Chapter 24

Daelyn

With the house to myself, Addie at the beach, and Kaleb out of town, I can finally breathe. I’ve spent most of the day catching up on work and took a late shower. I haven’t been able to get Dmitri out of my motherfucking head at all.

So, I finally texted him and lied to myself by saying that it was to get this shit for Kaleb over with. His response is almost immediate.

D: Want to play another game, Firefly?

This man and his games. I bite my lip to hide the smile he’s not even around to catch.

Daelyn: What do you have in mind?

D: Two truths and a lie.

This is the second truth game we’ve played. It works well in my favor, so I’m down.

Daelyn: Okay. I’m hungry. I’m horny. I’m naked.

Little bubbles pop up while he types, and I clutch my cell tightly, eager for his response.

D: You’re not naked.

Daelyn: Lucky guess. One point for you.

D: I’m hungry. I’m horny. I’m standing outside your house.

My heart lurches into my throat and I look out the sliding glass door. Disappointment smacks my heart when I see he’s not there.

I bought a new lock for the front door last night at the hardware store and will not be giving Kaleb a fucking key. I also put a wood beam on the sliding glass door because if Dmitri can get in that way, it’s only a matter of time before Kaleb tries, too. I figure if Dmitri wants to see me again, we can just meet somewhere. I’ll go to the Monarch or his house or whatever. There’s no need for him to sneak inside my home again.

In fact, I’d rather he didn’t, since Kaleb’s likely watching me somehow.

Daelyn: You’re not standing outside my house. Point for me.

Two seconds later, there’s a knock on my front door.

Heart in my throat, I creep over and peek out the peephole.

Oh my god .

Wrenching the door open, I yank Dmitri by his t-shirt and rip him inside, slamming the door shut and locking it. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Figured I’d use the front door like a gentleman, instead of sneaking in like a stalker.”

A mixture of fear, anxiety, excitement, and joy swirls around my heart, making it lose a healthy rhythm.

Dmitri rushes towards me and kisses me hard. Our tongues swirl around each other. Rising on my toes, I cling to him tightly, and it’s like we’re suddenly making up for lost time.

He grabs my ass, lifting me off my feet. I wrap my legs around him as he stumbles through my living room and up the steps.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he says against my mouth. “You’ve ruined me.”

Guilt swirls in my belly because that’s exactly what I’m supposed to do. I was ordered to ruin him.

And I don’t want to.

He kicks my bedroom door open and lays me on the bed. We separate long enough for him to pull his shirt off. I yank on my clothes, tearing them off me like they’re on fire.

There’s a chemistry between us that shouldn’t exist. A connection that shouldn’t be there. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive this, but it’s not me I’m most worried about in this situation.

“What if I do ruin you?” I ask while he peppers hot kisses down my neck.

“Firefly, you could stab me in the heart while kissing me and I’d die a happy man.” He tugs off his belt, slipping it effortlessly through the loops, and turns me over. Cracking my ass with it, he spanks me hard enough to make my cheeks clench.

“That’s for being a bad girl and leaving the club without saying goodbye.” He spanks me again. “That’s for robbing me of the honor of taking care of you after I ravaged your sweet body for an entire night.”

“I’m not even a little sorry,” I lie, breathlessly.

“Brat.” He spreads my legs wide and licks my pussy. “So, fucking wet already. Good, because bad girls need to learn their lessons.” He grabs my hands, pulling them behind my back, then trails the belt down along my butt again. “Can I bind your wrists?”

“Yes.”

I can’t explain why him tying me up brings a calmness to my chaotic brain. But having some of my mobility impaired makes me focus on the trust I need to have in Dmitri.

Hold on. Trust? I trust him? Jesus, I’m fucked up.

Staying still while he makes quick work of wrapping the belt around my wrists, I let my body relax.

“Too tight?”

“No.” Anticipation has my heart smashing against my ribs. Earlier in the shower, when I couldn’t get Dmitri out of my head, I couldn’t make myself come no matter how hard I tried. I felt too empty. Too numb. And I’ve been uncomfortably needy ever since.

I hear his pants slide down. Then he’s suddenly looming over me, the bed dipping with his weight, springs squeaking and headboard knocking against the wall.

“Did you miss me?” he whispers against my ear while gently moving my hair over so he can kiss my neck.

“Not even a little.”

“Liar.”

He nips my earlobe hard enough to make me yip. My pussy clenches and I swear I’m so wet it’s leaking out of me. Sliding his arm under my belly, Dmitri pulls up, so I’m arched and more open for him.

“I didn’t miss you either,” he growls along my sensitive skin. “Not when I jerked off at the image of you coming, not when I stood watch outside your house all fucking afternoon, and not even when I saw you blocked my way in through the back.” He presses his dick against my pussy, sliding in so easily it’s like my body’s trying to swallow him whole.

And at this angle, he’s so fucking deep I can’t think straight.

Dmitri groans behind me, his thick arms bracketing my head, trembling slightly. “Ffffuck.” He keeps his thrust slow and deep. It’s torture. “I’ve been dying to get inside you.”

Scratch that.

It’s amazing.

Something about a man like Dmitri, who can probably get any woman he wants, saying what he just did to me sends my lust into high gear. I clench around his dick, making him moan.

“Christ,” he hisses. “Do that again.”

I don’t give him what he wants. Instead, I turn my head and bite his forearm. Hard. So hard I break his skin.

Dmitri rattles apart, roaring with a release that has my eyes crossing with pleasure. I didn’t even come, and I don’t care. The only thing hotter than a man dying to get inside you is for him to lose his mind the instant he gets what he wants.

He pulls out and quickly releases the belt around my wrists. I’m out of breath and haven’t done anything but lie here and take a glorious dickdown. Tapping my thigh, he signals for me to roll over and I spread my legs wide so he can have easy access to whatever he wants next.

“Eyes on me.” He slides down to lick my pussy and shoves two fingers inside me and hits my g-spot. Groaning, I keep my gaze locked on his, even if it’s hard to see in the dark and I want nothing more than to close my eyes and let myself go.

But this connection we seem to have built is something I’ve never had before and is worth more to me than a release. I’ve always detached during sex because it either wasn’t that good, or it was disgustingly miserable. Dmitri makes everything so much better.

I wish we had the lights on so I could see how hot he looks between my thighs. Right now, he’s more like a shadow. A deliciously big, bad shadow.

I grip the bedding, my belly heating with a coil that tightens, tightens, tightens…

Clamping my thighs around his head, I hold his face against my pussy with both hands and gyrate against his mouth, coming hard enough to make my ears ring.

D hooks his arms under my legs and keeps tongue-fucking me long after I’ve let go and melted into a puddle on my bed. He makes me come two more times. The last one makes me cry because I can’t handle how sensitive I suddenly am.

I can’t stand that I’m letting him do this.

I can’t stand myself.

“I can’t feel my legs.”

“Good.” He rides up my body, laying hot kisses all over my sweaty skin until he finally reaches my mouth. “Now you won’t be able to walk away from me so easily this time.”

I shouldn’t walk away from him. I should run .

Holding Dmitri against me, my mind swirls with ways to get out of this mess. To survive it. I need to look out for Addie and myself, but my instincts scream for me to look out for Dmitri too.

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” I suddenly ask.

Dmitri lifts up and I can see his pearly white teeth in the darkness when he answers with, “You really want to know?”

I nod.

“I cried in front of my mother.”

That’s… not at all what I was expecting him to say.

But I’ve hit a nerve because he pulls away from me and there’s a chill between us now. Dmitri sighs heavily and turns on the lamp by my bed and I blink against the sudden brightness of it.

“What the fuck ?” Dmitri’s tone is so harsh it makes me flinch. He’s on me in a flash and my fight-or-flight response goes haywire. I freeze. “Daelyn, your throat.”

I reach up, having no clue why he’s looking at me with such terror. “What’s wrong with it?”

His gaze goes to my hand. My bandaged hand.

That’s holding my bruised throat.

Annnnd now he’s seeing my broken blood-vessel eyes because the light is shining on me.

He grips the side of his head and steps back. “That’s why you left. I went too far… I…” He doubles over and screams, “ Fuck !”

“Dmitri—”

“Stay back.” He puts his hand up like a shield to hold me off. “Seriously. Stay back from me, Daelyn. I don’t want to hurt you again.”

The crack in his voice has me scrambling off the bed to make this right. “Dmitri, it’s fine.”

“ Nothing about this is fine.” He grabs his clothing from the floor. “I’m leaving. I will not come to you again. It’s over.”

No. No, no, no, no .

“I’m so sorry, Daelyn. There’s no excuse to have done that to you. I don’t even remember when I could have—”

“It wasn’t from you,” I blurt out.

He goes so still I think he’s a second away from exploding. “What?”

It’s too late to take it back now. And honestly, I don’t want to lie to Dmitri. Of all the things I could let slide in my miserable life, Dmitri believing he hurt me when he absolutely didn’t will not be one of them.

“It wasn’t from you.” My shoulders droop because I’ve just dug my grave deeper by admitting that.

“Who did it then?” Dmitri’s tone is level. Too calm. “ Who , Daelyn?”

“It’s no one.”

“Bullshit.” He storms over to me and cups my face. “Give me a name.”

Slipping away from him, I shake my head. “It’s no one.”

I’m not giving up Kaleb’s name. Dmitri can glower all he wants, but I’m not giving him Kaleb’s goddamn name. I’m too scared Dmitri will go after him and what will happen then?

In a desperate attempt to tell him something, I count on my fingers. One . “I’m a bad person.” Two . “I was sent to ruin you.” Three . “I like desserts.”

His eyes widen.

Message received.