Alexandr's Cherished Submissive (24 page)

Dimitri smoothed his black slacks, the gold bracelet on his wrist glinting in the light. “You have some business associates waiting for you in the guest suite, Laz Stefano and his wife.”

It took some effort to ease the sudden tensing of his body. “I wasn’t expecting him so soon.”

Shrugging, Dimitri winked at Jessica. “Laz is business associate and old friend of your uncle Peter. It is not surprising he would want to meet you. His wife is American, interesting woman. She is smart. I think you will like.”

He gave Jessica a quick kiss, regretting he couldn’t take her to their room and fuck her properly until they both passed out. “Go, get changed. There is wardrobe for you in there. The jewelry is in the safe. Dimitri will help you pick out something appropriate to wear.”

“Appropriate?”

“You are about to meet the Mayor of Rome and his wife.”

She paled. “Seriously?”

Dimitri shook his head and slung an arm over her shoulders while she scowled at him. “Is no big deal. They nice people, and Melanie, Mayor’s wife, will love you.”

Alex had to hold back a laugh. Melanie was a gorgeous blonde in her late thirties who had a taste for willowy young women, especially redheads. He would have to make sure he mentioned to Laz and Melanie that Jessica was very, very new to the scene and to not scare her. All he needed was for Melanie to do shots with Jessica and then attempt to go down on his woman. It might be more than Jessica could handle, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her apprehensive about sex. Then again, Jessica could be far wilder than he gave her credit for. He was certain she kept that explosive passion bottled up inside, a gift just for him to unwrap and savor.

He glared at his brother. “Do not upset her.”

The innocent look Dimitri gave him was so out of character that Jessica giggled while his brother protested with his hands up. “I am nothing but gentleman.”

Jessica snorted. “Come on. Help me find something to wear so I can meet the Mayor of Rome. Holy shit balls, my life is crazy.”

Walking away with Jessica, Dimitri looked down at her with a smile. “Crazy bad or crazy good?”

She glanced back over her shoulder at Alex for a long moment and replied, “Crazy good.”

He loved the way her face glowed with happiness when she said that.

Alex waited until they’d entered the master bedroom of the suite before he went into the sitting room and watched Laz speaking quietly with Melanie over by the window looking out over Rome. The leggy blonde was dressed in a stylish pale blue suit that went well with her fashionable tan and her white, dangerously high heels. Wearing a tasteful amount of expensive diamonds, she was the epitome of elegant grace. Her husband, Laz, wore his customary black suit, but his red tie had hints of the blue in Melanie’s dress. Together, they presented a power couple in every sense of the word, a Master and his Switch who were supremely self-confident and comfortable with who they were.

Laz approached him first, giving his customary hug of greeting. Melanie followed a moment later, softly kissing both of his cheeks, and he noted a hint of her floral perfume. She stepped back and linked her arm through her husband’s.

Smiling at him warmly, she said, “Alex, it is always a great pleasure to see you.”

Since she was an American, her Italian was accented, but it had much improved since he’d seen her last year. “It is always a pleasure to return to Rome.”

“You’ve been away for far too long. What? I have to be abducted for you to come visit?”

Sighing, he shook his head and laughed. She had him there. Last time he’d seen Melanie was after he rescued her from her kidnapper. Thankfully, the thug hadn’t harmed Melanie, probably because her feminine charms were honed to a razor edge, but she’d been a terrified mess when Alex had found her bound and gagged in a dusty, hot attic.

“I have been busy.”

“So I heard from Dimitri. Jessica, right? He adores her, says you’re happier with her than he’s ever seen you.”

“He also said she is young,” Laz added with a wry smile on his handsome, angular face. “Younger than him and very much the innocent. Is this true?”

“Why?”

With a laugh, Melanie leaned over and patted Alex’s cheek. “So suspicious, relax.”

Laz slid his arm around his wife’s waist, fitting her neatly into his side while she spoke to Alex. “We wanted to personally invite you to a private party we are throwing this weekend, but didn’t know if your woman would be interested. A hunt, but not a big one. Something smaller, a little more intimate. Would it be something that Jessica would like to attend? If not, we can certainly have dinner at our vineyard instead like nice, normal, vanilla people. She’d love it. Very romantic.”

Alex’s lips twitched as he imagined taking his unexpectedly bold, adventurous woman to one of the Stefano’s infamous BDSM hunts. If someone had asked him six months ago, hell, just two months ago, if Jessica was anything but straight vanilla he’d have laughed. Her innocence had him fooled. To his delight, he discovered that behind those innocent, blue eyes was a mind filled with dirty thoughts. Her enthusiasm surprised him as well. He was used to more...cultured lovers, women who were as highly trained in the arts of pleasure and companionship as the courtesans of old, and were just as cynical.

Jessica, on the other hand, had a raw passion that fit him perfectly. She had a hunger for sex equal to his, and he looked forward to teaching her new things, protecting her, taking care of her every need so she could live a life of pure happiness. This time in Rome, these stolen days away from the chaos of his life, were his gift to her. It was unavoidable that he would have to work at some point, but the majority of his time was going to be spent with his woman, and the idea made him happier than he’d been in a long time.

“Alex?” Laz was amused.

Trying to hide his surprise at being caught daydreaming like a fucking woman, he straightened his back and nodded to Melanie. “I believe she would greatly enjoy the hunt.”

“This will be so much fun.” Melanie grinned and enthusiasm sparkled in her eyes. “Is she a submissive?”

“I do not know for certain, but I believe she leans that way. She is just beginning to embrace her sexuality.”

“For all intents and purposes, an innocent.” Laz shook his head and chuckled. “And you’re taking her to one of our hunts. I hope, for your sake my friend, that she is made of stern stuff.”

“My Jessica is a surprisingly adventurous woman, not shy of her pleasure, just young. Very young.”

“How young?” Melanie frowned at him.

“She is legal, twenty years old, but you will see when you meet her. She was raised on a farm in Iowa. In…what did she call it?…yes, ‘fly over’ country. Small town with strict parents. She has been sheltered but is eager to explore. She enjoys exhibitionism.”

Whistling, Melanie crossed her arms. “Yeah, I know exactly the kind of sweet country girl you’re talking about. One of my roommates in college was from Kansas, a state nearby, and she went wild once she got out of her parents’ home. If Jessica is anything like my friend, and she’s kinky, no wonder you’re tied in knots. A woman like that is hard to resist.”

“Some of us prefer more…experienced women,” Laz said to his wife in a low, husky voice.

“And some of us enjoy teaching a woman what her body can do,” Alex added while Melanie laughed softly.

“Dimitri said she’s a redhead, right? Catrin is going to love her.” Melanie sighed then absently smoothed the lapels of her husband’s jacket. “Poor Nico, he’s going to have his hands full with that one. She’s a spitfire when she’s angry.”

Excitement at the thought of his close friends meeting Jessica filled him. He’d decided long ago how he was going to ease Jessica into his world, and he thought that Rome would be a good place to start. She was here on a vacation of sorts, and vacations generally put people into better moods, so it would be the perfect time for her to meet his inner circle. He knew Ivan was already here—they texted each other earlier—and made plans to get together so he could meet Jessica.

He met Laz’s amused dark eyes. “Dimitri mentioned something about them coming, but I did not know Catrin and Nico were already here.”

“Yes. We believe he's going to propose to her. Dimitri came as Nico’s moral support.”

His jaw clenched, and he tried to keep from being offended about not knowing any of this. “I see.”

Dimitri chose that moment to enter the room. “Jessica is getting ready and will join us soon.”

Fighting for calm, Alex turned to face his brother, watching the bright smile die on his face as he read Alex’s expression. “Nico is getting engaged? Why didn’t he tell me?”

Holding up his hands, Dimitri shook his head. “Hopefully. Don’t jinx it. It’s not a sure thing. You know how Catrin is, so paranoid, so hard for her to trust. He asked that I keep it quiet so if he gets turned down, he won’t have to be humiliated in front of everyone. Besides, he knows how busy you’ve been.”

Melanie smiled, ignorant of the guilt hitting Alex that he’d been so involved in his own world he’d ignored his friends. “We will make sure he has everything he needs to win her hand. No one can resist love in Rome.”

Right before Dimitri spoke, he knew his brother was going to say something that would piss him off. Dimitri had that devilish gleam in his eyes that meant nothing but trouble. Sure enough, when he opened his mouth Alex wanted to choke him.

“I would have thought you would be in a better mood considering you screwed Jessica’s brains out in the hallway. You’re welcome, by the way, you lucky bastard. Her body is amazing. Those long, long legs were made to be wrapped around a man.”

“Shut up,” Alex muttered, though he agreed, Jessica’s body was amazing.

While Alex had been fucking his woman, Dimitri had come out of their suite, leered at them, and made some obscene gestures, then let Alex know he was keeping the hallway private.

Melanie laughed then strolled over to her husband’s side, slipping her arm into his. “Mmm, I think I like this girl. She sounds fun.”

With a considering look on his handsome face, Laz studied his wife then murmured, “Interested?”

A woman cleared her throat behind him and Alex turned to find his woman in a lovely, black, jersey dress that hugged her hips then flowed out to mid-thigh. Her hair was swept back and held in place with a thin, cream leather headband that matched her heels. The shoes weren’t terribly tall, but Jessica’s legs were so gorgeous that the heels made her look spectacular. The dress left a great deal of the expanse of her creamy thighs bare, and he wanted to lick that sweet skin. He remembered how smooth she was beneath his touch, and it took a great deal of effort to force his gaze higher.

The top was sleeveless, and the collar was made up of fishnet and dipped low in the front, revealing a hint of cleavage, baring the lightly freckled skin between her obviously braless breasts. A little bit of naughty in all that elegant class. Then his eyes landed on the site of her bruise, covered up with makeup so it wasn’t quite as noticeable, but still a dark shadow on her cheek and temple. She fidgeted a bit beneath his gaze, and his protective instincts, always so close to the surface around her, flared to life, demanding he relieve her of her unease. He wanted her to know they were all staring at her because she was exquisite to look at, and she should be proud of her beauty.

When he met her tilted blue eyes, he smiled at how anxious she was, though she was trying to hide it. Her gaze was wide and kept darting around the room. When she saw Dimitri, she smiled, her loveliness blinding him, and she gave his brother a cute little wave.

Laz blinked, then cleared his throat, and held out his hand, approaching Jessica slowly. “Miss Venture, it is so nice to meet you. My name is Laz, and this is my wife, Melanie. We are old friends of your aunt and uncle, and we are pleased to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well, sir.”

Jessica smiled and shook their hands, freezing a bit when Melanie tugged her into a hug and kissed both of her cheeks. When she pulled back, her smile turned mischievous while Jessica blushed a soft pink. Melanie gave Jessica a blatant come hither look that made Jessica flush harder, now a light red from her chest to her eyebrows.

Looking at Alex, Melanie said in Italian, “Very pretty, and you are a lucky, lucky man.”

He offered Jessica his hand, and she clung to it right away. The strength of her grip surprised him, and he realized meeting people like the Mayor of Rome and his wife might be a bit out of her comfort zone. He should have paid better attention. Taking care of her was his priority now.

With this in mind, he gave Melanie an arched brow, and she immediately started a conversation with Dimitri in Italian on the other side of the room and dragged her husband along. Once they were sitting in the comfortable chairs surrounding the fireplace, he turned his attention to Jessica. She was looking across the room to where Melanie sat while chewing on her lower lip.

“Jessica?”

She startled and met his gaze then blurted out in a low whisper, “Am I crazy or was wife of the Mayor of Rome hitting on me?”

Unable to hide his laugh, he slipped one of his arms around her slender waist, tugging her close. The scent of an unfamiliar, but very nice perfume reached him as her warmth pressed into his body, fitting against him perfectly. Dipping his head closer to the creamy expanse of her lightly freckled neck, he took another deep breath, drawing the crisp scent of her deep into his lungs. There was a definite hint of apples, and spice, but also some herb that brightened it. A lovely, unique scent. He nuzzled his face against the side of her neck and breathed deep.

“You smell nice.”

She hummed low in her throat and leaned back so she could smile up at him. “Dimitri got it for me. Said it was custom made by the guy who does his cologne. I have to say, I really like it. Smells better than my cheap mall stuff, that’s for sure. He said he felt so badly about what had…what had happened and wanted to cheer me up. ”

For some reason, the thought of Dimitri buying her anything irritated him. “I like, but only I buy it for you from now on.”