Alexandr's Reluctant Submissive (34 page)

Next to him, Dimitri ground out his cigar and sighed. “Did you ever think there would be a day where we would have such love, such joy in our lives?”

The scars on his heart from Jessica’s supposed death were still tender and his gaze sought out the women through the windows looking into what Jessica had deemed the family room. They were all laughing and smiling while one of the maids handed out the hot cocoa, their contentment and happiness practically radiating from them. His chest swelled with pride at the knowledge that he’d done his job as a man and provided everything his women needed. He was aware of how brief these moments of peace were in such a fucked-up world, and he cherished every second of them.

Trailing after his brother, he followed the sounds of the women’s merriment and knew he was home.

Rya Novikov

A little over a year later

Letting out a loud whoop, Rya Novikov raised her shot glass in a toast, laughter ringing out around the room as the other women followed suit. It was rare that she got a chance to let loose and hang out with her girls anymore, so she was living it up while she had the chance. After many, many long days spent as the Queen of the Novikov Empire, and raising a very active little boy, along with a husband who still had the libido of a teenager, she was exhausted. So when her sister-in-law Jessica had called and proposed a girls’ night out, she’d been more than ready.

Well, it was kind of a girls’ night out. They were actually in the Novikov’s private club in their apartment building, but it was about the only place they could all go without their husbands losing their collective minds. She gazed around the table, tipsy and amused at some of the most unlikely and powerful women in the criminal underworld all gathered in one place. Almost all American, and from as different backgrounds as possible. Hell, she was the stepdaughter of an outlaw biker, yet she sat across the table from Catrin, the daughter of a Russian Ambassador to the United States, and one of the most well connected women in the world.

It was all so surreal, but in the best of ways.

Even weirder, Sarah Rodriguez was visiting again from the United States with her husband, Beach. Rya actually knew the handsome older man from before she met Dimitri. The Iron Horse MC and the Ice Demons MC, where her stepdad was vice president, were friendly with each other. She’d met Beach a couple times over the years, but it had been more of a “nice to see/meet you” than actually hanging out. Sometimes she really missed home and being around her biker bitches, so it was nice to spend time with Sarah and Beach when they were here. Swan, Sarah’s twin sister, kept promising to come visit, but her husband was super overprotective and didn’t want them going anywhere while their boys were still so young.

Rya could understand that; she’d refused to travel to the US with her son yet.

Sarah had promised that she and Beach would put the pressure on Dimitri to go to one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world out in Sturgis with them. Evidently that was where they’d first met and they went back every year they could. The thought of riding into town on the back of Dimitri’s motorcycle sent all kinds of warm tingles through her lady bits. Plus, she knew it would be fun as hell to party with Sarah and the Iron Horse MC. Rya was glad life, in its own weird way, had brought the other woman into her world.

Right now, Sarah was here as a consultant on building luxury prepper compounds, one of Dimitri’s projects that he shared with Alex and the Dubinski
Bratva
. Together, they were purchasing land all over the world and beginning to strategize which compounds to start first. Part of her worried about the men’s sudden interest in surviving the end of the world, but she had too much other shit going on to lose any sleep over it.

While she hadn’t been putting her nursing degree to much use, she had been helping Dimitri run the Novikov
Bratva
in her role as the
Pakhan’s
wife. Thankfully, she had a wonderful mentor in Vera Dubinski, and she knew it gave the grieving widow something to do in order to keep her mind off the loss of her husband. Though she was still reserved, she loved what she referred to as “her girls” and they loved her right back. After all, her husband had sacrificed his life for them and their children.

The pit of Rya’s stomach clenched and she refused to think about that night, refused to dwell on an odd dream she’d had while in captivity, where Jorg had told her that he’d had to wait until she was pregnant to give her the Curse Breaker, that she would pass on the immunity to her child. He’d blathered some more stuff, then apologized for kidnapping her and rambled on about how happy he was for his sons that they had found and protected such wonderful women. She hadn’t told her husband about that dream, instead keeping them to herself. The last thing he needed was to stress out about her drugged-up mental fantasies.

So far her son, Petrov, was a normal little boy in every way. Yes, he had traces of CB2 in his bone marrow, but there didn’t seem to be any ill effects from it among any of them. They still got sick from common stuff like colds and the flu, so if she did have some kind of immunity, she had no idea from what. Thinking too much about the fact that she had a foreign substance in her body gave her the willies.

Fear of what the future might hold for her son tried to claw its way out of the “what if” cage she kept it locked up tight in, inside her mind, but she forced her attention on the present and listened to what Gia was saying.

“So Ivan pulls me over to the side and tells me to calm down.” She snorted a laugh, her honey-blonde hair glimmering in the cool lighting of the private club as she shook her head with a smile. “Like I could just, you know, chat with the Queen of Sweden like it’s no big deal. Then he proceeded to tell me about some of the people who were at the coronation with us, and the kinky shit they’re into. I thought he was full of it until I saw a few of them at a BDSM club that night. It took everything I had not to laugh when I saw one of the very hairy male heads of state from Greece dressed up like a little girl and getting spanked with a paddle painted like a giant rainbow lollipop. I mean, that’s a
really
specific kink. What in the hell kind of shit was he into that it took all that to get him off?”

Smiling to herself, Rya toyed with her glass, rolling the edge on the table.

“I’m so jealous you get to play in public,” Sarah complained with a huff that blew a strand of her white-blonde hair out of her face. “Beach never lets me do anything fun.”

Reaching over, Catrin patted the other woman’s arm. “That is terrible. He is jealous type?”

“Very, but in a weird way. He likes men to look at me and find me sexy, but only how he deems appropriate. Like, it’s okay for him to show me off in some skintight dress and have a guy eye-fuck me, but if some random dude on the street stares too long, Beach ends that shit quick. He’s like…possessive in a look-don’t-touch way. Like the fact that I was in
Playboy
is no big deal because I didn’t show my kitty—”

“Your kitty?” Gia snorted.

“Awww, pretty kitty, come here and let me give you a tongue bath,” Jessica said in an unexpectedly loud voice.

They all looked at each other, looked at the bodyguards who were obviously trying not to laugh, then burst out laughing themselves.

“Oh shit,” Catrin gasped, “I think Maks just came in his pants.”

Jessica grinned, “Mmmm, I’ve made Luka come in his pants.”

They all laughed again and took sips of their respective drinks. It was nice to be among women who owned their sexuality, who found nothing wrong with doing things most people would consider immoral. Knowing she could experience anything and everything with Dimitri added a heat to their sex life that continued to burn long after most couples fizzled. Yeah, it was kinda odd that she had no problem doing sexual stuff in front of her sister-in-law while they played with friends in the dungeon upstairs, but it worked for them because there weren’t any attraction between them. Just a strong friendship and love.

 “Bitch,” Sarah said in a grumpy tone, but her teasing grin took the sting out of the words. “Don’t get me wrong, sex with Beach is out of this fucking world every single time, but I’ve always been a free spirit about sex, and I love the energy rush I get from watching two people that love each other have a good time. I miss it.”

Rya looked at Catrin cross the table, more than aware of her little smile that was nothing but trouble. Last time Catrin had smiled like that, they’d ended up swimming naked in the public pool of a very posh hotel in Tokyo at 4 am. Their impromptu swim hadn’t lasted long. Maks, being the party pooper he was, ratted them out, and Dimitri hadn’t been pleased. Then again, his punishment had been one of the best nights of her life.

Her nipples hardened and she crossed her legs, wondering when the men were going to return from whatever secret mission they were doing up in Siberia. They’d been gone for four days and were due back either late tonight or early tomorrow. She didn’t like it when he was gone, but she’d had to learn how to deal with her separation anxiety. Well, separation anxiety and unfulfilled sexual desires. Even after a few years of marriage and a kid, their constant need for each other hadn’t dimmed and she considered herself a very lucky woman.

“Sarah, your husband does not want anyone to see you naked, yes?” Catrin asked in a falsely sweet and innocent voice.

Gia and Jessica both whipped their heads around to look at Catrin with narrowed eyes. They’d also experienced Catrin getting them into trouble more than once, and recognized that voice. Ignoring them, the little blonde woman kept her serene gaze on Sarah, who didn’t seem to notice the sudden tension in the room.

“Right, which is dumb, considering I’m freaking naked in a magazine that anyone can look at on the internet.”

“What about watching?”

She grinned. “He can’t stop me from watching at some of the parties at the clubhouse. We have some mighty fine-looking men in the Iron Horse MC, but it’s not the same as going to a sex club or a private party. At the clubhouse it’s just…fucking. A lot of the times there’s no emotion, no connection, like these guys could be screwing a blow-up doll. That doesn’t do it for me.”

Having grown up in an outlaw MC in New York, Rya knew all too well what parties at the clubhouses were like. She avoided them at all costs because nothing was nastier than seeing a scraggly, but loveable uncle she’d known her whole life screwing a club slut with his flat old-man butt hanging out. Just the thought made her shiver and she swallowed hard as bile churned in her stomach.

Urk.

Clapping her hands, her eyes sparkling with mischief, Catrin said, “I think you should have some fun. Nothing that will get you in trouble, I promise.”

Everyone except Sarah groaned and Catrin blinked her eyes at them. “What?”

“We’ll get in trouble,” Jessica assured a confused Sarah.

“Not always,” Catrin pouted. “Besides, this is for our husbands. They have been working so hard while they’ve been gone. I just want to give them some…incentive. Is right word?”

“Incentive?” Gia asked in a dry voice.

“Yes, something to remember us by.” Her eyes cut to Jessica, her look heated. “You know how much our husbands love pictures, don’t you, Jessica?”

By the bright-red flush covering her friend’s elegant face, she did indeed know, as did Rya.

A little naughty thrill of warmth raced through her and she met Gia’s gaze, loving the way the gorgeous submissive instantly reacted to her. Tonight her long, wavy golden hair was down around her slender shoulders, bared by her white halter top. The color brought out the natural tan in her skin and Rya marveled again at how beautiful her submissive and best friend was. How lucky she was to have her. Slowly, Gia’s full lips curved into a smile and she knew her girl was considering sending Ivan some naughty pictures. None of them were shy, and thanks to their amazing husbands, and they all had no problem acknowledging what their passions and desires were.

It was so freeing to know that there was nothing she could want that Dimitri would consider too perverted or obscene, and the fact that he loved watching her Top beautiful women was icing on the cake. Plus, he got the thrill of having two women suck his cock when she worked him over with Gia. The memory of their tongues twirling together over the head of his erection, then Ivan’s, made her pussy clench.

Catrin let out a triumphant sound. “See, Rya wants to, so that means Gia’s in as well.”

“I’m in,” Sarah said with a wicked grin. “I can’t participate, but I can certainly take pictures for you. I might have to take a break with my pocket rocket, but Beach is going to shit himself. That is, as long as your husbands are okay with him seeing.”

Rya shrugged. “Dimitri considers Beach a good friend, so yeah, he would allow him the privilege.”

The other women around the table nodded and Sarah’s eyes teared up. “You guys, that means so much to me—in a totally fucked-up way. Beach really admires your husbands so I know it’ll mean a lot to him as well.”

Catrin abruptly stood. “Oh no, we are not going to have drunk crying. Come, we will go upstairs to the Chambers.”

“The Chambers?” Sarah asked while moving out of the booth after them, her amazing legs clad in a pair of relaxed blue jeans and her rather large breasts restrained by a tight black “Support Your Local Iron Horse MC” baby doll t-shirt. “What’s that?”

“Come, is easier to show,” Catrin said with a mischievous smile.

When they reached the exit of the club, Maks and two of Jessica’s men stood there, along with a handsome black man named Hulk who was Sarah’s bodyguard. They all had stern looks on their faces, but she wasn’t intimidated. Much.

“Where are you going?”

Rya pushed her way through the other women and gave Maks a challenging look. “We’re going up to the Chambers.”

His eyebrows rose up. “I see.”