Gabriel's Light (Doms of Chicago) (9 page)

“You promise what, Zhenya?” It was a struggle but he kept his
voice even.

“I won’t go down to the gazebo at night without an escort.” Her
chest was flushed as she squirmed against his palm.

“Not good enough!” He loosened his hold on her mound. “I want
you to promise, you’ll listen to
Caelan
, Jude, me or
any other Dom who has your best interests at heart when it comes to your
safety. And obey!”

She nodded, her hips lifting wildly. “Yes, Sir. I’ll listen.
I’ll obey when it comes to my safety! Now please!” Her hands clung to his
shoulders.

“Good.” He took a deep breath. “Because so help me God, Zhenya
if you don’t, the next time you blatantly disregard your safety, I’ll push you
this far, cuff you to the nearest suitable object and walk away. No amount of
pleading or promises will sway me. You’ll have no release. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir!” She nodded vigorously.

“Good girl.” He drew in a deep breath before slipping his hand
under the waistband of her panties, delving through her wet folds to find her
slippery clit. Grasping it between his thumb and forefinger, he gave it a
gentle squeeze. A shocked look crossed her face before her eyes rolled back in
her head as she screamed.
 
When she
bucked through an amazing orgasm, his cock throbbed, wanting to join her in
release. But with the firm control he’d learned as a Dom, he pushed the need
down. This was about her, not him.

Monitoring her pleasure, he refused to let it ebb, and each time
she began to relax, he forced her over the edge again with his clever fingers
inside her wet sex, and his mouth worshiping her breasts and nipples. He was
lost in her reaction, despite the aching flesh between his thighs. When he
could wring no more from her and she was a limp, begging mass under him, he
eased her back down from the heights of pleasure.

Chapter
Nine

Following
Caelan
into Jude’s office,
Gabriel wondered for the seventh time how the hell he’d let his friend talk him
into this. His head was pounding from lack of sleep, and he was out of sorts
after leaving Zhenya’s apartment as the sun was rising in the east. He’d barely
taken the time to pop his head into
Caelan’s
part of
the house to assure his friend he’d be at the meeting, informing him he had to
catch a cab back across town so he could shower and change clothes before his
weekly conference call with his dad.

As the cab had pulled away from
Caelan’s
,
he’d refused to let his thoughts linger on how Zhenya had felt under his body,
her pleasure drunk eyes staring up at him in wonder as he eased her back down from
the heights of pleasure. Or how he’d been unable to help but watch her as she
slept in his arms, until Sophia had whimpered at five. He’d avoided her eyes as
he gotten up to get the baby. He hadn’t been able to watch as Zhenya had placed
her daughter at the breasts he’d licked and sucked at. The taste of the milk
against his tongue as he’d sucked had made him long for something he had no
business in having. Not only did he feel he was betraying Sara’s memory, but he
wasn’t ready to feel more than lust for another woman. And Zhenya’s sweet
giving nature drew him like a moth to a flame.

“Thanks for seeing us at such short notice, Jude.”
Caelan
took one of the chairs in front of Jude’s desk.
Sinking into the opposite seat, Gabriel kicked his legs out.

Jude smiled. “Of course. You said it was important?”

Gabriel tried to keep his focus on the meeting at hand as
Caelan
and Jude discussed what had happened at the mall the
day before, but all he could hear were the echoes Zhenya’s cries as she found
completion in his arms. He was so distracted, he didn’t notice his
preoccupation until there was as sudden silence in the room. He jerked back to
the present when Jude laughed.

“I see what you mean,
Caelan
. He’s got
something on his mind, and I’ll have to agree that it probably has something to
do with your pretty upstairs guest.”

He growled at the other man, despite knowing Jude was happy as a
lark with his Mistress and was no real threat. “She’s….” He swallowed the word
‘mine’ and glared over at
Caelan
. “This is your
fault, you Irish bastard.”

Caelan’s
eyes widened and he placed his hand on his chest dramatically.
“Oh dear, now what have I done?”

Pissy
and irritable from his lack of sleep, Gabriel wanted to coldcock his friend.
“You know exactly what the hell you did. You made me deal with her.”

Caelan
nodded sagely. “Of course, and whatever you did must’ve worked. She was very
apologetic this morning, and if the sounds I heard last night were any
indication, you tamed her the old fashioned way.”

Gabriel colored as his question from the night before was
answered. If
Caelan
had been able to hear Zhenya’s
cries, then the vent acted like a two-way radio.

“The old fashioned way?” The intrigue in Jude’s voice was
evident. “So does that mean you bent her over your knee and paddled her?” He
seemed genuinely curious and Gabriel wasn’t surprised. Not only was the other
man new to the scene, but he’d only been Olivia’s submissive for the past year
and half.

Caelan
just laughed. “No, grasshopper. That may be the way Olivia punishes you and
Micah, but in Gabriel’s case, he believes in even an older, if not more devious
plan of attack.”

Jude leaned forward intrigued. “Really?”

“Yes, he believes in withholding pleasure.”

A frown crossed Jude’s face as he leaned back in his chair.
“Okay, I could see how that worked if you were in a relationship, but you’re
not sleeping with Zhenya, are you?”

Gabriel’s cock leapt at the sound of her name and again he
wanted to hit something. “No.”

“Then how—”

Caelan
laughed. “Well, you see he got her all—” Then
Caelan
mimicked the oral sex by sticking his tongue between his splayed fingers.

“Knock it off, you pervert!” Gabriel slugged his friend in the
shoulder. “I did not give her oral sex! She just had a baby, for Christ sakes!”

Rubbing his shoulder,
Caelan
glared at
him. “No, he just indulged in some heavy petting until she was all hot and
bothered, then stopped. Several times in fact, if what she told
Nisey
is true.”

Gabriel colored. He didn’t want to even know how the other man
had found that out.
More than likely he’d
overheard the women talking. I can’t imagine Zhenya disclosing those kind of
details to him.

Jude burst out laughing, drawing Gabriel’s attention back to the
conversation. “Dear Lord that sounds like what Micah and I did one time to get
Mistress to take her pain killers.” A heated glow filled the other man’s eyes
at the memory. “It’s a rather effective way to bring the female of the species
around to our way of thinking. Although I found out it was a double-edged sword.”

A muscle twitched in Gabriel’s jaw. “Yeah it is. But don’t make
a huge deal out of it. She wasn’t recovered enough to handle a spanking, but I
still got her to promise to obey you and
Caelan
when
it comes to her and little Sophia’s safety.”

“And yours,”
Caelan
reminded him, a
foolish grin on his face. “I highly doubt she’s going to cross you after last
night.”

“That’s beside the point.” Gabriel shifted uncomfortably. “You
asked me to deal with her and I did. If she’s a bit leery of angering me, then
all the better. A submissive should have a healthy respect for her Dom and his
requests.”

“So you’re saying you’re her Dom? Really? I thought she wasn’t
your lover, Gabriel.” Jude had the nerve to taunt him.

“She’s not my submissive nor is she my lover!” he gritted out
between clenched teeth.

“Ah, but according to my lovely submissive, you told Zhenya
you’d tie her to the nearest object and do worse next time - if you heard of
her endangering her safety again.”

Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. “And I will. Just
because I don’t want something to happen to her or Sophia does
not
mean she’s my submissive. She’ll
learn to listen or feel my wrath,” he finished darkly, the idea of someone
hurting Zhenya or her daughter almost too much to bear.

“I do think the man protests a bit much,
Caelan
,”
Jude
snarked
. “Me thinks he sees your little guest as
more than just another pretty face to protect.”

“Knock it off, or I’m leaving,” Gabriel growled after
Caelan
joined in the good-natured ribbing. “Unlike you
fools, I’ve only had an hour and half of sleep since your little intervention
yesterday, and I’d like to go over this so I can go home and catch a few hours
of Z’s before I have to go in for tonight’s dinner service.”

“All right, all right.” Jude held up a hand. “I suggest we get
down to nuts and brass tacks before Mr. Grumpy goes off the deep end and cuts
us off at
Pínaka
ti̱s
Mi̱téras
.
”

Caelan
agreed, and soon the room was filled with options from all of the men about the
possible suggested upgrades to
Caelan’s
security. All
throughout it Gabriel choose to ignore the part of him that had stirred the
previous night. - the part he hadn’t felt stir since the death of Sara.

* * * *

Southern Greece

Sebastene
Sikkenga
was in the process
of going over the details about an upcoming marketing plan for the resort with
his wife, as they were being served dinner on the terrace, when a uniformed
servant interrupted their meal. It was their one meal a day they shared and he
didn’t find the interruption very amusing. He was the man of his household and
having some lowly servant insert himself into his private dinner with his wife,
rubbed him the wrong way.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Sir, but Mrs.
Sikkenga
has a rather insistent phone call.” The servant’s face flushed with unease, as
it should have. After all he was the patriarch of this family. Respect was his
due and anything less would result in immediate consequences.

“Couldn’t it have waited? This is my time with my wife.”
Sebastene bristled. Across the table, looking just as poised as she had when
he’d married her all those years ago,
Anastassia
smiled at him before placing her hand over his.

“What is it, Antonio?” Her soft modulated voice still sent
thrills down
Sebastene’s
spine every time he heard
it. He was just as much in lust with his wife now as he had been thirty-five
years ago. True, her dark hair now sported silver streaks and she had faint
laugh lines around her eyes, but she was still had the same vitality which
attracted him as a young man. And now this man wanted to take what precious
little time he had with her. It was unacceptable.

Antonio glanced uneasily between him and his wife, before
finally answering. “I’m sorry but Madame
Ceccarelli
is on the phone and requests to speak with Mrs.
Sikkenga
.
She said it’s an emergency and refused to let me take a message.” The man held
out the cordless phone to her with a hand visibly shaking.

Looking to him, his wife smiled sweetly, hiding the inner shark
he just knew was behind the facade. “Just let me find out what Justine thought
couldn’t wait, Sebastene. I’ll be brief, darling.”

He nodded. “See that you do,” he ordered as he slipped off his
shoes. His wife might have to take the call, but she would be aware of his
presence. As she accepted the phone, he slid his foot between her legs,
allowing it to rub up and over the calf exposed by her skirt. Other than a
slight inhalation, she continued to talk to her best friend. Rubbing his toes
over her silky stocking, he drifted higher until the ball of his foot was
centered at the apex of her thighs. He narrowed his eyes as her nipples peaked
against the light chiffon top she was wearing, and her eyes flew to his. He
mouthed the words, ‘spread them’.”

To his delight she did, making room for his foot. Rocking it
back and forth, he watched in satisfaction as her cheeks flushed. Then her hand
flew down to block his foot and shove it away. He was tempted to pout, but held
his tongue when he heard the dangerous undercurrents in her tone. Whatever
Justine was telling her the news wasn’t good.

“Are you sure?
Corella
saw the
vréfos
?
” She paused, her brows rising. “Very
well, I’ll discuss this situation with Sebastene, and if it is as you suggest,
I shall take the proper actions to return the child to where he belongs.
Antío
o
fílos
mou.”
Turning
off the phone, she handed it back to Antonio. “That’ll be all, Antonio, you may
go.”

As soon as the servant was gone, he waited expectantly for her
to speak. He’d found it never worked to try and rush his wife. When she was
ready to speak, she would. Finally she took a sip of her wine. “It seems we may
have an issue with our son’s wife.”

His back went up at the mention of the
american
pórni
̱
his son had been foolish
enough to marry. He’d thought once he’d put the little bitch out on the street,
and she’d gone back to America it’d be the last he’d hear of her. He sure as
hell hadn’t let her have one damned Euro of the
Sikkenga
fortune.

“She’s nothing!” he growled, removing his foot from between his
wife’s thighs. “I don’t want to talk about her. If it hadn’t been for her, our
son would still be alive.”

Anastassia
set down her wine glass and studied him. “Regardless, we may
have to deal with her. Justine just informed me that
Corella
ran into Zhenya during a photo shoot she had over in the States. It seems
Ossie’s
wife has a small baby with her.”

“As I have always said, she’s nothing more than a whore. It’s to
be expected of them,” he spat, lifting the water goblet to his mouth. “Why
should I care about some bastard child?”

Anastassia
sighed. “Because
Corella
says the
child looks amazingly like Ossie.”

The glass tumbled from his fingers, spilling the water across
the fine linen, as what she was implying cut through his anger. Even as much as
they had, Ossie had been their only child, and with his death they’d assumed
they’d never have a grandchild. The idea of the little American bitch hiding
her pregnancy from him, before fleeing to America was a genuine shock.

“Was
Corella
sure? Did she see the
baby?”

Anastassia
nodded. “According to her mother, she even asked if we knew.
Evidently Zhenya scoffed at the idea, and claimed the child was hers.” Tears
filled her beautiful dark eyes.