationship means or where it’s going, but I’m sure that my life will be so much worse without him in it.

“I’m not going to leave you so easily.” He bites my shoulder and I feel his hard cock teasing me as he roughly spreads my legs and holds my hands down against the counter.

I moan into the gag as he fills me from behind.

His dick feels like heaven as he slides it nice and deep. He should be in bed right now resting, not fucking me in the kitchen, but he’s a beast and it’s not like I can convince him to do something he doesn’t want to do. He fills me slowly at first, teasing almost, before he starts to fuck me rough.

The I moan into my panties, biting down as he spanks me hard. He takes me as bliss fills my core.

“I’m never too hurt to have you, baby,” he says, his voice filled with pleasure. “I’m never too injured to fil you to the fucking brim. Now when this pussy is mine. Not when you’re such a mess for me. Look at you, dripping down my fucking shaft, letting me fuck you when I want to, your own dirty panties shoved in your mouth. You bad fucking girl.”

I can’t take much more. I push back into him, panting and breathing hard, moaning as he fills me again and again, and when he leans over to flick his fingers over my swollen clit, it gives me the release I desperately need.

I come and say his name. The panties fall out and I keep saying his name as he fills me, again and again, until he comes too. I feel him warm and wet dripping down my thigh as he steps back, and I turn to stare into his face.

He’s grinning, and for a beat, we just look at each other.

Then he closes the distance and kisses me.

“If I’m so hurt, do you really think I could handle fucking you like that?” he whispers.

I shake my head, but glance down at the bandage on his leg.

And let out a groan. “You idiot.”

“I told you?—“

“You’re bleeding.”

He frowns and follows my gaze.

Sure enough, what was once clean, white gauze is now turning lightly red.

“Well, shit,” he says, and he lets me take him back up to the room so we can change the bandage and wait for the bleeding to stop.

I try not to show him how smug I feel but it must be pretty obvious, because he glares at me.

“This doesn’t mean shit,” he grunts.

“Oh, I don’t know. It feels like it means I was right and you shouldn’t be on your feet yet.”

“Another day,” he snarls. “But I have Italians to hunt down.”

“Sure, you big, scary man. You can go shoot all the Italians you want.” I push him down onto the bed. “When you’ve healed .”

He doesn’t look too happy about that, but at least I’m enjoying myself.