At least with Vladimir, he was not moved one way or the other by the child – only by the money- but Balthazar seemed to hate the little girl for no reason at all. The idea of cutting him out of this deal when the time was right sounded better and better, and every time that he pulled one of his stunts, he only validated her future actions more.
As for Dmitry, she still felt like only depriving him of his money wasn’t enough anymore. Eventually, he would just find a way to replace it, double it, maybe even triple the money over time. No. To truly hurt him, she would need to keep Anya, and considering that her exile had prevented her from having children, taking Anya would kill two birds with one very large stone.
Chapter 21
Two hours was hardly enough time for what Gabriel needed to do. It wasn’t even about a want at this moment. He had read once before how many men felt the urge to have sex after gunfights, but up until now, had never experienced it for himself.
However, the truth of the matter was that any one of these mini-missions could lead to his death, and because of that he had to take advantage of every moment that he had with the one woman in the world who wanted to be with him. His uncle dangled his mortality in front of him like a carrot on a string.
At any moment, it could be taken away from him. And while he was not afraid to die, he was afraid to die without having said what felt to the woman who should have already been his wife.
After leaving Dmitry in his study, Gabriel found Briggy in the west wing hallway, taking food to the girls in the library. She looked up to see him stalking down the limestone corridor, towering over the art and moving with purpose toward her like he was going to strip her down right then and there. His eyes were filled with fury, like he had been in the depths of hell for the last twelve hours.
Walking right up to her, he looked down at her in her jeans and turtleneck, looking the part of subservient again and made her put down the heavy tray. “Let Stepan take care this shit,” he persuaded before he took her hand and led her up the back staircase. He could barely get her in the guest bedroom, before he began taking off her clothes. Adrenaline still pumping in his veins from the night before, he peeled Briggy clothes off one layer at a time, and then threw her on the bed.
She rested back on her elbows naked and waiting as she watched him pull off his tactical gear. Muscles rippled from the tops of his trap muscles down to the nape of the dark curly hair on his lower abdomen leading into his erect and lengthy manhood.
“
Being around these men have changed you,” Briggy said, narrowing her gaze on him.
“
What do you mean?” Gabriel asked, running a hand down his shaft as he slipped on a condom.
She watched him slip on the protection and felt a twinge of resentment, probably from being around all of the babies. Opening her legs wider, she arched her back and slipped a finger in between her steamy thighs. “Why do you need a condom? Are you still playing the field?”
Gabriel smirked. “Careful. The Medlov women will fuck with your head every single time.”
“
Well, what’s so wrong with not using a condom?” she asked with a frown. “It’s not a money issue, a love issue.”
“
It’s a ready issue,” Gabriel said, crawling over her body. His heavy weight pushed the bed down as he moved. “And I’m not ready. Neither was Anatoly.”
“
Do you think that he’ll marry her?” she asked, titling her head.
“
I really don’t care.” He sighed. “I’ve got two hours, and I don’t want to spend it talking about my cousin and his wife…or girlfriend…or whatever she is.”
Briggy recognized his frustration and grabbed his hand in her face. “I just want to be there for you, and I want to know that you’ll always be there for me. I don’t’ want to be serving food to you and your wife next year.” Her eyes watered. “All of this scares the shit out of me. The kidnapping. The murders. But mostly, the idea of being alone Gabriel.”
Gabriel shook his head and ran a finger down her shoulder. “So that’s what this is about? You’re afraid that I’ll find someone else?”
“
You’re one of them now. The world will be bowing at your feet and with all of the options you’ll have, you may not want me anymore. I’m just a maid who climbed up the social latter one step at a time by serving food and screwing the Medlov men who came to the chateau.
Everyone except Dmitry that is
. He was too busy being courted by Victoria.”
Gabriel did not feel like hearing this right now, but he knew that part of loving someone was being a sounding board when they needed it. He looked into her eyes and cupped her head under his hand while he talked to her, even though his thick penis stood between her thighs ready to enter her.
“
I don’t hold it against you that you slept with Anatoly any more than I want you to hold it against me about some woman I slept with before meeting you. That was after all
before
our relationship. And I’m sure that no one in this house thinks that you’re a whore or
just
a servant. They see the beauty in you as an individual
just like I do
. I mean, you accepted the real me before anyone else even knew who I was. When I told you that I was a fed, you could have easily turned me over to Anatoly and gotten me killed on the spot, but you stayed by my side. You didn’t know how things would go, but you bet on me. Anatoly and or Dmitry could have murdered us both, and you know as well as I do that they are good for it.” He tangled his hands in her golden locks. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I love you, and while I’m not ready to jump into a
family
right now, I know that when that time does come, it will be with you.”
Gabriel knew that he had struck a chord with her based up on the flowing tears that ran down her cheek onto the pillow. Unable to find words to express her gratefulness, she looked up into his eyes like she had seen an angel.
Gabriel looked back at her in sheer amazement, himself. How could he not love her?
Briggy slipped her arms around his muscular neck and hugged him as tightly as she could. “I love you too,” she whispered in his ear. “I love you with all of my heart.”
Gabriel nuzzled his head into her hair. “Good. Now please, stop using the women of this family as a template of what is normal.”
Briggy laughed. “Okay.” Once he put it that way, she felt utterly ridiculous for her emotions earlier.
“
And
I’m sure that they
love
you just the way that you are,” he assured.
“
Okay,” she said again, feeling him stealthily guide himself in between her thighs. He stretched her aching sex as he entered, making her shiver.
He kept his mossy green eyes on her as he tortured her body. “I’m also sure that this is what we need to cut a little stress around here between all the kid talk,
kid
nappings and let’s not forget…killings.”
Resting her head back on the pillow as he entered her, Briggy opened her pouty mouth and let out of a sigh of pure ecstasy. “
Okay
,” she whimpered.
Gabriel bent to her perky right breast and sucked at her pebbled nipple. The lapping of her skin by his thick tongue made her grab the sheets and clenched them in her balled up fist. He smiled deviously at her reaction to touch. Her whimpers only turned him on more. “And I’m sure that if I make you cum hard enough, my little French flower,” he pumped into her body again, “and
long
enough, you’ll forget about what anyone else is doing anyway.”
“
All is already forgotten,” she said, wrapping her legs around him. With the pivot of her hips, she moved him deeper down into her canal until he hit her G-spot and made her scream into his mouth as he kissed her.
Gabriel forgot his playful banter when the tip of his long shaft found the tender center of her body. Placing his sweaty palms flat on the bed, he adjusted his knees to brace himself in between her legs and arched his back. With deafening stroke after stroke, he felt her body coming alive before him.
“
Yes,” she cried out, unable to move. “Yes, Gabriel.”
“
Yes, what?” he asked, more seriously now. “Yes, this is mine? Yes, you belong to me?” His muscled tensed more and veins bulged out of his peaks as he moved his hips skillfully.
Briggy grabbed a handful of his inky mane spreading her legs further. “Yes, I belong to you,” she said hoarsely. “And yes, my body is all yours.”
It had not occurred to Briggy until that very moment that her questions about Anatoly had made Gabriel just a tad bit jealous. And the reminder of her giving herself to the man who commanded her lover’s very presence still affected his ego.
Gabriel was far too much a gentleman to directly discuss it, but she could see it lingering behind his eyes. Jealousy. In fact she was certain that it was the same jealousy that she had carried for Renee earlier in the day.
“
Gabe,” she said, as she felt him shift deeper in her body. The sounds of their skin slapping together hummed like to a tune in her ears.
“
Yes, baby,” he said, slowing down. He shifted his eyes from her bobbing breasts to her face.
“
I don’t feel like that about him any more at all. I only wanted what Renee has, to be in a committed relationship where you do things for me that you would have never done for another woman. It’s not him. It’s not about him. It’s about that kind of love.” She felt the need to explain herself thoroughly to him, especially with him going back out to continue to fight Dmitry’s war. She touched his cheek and smiled. “I would pick you over Anatoly a million times. I promise.” Her eyes pleaded for him to understand.
Gabriel rolled his eyes with a half grin and planted his elbows beside her on the bed. “How do you read my mind like that?”
“
Like what?” she asked, genuinely unaware.
“
It’s like you look into me and you see my conflict –regardless of how hard I try to hide it - and then…you just
solve
it.”
Briggy stretched her body out so that he could roll over and straddle her body on top of his long torso. Tucking her knees beside him, she moved her golden hair from her shoulders and looked down at him. “You do the exact same for me,” she said languidly. Her eyes fluttered with joyful exhaustion. “Maybe that’s our thing. We know how to heal one another.”
“
That’s a good thing to have though,” Gabriel said, weaving his large hand into her small one. He ran his other hand down her back and slapped her bare behind. “That’s a damn good thing to have.”
“
We need so much more than two hours,” she said, bending to kiss his mouth. As she did, he planted one large hand on her back to balance her.
“
Let’s make it count,” he said, lifting her up. “Ride me.”
***
After the long night that he had gone through, Anatoly could not think of anything better than taking a long shower and getting the residue of deadly sin off his body. Hot water cascaded out of the golden showerhead and steam billowed up into the vaulted ceilings in the dimness of the large bathroom overrunning thoughts of mayhem and revenge.
To set the mood for a more relaxing break, Renee had drawn the heavy eight-feet-tall curtains to cover the daylight coming in through the windows, lit the candles in the candelabras around the room and turned off all of the lights. So instead of looking like eleven in the afternoon, it looked like eleven at night. When possible, Anatoly always liked to have the bedroom pitch-black for his infrequent afternoon naps when they were home and always depended on her to make it happen. Today should be no different.
She lay in the bed on a large tower of pillows watching the television across the room hoisted above the fireplace mantle while she listened to the shower in the background. She knew that it was either now or
possibly
never to broach the subject again with Anatoly, and the vibe that he had given just moments ago told her that he was actually open to the idea – well more open than he had been the day before.
Her heart fluttered when she heard the water in the next room abruptly stop. Grabbing the remote, she turned down the television and waited for him to emerge out of the bathroom.
He did so like clockwork. Hair wet and laid to his head, skin glistening like fresh dew, he walked out into the room with a white terry cloth towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else.
Sitting up in the bed, she looked across the room at him and felt her heart skip a beat. Funny how he could still make her do that, especially when he had a knack for being such a jerk at times.
His intricate tattoos danced across the taut muscles on his perfect body, further defined by his deep, golden bronze tan. Sparkling blue eyes deep with emotion clashed with bright blonde locks that curled around the nape of his neck and around his ears. The beauty moles on his collar bone and neck seemed to call out to her like delectable as drops of chocolate. In that moment, she wondered how a many so physically beautiful could also be so brutal.
Looks were deceiving.