25
VASILIJE MOVED IN the week after New Year’s.
His room was in the middle of the second floor, and I was grateful there was an empty guest bedroom between the brothers as a buffer. Since Vasilije had failed out of school, Dimitrije got him a job in sales at the dealership. Luka was in the back office, so he said he didn’t see much of his brother.
I didn’t either. Luka asked me to steer clear of him, and I had no problem following that order.
My spring semester was a lighter load than the fall, but still kept me busy, and I spent most of my afternoons in the office, which Luka had forbidden Vasilije from entering. It had become our space as much as Luka’s bedroom had.
“He finally asked her out,” I said to Luka one afternoon.
He looked up from his desk to spy me curled up on the couch. I still had the blanket over my lap even though the fire was going in the fireplace.
“Gavin?”
“Yeah. He’s in my psychology lecture.”
Luka sat back in his chair, intrigued. “What’d Vanessa say?”
“She said yes. You’d think it wouldn’t work between them, because they have nothing in common.”
“They like each other,” he said. “Sometimes that’s enough.”
I supposed that was true. I stretched my arms up above my head and closed my textbook, setting it on the table.
“Are you done for the night?” he asked. To anyone else, his tone would sound benign, but I knew better.
He had plans for this evening. My blood pressure rose. “Yes.”
“Good.” He stood from his chair and his expression thickened with desire. “Come here.”
I followed his order without a word. I stood still and allowed him to methodically strip off my clothes, each removal exposing more of my flesh to his lust filled eyes and greedy hands.
I wasn’t nervous, and I wasn’t cold—the fire was putting out enough heat. But I shook anyway from the excitement and anticipation. He took his papers off the desk and put them in a drawer, which left the top of the enormous desk bare.
He trapped my waist in his hands and moved me to the center of the desk. “Sit.”
The smooth wood was cold against the backs of my legs.
Rope had been stored in the bottom drawer of the desk, which he retrieved and dropped down beside me with a quiet thud. Luka’s eyes gleamed as I found his gaze. He hadn’t tied me up since the first day I’d been at the house. He’d told me one day I might want it, and now I looked at the coiled rope with surprise. The blackness inside me did want it. There wasn’t any other feeling like being at his mercy.
It was a rush when he eased me onto my back, urging me onto the center of the desk. There was no conversation. No discussion about rules, or safe words, or feelings. The realization washed over me. There was no need for it, because I trusted him.
He snapped his fingers and I obeyed. I held perfectly still as he worked, threading the different sections of rope around the desk legs and then winding the ends around my wrists. Occasionally his gaze would wander to mine, checking in on my status.
I’m fine, I hoped my expression told him. I want this.
His warm hands positioned my feet flat on the desktop, and then there was more rope. It was lashed around my thigh, just above each knee, ensuring my legs stayed open wide to him, and the other ends were anchored beneath the desk.
When it was done and I was bound to the desk, firelight played over him, and a lazy grin swept through his face. I was a vibrating, exciting mess, and enjoyed being on display like this for him.
“Maybe I’ll leave you like this all night,” he said on a low voice. “You look too fucking perfect not to.”
I licked my lips. Once again, his heat filled the room and evaporated all the moisture.
Luka freed the tie from his neck and dropped it on the chair. Then, he worked the buttons of his shirt, peeled the sleeves down his arms, and tossed the shirt on top of the tie. He rolled the chair back to the corner, giving him plenty of workspace.
“You look so good,” I said, unable to contain it. His lean chest was hard and toned in all the right places, and I craved to have his smooth, hot skin against mine.
He paused. “Who said you could speak?”
I sucked in a breath. Luka liked to control all things when we were together, and I should have realized he expected to control my voice as well. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Which was clearly the wrong thing to do. Displeasure arrowed his eyebrow up. He repeated it in a demanding tone. “Who said you could speak?”
I knew better than to say anything else.
When he seemed satisfied I wasn’t going to talk, he put his hands on my breasts, caressing them. His warm palms kneaded and traced my curves, and I reveled in his touch, closing my eyes to enjoy the sensation better—
There was a sharp smack of fingers against skin as he slapped my breast.
“Eyes on me.”
I fluttered my eyelids back open. The sight of him shirtless and standing between my bound legs was intensely hot, and his dark, lewd expression in the flickering shadows was incendiary. I had to press my lips together to hold in the moan.
He moved lower. His fingertips drew a line down my belly and glided further along, continuing all the way through my center and up to a bent knee. Then, they trailed back down to where I was quivering. His feather light touch caused the muscles in the insides of my thighs to contract and flinch. I withstood his teasing for a lifetime, growing hot and more desperate with each passing moment. When was he going to really touch me? When was he going to fuck me?
He yanked a drawer open and searched around inside. It was shut with a thump beneath me, and he held something silver in his hands. A short strand of tiny silver beads. Clamps gleamed at either end. I watched with apprehension as he studied the clamps.
I was fairly sure where these were going, and when he gripped one of my breasts in a steady hand, it confirmed it. The jaws of the rubber tipped clamp pinched open, and then bit down on my hardened nipple.
It hurt. Not badly, but it was a burning ache. I gulped down breath as he fastened the clamp on the other nipple and dropped the cold chain connecting them onto my abdomen. His gaze flitted to mine, checking my reaction.
“I’m okay—” Wait, shit! I wasn’t supposed to speak.
His face turned to stone. “Congratulations. You’ve just lost the privilege of my touch.”
My heart sprinted. What did he mean? Again, he jerked the drawer open and something else was dug out. When Luka shut it, my mouth fell open. He dropped one on my stomach while he pulled the other on—a black latex glove. He tugged it up to his wrist, and then retrieved the other and shoved his hand inside. There was the tiny cloud of powder as it was snapped on. He laced his fingers together and settled the latex tightly in place.
It wasn’t like his rubber-coated touch was all that different than his regular one, but the implied idea was what got to me. This barrier between us, denying pure contact and dulling his heat. His black hands squeezed and gripped at me, while his bare chest shone faintly with sweat from the fire, and his belt buckle glinted against his black pants. He looked dangerous—no, lethal—this way. Fucking gorgeous.
I moaned when he pushed two fingers deep between my legs. Finally.
The chain between my breasts was clenched in a black-gloved hand while the other fucked me. His voice was commanding. “You’ll say my name when I pull on this chain.”
There was a small pull, generating heat and a sting on my nipples. “Luka.”
Pleasure rippled over his expression. “Who owns this body?”
Tug. “Luka.”
“Who’s the only man you’ve had inside you?”
Tug. I gasped at the sensation. It was painful, but in the way I enjoyed. “Luka.”
“Tell me who your greedy, wet pussy aches for?”
Tug. “Luka,” I moaned.
“Tell me,” he said, his words stronger, “who you belong to.”
Tug. I was half out of my mind. “Luka.”
His fingers drove into the spot, and his thumb circle above, giving me dual pleasure. His expression shifted into one that was beyond lust, into something I hadn’t seen before. It made my heart stop.
“Tell me the name of the man you love.”
Tug.
My mind went blank.
His second tug was more of a jerk, and I gasped against the acute pain, but no words spilled from my lips.
“Goddamnit, Addison. Answer me.”
He pulled so hard, I cried out and jerked against the rope. Emotion swirled and tumbled. I cared deeply about him, but love? I had to come up with a response. “You said no lies!”
The chain crashed against my skin as he dropped his hold and stumbled backward, staring at me with disbelief. He looked wild and . . .
Holy. Shit.
Luka looked crushed, and it was heartbreaking.
His gaze swung away from me, and he stared at the fire, coursing a dark hand through his hair. I wondered if he was trying to calculate where he’d made an error in his equation since he hadn’t gotten the answer he was expecting.
The night after that horrible dinner with his father, I’d told Luka I’d never love him. Somewhere along the way, I began to wonder if he could do the impossible. Had he already? No. I couldn’t be in love with him. He’d marked me as his and stained my soul to match his perfect shade of black, but I wasn’t ready to be in love with Luka Markovic.
His attention snapped back to me, his eyes focused. His pants were undone, and within a heartbeat, his dick pushed inside. I groaned at the intrusion, but I was happy. I wanted our bodies fused together.
The chain was snatched up. “Whose cock is that fucking you right now?”
Tug. I was eager to answer. “Luka.”
He began to pump his hips and injected me with his heat. “Who knows exactly how to make you come?”
Tug. “Luka.”
Even though the ropes immobilized me, his free hand locked on my waist and pinned me down. His thrusts were rough and furious, jolting me. “Tell me who you think about all the time.”
He didn’t even have to pull on the chain. “Luka,” I gasped in between his body slamming into mine. The desk banged against the floor and the ropes dug into my skin. “Luka, Luka, Luka . . .”
He pitched forward, fisting the chain tighter and brought us nose to nose. His eyes were full of darkness. Pools of liquid sin I would be thrilled to drown in.
“Who do you exist for?” he snarled, yanking the chain so hard my back bowed up and my chest met his.
“Luka!”
I came violently off of the pain and the pleasure, shattering beneath him. His lips sealed over mine, and I was sure he was sealing my fate with his devastating kiss.
π
We didn’t speak about it.
He made me come a second time on the desk, and then he’d followed after. He’d untied me, we’d gotten dressed in silence, and went to bed.
It bothered him over the next week, even though he said nothing. We ate our lunches and dinners together when our schedules allowed, and spent our nights in his big bed, learning more about each other and our lives. Nothing was off limits to him when he got curious, sexually or intellectually.
It was a Thursday night. I tossed and turned in bed, unable to keep my mind quiet. My financial aid package had arrived this afternoon and I’d discussed with Luka. While it would help, I’d still be looking at massive loans. It was normal to graduate from medical school with one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of debt, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach. He’d gone quiet when he saw the paperwork, considering it carefully, but there was little to be done.
It was what it was.
“You’ll be fine,” he commented. “You’ll pay those off in the first few years.”
But now it was after midnight and I couldn’t shut off my brain. I had to get up and do something, even if it was just to stop disturbing Luka every time I shifted beneath the sheets. I didn’t have class until noon tomorrow, but he had work.
I threw on my robe over my pajamas and padded down the hallway. I’d get something to drink and then surf the internet or read. Anything to distract. Anything to keep from thinking about my future and whether or not the man I’d left in bed was going to be a part of it.
Light glowed from beneath Vasilije’s door, but it wasn’t surprising. He always seemed to go to bed late. I poured a glass of white wine, hoping it’d make me sleepy, or deaden my noisy thoughts. I was halfway to the office when a hulking figure appeared in the open hallway that ran beside the dining room.
“You’re up late,” Vasilije said. He stood casually, but he was blocking my route to the office, and I couldn’t shake the feeling he was doing it on purpose.
“Yeah.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, and waited expectantly for him to move, but he didn’t. It forced me to go into the darkened dining room.
“Hey, hold up. I want to talk to you for a minute about something.”
Apprehension needled along my spine. Luka had an emotionless mask to hide what was going on inside, and it seemed as if his brother was the opposite. Vasilije’s large, warm grin disguised the empty chaos beneath.
He hurried around me into the room, blocking off my exit once more. “It’s about Luka.”
I swallowed thickly. “What about him?”
“You don’t have to be his prisoner. I can help you.”
Tension corded my muscles. “I’m not his prisoner.”
“It’s okay, Addison.” He stepped closer. Too close. His gaze roamed over my face, settling on my lips. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I’m not.” I was afraid, but it had nothing to do with Luka.
Vasilije’s grin was like the Cheshire cat’s, showing his perfectly white teeth and dimples. “Come on. I see you walking around here, following him like you’re his little pet. You don’t have to be his fucktoy.”
My blood roared in my veins and alarms blared in my head, but I did my best to not show any of it. “That’s not how it is.”
“What’s it like, then?” He inched closer, and I took a step back. “Tell me what a pretty, smart girl like you is doing with a boring guy like him. Doesn’t it make you crazy?”
“What?” I moved back again as he advanced on me.
His grin fell. He snatched the wine glass from my hand and set it on the table, and he affected his voice to a patronizing tone. “Luka’s ‘so smart,’ and he’s ‘such a hard worker,’ and so perfect. He makes me fucking crazy.”
My insides churned as I bumped backward into the wall. “He’s not perfect.”
“Yeah,” he said, annoyed. “He’s probably perfectly imperfect.” Vasilije reached out and slid his hand around my cheek, cupping my face. I jerked away from his unwelcomed touch and his hand was icy cold, in stark contrast to his brother’s. “Gets whatever he wants. He wanted you, and takes you, even if he’s gotta hold you here against your will.”
“I can leave whenever I want,” I said, my voice small.
He gave a humorless laugh, knowing it was a lie. Luka had given me a lot of freedom, but I still wasn’t free.
“Come on.” Vasilije’s hushed tone was gentle, yet scary. “Let me help you. I can talk to my father.” He moved so fast there wasn’t time to stop him. He tugged open the knot holding my robe closed. “You don’t have to be with Luka.”
I tried to duck under the thick arms that trapped me against the wall, but his hands were inside my robe, sliding around my waist.
“No!” I said, loudly.
“Shh. I’m not perfect, but I’m better than him.” The cold from his hands seeped through the thin fabric of my tank top. My shiver was instant, and I shuddered harder as he leaned closer, readying to cover my mouth with his. “And if you’re free, you can be with whoever you want. Right now,” he whispered, “in this moment.”
“I want him,” I blurted out. “I’m Luka’s.”
Vasilije halted, and looked unconvinced.
It urged me on. “I’m his, Vasilije, by choice. It didn’t start out that way, but that’s how it is now. I belong with him. I think he loves me,” I said, startled by how strong and confident my words were. They broke free and poured from my mouth. “And I know I’m in love with him.”
Vasilije’s expression soured, and his thoughts were visible in his eyes. He did not like losing out to his brother. His hands gripped tighter, driving his fingers into my skin.
“You’re hurting me,” I gasped and tried to get free.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!”
I’d been so focused on the threat of one Markovic, I hadn’t noticed the other when he appeared in the dining room. Luka was shirtless, with pajama pants slung loosely around his hips. He moved as a blur, throwing his brother off of me, sending Vasilije crashing against the buffet in the corner.
“Fuck, calm down,” his brother said. “We were just talking.”
There was no calming down for Luka. He got between me and his brother, using himself as a protective shield. His hands were clenched in fists and the muscles in his back and shoulders strained, tight beneath his skin. His deep voice was terrifying and believable. “Touch her again and I’ll kill you.”
“Whatever, Luka. I was testing her loyalty to you. You should thank me—”
“Get the fuck out of my sight.”
Vasilije’s angry footsteps plodded away and up the stairs. It wasn’t until a door slammed that Luka spun to face me, his expression full of alarm. “Are you all right?”
Adrenaline snaked in my system, but relief was also working its way through, and I nodded. Luka pulled me away from the wall and crushed me into his arms. His urgent mouth locked onto mine as if desperate to confirm our connection, and I matched him, eager.
“How much did you hear?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer with words. Instead he scooped me up and sat me on the dining table, and his kiss leveled me. He’d heard it all, and I blinked back the overwhelming tears that flooded my eyes. I loved him. It was my final surrender.
I flung the robe off my arms. I grasped at the hem of my tank top, lifting it up—
He broke the kiss. “We’re out in the open.”
He was worried about Vasilije? “Fuck him,” I said. “Let him see you taking what’s yours.”
We tore at our clothes together, hurling my shirt and our pants to the floor. I wrapped a hand around his cock, stroking him, and in two pumps down his length he was hard as steel. I needed him inside me. I had to know what it felt like to be joined together with the man I loved.
He hurried, preparing to take me.
When he slid inside, our moans mingled together. My arms banded around his shoulders and I held on, wrapping my legs around his hips. His mouth never left mine as he began to move. He was fucking me on the dining room table in the same spot he’d bent me over my first day here.
The dark need roared inside. I’d looked at him so long ago and wanted him to do bad things to me, and he had. Making me fall in love with him was the worst of all.
Luka typically didn’t do fast. He took his time and drew things out, but there wasn’t time for control now. I groaned with satisfaction as he pistoned his hips, fucking me like he had to, before we woke from this beautiful nightmare.
“I love you,” he breathed.
His words sent me soaring, and gave me the courage to admit the truth. “I love you, Luka.”
We were two bodies moving as one. He eased me back on the table and moved inside, claiming me over and over again. The room was a million degrees, burning away doubt and guilt and shame at loving him when I knew he wasn’t nice or good.
We erupted together. It was so hot I worried we’d scorch the tabletop.
He slowed to a stop, resting on top of me and still lodged deep inside, his face buried in the side of my neck. His hurried breathing was loud in my ear.
“You have to let me go,” I whispered.
He tensed, knowing I didn’t mean physically.
“I have to know this is real,” I continued. Because Vasilije’s words weren’t wrong. Did I love Luka because I had no choice?
He rose up on his arms and peered down at me with an expression that was a mixture of unhappiness and . . . fear. He was afraid of losing me.
“No,” he said.
“Give me space to find myself as this girl who can love you, and I’ll come back.”
“I need you here with me. How can I go back to how it was before you?”
“Please, Luka. This matters. You said anything that matters to me, matters to you. Please.”
Hearing me beg for freedom broke him a little. He retreated, and I followed him up, wrapping my arms around him.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” he said finally, his voice unsure. “Let you walk out the door and not follow you.”
“You can. You got me to fall in love with you.” I pressed my forehead against his. “You can do anything.”