The Beauty Who Loved Him by Bethany-Kris

9.

Breathless giggleswere Vaslav’s favorite sound. As long as he got to hear it while Vera straddled him in nothing but her skin and a sly smile. Her skin pebbled from the cool air because he hadn’t even given either of them time enough to wake up properly and get moving around before he’d pulled her black panties off to get better access to the heaven between her thighs.

The fire in the fireplace was probably out.

It felt cold enough for it.

He barely even noticed with her on top of him, and he didn’t think the way she shivered up above him was from the cold. With his back resting against the headboard of the king size bed and his arms acting as a pillow behind his head, he had a good, comfortably reclined view of the woman attempting to tease him.

She was succeeding.

He wouldn’t let her know it.

Vera’s fingertips skimmed down along the swells of her breasts as she rocked her hips forward and back again. The rhythm didn’t stop. Every tortuous, slow grind of her wet slit up and down the length of his bare, hard erection tested Vaslav’s self-control in the absolute worst way. He wasn’t even inside her.

And that was the entire point.

“Are you fucking someone else?” she asked him.

He blinked and chuckled a bit at the frank way she’d asked him the question that time, but otherwise, he refused to move. He didn’t touch her while she sat atop him and rocked against his body enough that every muscle was like a live wire.

Ready to snap.

The first time she asked him that had been a bit too rose-tinted for his liking. His reply had been something akin to, just ask me if I am fucking someone else. He got what he wanted.

“I’m not,” he returned.

Sex took a great deal of energy. A lot of energy that he didn’t care to spend at the moment. He barely even had to work for it with Vera. Just waking up beside her in bed before the sun had risen in the sky was enough to get his dick hard. Fuck the wind. He didn’t need to hear that shit; her light breaths into his shoulder was more than enough to do the job.

Here we are, he thought.

“Then if you’re not fucking someone else,” Vera said sweetly with that same saccharine smile that made him want to kiss her mouth until she bruised and squealed, “I just want you.”

“Go get the condoms.”

She didn’t move.

Actually, her hips rocked a little faster.

Her breath hitched, too.

Vaslav could have stopped her if he really wanted to, he preferred not to admit that fact to himself. Maybe he liked exactly what she was doing a little too much for his own good. And perhaps ... if only a bit, he wanted what she was asking from him, too.

“Fuck,” he cussed low, a guttural moan catching in his throat when her lust-heavy blue eyes landed on his. “This isn’t playing fair.”

“Who wants fair, Vas? I told you—”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He knew what she wanted.

Didn’t change much.

She sucked a hiss of air between her clenched teeth as he felt the warmth silkiness of her sex pulse with the increased speed of her tempo. She could get off like this—just rubbing her slit and clit, sopping wet, along his erection while he did nothing at all but stare at her. And he loved it. Every responsive sigh she made. Each time her long lashes fluttered closed because she found the right angle on the next stroke. He was as slick as she—just as breathless and desperate, too, even if he was better at subduing it—thanks to the way she’d been rubbing herself on him, chasing pleasure and teasing him all the while.

God.

Yeah, he knew she’d look even better with his dick disappearing inside of her, but this was what she got from him if she wasn’t willing to play by his rules.

Hence, the condoms.

Her fingers glided over her public bone before dancing up his stomach. Every hard muscle in his abdomen clenched at the featherlight touch. He’d have given anything to feel her nails dig into his skin. Just a bite of pain would have distracted him from how good her pussy felt in those seconds. That was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Just what she wanted, too.

“Vera—”

“Can I come?” she asked, her voice pitched high.

His tongue tapped the roof of his mouth as an airless laugh burst from his lips. “Anytime you want, kisska. Get it out of your system, and then go get me a goddamn rubber to—”

“What is the problem? Do you want a panel of test results or—”

“I don’t want children.”

Instantly, Vera came to a stop on top of him. A shame, really, because not only had he been enjoying the bob and sway of her breasts, but the sudden ache deep in his balls signified he’d been a hell of a lot closer to an orgasm that he would ever willingly admit. He never did, but he didn’t add that out loud. There was no need to rub salt in a woman’s fresh wound unless she was a particular type of woman. Like his mother. Vaslav expected the news of his disinterest in being a father would land on Vera with the same impact it did on most other people.

He thought for sure she’d respond with sadness.

Instead, her blue eyes only narrowed, and a clipped tone soon followed. “Neither do I, which is exactly why I’ve had the shot for the last half of a decade almost, despite my doctor pointing out at my yearly check-up that I should change it to something more permanent. It’s not meant for the long term, but it works for me. I don’t mind the schedule, I don’t get a period nine months out of the year, and guess what? No babies.”

Even just that word made him cringe. Baby.

“Don’t make a face,” she said, not missing his expression. “I didn’t say it like I’m about to go out on a shopping spree for carriages and onesies.”

“What are onesies?”

“Don’t shout,” Vera pouted.

“Then what is the entire point of this?” he exploded with a heavy laugh. “I’m pretty sure you just gave me blue balls all because we both want the same goddamn thing.”

Vera tipped her head to the side. “So, why don’t you get a vasectomy, or even better, why haven’t you already? Don’t tell me you’re not capable.”

The very best way to kill his mood in three seconds flat was talk of needles and knives near his testicles. He was not so prideful that he couldn’t admit to being a simple man at the end of the day. Who would not be getting his ball sack cut open while he was awake to do it. And because he didn’t trust any person in the world to have access to him while he was unconscious, surgery was out of the question unless it was literally life or death.

Vaslav shrugged and offered her a wink. “Because I’m not fond of cold hands.”

Her brow puckered cutely before she glowered at him, and she slapped his stomach lightly with her palm when she realized he’d made a terrible joke. “Stop it. I was trying to have a serious conversation here.”

Precisely.

And he was not.

“Vera, I woke you up to fuck,” he told her, finally releasing his arms from their job as a pillow so he could grab hold of her waist. “The same way I’ve woken you up every morning that you’ve spent in my bed. The same way I would like to start this morning—especially because I have a very long day ahead.”

She’d been so close to her orgasm just before she’d stopped. He’d felt it in the constant trembling in her thighs, and the way her focus lingered more on their connected bodies as her hips had started to pick up speed again. She’d been clenching her legs around him like a cage before she had to go and open her mouth. There was something addicting about the way she looked to him as she unabashedly chased her high, seeking her bliss in pleasure. The fact that she used him to do it made it all the more hot to him.

“And if only you’d shut up,” Vaslav continued after getting her hips rocking on him again with the aid of his tight grip on her hips, “we can get back to what I wanted. We both know the truth,” he told her, grinning like the cat lapping at the cream. A tremor worked its way through the bottom lip she was biting on while she stared down at him. “That’s what you really want, too.”

She sneered at him, then.

He laughed right back.

His sweet little kitten.

All fluff.

Tiny claws.

“Prick,” she whispered.

“Yes, the very one you’ve been using to rub yourself off on, you sweet little thing.”

Dirty, too. She was sinfully wicked working for her orgasm unashamed and wild. He liked her best that way. She talked less.

If only he didn’t like it when she did that, too.

“At least tell me why,” Vera whispered.

He swore he could hear the please on the tip of her tongue. The image of Vera begging while he flattered her to the bed, held her down on her stomach, and fucked her into another sweaty, humming mess filled his mind. Now, he just wanted to be doing that.

Instead, he settled on answering her truthfully. Hadn’t she earned it? “Condoms give me control, you understand?”

Vera’s fingers locked around his wrists, hips still bucking. “Doesn’t change anything.”

Vaslav opened his mouth to respond, but she was quick to quiet him when her hand landed on his chin. One finger pressed against his lips. He could hear how close she was to the precipice of her release by the high, hitched way she spoke and how tight and fast her rocking hips came along his cock while her warm, soft ass massaged his balls.

“It doesn’t change facts,” she said, the last word smacking from her lips. “It takes one sperm, that sperm doesn’t even have to start inside my body, either. How long did you have me on my knees last night while you jerked off against my pussy? Rubbed me one out after, too, Vas—” His fingers clamped down harder, making her hiss his name a second time, but it wasn’t enough to quiet her. “It isn’t any different, you’re playing with semantics because it makes you feel better. And I just want to—”

He bit down on her finger, and that worked. Not only to shut her up, but also to coax out the orgasm she’d been working on for minutes now.

Shocker.

His tender companion, all sweet even in her sin, sometimes needed a bit of pain, too. He didn’t regret silencing anything else she wanted to throw at him when she was three seconds away from screaming her brains out, either. They could play a game of who knew biology better after she got off, frankly.

She kept one hand around his wrist, and the other slid down his chest as her hips came to a jerky stop while she cried out her relief. Pleasure hummed through every inch of her body as she wiggled on him from the sensitivity between her thighs.

“God,” she breathed, still not quite ready to catch her breath yet, “you just had to do that to me.”

“Well, you wouldn’t shut up.”

“I’m still not wrong,” she shot back.

His balls ached again, but all it took was a single glance down to see the precum leaking from the head of his cock. The same seed he took such a careful effort to destroy ever since he understood the concept of passing his poison on, he didn’t need a longer family line. Life was simpler when people didn’t call Vaslav out on his bullshit, but Vera seemed to take every opportunity to do so as a challenge.

Most times, she probably wouldn’t regret it. He couldn’t make it a promise, though. This time, however, he wouldn’t deny her what she wanted. His ego would take the hit and let her be right.

For once.

Pushing away from the headboard, Vaslav caught Vera with a kiss that left her weak in his hands. She seemed all too happy to be devoured with every swipe of his lips over hers. She was still shaking when his tongue speared past her open mouth to tangle with hers as he shoved her back to the bed. Her hair spread like a halo over the cream sheets, and she widened her legs for him the second he hovered over her.

Vaslav shook his head, saying only, “Oh, no, kisska. You wanted what you wanted, remember? I’m going to make sure I’m as deep in you as I can get for it, too.”

He grabbed her hip to flip her onto her stomach, and only the sharp intake of her exhale echoed in the room when he hooked an arm around her knees, and dragged her ass higher. Not much, but he spread her legs wide again while he stroked his cock with fast, tight pumps of his fist. She was quite a sight like that, waiting and spread open. Slipping two fingers between her folds, he hummed his approval at the slick heat he found waiting for him while she squirmed as he toyed with her clit for a few hard circles just to wake her body back up again.

She would be paradise wrapped around him, bare, snug, and soaked. Vaslav couldn’t wait.

And then she wiggled at him.

Or rather, her ass.

“Hurry.”

Her quip earned her the smack of his palm landing where her thigh melted into the swell of her ass. The bright pink handprint he left behind was as pretty as the hiss that cut through Vera’s lips while her muscles went tight from her head on her toes.

“You hush,” he replied.

“If you do that again, on the other side.”

Vaslav laughed, and gave her exactly what she wanted. It left her ass with matching handprints on both sides, and he planned on adding a hell of a lot more while he palmed handfuls of her perky ass while he buried himself balls deep until he couldn’t fucking breathe. He’d leave a bruise for every single finger on his hands, and he bet she would still ask for more.

Why couldn’t he spend his entire day like this?

He wasn’t asking for much.

The second the head of his cock was poised at the opening of Vera’s wet slit, she was already trying to back on him, rolling her hips and ass into him to get even an inch more. Yet, he held her off. Even when she whined and her fingers curled into the bedsheets.

He waited.

Just long enough for her to relax.

And then he was all in.

One hard stroke, her body, already wet and greedy for more, took him straight to the hilt. He filled her with every inch of his cock until his balls were seated again damp, shivering skin. Her head tilted back, and a breathy laugh echoed from Vera when one of his hands cupped the front of her throat. His other hand pressed the small of her back down until her stomach was flat against the mattress.

With his feet planted on either side of her legs, he could get good and deep. Every pump of his hips came harder and harder until those whines of hers were a constant crescendo of moans that he wouldn’t soon forget. Vera made beautiful music when he fucked her.

He couldn’t hold her tight enough. Couldn’t get enough of her skin against his. There just wasn’t enough to go around—not of her smell, the way she looked under him, or how just being like this with her was more than enough to almost make him forget about the constant ache deep in the base of his skull. He swore the faster and deeper that he took Vera, every slap of his body against hers started to match the thump-thump-thump of pain in his head.

He could deal with it like this.

Didn’t mind it as much.

“Oh, my God,” he heard her mumble into the bedsheets.

Sweat slicked down her spine.

She clenched all around him.

Vaslav put a bit more weight behind the next flex of his hips; and he knew in that moment he’d been right. He could feel every single flutter of her inner walls and the way her muscles milked him the closer she came to her orgasm.

The thoughts of his pain were already a distant memory. Life had given him something far better to enjoy for the moment.

*

“Vas, did you hear me?”

“As hot as you can stand it,” he called back.

The answer to her question on the temperature for the shower she promised to share with him must have satisfied Vera as the next thing he knew, the sound of rushing water spilled out from the attached master bath.

He should have followed her right in. Had she been a little more observant, Vera would have realized there wasn’t actually that much of a mess on the bed for him to clean. A pile of sheets in the corner that Mira could wash and dry later. Nothing terrible.

The few minutes gave him time to think, however. Or rather, time to make a phone call. One he didn’t particularly want Vera being privy to if he could help it. Not because he thought she would use it against him at a later date, either. He simply didn’t want her to have to deal with his mother.

Not yet.

Early morning wasn’t exactly the best time to call his mother, but he didn’t care about her preferences when it came to him. Not to mention, he couldn’t think of a single alcoholic that could manage to drag themselves, coherently, from a bed before seven.

Nonetheless, he stepped out of the bedroom and into the sitting room of the master suites as he dialed Natalia’s familiar number. His mother wasn’t the type to pick up on the first or second ring. He’d also added her contact to his block list in his cell phone so that by some chance she did manage to get ahold of his new personal cell number, he’d already been ahead of the issue.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t call her.

It would also come up private.

After the sixth ring, he started to think the call might go to voicemail, but then he remembered that the last time the bill came in, he’d ordered Mira to remove every extra thing from his mother’s side of things. Including her voicemail, call waiting, and extra data just because he had been feeling extra spiteful that day.

So, he didn’t hang up.

Vaslav let the phone keep ringing.

He’d come to stand at the windows overlooking the front property, giving him a good view of the entire yard, and the hill all the way down to the towering lilac trees and the gate at the very bottom. His mother picked up the phone after what felt like more minutes than he would consider acceptable for anyone else expecting a call from him.

Even if she hadn’t been expecting it.

That didn’t really matter.

“D-da, da—chto ty khochesh'?”

Vaslav chuckled, and silence fell over the line. “Is that anyway to pick up a call from your only son, Natalia?”

A phlegmy cough answered his question, and he swore he heard a piece of furniture squeak on the other end of the call. “Vaslav?”

“Who else?”

“It’s—” Was she sober? He couldn’t tell when her words weren’t slurred. Then again, she could drink nearly a gallon of vodka in a day and still keep her eyes straight. “Christ, it’s barely seven in the morning!”

“And?”

“And! And?” Natalia spluttered.

He didn’t dignify that with a response. Vaslav wasn’t a fan of wasting his time.

“I see the doubled monthly allowance has been a good enough consideration for you to keep your distance,” Vaslav noted. “I appreciate that, Mat.”

Natalia sighed a shaky breath that cracked over the phone. “It’s not like you give me a choice. You pay my rent, every other bill, and you're the one putting anything in my bank account lately. I don’t mind being paid not to see your damn face, Vaslav.”

Oh, he knew.

She proved that once when she used his money and influence to keep him locked up in a madhouse for as long as she could. The doctors that were supposed to help spent the majority of their time keeping him locked in a room with walls made of cement bricks and his typical daily outfit included nothing more than a straitjacket, and something akin to a ball gag that kept him from shouting, biting, or anything else useful. Her only mistake was thinking no one else cared about Vaslav back then. Too bad for her, it was also what got him out.

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of Mira for a month,” she complained, then.

Vaslav massaged the spot between his eyes where extra tension had taken hold as he was forced to sit through her nasally voice. Even if it was just over the phone. Except that was the point ... soon, the two of them would be face to face once more.

“I need a favor,” Vaslav said.

He wouldn’t engage her on the Mira issue. That was just one person Natalia could sink her claws into when Vaslav’s back was turned. One of the only people close to him, daily, that could feed Natalia information she wouldn’t otherwise have. Not that Mira meant to spill any of his secrets ... she just wanted to please.

Too kindhearted, really.

“I’m sorry?” Natalia’s tone changed all at once. Dripping with an oily sweetness that he knew was fake right from the start, she asked, “What exactly does that mean?”

Fuck.

She was already plotting.

He could tell.

The bitch didn’t even know anything yet, not his favor he planned to ask, the recent changes in his life, or even the fact there was a woman waiting for him just a room or so away ... naked, wet under hot water, and entirely his. All things he’d like to keep from Natalia, but Vaslav knew ... it was just a matter of time before that ended.

What would happen then?

“Yes,” Vaslav said, clearing his throat. “I said a favor. I need one.”

“Do tell.”

“A dinner.”

“What, with who?”

“Your brother,” he uttered low.

Natalia took a second to respond. “Who?”

She heard him.

Vaslav refused to repeat it.

The chirpy, almost tickled, laughter that escaped his mother made him cringe for more reasons than one. She used to do that same laugh when he’d cry as a little boy because she was being particularly mean or rough with him, even going as far as enjoying the way he’d scream out when she bent his arms back at awkward angles simply because he wouldn’t sit still when she demanded it. Every part of Natalia Pashkova was a trigger for Vaslav.

In the worst way.

His life would be a million times better the day he put her into the ground, but that would all come in due time.

“Oh, God,” Natalia eventually said, sounding all too cheery when she asked, “What did you do now that you need to sit down at dinner with the Prosecutor General of Russia?”

“Right, my uncle,” he reminded her.

The man would go to great lengths to keep Vaslav from spreading that little known information to the rest of the public.

“A bastard. Papasha never acknowledged him and—”

“Mat, I know the fucking story. I promise I don’t give a shit to hear it again, either. Do me a favor and make a call. What do you want? Enough money to drown in it?” Or she could drown her liver; he wasn’t picky on what she bought with any money he gave her. Vodka included.

Vaslav didn’t particularly care to mingle in public with anyone, let alone a relative who had already previously agreed to keep his distance as long as he did the same. However, Vaslav was in need of someone within the higher ranks of the officials to pull the speculation away from him for recent bodies showing up in the canal. Less talk in the city meant less talk in the country; he didn’t need his brigadiers getting too close to his business that they could see if something was wrong. Especially because everything was wrong.

With him, anyway.

The bodies were a problem he had not forgotten about. He’d simply put it off for as long as he possibly could.

“So, I’m waiting, we’ll get back to the money,” Natalia said, suddenly wide awake and willing to chat like they did it every single day. Nobody could call her a terrible actress. “What did you do?”

“Who said I did anything?” he asked.

“You don’t have to say a thing,” Natalia returned, cackling as if her entire day had just been made. “It’s you, Vaslav. It’s always something with you.”

Bitch.

“Vas?” he heard Vera call from the bathroom. “Are you coming?”

He didn’t know if his mother heard the woman in the background, and frankly, he didn’t wait long enough to find out.

“Get me a dinner with the bastard, Mat,” Vaslav demanded, his tone offering no room for discussion, and then he hung up the phone. He barely missed a beat with Vera, already turning back to head for the sound of the shower and her responding giggles when he called back to her, “Give me ten minutes inside of you, and I will be.”

Again.