“Are you surprised?”
Yes, I had been. I’d given my husband a gift, the only one I ever had in all the years we’d been married, and he hadn’t received it in the manner of which I’d anticipated. The woman I’d procured for him should have been his kryptonite. He’d coveted Charlie’s daughter since we’d started doing business with the selfish man years before, and after putting her father in an impossible position, it meant he could refuse me nothing. Chrissie had been my guarantee to a breach in contract which never came to fruition. My husband had seen something in that room which had given him pause and I was at a loss to understand exactly what.
“I guess not,” I sullenly admitted.
“You’re going to have to do better than that.” He smirked, making me want to slap the smug look from his face. “Oh wait, you can’t, can you? You played your trump card, and it wasn’t enough to win the game.”
“Did she need a hospital?”
Tayte laughed, casually sauntering into the room. “Come now, you know the answer. Nothing gets by you, Irina. You know as well as I do Chrissie walked out of that basement perfectly fine.”
Yannick may not have unleashed the beast, but he was one scary motherfucker when he wanted to be, and I knew for a fact he’d taken Charlie’s debt out on his daughter’s hide. She had not walked out perfectly fine.
“Why aren’t you with Yannick?”
“Left my phone on the table.”
“Sure you did.” I turned away from him, resisting the temptation to roll my eyes.
“Where is she?”
“Ah.” Getting up from the chair, I put distance between us. I never had liked being close to such an unpredictable man. “He’ll get Kayleigh in due course.”
“Another goose chase, hm? Four million is a lot of money.”
“Well,” I snorted. “More fool Yan for not doing his homework.”
Tayte slid around the side of the desk, boxing me into the corner of the room with ease, yet careful to keep distance between us. “Who are you going to torment when he’s gone, Irina? Because you know it’s coming, hence your pathetic attempt at pushing his boundaries. You have a brain in that dumb blonde head of yours, a trick or two up your sleeve, surely? Chrissie was not the answer, now you need to find another way to keep him tethered to you. I am going to enjoy watching you try to keep something that never belonged to you.”
God, this man was far too astute for his own good. I couldn’t get a measure of the man he was but he sure as fuck had my number. “Shouldn’t you be running along?”
Straightening the lapels on his jacket, he eyed me for a long moment before stiffly bowing his head. “You’re right, I should be.”
“Please tell my husband I expect him for dinner tonight.”
“As you wish.” Off he walked, leaving as quietly as he came.
Deflating, I dropped back into the chair and cursed out Yannick and his band of merry fucking men. Tayte was bang on the money - I was going to have to do better. But I couldn’t think of a single thing that would keep Yannick Ischmov close to me. He’d always been perfectly clear we were a business arrangement until we weren’t, and I didn’t have the first clue how that eventuality was going to play out, only that I was the one who was going to lose. I had written the ending a decade and a half before, yet I couldn’t foresee what the fallout would entail.
I had to be smarter than he gave me credit for if I was to keep a tight hold on the empire we’d built on shaky foundations. Our organisation would not falter because the agreement was ending, there had to be another way to keep Yannick Ischmov where he belonged. Coming up with a different set of plans had moved to the top of my list. Irina Ischmova did not lose.
* * * * *
Circling the ornately carved wooden table which sat centre in the dining room, I pulled out each chair as I passed. Stiletto heels clicked on the parquet flooring, the luxurious chiffon of my favourite dress whispering around my bare legs. For all the opulence of the big house my father had furnished in his moments of misplaced grandeur, my tastes were less expensive. Looks were deceiving.
Flicking a gaze at the man splayed out on the table, I grinned, then licked at my dry lips. Once I’d walked the table fully, I came to stand at the head and peered down into the baby blue eyes of Neil. His head lay on the table mat where I’d eat whatever he’d made earlier, what was there now was a simple amuse-bouche. A pre-selected menu before the main course.
“Hard. I want you hard.”
Naked, he lay trembling and semi erect, gazing up in wonder. Nowhere near good enough for the way I liked my men. There would be no foreplay, I wouldn’t touch, but I needed a hard cock inside me, not one standing at half-mast. He stroked slowly, his eyes glazing over with pleasure, the sight making the blood in my veins sizzle. Oh yes, he had a beautiful cock - long and sizeable - one which could hit all the right places and kept me coming back for more. Eagerness and anticipation took over at the feast on my table as I watched with hooded eyes the sight playing out before me. Neil was a pleaser and pleased me he did.
The door banged open, not quite distracting me enough to take my eyes from the show going on atop the table.
