Cole turned to him and immediately became a different child entirely. He lit up the way he did when he was with people who mattered to him.
“I finished the Vietnam book,” he said, stepping toward Dmitri. “I have so many questions.”
“I like questions.” Dmitri kept his eyes on me for a moment longer before dropping them to Cole. “I will take two tonight. I have something important to get to.”
The last part of that statement was meant for me. The smirk confirmed it, and the way his eyes moved over my body once before he followed Cole said the rest.
I stayed rooted to the same spot until their voices faded.
This was the chance I was likely to get tonight, and I needed to decide right now what to do with it. I had one thing to offer, and I had already made peace with offering it.
I was still wearing the silver dress. Standing there in it, I could admit that whoever chose it knew exactly what they were doing. I was going to put it to a different use tonight.
I went upstairs to the room I woke up in this morning. It was Dmitri’s room. I learned to recognize his scent and the little details like the color and taste without wanting to.
Standing in the middle of it, I thought about the logistics.
Was I supposed to strip and wait on the bed? No, that was too obvious and desperate. Maybe I could walk to the shower and stay there until he walked in? That felt like something froma film. It terrified me for reasons I couldn’t understand—two strangers under the running water, with nowhere to look but at each other.
When the doorknob turned, I moved instinctively backward and to the bed. My hands settled in front of me, trying to find a posture that said less than the fear deep inside.
Dmitri stepped in. He had loosened his shirt at the collar, and his suit jacket hung from one hand. He stood there for a moment, as if he were reading the room before committing, and pulled the door shut behind him. The lock clicked into place. That small sound did something immediate and unwelcome to my confidence.
This was a stranger, a man I had just met. And I was standing in his bedroom making calculations about letting him between my legs for a favor he hadn’t agreed to yet.
My heart wasn’t just racing now. It was embarrassing itself.
He stood by the door, saying nothing, which was worse than if he had said something.
It was now or never.
I lifted my hand and found the dress’s strap. Slowly, holding his gaze, I began pushing it off my shoulder. I didn’t look away so that I could see his reaction. The lust was already there. One thing about him, he would look, make you notice he was looking, and wouldn’t be apologetic about it.
I swayed my hips and pulled the dress down, inch by careful inch, until it dropped and pooled around my feet. I stepped out of it and stood in front of him in only my underwear. He took his time, eyes moving from my chest down to my stomach and back up without rushing or pretending he wasn’t doing exactly that.
“Let’s do it,” I said. “I will do anything you want.”
His lips moved to form a smile, and then he thought better of it. “Anything I want?” He tossed the jacket onto the sofa in the corner and started moving toward me, folding back one sleeve.“Do you understand the weight of those words?”
“I’m serious.”
“I know you are.” He folded back the other sleeve. “And so am I. But you don’t know how I like it.”
The idea of tying me in the basement came back to me immediately, and my body shivered. Was he serious about that?
“Tell me how, and I’ll do it.”
He chuckled and stopped directly in front of me. “What you’re asking for is dangerous, Inna.” The smile disappeared. “Are you certain?”
I hesitated before nodding.
“Hm,” the sound came low. His eyes dropped to my chest and stayed there a moment. “I will fuck you in more ways than you’re ready for.” His eyes found mine. “But I’m curious about one thing. Why are you shaking?”
“I’m not,” I said quickly. “And if I am, it’s because it’s cold here. Are we doing this or not?”
He scoffed. I couldn’t read what was behind it, amusement or something else, and I hated that I couldn’t read him. I hated it more that I was standing in front of him in my underwear and he still looked like he was enjoying seeing me like that.
“Let’s make it interesting.” He pushed both hands into his pockets. “If I find you wet, I’ll fuck you however I want tonight. If you’re not, you win, and you can ask me for one thing, whatever you want.”