“Sevastyan?”
Flambé sounded so tired he was immediately ashamed of indulging himself even further by just lying half over the top of her.
“What is it, baby?” He kept his voice gentle.
“I need to take a bath, but I’m so tired I don’t think I can move enough to get back downstairs.”
“I didn’t make it clear that you would be sleeping with me here in this room from now on? I’m fairly certain I did, Flambé. Maybe you were too excited to listen to me. It’s been a long night. We’ll move your things in here and I’ll program you into the security code so you can come and go as you please. Let me get the water running for your bath while you rest.”
He lifted his head and looked down at her face. She had her eyes closed. She looked as if she was already drifting off. He wasn’t sure by the expression on her face if she was happy with the idea of sleeping in the bedroom with him. The thought made him smile. Wasn’t the woman supposed to want to sleep with her man?
He brushed kisses over her eyelids and then her nose. “Thank you, malen’koye plamya. You were quite amazing as a beginner at our rope practice. I should have taken your picture, but I didn’t want to leave you in the ropes too long.”
“I loved the ropes.”
He could hear the honesty in her voice, but she didn’t open her eyes. Her face was very relaxed. He loved the way she looked. He wanted to roll her into him, curl around her and fall asleep just that way. That was an interesting idea to him when it had never occurred to him to sleep with another human being in the same room, let alone in the same bed or touching his skin. When he’d thought about having a woman of his own he hadn’t considered exactly where he’d have her sleep. He wanted access to her all night, but he didn’t think he would just curl around her and go to sleep. That was what restraints were for—to keep everyone safe.
“I thought the patterns were so beautiful, Sevastyan. You can make anyone look beautiful and sensual in your creations.”
That sleepy note in her voice stirred his cock. He forced himself to move, reluctantly withdrawing from the haven of her body. He had already grown semi-hard again just listening to that drowsy, very sensual bedroom voice she had. As he shifted his weight off of her, she curled onto her side away from him. Her hair spilled across the black of his sheets in a bright splash of brilliant crimson silk.
Immediately, because his mind worked that way, images began to form in his head of her tied, the black background under her, red hair spilling around her; his captive, the shifter, strawberry leopard that she was, feminine, soft, bending, yielding, submissive even, until one looked closer and saw her immense power. The ties would have to be just right.
“Or you made my creation look beautiful and sensual,” he corrected, and kissed the swelling at her hairline before sliding off the bed to go to the master bath to run the water for her.
While the tub was filling, he cleaned himself and returned to her to find her half asleep. Her lashes fluttered, acknowledging his presence, but she didn’t lift her head. He began to pace, trying to decide what to do about the sleeping arrangements.
Flambé sighed and rolled over onto her back to look up at the very high ceiling. “What is it, Sevastyan? I thought we were going to talk things out.”
She was going to talk things out with him, he wasn’t. But she was right. He was all for honesty. “I want you in this room with me at night, every night. We’re getting married as soon as possible and we share sleeping quarters.” He made that a firm statement. Her gaze shifted from his and she visibly winced but she didn’t argue.
“But?”
There could have been a note of amusement in her voice. He stopped pacing abruptly and swung around to face her again. She was back staring up at the ceiling. Now her hands were linked behind her head. She looked absolutely relaxed. Small. Her hair was still everywhere, as if it was untamable. The sight of it stirred the dominant in him. Or the leopard in him. It didn’t matter which. There was more to Flambé than was on the surface and he needed to be aware of that. He couldn’t take her for granted. Not for one moment. She was hiding herself from him.
This was a woman who frequently went overseas to find other strawberry leopards or leopards of other subspecies that were slowly becoming extinct. She exhibited no fear when she went into those lairs and explained her plans to the elders. She faced down poachers. Sevastyan had asked that she be investigated and she had been—thoroughly. In Africa and the Middle East, two different poaching factions who trafficked in animal parts and pelts had put out a reward for her death. Drake had known of her and her father long before Sevastyan had asked for a report.
“Before I actually found a woman and claimed her, I made certain there were features built into this room so that I could have my woman close and ensure that she was safe at all times as well. Not only that she was safe, but that I was and our leopards were.”
Flambé sat up slowly, pushing her hair back from her face with one hand and looking warily at him with large cat’s eyes.
“That you were safe? Why wouldn’t you be safe from your woman?”
“I’m an Amurov. My family would always be willing to pay someone to assassinate me.”
“I see.” She said it slowly, frowning, as though she didn’t really see. “So, a woman might go so far as to seduce you and then kill you in your sleep. You wouldn’t hear her lies, and neither would your leopard because you’d be so enamored with her that you just would fall all over her, like you did me.”
That was a trap if he ever heard one. He set traps, he didn’t fall into them. He stared at her without replying.
“What are these sleeping arrangements?” Suspicion colored her voice. She moved to the edge of the bed.
He turned away from her on the pretense of checking the water filling the bathtub. She looked too tempting with her breasts jutting toward him covered in his marks of possession and her hips, mound and thighs marked with the same. Satisfaction coursed through him. He was far more primitive than he ever thought he was. He’d tied so many women, but never once had he wanted to see those rope patterns on their skin. Never had he thought to sink his teeth into them in a claiming bite even though shifters were extremely oral. Now, just the sight of his marks on Flambé had his cock stirring all over again.
It was a large bathtub, but the taps were high pressure and would fill it rather quickly. Steam rose, curling into the air. He liked hot water and he intended to bathe with her. He wanted to start their life together as it would continue. She joined him, surprising him by walking in completely nude, her hands in her hair, winding it into some messy knot that she clearly was well versed in making when she took baths. It didn’t seem to matter that her hair spilled out of the knot in disarray; she looked more tempting to him than ever.
“It looks hot.” Flambé bent down to test the water with her fingers.
“Very much so.” He made it a statement as he put both hands around her waist and lifted her right into the middle of the tub.
She hissed her displeasure, but she didn’t try to claw at him to get out as he half expected. The water wasn’t so hot it would burn her skin, but it was hot enough to maybe be a little uncomfortable. He’d poured healing salts into it in order to help ease any soreness their wild fucking had created.
Flambé stood for a few minutes as the tub continued to fill with the hot, steamy water. “You were telling me about the sleeping arrangements. Just what are the options? I assume there are options.”
His gaze swept over her body deliberately. “I could tie you to our bed in a different position every night. I’m very imaginative. It would take quite a while before we would have to start repeating positions.”
“Seems like a fire hazard to me. I think sleeping downstairs appeals to me more.” She gave a little sniff of disdain.
He turned off the taps and stepped into the tub, towering ov
er her. Crowding her, when there was enough room that he didn’t have to.
Flambé stepped back and then had to catch at his hips to stop herself from slipping. He continued to stand, trapping her between his larger body and the high side of the tub. Very gently, but with firm command, he put one hand on her shoulder and applied pressure. The order was clear. He wanted her to sit down in the water and he wanted her to do it right there where there was little room between their bodies.
She tilted her head to look up at him, her cat’s eyes meeting his for just one moment. There was a brief hint of defiance that had the dominant in him rising fast, a sharp brutal power unfurling in him that raked and clawed just as violently as his leopard. He stared straight into her eyes, letting her see who he was, what he was and what she would always have to deal with.
A part of him detested that he had been born twisted and fucked-up, created by a strain of vile men who thought only of themselves and wanted nothing but power over others. He had fought the cruel streak in his makeup, the raging temper, and he’d kept others safe from both his leopard and himself. He cupped the side of her face and leaned down to take her mouth.
Her lips were soft. Reluctant or not, she opened for him and his tongue swept inside all that heat and glorious fire. The moment he touched her, Flambé surrendered herself into his keeping. More, she gave him as good as he gave her. She matched him flame for flame. She poured liquid accelerant onto the fire, her tongue stroking along his. Dancing with his. Dueling with his. She kissed like sin. She kissed like a fucking angel.
Flambé wasn’t in the least bit passive and he knew she never would be. She had a healthy sex drive and she wasn’t ashamed of it. She would need that with him. His body raged at him without his leopard driving him. When their leopards got in on the act, the two of them were going to be in trouble. He was looking forward to it.
Kissing Flambé was dangerous, not at all soothing. It was more like lighting a match to a stick of dynamite. He wasn’t used to having reactions to women. He didn’t give a damn one way or the other about them as a rule, with the exception of his cousins’ wives. And even then, when it came to matters of security, he ruled with an iron fist. But Flambé could change all that and he wasn’t certain that was a good thing, not when there was so much ugliness in him he fought to keep suppressed.
Sevastyan lifted his head and kept pressure on her shoulder. Flambé blinked up at him like a sleepy kitten, coming out of a fog, looking adorable and sexy at the same time. The steam had put a light dew on her skin so that every inch of her seemed to glow and the pattern of the ropes gleamed red.
Her long lashes did that little flutter that always drew his attention and then she slowly began to sink down, using him to steady herself, her hands on his hips and then gliding lower as she sank. Her face pressed against his abdomen as she moved down, her breath warm. His cock became a monster, hard and aching. He felt her tongue sliding over the broad, sensitive crown, lapping greedily at the leaking drops there and then curling around his shaft and gliding up his heavy sac. Then the inside of his thighs were treated to the feel of her tongue before she settled in the tub.
Flambé drew up her knees and looked up at him, a wicked expression on her face. She raised one eyebrow before resting her chin on her knees. “I believe we were talking about sleeping arrangements.”
She was going to be a handful and he couldn’t help but love the challenge. Just because she enjoyed his art and her leopard species preferred submission to her male didn’t mean she was a pushover by any means. He was in for a lifetime of surprises. He wasn’t a man who would ever enjoy the mundane. Flambé appeared to suit him perfectly, although that meant they were going to butt heads more than he’d like.
He sank into the hot water and took the end position of the tub, waiting for her to scoot around to the opposite end. When she did and stretched out her legs, he took her foot to massage it. “You seem very stuck on the sleeping arrangements. Did you have something in mind?” He turned the tables back on her.
She rested her head on the soft pillow angled for her and closed her eyes. “I’m just tired, Sevastyan, and I guess I want to know where I stand with you. I’ve never really been in a relationship and you’re pushing us very fast. I’m willing to sleep downstairs if it makes you uncomfortable to have me be up here with you.”
She wasn’t lying. She would definitely go back downstairs to the master bedroom. That was the third time she’d suggested it. She was trying to put distance between them.
“No, baby. I want you up here with me.” He kept his voice very gentle. “I had preconceived ideas of what it would be like if I found someone. Now that I have you, those ideas aren’t the same. I want you close to me.”
Her lashes fluttered again. Lifted. She looked at him, seemingly a little hesitant. “I know you don’t want anyone sleeping in your bed with you and I understand that. I do, Sevastyan. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. I was looking at the tree in your room, which, by the way, is extremely cool. It has that little hammock hanging from a branch. I could sleep there.”
He studied the expression on her face as she made the offer. She was actually quite hopeful he would want her to sleep there, which was actually very comical. The tree and hammock had been designed as an art piece, but also to weave a woman into a tight space, possibly an uncomfortable position that would—eventually—give her a sense of rebirth. The experience could release endorphins that were both sexual in nature and a kind of euphoria for the recipient. Perhaps his little Flambé had inadvertently discovered the process without knowing what she was doing, just as a runner could release certain endorphins.
“Thank you for the offer, Flambé. I appreciate it. I do intend to use the hammock with you once you build your stamina in the ropes, but as far as sleeping arrangements, I prefer to have you as close to me as possible. I want to wake up with you right beside me. I find I have need of you close for many reasons.”
He wasn’t going to elaborate. Most were of a sexual nature, but he was very concerned with her safety. He didn’t want her too far from him, especially knowing she had Franco Matherson as a stalker. Or that she had death threats against her. She also had it in her head that she could escape him if things weren’t to her liking, and Shturm had claimed her female leopard. While Flambé’s father had brought her up in the rules of lair life, he clearly hadn’t explained what occurred after the claiming.
Shturm wouldn’t be able to give Flamme up. He would follow her to the ends of the earth. Sevastyan didn’t blame Flambé for not understanding the rules when she wasn’t fully aware of them, but those were things that could get others killed. Others like Cain. He didn’t like the fact that she, even for one moment, had considered going to Cain.
“I have a meeting with a supplier tomorrow,” Flambé said. “It’s important for me to go. I know that you’ve got all sorts of things you have to do, so can you have one of your bodyguard friends available to come with me? I can’t cancel it. I did grab my schedule and I’ll get it typed in so I can send it to you and you won’t have to be blindsided.”
Sevastyan paused the massage, both hands clasping her foot. “Flambé, don’t you think you should have told me immediately you had an important meeting?”
“I didn’t remember. I have to put in reminders,” she said. “I’ve got so much to do all the time and my reminders keep me on track. Without my phone, I’m kind of lost.”
He couldn’t fault her for that. No way was he allowing one of his “bodyguard friends” to go with her to meet with her suppliers. Franco had her schedule. And her leopard was close to the emerging.
“I need to know exactly where you’re supposed to be and who you’re meeting with in the next month, Flambé. If possible, you’re going to change those meeting times and days.”
Her eyes flew open and she tried to sit up straight but he refused to relinquish his hold on her foot.
She glared at him. “I can’t just change everyone’s meeting times and their days. In some cases, we booked those times months ago. You know how upset you were when I cancelled on you.”
He nodded. “Sevastyan Amurov is leopard and you knew that going into it. The majority of your other clients are not. Who else do you work for that is leopard?”
Sevastyan kept his gaze fixed on her face, watching her expression closely. He saw the instant shutter come down. She was a businesswoman, used to protecting her clients, the shifters in particular. She didn’t divulge information.
“I am responsible for your security now, Flambé,” he reminded gently instead of demanding as he normally might. “I’m not just prying.” This was about her landscaping business, not a personal matter between them. He was always going to have to be careful about separating the two if it was possible.
“Jake Bannaconni. Mitya and Fyodor Amurov, your cousins. My father had them as customers, not me. I’ve never been on their properties, but recently Eli Perez called me. He’s a shifter my father worked for. Elijah Lospostos is also a shifter my father worked for and I have an appointment with him later in the month. And Cain Dufort. Those are all the local customers that I have at the moment who are shifters.”
His gut tensed. His leopard leapt for the surface, raking and clawing for supremacy. He wanted to do a little clawing of his own but he kept his hands very relaxed as he continued pressing the knots out of her foot. Very gently he put that foot down and picked up the other. That gave him time to breathe away the worst of his rage—the raw edges of it where it was crimson and brutal and desperate for blood.
“Dufort’s business? His club?”
“Both. His private residence and his club. I also work at Bannaconni’s office buildings and his private residence as well. Bannaconni owns several buildings, as do you and your cousins. My company recently signed a contract to work up designs for them too.”
“Is it possible that Franco has infiltrated your company? You have to employ quite a lot of people to cover that many projects as well as non-shifters.”