50
IVAN
It’s only been a few days of training, but Cora is already improving. Her form is better, she’s moving a bit faster while she spars, and she isn’t ending every day near tears.
My body now aches at the end of every session—but for very different reasons.
Cora bends at the waist and stretches both hands down to her ankle. She extends her leg, pressing her hips to one side and straining her already thin leggings. She does it all sofuckingslowly that I want to roar and rip the mirrors right out of the walls.
At least, I think she’s doing it slowly.
I might just be fucking horny.
The shower massage with no happy ending started as a way to get her back. Then Cora kept “falling asleep” before I could get to bed every night as a way to get me back.
She thinks she’s winning.
She doesn’t have a fucking clue.
“Enough with the stretching, Cora,” Anya calls from the sparring mat. “He can’t take his eyes off of you. Your job is done.”
Cora stands up and spins around, doing her best to look innocent. But she knew what she was doing.
“Very classy, Anya,” I mutter.
“I wasn’t the one staring at my…” Anya turns to me with an arched brow. “What is she to you now? Your girlfriend? Fiancée? I can’t keep up.”
“She’s mine to look at whenever the fuck I want,” I snap back. “I don’t need your permission.”
Anya holds up her hands and backs away, a smug smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Cora sashays her way to the sparring ring. I know she’s safe with Anya. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I should be the one standing between Cora and anyone who wants to hurt her.
Then again, I want her to feel like she can take care of herself. I want her to be confident. And learning a few techniques and getting stronger—all of it is helping her regain the confidence Mikhail and Alexander stripped from her.
That’s worth its weight in gold.
“Good dodge,” Anya coaches as they circle each other. “Don’t forget to keep your hands up so I can’t—”
In the middle of her advice, Cora feints with her right hand and then lands a blow above Anya’s brow with her left.
Anya is stunned for a second before she grins. “Holy shit. I guess I’m the one who needs to keep my hands up. Nice shot!”
Cora glances over at me. The pride in her eyes is plain to see. She’s ecstatic. I don’t even have to check the mirrors to know that my face shows the exact same things.
She’s my queen. Anya wanted to know what Cora is to me and that’s the answer. Cora is my queen.
As they continue, I can’t stop myself from watching the way her body shifts and bounces with every step. Her sports bra holds her chest in tight, taunting me with cleavage I want to bury my face in. Her stomach is tight and glistening with sweat. Her hips curve wide and I can see the indention on her lower back where my thumbs fit perfectly. Where I can hold her steady and fill her until we’re both out of our minds with need.
Anya shouts out a few more corrections, but I don’t hear a thing. I’m lost in a fantasy, growing harder by the second. I’m so lost that I barely catch Cora unbalancing Anya and taking her to the floor.
“How the fuck did you—” Anya taps out and sits up, arms resting on her knees. “I didn’t see that coming. How did I not see that coming?”
Cora is still on her hands and knees on the mat, panting as sweat drips down her neck. I have the perfect view down the top of her sports bra. And when she looks up at me, a pleased smile tugging the corners of her mouth, I know the game is up.
It’s time for my reward.
* * *
Cora takes a long shower.
After the way she sauntered up the stairs and stripped naked in the bathroom doorway, I know she’s waiting for me to break down and join her. If I didn’t already have other plans in mind, I would.
Instead, I sit back in my armchair, hands folded over my stomach, and wait.
Finally, the shower turns off. I hear frustrated stomping across the tile floor. I’m barely holding back a smile when the door slams open and Cora comes out looking like Aphrodite. Her hair is wet and falling over one shoulder, her skin is flushed from the heat of the water, and she’s barely covering herself.
“Is that a hand towel?” I ask.
She opens her mouth to respond when suddenly, she stops. Her brows pinch together as she takes in the scene—all of it.
Directly in front of my chair is an absurdly expensive sex toy sitting on a platform. A little stage arranged for a private performance.
“Is that… is that a saddle?”
“Something like that. With a few modifications.” I lift the remote control in my hand and tip my head towards the not-at-all subtle attachment rising out of the center of the seat. It’s purple and ribbed and it looks very, very dangerous.
A slow, persistent blush rises up her chest and neck. “What is this?”
“You said you’d pay my price. Payment time is here, solnishka.”
She ventures closer. The lamplight glints off the moisture clinging to her skin. When she’s close enough to touch, she traces a finger down the length of the dildo and I have to repress a full body shiver.
“I don’t see how riding a sex toy is a sacrifice.” She looks up at me with lowered lashes. “Isn’t this a treat for me?”
I shrug one shoulder. “I guess we’ll see. Drop the towel.”
Cora hesitates for only a moment. Then, shoulders back and chest forward, she lets the towel fall away into a pile around her feet.
Fucking hell, she’s gorgeous.
She’s always been gorgeous, but there’s something beautiful about the small ways her body has been changing since she started training. The little curves of new muscle. The proud posture—head up, shoulders back. The gleam in her eyes.
I hold out my hand to help her onboard. With delicate fingers, she grips my hand and puts her feet in the stirrups, but she stays hovering out of reach of the purple rubber cock.
“What do I—How do I—”
“Lower yourself onto it.”
Cora looks up at me, a quick flash of nerves. Then she maintains that eye contact as she carefully positions herself and lowers down, inch by agonizing inch. With the lube I put on before she emerged, she slides on with no problem, though she bites back a tender gasp.
“This is nowhere near as big as some of the toys you bought me before. Is that the punishment?” She arches an eyebrow.
Instead of responding, I hold up the remote and shift the dial.
It buzzes to life instantaneously. It’s on the very lowest setting, so it does little more than vibrate and pulse a quarter of an inch up and down. But it’s enough to get the reaction I want. Cora jerks with a yelp of surprise and squeezes the daylights out of the saddle grips. Once the initial shock passes, she screws her face up into as serious of a mask as she can muster.
“So is this—ah, fuck—is this it?” She leans back and arches her spine with another soft exhale. “You don’t touch me for days and now, I’m going to get off while you sit in that chair and watch? I thought you were some big, bad Bratva boss, but now, I’m wondering if you’ve just been making it all up.”
I just smirk. She won’t be able to form words here in a little bit, so I’m fine with her trying to taunt me now.
I turn up the intensity on the dial and enjoy the show.
Another quarter-inch of penetration ramps up as the vibration intensifies. A moan she tries hard to hold back slips out of her. I can see the fight in her body. The pink tint to her cheeks. The way she pinches her lower lip between her teeth. The soft whimpers that slip from her, so quiet I can barely hear them.
When I turn up the dial another notch, though, there is no more hiding a goddamn thing.
“Oh, fuck.” She rocks forward again, all of her weight resting on her hands. Her mouth is open, eyes glassy as she rolls her hips. “Oh, oh… oh my—”
I shift the dial ever-so-slightly higher and Cora falls to pieces. Her stomach tightens as her thighs clamp around the seat. I can hear the relentless chugging pulse and groan of the machine as it splits her apart.
Then she releases. I see her let go all at once. She cracks wide open.
My cock is so hard it’s throbbing. I want her. I want her so fucking bad.
“Oh my God.” Cora moans and starts to lift herself off of the seat.
Before she can, I stand up and grab her thighs. Her legs tremble beneath my fingers. Gently, I push her back down until she’s fully seated on the attachment.
She blinks up at me, her eyes still glassy from her release. “What are you doing?”
“It’s not time to get off yet.”
“But… But I just came. I really, really came.”
“Once.” I hold up a finger in front of her. Then I trail it down her neck, over her peaked nipples, and down her quivering stomach. “But you’ve got a long way to go yet, my love. You’re going to stay here and come until you can’t walk. That is the price you’re going to pay.”