Alexandr's Reluctant Submissive (27 page)

She studied that area, trying to see past the reflective glass that hid the revelers on the third floor from the rest of the crowd. Another pair of guards stood at the top of the stairs and they were big enough to block the entrance with their wide shoulders. She couldn’t imagine being able to spot a threat in all this chaos, but then again, they were probably used to it. Luka was as alert as ever, his body language broadcasting the fact that he was not a man to be fucked with. He caught her looking at him and gave her a smirking wink.

“Do you think your husband would kill me if I danced with you later?”

Alex growled loud enough to be heard over the music and Rya led her a few steps away, giving them some privacy while remaining close enough that their husbands wouldn’t freak out.

Rya laughed. “I swear someday one of our guys is going to strangle Luka. He’s such a flirt.”

“The worst,” Jessica agreed. “I cannot tell you the number of women who have fallen victim to that dashing smile of his. Hell, he slept with two of my friends from back home and they were not too keen on sharing him.”

“Pity,” Rya said with a seductive little smile. “Sharing can be
lots
of fun.”

She knew from Alex that Dimitri and Rya were also into kink, but they hadn’t played together. 

Alex came up behind her and slid her hand into his calloused one. “Follow me.”

As she had suspected they would, they made their way up the stairs and it seemed like everyone in the entire club was watching them.

She had an insane urge to jump up and down while giving a good Kermit the Frog Crazy Arms dance just so they had something worth looking at.

They passed the first set of guards, then a smiling young man dressed in a white shirt and well-fitted black pants met them at the bottom of the stairs.

In almost accent-less English, he said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the booming techno, “Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Dubinski, Mr. and Mrs. Novikov. The rest of your party is waiting upstairs for you.”

They soon cleared the landing to the third story and right away the noise level lowered enough so her ears weren’t ringing.

At least they weren’t until Catrin yelled out, “There you are! Now we can really party.”

Three hours later, Jessica snorted a laugh at an outrageous story Rya was telling about doing a threesome with Luka when she and Dimitri first started dating. “Girl, it was so-so dirty wrong but I think he licked Dimitri’s balls while he was eating my pussy.”

“While Dimitri was fucking you?” Catrin asked with a little wiggle. “Delicious.”

 “Oh yeah.” Rya gave a dreamy sigh. “It was soooooo good.”

After splitting two bottles of champagne, a fruity drink, and a couple vodka shots, Jessica was feeling pretty free and reveled in being around women who were just as kinky as she was. “Wait, back to the ball-licking thing. I think I find that kinda hot, the idea of two guys touching each other. Is that weird?”

Snuggling closer to Jessica, Catrin smiled. “It is very hot. Nico is not interested in men at all, but I have watched other men touch each other and it makes me so wet.”

She looked over to Alex again, tempted into being very naughty by Catrin’s teasing tone.

Alex glanced over at them and when his gaze went from Catrin and Rya to her, the breath in her chest hitched at the heat in his gaze. He gave her a slow, dirty smile that sent her hormones into overdrive. While he wasn’t the handsomest man in the room, he drew her attention like a magnet. The music throbbed around them and she swore her blood pounded to the same beat as he continued to hold her prisoner with his stormy gray eyes. Her whole body clenched as he slowly raised his drink and rubbed his lips against the rim before taking a sip, reminding her of the way he rubbed his mouth against her pussy before devouring her.

“Wow,” Rya said in a low voice, “I’ve
never
seen him look at anyone like that.”

“Of course not.” Catrin’s reply was so soft Jessica had to strain to hear it. “You’ve never seen him in love. I told you, he is different man with Jessica.”

Alex looked away and she took in a deep breath, feeling as if she’d just broken the surface of the water after jumping into a deep lake.

Laughing, Rya poured another shot, only spilling a little bit before shoving it over to Jessica. “Drink.”

Before she could, a mature man’s hand picked up the glass and she followed its path to find Petrov smiling at them before he tossed the shot back in a smooth motion. The other two women squealed and spilled out of the booth to give him hugs, but Jessica wasn’t sure how to react around him. He seemed really nice, and when they’d spoken he’d been kind, but he was Petrov fucking Dubinski and he was so powerful that even Jorg didn’t mess with him. He had Rya and Catrin hanging off both of his arms, giving him big smiles.

“I see you have started drinking without me.”

Rya slid into the booth and tugged Petrov in next to her, with Catrin sliding in next to Jessica again. This left her sitting across from Petrov and she studied the older man with drunk fascination. Being really, really buzzed helped her relax and she smiled at him.

“Is Vera with you?”

“Unfortunately, no. She does not have the patience to put up with all the noise and the overgrown, unruly children. Plus two of our grandchildren are unwell with the flu, so she is over helping our daughter care for them.”

“Awww, that sucks.” She reached across the table and grasped his hand. “Does Lani need anything? I can talk with her or bring some meals over, clean her home if she isn’t up to it.”

“That is very kind of you to offer, but unnecessary.”

She shook her head, her alcohol-soaked brain insisting she could somehow help. “Really, it’s not a big deal. There was a group of women from my church that would do all of that and more for anyone in our town that needed their help. Didn’t matter who it was, rich or poor, if you needed someone, they’d be that someone for you. I mean doesn’t everybody need somebody? Not having anyone…that’s the worst.”

Petrov squeezed her hand, his expression unexpectedly grave. “You are not alone any longer, Jessica. You have us and we are overjoyed to have you back in our lives.

She sniffed, blinking back tears and nodded. “Thank you.”

Chuckling, he poured another full to the rim shot and handed it to her. “I am afraid I must speak to some people before I can go home and rest my old bones. Goodnight, sweet Jessica. Ladies.”

They all said goodbye and watched him leave before turning back to each other.

Catrin kissed her cheek. “You will always have me,
dorogoya
.”

“Me too,” Rya chimed in, her gaze direct, if a little fuzzy. “I’ve got your back not only because I like you, but because since you’ve returned, both Alex and my husband have been happier than I’ve ever seen them. Dimitri actually jokes with people now. It’s crazy.”

She slammed the shot, gasped, then took another sip of her cocktail, some fruity creation in an elegant glass, then turned to Rya. “So tell me how you and Dimitri met.”

The story that Rya told about how she fell in love with Dimitri had Jessica round-eyed with disbelief. “Holy shit. So there were rival
Bratva
members with this delegation as well at the lodge?”

“Yes. Initially they paid me no mind because I was with the Master who’d won me at the Submissive’s Wish Auction, just another pretty face, so to speak. That lodge was crawling with beautiful women so I didn’t really stand out. At least not to anyone other than Dimitri.”

“But they suspected Dimitri was attached to you when you got back from your secret vacation together at the Grand Canyon?”

Taking another drink before answering, Rya nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, but Dimitri and I fell deeply in love during those few stolen days. He was everything I’d ever wanted in a man, perfect for me in every way, but I was soon to learn completely forbidden. He tried to resist his feelings for fear of what would happen to me, because of the Novikov Curse. He feared I would be taken from him like you were taken from Alex.”

Empathy for the other woman filled her, fueled by a few too many drinks, and she had to blink back tears. “Oh honey, that sucks.”

“It did.” Rya’s golden eyes went distant, tension filling her body. “When we returned to the massive lodge where the European delegation was staying with their submissives, Alex let us know that the Sokolov
Bratva
was suspicious, that there were already rumors about Dimitri caring for me in a way he’d never cared for a woman before.”

“How did you keep from tipping them off?”

Rya suddenly swallowed and looked away, taking a long drink before setting her glass down. “We…ah, pretended we didn’t know each other.”

“And it worked?”

Rya shredded her napkin, her whole body screaming tension. “Yeah.”

Standing suddenly, Catrin tugged at Jessica’s hand. “Come, I have to use the bathroom.”

Puzzled by Catrin and Rya’s weird reactions, she allowed the petite blonde to drag her through the VIP section that had become filled with people in the past few hours. All the alcohol they’d been drinking seemed to catch up with her and she had to force a giggle back as she watched Catrin’s rather unsteady walk. Wow, she’d had a
lot
to drink tonight. Aware that her every move was being watched, she focused on walking in her tall heels without tripping, glad the club lighting helped mask any wobbles. She was so determined to not fall and bust her ass that she was startled by the brighter lights of the luxurious bathroom and ran into Catrin’s back.

Shades of orange, gold, and red streaked through the giant marble slabs that made up the bathroom walls. There were stalls, but floor-to-ceiling giant wood doors hid them entirely. A pleasant spice lightly scented the air, and it was almost peaceful in here after the constant noise outside.

Now that she saw the bathroom, all those shots she’d done and drinks that had gone down so easy made her have to piss like a racehorse. Catrin must have felt the same because she didn’t look at or say anything to Jessica, just went into one of the stalls. Jessica used the other, and after peeing for what felt like ten minutes, she went back out into the area where the sinks were, along with a countertop filled with items a woman might need arranged on a beautiful, sleek silver tray.

She washed up and considered reapplying her lipstick, but she had a feeling putting on her makeup while drunk wasn’t a good idea. God, it had been years since she’d been able to let loose like this and she couldn’t wait to get back out there and find her husband. Maybe she could talk Alex into dancing with her. While the fast-paced club music wasn’t really his taste, she thought she’d be able to seduce him into getting dirty on the dance floor. Just the thought of having his hard body pressed into hers sent a little tingle of heat between her thighs.

Catrin waited for her in the sitting area of the bathroom, perched on a butterscotch brown crushed-velvet settee over on the other side of the spa-like space. Her normally merry smile was totally missing, and her blue eyes, while glassy with alcohol, were also very direct. She crossed her legs, then laced her fingers together on her lap. Taking a deep breath, which made her lovely breasts swell above the neckline of her dress, she said in a low voice with just the faintest slur to her words, “Jessica, you need to know something. Someone needs to tell you before story is just thrown in your face, and I hope you love me enough to not just react, but to listen.”

Unease crept through the haze of booze and she frowned at Catrin. “What?”

“Is about what happened at the lodge when Dimitri and Rya first got together. Something that occurred that you may not like. Rya and Alex have been…intimate.”

She staggered back, her hand automatically reaching out to brace against the wall as all the vodka she’d drank sloshed in her suddenly queasy stomach. “What? She’s having an affair with Alex?”

“No, nothing like that! It was only one time and a dangerous situation. Nico and I were there as well. Was very complicated time, not good, not for pleasure.”

After listening to Catrin’s explanation of the events at the Submissive’s Wish Auction, she still couldn’t help the sharp spike of betrayal that went through her heart. It wasn’t just jealousy and hurt over Alex and Rya’s actions, but jealousy that Catrin, Nico, and Rya had been together as well.

Dammit,
this
was why she didn’t drink. Her emotions were all over the place as drunken, jealous rage hit her hard. Her stomach clenched like she’d been kicked in the gut. Crossing her arms over her chest, she slumped against the cool stone wall.

“Are you still fucking her?”

Frowning, Catrin lifted her chin. “I do not appreciate you being a bitch when I am trying to help you.”

“Help me?” She let out a bitter laugh that made Catrin flinch. “You just told me that my husband fucked his sister-in-law.”

“No, he never fucked her. He played with her while Nico and I helped, years ago.”

Words fueled by irrational anger spilled from her lips. “God, is there anywhere I can go where I don’t have to see someone who’s fucked my husband? They’re everywhere! The restaurant where we had lunch with Vera, the party at Gia’s, I even ran into one of his sluts at the fucking grocery store! And now I have to know that Alex slept with his
sister-in-law
? That yet another woman knows what he looks like when he has an orgasm?”

“Stop being such a bitch and listen to me!” Catrin abruptly stood and stalked over to Jessica, tears streaking her mascara down her cheeks. “You. Were. Dead! Gone, and never coming back. I had to live through your death, as did Dimitri, and Alex would have done
anything
to spare his brother the pain of losing the woman he loves because he knew all too well what that agony felt like. So do not give me this jealous bullshit. The woman I know would never be mad at the man she loves for doing whatever he could to save another woman’s life. Do you think it was easy for Rya? She loved Dimitri and was forced to do a scene in public with his brother, even though it tore her heart apart. Yes, Alex has been with other women, but it is
you
that he loves. Let go of this anger, Jessica, before it eats you alive.”