Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

VAR

" W hat do you mean I can't have the paintings?" Vivian launched herself out of the bed, but pulled back when she realized she was naked. "Dammit. Where are my clothes?"

I called out from my dressing closet, "They're being washed." I poked my head out and winked. "They were a bit sticky ."

Returning to the closet, I selected a light blue dress shirt with a darker blue vest for the day. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to spend the morning in bed with my girl, I had a quick meeting in New York that could not be postponed.

The political leader in question was only in the United States for the afternoon to give a mind-blowingly hypocritical speech to the United Nations about his commitment to rebuilding his war-torn country. While also meeting with me about laundering UN funds received the very moment they hit his country's coffers.

Selecting a cobalt blue silk tie, I tucked it under my collar as I reached for my platinum shirt cuffs. I didn't feel the least bit guilty about the purpose of my meeting. If the United Nations or any country was stupid enough to give funds to a known war criminal with a shit record for human rights simply because he'd granted them oil-drilling rights, then they shouldn't act surprised when he stole from them.

My job was the lesson they should learn.

Treated to a stunning view of Vivian's silk sheet-enclosed ass as she bent forward and wrenched the rest of the sheets off the bed to wrap around her body, I strolled to the bureau to select a belt.

"Don't ignore me. I'm serious about this, Var."

Tucking my shirt into my jeans as I prepared to thread the brown leather belt through the loops, I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You are literally impossible to ignore, beautiful."

She wrapped the sheet tighter around her body, accentuating her small waist and the swell of her hips, not to mention her fabulous tits. "I don't see why you can't just give me the paintings back."

Crossing behind her, I reached for the porcelain coffee cup on the silver breakfast tray brought up by my staff. As I took a sip of the strong brew, I gazed at her over the rim.

It had been surprisingly amazing to wake up next to her warm body this morning.

The faint scent of shampoo was on her still slightly damp curls as she snuggled her ass against my hard cock in her sleep, and it was all I could do not to give her a particularly pleasurable wake-up call.

In a rather uncharacteristic move on my part, I put holding her in my arms for a little longer over sex. The idea rattled me still.

There was just something so cute and cuddly about her when she was asleep… and quiet. Like the moment an adorable puppy finally runs out of frenetic energy and just curls up in a little ball. It's so precious and sweet, you don't want to disturb it.

Unfortunately, she'd woken up in mid-sentence, pissed as hell at being forced to sleep in my bed last night.

Just wait until she learned I expected her to sleep in it again, not only tonight, but for the foreseeable future.

I set my coffee cup down. "I know, baby. That's why you also didn't see the deadly ramifications of giving five knockoff Mona Lisas to a bloodthirsty shit bag of a dictator."

Vivian tripped over the long sheet as she attempted to cross the bedroom to me. Hiking up the sheet and exposing a nice bit of leg in the process, she stomped over to me. "That's not fair! You don't exactly have the high road in this, Mr. I don't work for the mafia, I am the mafia."

I cupped her jaw. "There's a difference between us."

Her emerald gaze narrowed. "What difference?"

"I have guns and a dick."

Her mouth opened on a gasp as I moved to the closet to step into a pair of Taft jack boots with a gold and blue filigree accent pattern.

Her hand rested on her hip as she stood on the threshold. "That is the most misogynistic, patronizing, chauvinistic, sexist bullshit I've ever heard."

"Then buckle up, sweetheart, because you're not going to like what comes next," I warned.

I left the closet and followed her as I secured the crocodile leather strap of my Patek Philippe Gobbi Milan Heures Universelle s watch to my wrist. The blue face would complement my attire, but mostly, the asshole I was meeting with would immediately recognize it as a seven-million-dollar watch. I'd learned that men rarely try to haggle or be difficult when they knew upfront I didn't need their measly millions.

In business, even an illegal one, it was all about perception. The ones who were truly successful never overlooked a single detail. A watch, a tie, the tightness of my handshake grip, even what kind of coffee I was drinking, would all send a message about who I was… mainly not someone to fuck with.

She shuffled backward as the sheet twisted and gathered around her ankles, hindering her movement.

I followed her. "From this point forward, I expect you to behave. No more bullshit lies. No more disobeying me. No more questioning my motives."

Her eyes widened as she straightened her spine. The knuckles on her right hand turned white as she gripped the sheet around her tighter. "Wow. You really are a piece of work. Just tell me where my paintings are, and I'm out of here." She leaned forward and pointed. "And I don't give a fuck if I have to wear this stupid, goddamn sheet down Michigan Avenue when I leave, so it's pointless threatening to keep my clothes."

A downside of being attracted to a filthy mouthed, disobedient, incredibly stubborn and equally intelligent and beautiful brat was that she used those same traits to challenge me.

I pushed her back against the wall. "Listen closely, baby girl. I will not be disobeyed in this. Your paintings are gone. I destroyed them."

Her lower lip trembled. "You destroyed my work?"

"It would have been dangerous and destabilizing to allow them to hit the black market."

She ducked under my arm and shuffled away, tripping over the long sheet again. "How dare you ruin my work!"

I placed my hands on my hips as I turned to face off with her. "I'm warning you, Vivian. You are messing with shit that is none of your business. Let it go."

Her body became still as she slowly inhaled and exhaled several times.

A frisson of awareness ran up my spine.

The tension in the room thickened, like the calm before a battle.

My gaze took stock of her immediate vicinity for any priceless projectiles that were within arm's reach.

A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of her full mouth.

I'm not afraid to admit… it was terrifying.

Damn, this woman kept me on my fucking toes.

She threw her arm wide, while still keeping hold of the sheet. "Thank you for making this so much easier."

There was definitely a catch. I waited.

She inhaled again as she glared at me. "It's been maddening these last few days, both hating you and being attracted to you. I've been tearing myself up with guilt each time I succumbed, knowing you were nothing but toxic for me."

Fuck.

Her arm reached down to gather the folds of the sheet. "But now I'm officially done. Done with pretending to be your assistant. Done with caring what that other Russian dude is going to threaten when I tell him I can't get the paintings. And definitely done with you."

After her dramatic announcement, she turned and tried to leave the bedroom in a flourish of silk sheets and righteous anger.

The moment she opened the door, I reached over her head and slammed it shut. Grasping her shoulders, I whipped her around to face me. With a scowl, I demanded, "Did you say that other Russian dude ? Explain. Now."

Her lips twisted in a smirk. "I would, but since the tragic fate of my paintings was apparently none of my business , then I can't see how my dealings with another man is any of yours," she fired back before turning and reaching for the doorknob again.

I barely heard her over the primal scream shrieking in my head.

That she would keep from me that another man, let alone another Russian, had threatened her sent me over the edge.

It was past time she learned who was in charge.

After wrapping my hand around the back of her neck, I pulled her away from the door and over to the bed.

"Let go of me!" she cried out as her arms swung out.

I complied, but only because I needed to reach for the buckle to my belt. "You're not leaving this room until we come to an understanding."

Her eyes focused on my hands as they slipped the leather strap through the metal buckle. "What do you think you're doing?"

I whipped the belt out from the jean loops, folded it in half, and snapped it. "Teaching you the lesson you should have learned the first time I disciplined you."

"Over my dead body."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Hampered by the sheet, her attempt to escape was quickly thwarted. I sat on the edge of the bed and tossed her over my lap. Ignoring her cry of outrage, I tore the sheet off her body, exposing the soft ivory skin of her backside.

Her head turned as she looked at my raised arm. "Don't you dare hit me with?—"

My belt came down on her ass with a satisfying smack.

She threw her hand behind her to cover her flesh. "Ow!"

My fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her arm higher to anchor it at her lower back while I raised my arm again. This time I aimed the belt slightly lower, catching the curve of her ass.

She cried out.

A gorgeous pink flush blossomed over her skin.

"I will not stand by and allow your willful disobedience to put you in danger. Do you understand me?" I used my belt to whip the underside of her bottom and the top of her thighs.

"I hate you!"

The bedroom echoed with the sound of leather against flesh as I gave her several more thwacks with my belt. Tossing the leather strap aside, I ran my palm over her curves, soothing the ache even as the warmth of her punished skin caused my cock to harden.

With my hands around her waist, I lifted her off my lap and onto her back in the center of the bed. "Let's see if I can make you eat those words by feasting on this sweet pussy of yours."

With a shriek of outrage, she kicked out at me. "Stay away from me, you… you… brute! You painting murderer!"

" Krichi skol'ko khochesh', krasavitsa. Eto tol'ko zastavlyayet menya yeshche bol'she khotet', chtoby ty konchil mne na yazyk ."

Her mouth fell open as she closed her arms over her chest. "Did you just threaten to kill me?"

I smiled. "Only if you count the little death."

My hands wrapped around her calves and forced her legs open as I bent her knees. With my head between her thighs, I pushed my tongue against her pussy lips.

Her hips bucked, trying to dislodge me.

I shifted my hands over her thighs to cup her ass.

She cried out as I pressed the tips of my fingers into her belt-warmed flesh. "Behave," I growled against her cunt, before swiping my tongue over her clit.

Vivian moaned.

She could fight me all she wanted, but I knew she couldn't resist my touch—or my tongue.

Flicking her clit with a rapid up and down motion with the tip of my tongue, I punctuated each delicate change in pressure with a squeeze of my hands on her ass, wanting her to feel the stimulating mix of pleasure and pain.

It didn't take long for her to drive her hands into my hair and pull as she pushed her hips up against my mouth.

Her cries of pleasure were like music to me.

Before the final throes of her orgasm were over, I leaned over her supine body and slammed my mouth down onto hers, wanting her to taste the proof of her own arousal on my lips. My tongue teased hers like I'd teased her clit, with flicks and swirls and bites as I pushed two, then three fingers inside of her wet pussy, extending the delicious ripples of her release.

Finally, breathing heavily, she turned her head to the side, breaking our kiss. "Oh, God," she moaned. "Dammit. You're a real arrogant bastard, you know that?"

Refusing to take her bait, I slipped to the side of her body and cupped her breast, teasing the nipple by rolling it between two of my fingers. "Tell me about this other Russian."

She stilled. "You'll get mad."

Not a good sign.

I gave her nipple a quick pinch.

She gasped as her small fingers wrapped around my wrist.

With that warning, I said, "I'll be angrier if you don't tell me."

Vivian sighed. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you…"