Alexandr's Cherished Submissive (6 page)

Peter laughed then yawned. Dark bags had formed beneath his eyes, and she was glad she hadn’t inherited that physical trait from the Cleary side of her gene pool. When she was tired, her eyes got a bit red rimmed, but it made her look more stoned than anything else. She hoped Uncle Peter was taking care of his health and made a mental note to talk to Aunt Mary about his diet.

Thumping his fist on the bar, he stood and sighed while looking down at her with an affectionate smile that warmed her heart. “I’m gonna go turn in before my beautiful Mary sends out a search team for me. Paul will walk you home whenever you’re ready.”

She yawned as well and muttered, “Tomorrow’s my day off so I’m gonna sleep in.”

“Wish I could get a day off,” Peter said with a teasing smile and gave her hair a gentle ruffle.

“Yeah, it’s tough being the king of Dublin,” she said, referring to the way people seemed to kiss his ass everywhere they went. All she had to do was mention that she was Peter Cleary’s niece and things would go smoothly.

“Maybe not the king, more like a duke.”

Shaking her head, she gathered up her purse with a smile and a mock curtsey. “Goodnight, your lordship.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart. Oh, and Jessica?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t get yer sights set on Alex.”

“Alex?”

He gave her a narrow-eyed look, his cheeks puffing as he huffed out a laugh. “Lass, I saw how you stared at him. I may be old, but I’m not so blind that I can’t see a pretty girl makin’ eyes at a handsome fella. I’d just advise you to cast your sights on someone else.”

Flushing a no-doubt bright red, she started to walk to the front door while trying to keep her stride unhurried and casual. “I wasn’t making eyes at him. I was staring at him in disgust.”

Peter sighed and threw up his hands in defeat “What you said earlier? You were right. I can’t tell you who you can or cannot see. My family made that mistake with your mother, and I’m not gonna repeat it. I will say, however, that there are a billion men I’d rather see you with than Alexandr. You deserve a good, safe man. Someone you can grow old with. He’s not the man for you, my darlin’ lass.”

Slightly puzzled by his words, but too tired to dissect them now, she called over her shoulder, “You have nothing to worry about, Uncle Peter. Seriously. I have no interest in him. He’s way too old for me and acts like he’s the King Turd of Shit Mountain. No thanks.”

That made Peter burst into laughter, and she left the pub with a smile on her face and a bodyguard watching her back.

A few days later, she’d almost managed to forget about the mysterious Alexandr when there was a commotion outside of her apartment. Men were yelling in a language she didn’t understand, and she wondered if she should call Peter and let him know about the noise. Moving quietly, she tiptoed over to the peephole on her massive door and looked through. The door itself was made of a bulletproof material so she was as safe behind it as she could be. When Peter had informed her of that, she’d been a little curious at the level of security in this building, but then realized that being family to a politician came with an inherently heightened level of danger. There were whack-jobs out there who would want to hurt her merely to get at her uncle.

A quick peek revealed two unfamiliar, but attractive in an intimidating way, guys dressed in black pants and dark leather jackets. The one with the deep reddish-blonde hair and green eyes wore a deep blue button down shirt that stretched out over his wide shoulders. The other man wore a crisp white dress shirt and had dark-blonde hair with a deep cleft in his chin. When they moved away from the keyhole, she sucked in a quick breath as her nipples tightened at the sight of a very familiar man standing in front of the door across the hall from hers. Firm lips, square jaw, and a dark goatee all gave Alex Gorev a sinister, yet oh so tempting, edge. Sin in its most delicious form. A woman could look at him and know he’d push her limits, make her taste forbidden fruit.

And his hands…holy moly she’d never see such big hands on a guy.

To her disgust, she’d spent much of her free time lately fantasizing about what it would feel like to be kissed by a man with facial hair who just happened to look like Alex. Would it feel silky or rough against her face? And what if he dined down south? What would
that
feel like? She could imagine, but she’d bet the real thing was much better than her hand and vibrator. Adding to his good looks were his intense gray eyes, ringed with the thinnest band of black, a muscular body, and his killer smile. He was a feast for all the female senses, wrapped up in a body made for brutal pleasure. Since he was attractive and had solid self-confidence bordering on arrogance, he was like her sexual catnip. Catnip she now masturbated to on a nightly basis despite her anger at herself for dreaming about him.

Humiliation mixed with excitement burned her cheeks, and she let out a muffled squeak when Alex looked directly at her, almost as if he could see her peering through the peephole. He blew her a kiss then said something in whatever language they spoke that made the other men laugh. Alex opened the apartment door across the hall and flicked the lights on before saying loudly, “Jessica, I know you are watching me. I can feel it. Your uncle told me that you have a set of keys that I will need. When you are done spying, bring them to me.”

Her body flushed with embarrassment while her brain came up with inventive ways to wipe that smug smirk off his face. That arrogant, good-looking, insanely sexy, older man made her react in a way no one ever had, certainly not the boys she’d dated back home—and the guys she’d previously dated definitely seemed like immature boys in the face of Alex’s refined sexuality. No, she needed to keep her distance.

As long as she remained professional and polite with him, he’d just be a harmless fantasy. After all, he was her bodyguard. That meant she’d have to get used to him being around in the background. Hell, she barely even knew the guys her uncle had following her around. It would be no big deal. She would just grab the keys, chuck them at him, and then calmly and coolly stroll back into her place where she would throw every lock on the door she had.

Then she’d go play with herself with the shower massager for a couple hours.

Appalled with her out-of-control libido, she moved away from the door, heading into her big—by Irish standards—kitchen. It always did her heart good when she saw the appliances from the States that Aunt Mary had installed for her, brands she was familiar with that couldn’t be found in Ireland and that would ease the homesickness of being in a strange place. Peter had also left framed pictures of their family all over the house, each with a descriptive tag saying who that person was and how they were related to her. Tears prickled her eyes as she realized how much her mother had left behind to run off to America with her loser birth father.

Blinking rapidly while fanning herself, she fought back the burn in her nose until she was sure she wasn’t going to cry. She caught her reflection in the vast silver framed mirror in the foyer and paused, giving her image a critical eye. She wanted to look good for her encounter with Alexandr, though she would never admit it out loud. Her gray yoga pants would have to suffice, along with the overly large pink socks she wore to combat the damp chill that sometimes crept up on her. She ditched the gray hoodie jacket then quickly checked her pink t-shirt for any stains.

As she took her hair out of her bun, she glanced behind her and spied a bottle of whiskey someone had given her as a gift. She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, trying to figure out if giving him a welcome gift was a good idea, then decided to say fuck it. There was no reason they couldn’t both be mature adults about the situation. Starting off on the right foot by being polite was important. Grabbing the bottle, along with the keys Peter had left for Alex, she opened her door and took the four steps necessary to reach Alexandr’s door.

Men’s deep voices came from inside Alex’s apartment, their unfamiliar language sounding almost melodic in a rough way, and she hesitated before knocking loudly. The murmurs cut off, and she strained to hear if anyone was coming to the door and wondered if she should knock again. Before she could raise her fist, the door opened and revealed Alexandr, his gray-eyed gaze capturing her and making her whole body light up.

He was even more handsome up close than she remembered, and her lower abdomen began to tighten and warm. Tingles radiated from her scalp down to her toes, and she drank in the sight of him. Dressed in a pair of dark tailored pants that fit his muscular legs well and an off-white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal powerful forearms dusted with dark hair, he took her breath away. A few buttons at the top of his shirt were also undone, showing the curve of his well-defined neck and some soft-looking chest hair. Crap, he was even hotter than she remembered.

For a long, tension-filled moment, they merely stared at each other. She tried to read his expression, but he was good at masking his feelings. The only thing he couldn’t control were his pupils, which dilated as he stared at her. She’d learned in a psychology class last year that humans were hard wired to react to that pupil dilation as a mating signal on a primitive level. So even though Alexandr might appear bored while he assessed her, as if he were opening the door to a pesky Jehovah’s Witness, his body’s reaction to her told a different story.

She wanted to smirk about his sexual interest in her, to let him know that she felt nothing but disdain for him, but her sex was getting wet from just his mesmerizing gaze, like he was telepathically whispering to her all the raw, nasty things he was going to indulge in with her. She loved a man who could talk dirty, and with Alexandr’s rough, accented voice it would be the cherry on the top of her lust-filled cake. The light glinted in his gaze as he took the smallest of steps forward, now close enough that she swore he could feel his heat pressing against her. The tips of her nipples grew hypersensitive, and she desperately tried to regain control of her body, which seemed intent on fucking this annoying man. He was as handsome as ever, as arrogant as ever, and while they stared at each other, she wanted to smack the arrogance out of him then throw him down in the middle of the hallway and fuck the hell out of him just to get him out of her system.

For someone determined to not fall under his sexual spell, that was a rather alarming thought, which made her voice come out tight as she said, “Here, keys and a housewarming present.”

He barely caught in one hand the whisky she thrust at him then the keys she pressed into his other hand.

Another man appeared behind Alexandr, the husky blond babe, and he gave her a very flirtatious smile as his gaze took a blatant and leisurely journey down her body. “Alex, who is beauty?”

Before she could respond, Alexandr said something in a low, tight voice that held the edge of a snarl. Whatever he said shocked the blond man if the blood draining from his face was any indication. The blond man quickly backed away with his hands in the air, speaking in a hushed rush before spinning on his heel and leaving them alone. The man’s fear had been so palpable she wondered what the heck he was afraid of. Alex wasn’t that scary…was he?

The only information she’d been able to get on Alexandr was that he grew up in Belarus and ran his own personal protection company. Said company was supposed to be one of the best in the world for personal security, but there wasn’t much information on it other than the fact that they handled some famous people as clients. There were no pictures of him and only a mention here and there of being in different society pages with various lovely model types in fabulous dresses and dripping in jewels. Those images sent a pang through her stomach, and she tried to tell herself it was anger, not jealousy.

She wasn’t surprised to see so many beautiful women hanging all over him. Evidently, from what she’d heard at work, Alexandr had a very thick cock, and the women loved it, but he was never with a woman for long. All five of the bartenders who had been with him, and a couple of the waitresses as well, had all agreed on that. He was lovely. He was charming. He was good for some fantastic sex and pricey gifts, but that was about it.

Alexandr Gorev was booty call material, and she was no longer a booty call kind of girl. Been there, done that, and had discovered the hard way she couldn’t do casual sex. With that thought in mind, she turned around and walked back into her apartment, slamming her door shut before she did anything stupid.

But she had a feeling it was too late for that.

With a low groan, she slid down the door after her drama queen exit, thunking her head against it while softly calling herself every name in the book. Why was she so awkward around Alex? She could normally shoot down guys with no problem, but if she was actually attracted to a man, she turned into a tongue-tied fool. It was beyond embarrassing, and she was pretty sure Alexandr thought she was a nut job. He was older, incredibly handsome, and so charismatic he could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a lady wearing white gloves. Other than for sex, there was no reason he would want anything to do with her. She was just a girl who was tending bar for her uncle with no clear direction in life and not an ounce of sophistication.

Before her mind could spiral deeper into a pity party, she heard a series of sharp knocks on her door. Without even looking through the peephole, she opened the door and stared at his shoes. “Hello, Alexandr.”

“Jessica,” he said in a soft, coaxing tone, “look at me.”

When she finally raised her gaze to his, she met his worried eyes. He studied her for a moment then gave her a small smile. “Are you all right? I did not mean to anger you.”

“No.” She sighed, sucking it up and just getting on with the humiliation. “I was mad at myself. For some reason, I find it hard to speak around you.”

He laughed, and she couldn’t help but smile in response. She noticed he held the bottle of whiskey in one big hand. Damn, his hands were so sexy, large enough grip her and hold her tight. Big enough to run over her body and bring her the kind of pleasure she’d only dreamed about. And they looked as strong as the rest of him. An odd symbol was tattooed on the webbing between his pointer finger and thumb, and she wondered what it meant. She also wondered why she wanted to lick it then suck on his thumb.