Chapter 19 - Leon

The church bells ring as the intricate wooden doors at the other end of the white stone building swing open. The guests stand up from the pews and look at the light shining in from outside.

Sergey nudges me with his elbow as Natalie appears in the doorway. She has a veil pulled over her face, and her white dress hugs every perfect curve of her body before falling just above her knees.

I grin at him before looking back at her and the huge bouquet of lilies she is carrying.

I can't see her melting chocolate eyes through the veil, but I feel they're searching for mine.

Although this is a good day, I hate that Natalie has to walk down the aisle with Ivan.

She tried to talk to Marina, but from what I overheard of the conversation, she was still angry that Natalie moved to New York and even angrier that she was getting married. I offered to fly her here on the private jet, but Natalie insisted that Marina wasn't coming.

At some point, I'll have to visit Marina and remind her what she'll be missing after breaking her daughter's heart.

Natalie takes slow steps as the wedding march plays. When she climbs the steps to where I wait, the trembling of her hands becomes evident.

"Dearly beloved," the priest says, his voice booming through the room as my family and friends take their seats.

The only person on Natalie's side is Pearl, but the woman looks unbothered at having to sit alone.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Natalie Popov and Leonid Orlov. If anyone sees any reason why the two should not marry, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

I look at Natalie as she hands Pearl the bouquet while the priest speaks. Her grip tightens as she places her hands in mine, but she doesn't seem to realize she's doing it.

With each passing day, she begins to lean on me more and willingly obeys me.

After I told her we were getting married, her behavior changed. She softened a little and buried the broken woman inside her even deeper than she already was.

"And now, the couple is going to recite their vows."

The priest nods to me first.

I clear my throat, holding her hands tighter, thumbs drifting over the back of them as I try to soothe her nerves. "Natalia Popov, I promise to honor you and protect you. I promise to be the person you can count on, no matter what problems arise in your life. I will be your friend and your confidant. Today is the day our lives truly begin, and you are the one I want to share my future with."

The priest looks at Natalie, but she says nothing for a long stretch. Her shoulders tremble as she looks at me through the transparent lace, and a tear slips down her cheek.

"Leonid Orlov, I promise you that I will honor you in this life and the next. I promise to follow you wherever you go. I will be your friend and your confidante and stand by your side no matter what comes our way. I dream of the future I will share with you."

The priest smiles and asks Sergei to step forward and present the rings.

"With this ring, I thee wed," I say as I take the diamond-studded band from the black velvet box and slip it on Natalie's finger.

She takes the gold band out of the box and whispers. "With this ring, I thee wed."

The priest takes a step back. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

I waste no time pulling the long veil over her head, and my breath catches in my throat because she is so beautiful. Tears glisten in her long lashes as she blinks up at me.

"She's the one who"s missing out." I press my forehead against Natalie's and wipe away her tears before kissing her.

The soft gasps she emits make me want to strip her right here and elicit every moan and sigh from her until the sun rises in the morning.

Instead, I keep the kiss short, knowing that when we are alone tonight, I'm going to worship her body.

The people around us clap and cheer as I take Natalie by the hand and lead her to the car, waiting to take us to my estate.

Natalie shuffles into the car, picks up her dress, and tries to climb in without getting tangled up.

I slide into the seat next to her and close the door. "You did well up there. When we get to the estate, everyone will want to meet you. They can be quite a lot all at once, but my family is made up of good men and women who will help you find your way in this life."

She closes her eyes. "I know; I just wish Marina had been here. I didn't think she"d still be mad at me for leaving her. It's been almost a year."

"Don't worry about her. She will forgive you eventually. Even if she doesn't come around, my family will take care of you. You are one of us now."

She nods and looks down at the wedding ring on her finger. It clings to the engagement ring I gave her the day after I told her we were getting married.

When she looks at me again, the tears have disappeared, and she has pulled herself back together. "The garden will look beautiful with all the lights the staff have hung over the terrace."

"Yes, it will."

When we get to the mansion, dozens of cars are parked in the driveway. My chauffeur drops us off near the front door.

Natalie takes off her veil and leaves it on the table in the entrance hall as we walk in. Her eyes widen as Pearl hurries over to her. "You came to the reception! I didn't know if you could be here. I know you"ve been working more since I've been gone to make up for the rent."

Pearl nods at me. "Your gorgeous husband took care of the rent. He bought the building, I understand."

When Natalie turns to me, her jaw drops. "Is that true? Did you really give her free rent?"

Shrugging, I look back and forth between the two women. "I was the one who whisked you away from your life. Pearl didn't deserve to suffer because of it."

Natalie takes Pearl by the hand and pulls her into one of the other rooms. "I need you to help me get changed before we make our entrance. There's no way I'll be able to take care of all these little buttons on my own."

"I'll be waiting here for you." I lean against the wall, staring after Natalie as she disappears into another room.

In the span of a few months, my life has taken a complete one-eighty.

Maxim appears with two whiskeys in his hand. He hands me one and leans against the wall. "So, where is the blushing bride, and when do I get to meet her?"

"She and her friend have gone to get changed, but they should be back soon." I take a sip of my whiskey. "How"s your end of dismantling Mancini going?"

He rolls his eyes and sips his drink. "We're not going to talk business at your wedding, cousin. We're here to have a good time and drink too much."

Laughing, I raise my glass to him. "Amen to that. It's been a long couple of weeks."

"I still can't believe you married Antonio's daughter," he says, his voice lowering as he looks at me. "You must be suffering from insanity or a stroke."

"She is not the same as him." I look around for Sergey. "Does my brother know who she is?"

"Yeah. It's making its rounds. It's hard not to look at her and see Antonio. Their eyes are so similar."

"And who confirmed it for you?" I down the rest of my drink and hand the empty glass to one of the passing waiters.

"Boris told me. Swore me to secrecy."

Sighing, I look to the closed door, waiting for my wife to make a reappearance. "Well, the secret is out now."

The door opens, and Natalie comes out. The slim, elegant white satin dress looks stunning on her. The warm brown waves catch the sunlight and illuminate the reddish strands of her hair.

I don't think she's ever looked as beautiful as she does at this moment.

Pearl whispers something to Natalie before she goes to the front door, gives me a quick wave, and disappears.

"She is not staying for the party?"

"No." Natalie's heels click against the floor as she comes to stand beside me. "She had some other things that she needed to take care of tonight, but she said to tell you that she's happy for us."

I loop my arm around her waist. "Natalie, this is my cousin, Maxim. Maxim, this is Natalie."

Maxim arches an eyebrow, taking her hand and kissing it. "Eto chest" vstretit"sya s docher"yu vraga."

For a moment, I consider throttling him. Out of all the things he could have said, he told her that it was an honor to meet the enemy's daughter.

She doesn't need the reminder that I killed her family on her wedding day.

Natalie takes it in her stride, smirking as she pulls her hand back from him. "Ty muzhchina s kroshechnym penisom, da?"

Maxim barks out a sharp laugh, even though she just asked if he was the man with the tiny penis. He shakes his head, still laughing. "Oh, Natalie, I don't know who told you that my dick is small, but they're a liar."

When she looks down at his crotch, squinting, I lose it.

My laughs echo through the front hall, drawing the attention of the rest of my family.

As they gather around Natalie, all clamoring for her attention, I get the sense that none of them know how truly broken she is despite the perfect fa?ade she presents.

That's a side of herself that she only allows to show around me.

I pull her closer to me and watch as she effortlessly charms my family and blends into our lives as if she were always meant to be there.

Sergey also welcomed her into our family, not quite with open arms; he remained reserved. But he reassured her when he told her that he could overlook her ancestry because he thought that she had already been punished enough by having to put up with me for the rest of her life.

She gave him a polite smile and leaned closer to me. I tightened my grip around her waist to signal my protection, and she just nodded.

***

The bathroom is steaming as I step out of the shower and dry myself off before wrapping one of the white towels around my hips.

Natalie's eyes meet mine in the mirror on the other side of the room as she pulls a brush through her wet hair.

I sneak across the room to her and don"t say a word as I stand behind her and take the brush from her hand. As I place it on the vanity, she closes her eyes.

Instead of the rough touches and teasing I know she expects, I take my time, lifting her wrist to my mouth and kissing the fluttering pulse there.

She leans back into me, her head pressing into my pelvis as my cock swells to life.

I work my hands over her shoulders and collarbones, massaging her gently. "You were stunning this evening. I think my family might like you far more than they like me."

She laughs softly as she turns toward me on the small bench. "I doubt that. I'm the enemy"s daughter, remember? I still don't know what my father did to your family."

I take her by the hand and pull her to her feet before taking her face in my hands. "And you don't need to know what happened, not tonight. This is our wedding night, and I plan to spend it worshipping your body, not talking about the past."

She smiles and reaches for the tie on her white silk robe, pulls it open, and reveals the small bump that's forming.

I crouch down and kiss her bump, sinking deeper until my tongue glides through her folds and laps up her wetness.

Her fingers weave through my hair as she leans against the vanity and lifts one leg over my shoulder.

My fingers dig into the tanned skin of her thigh, holding her in place as I press one finger into her wet heat while my tongue swirls over the bundle of nerves.

She moans, rocking her pussy against my face as I tease her with my tongue. "Leon."

"Good girl, Natalie. Ride my face."

I pull my finger out, and my tongue plunges into her pussy. Her arousal is one of the sweetest things I've ever tasted, coating my tongue as she grinds her hips. She tugs me by the hair and tries to pull me closer to her, even though I'm already as close as I"m going to get.

Groaning, I suck on her clit again while I penetrate her with two fingers and take the time to stretch her tight little pussy.

"Oh, god, Leon." She pants. "I'm gonna …"

The vanity creaks as her body rocks between it and my face. She moves faster. Her inner walls clamp down around my fingers as she comes, coating me in her wetness.

I keep plunging in and out of her, rocking and massaging, drawing out her orgasm for as long as possible.

When her body relaxes, I pull out and stand up, claim her lips, and let her taste herself.

My hands sink into her hair, pulling her closer as I trace the seam of her lips with my tongue. Natalie sighs, her mouth parts, and her tongue searches for mine.

As we kiss, I nibble her lower lip, lift her, and carry her out of the bathroom toward our bed.

She moans as I lay her gently on the bed. Hovering over her, I run my fingers along the side of her face, trying to commit every inch of her skin to my memory.

I kiss just below the corner of her eye before traveling lower, working my way to her jaw and down to the tops of her breasts.

My lips trace a path up the other side of her face as she reaches for my towel and flings it to the side.

With a low moan, I pull her up a little, helping her slide out of the robe.

The feeling of her warm skin pressed against mine has my cock throbbing. I want to be buried in her as soon as possible, but I want to savor the moment, too. This is our wedding night.

What kind of man would I be if I didn't make this the best night of her life?

"You have no clue how long I'm going to keep you up tonight," I rasp before sucking one of her nipples into my mouth.

I take special care of the peak, flicking my tongue over the sensitive skin, grinning into her when she moans and rolls her hips beneath me.

"I need more," she says, breathless, as she looks at me with nothing but lust shining in her eyes. "Please, I need to feel your cock inside me. No more teasing."

"Right now, all I want to do is tease you. I want to hear your whimpers over and over as."

Her hands slide over my shoulders, and her nails trace patterns into my skin. "No teasing. I need you."

"Getting impatient." I chuckle.

It's hard to resist her when she tells me she needs me.

As carefully as possible, I lift her and slide a pillow under her hips to raise her so that the angle is deep without having to put pressure on her stomach.

I pull her closer to me and drape her legs over my hips.

The head of my cock is leaking as I inch it into her. "Fuck, Natalie. You feel so damn good."

"More." She slides her hands up my arms, fingers tracing over the swirling black ink on my bicep. "I need more. Don't hold back."

"I'm going to hold back tonight," I smirk and lean down, kissing her as I sink my cock the rest of the way into her sweet heat. "Don't worry, Natalie. We'll play again later when you and the baby aren't so breakable. Right now, though, I just want to enjoy the feeling of you coming on my cock."

Her legs shake, ankles locking behind me. "Please. More."

"Greedy girl." I pull all the way out before driving myself back into her.

She fists the sheets, and her back arches off the bed as I keep rocking my hips, moving harder and faster as her pussy pulses around me. Her inner walls flutter around my cock as her arousal soaks me.

"Oh, Leon."

"Good girl. Keep coming for me."

My cock stiffens and throbs, my muscles cording as my thrusts slow.

I come as she lets go fully, her screams filling the room as we orgasm. She keeps squeezing around me as she rides out her release, the lazy roll of her hips matching my slow thrusts.

We both lie exhausted on the bed, and I press a kiss on her forehead. She puts her head on my chest, her eyes shutting as she takes ragged breaths.

"How does it feel to be married, Mrs. Orlov."

Natalie strokes my jaw, the rings glistening in the light. "It feels like a fever dream."

I get out of bed, scoop her up, and carry her to the bathroom. She laughs as I lower her into the tub, filling it with water but keeping it on the cooler side.

As I slide in behind her, my legs on either side of her body, she reclines back into me, her eyes drifting shut.

I could spend every night for the rest of my life like this.