Dimitri Read online

  Chapter Six

  Scarlett

  I hate masquerade balls with a bloody passion. I hate them in a way that I hated dieting as a kid. I hate them more than Daddy hates dealing with the politicians that are constantly trying to get him to run for some sort of office or another. Ridiculous, yes. But this was pissing me off to the nth degree to have to go to some kind of party and pretend to be interested in society when really all I wanted to do was curl up with my Kindle and read the latest Doris O’Connor book. Seriously, couldn’t these people just leave me alone?

  Yes, I had a thing for her bad boys. I had a thing for the bondage the woman wrote about, and secretly I wanted that. I wanted a bad boy that would tie me up and make me love it. I might be sick, but I at least knew what I wanted. Too bad I had to keep that a secret. My family would shit kittens if they knew what I really wanted out of life. I wanted to find someone that would introduce me into the life of being someone’s, well, someone. I wanted to live in that lifestyle because dammit I didn’t want to be the good girl that I was raised to be any longer. I swear to fuck, my girly bits were growing fucking cobwebs because they hadn’t been used, and each time I thought I had found someone to fuck, they turned tail and ran. All it took was a look from my family or guards or them learning exactly who I was. Trust me, I had tried using false identities, but somehow and someway these asshats had found out exactly who I was before all the fun started. Here I was, twenty-six years old and still a fucking virgin and I was sick of it. I wanted sex. I wanted it in the worst of ways, and right now I was having to satisfy myself with reading, my imagination, and my trusty vibrator that had taken my hymen when I was sixteen years old. It was fucking ridiculous what a girl had to do in order to get satisfaction when she was cloistered behind all sorts of family and hidden away like a dirty little secret.

  Oh well, such was life. Maybe when I went on vacation next week I would be able to shed who the hell my family was for a stranger and have some kinky sex with someone who didn’t know my name. I didn’t even care if I knew their name, and I sure as fuck didn’t want them to know mine.

  Once again, I looked at the dress I was supposed to wear to the masked ball and shivered. Mother had picked the dress out. It was perfect for society and would hide everything that needed to be hidden and I fucking hated it. I couldn’t stand that damn dress. With that in mind, I did something I would never have done before I had seen him. I pulled out my cell phone and made a call to Alissa, an amazing friend of mine and a woman that had flunked out of fashion school. She flunked out because she refused to fuck her professor, but that was neither here nor there. Her parents saw her as a failure and had cut her off. It was fucked up to the nth degree.

  When my friend picked up, I couldn’t help but smile. The bubbly personality of the woman was evident even through the din of the coffee shop she worked in. “Al, I need your help.”

  “Holy fucking shit, Scarlett, I didn’t think you would call me.” There was laughter in my friend’s voice even when I heard her delivering another drink to someone. I hated that she had to work in a fucking coffee shop, but Alissa refused to come work for one of my family’s businesses, said she would find her own way since the ’rents kicked her out, and I guess I could respect that. For fuck’s sake, I would do the same thing. Then again, my family seemed to have me wrapped up in fucking cotton and wouldn’t let me do jack shit.

  “Yeah, well, you know how it is. The damn family has me all kinds of wrapped up in a hundred and twelve different things here, there, and everywhere. In fact, that’s why I’m calling you. I need a dress, Al, and the one that Mom picked for me is seriously fucked. I hate it. The dress is something you would wear to a grandmotherly function and not to a masquerade ball when you wanted to get fucked.”

  “Oh shit. Seriously?” I listened as Al moved, then giggled when I heard things going quieter. “Are you seriously going to go somewhere so that you can lose you V-Card?”

  “You can bet your ass, but I need a dress that will have men looking at me and wanting what is in the dress and not thinking about who might be behind the mask. I really need for someone to not look too closely at my face and only look at my body. I can then slip out before they even want to take the masks off.”

  “Oh, you are sneaky beyond belief. I love it, Scar. I have to come with you. Bring me with you? Can I come? Come on, Scarlett, bring me as your plus one? I’ve been slinging coffee for eight years, so please?”

  “Depends on the dress you make for me.”

  “I will make you the sexiest dress ever. I get off in an hour. Come by and pick me up and we will go shopping for fabric. We are so using your credit cards. I’m buying the things I want for my dress, too.”

  “Deal.” I was getting excited now. If Al said she could do something, she could, and knowing she would be my wing woman in two days’ time was even better. It meant I could ditch the parents. They loved Alissa and would gladly send me off with her in a car, and the fucking guards, of course, but that was neither here nor there. I was certain between the two of us we could somehow ditch the guards. In fact, “Hey, do you think we can possibly get a couple of stand-ins for us? Get someone to wear a boring dress for you and someone to wear the dress Mom got for me? Someone our height and all that fun stuff?”

  “Oh shit, yeah, I have just the right people,” Al said with a laugh. “But that would mean we would have to sneak into the ball as uninvited guests since those people will have your tickets.”

  “Not a problem. It’s the Bannencroft Estate.” I heard Al’s laughter and shared it. We both knew just how easy it would be for the two of us to sneak onto that estate. It was like child’s play, especially since it was Al’s home estate.

  “Oh, my fucking God, are you kidding me? It’s my fucking parents’ masquerade ball? I will do every-fucking-thing in my power to ensure that we get in there and we cause trouble. This is going to be perfect. I’ll even help you get into the choicest of suites to lose your V-Card in.” She was laughing again. God love her. I couldn’t blame her. I would be laughing my ass off as well. These people were so pretentious and such bastards that they had kicked their own daughter out simply because design school kicked her out. Well, that and the fact that they were pissed off because she had gone to design school to begin with. They hated her for that, and Al knew it just as I did. Her parents were snotty aristocrats, but Al wasn’t. Al was as sweet as they came, and I loved her dearly.

  “Yep, it is, and you damn well better. I’m so sick of being a virgin, lady, so you had better come through for me,” I told her and listened to her trill of laughter again. I’d known as soon as I’d told her where we were going that we were going to be the skankiest whores at the place. There was absolutely no way we were going to leave that place with our virginities intact. Yeah, I knew her dirty fucking secrets just like she knew mine, and it was all good.

  After hanging up with Al, I began to make plans. This was going to be tricky, but together the two of us could pull it off. Of course it would be better if our third musketeer was here, but she was off saving the world somewhere. That was Edlyn for us. She was forever trying to save someone.

  ****

  Two days later, I had on the most sinful dress I had ever seen in my life. Holy fucking hell, had Alissa outdone herself on this on! The silk sheath dress went to the floor and was as blue as my eyes. The back went to my ass crack, and the gathers there rolled just enough to keep the back from looking obscene. The front of the dress plunged between my breasts, which were held high and firm by some very ingenious tape. Then there was the mask. Al made the two of us masks that hid our identities so well that our own mothers wouldn’t even know us. She was good, very fucking good, and I owed her big time.

  Turning, I eyed at her. She looked just as damn good as I did. She wore a red dress; her eyes were green as grass and her hair flame red, which was why the red dress looked so good on her. She was stunning and why she had held out as long as she had, I didn’t know, but sh
e had. I wasn’t going to ask. I would never intrude, just like she didn’t intrude on me. We were just there for each other, period. “Damn, woman, you did good,” I told her. “Now, let’s go, bitch. Our lookalikes are with my parents. Thankfully, the brothers went a bit earlier so they could scope out a club later. So, let’s Uber our fine-looking asses out to your family estate and sneak in through the wine cellars.”

  That was the good thing about growing up around the social elite. You knew how to get in and out of the houses without anyone being the wiser. It was all a matter of, first, blending with the staff, and the staff loved both Alissa and I, so they hid us well. The second part was simply slipping in when the party was in full swing. That’s when I found myself being separated from my best friend and wound up in the arms of the most sinfully delicious man ever in the history of ever. Oh, I knew exactly who it was. There wasn’t a man alive that could come close to being as hard, as dangerous, or made my pussy ache the way that Dimitri Dudikov did.

  Instead, I changed my tone and used the English accent that I had perfected by hanging out at school and fooled the Russian into thinking that my name was Edlyn Carter and I had only gotten in from a time spent in Ireland. God, I prayed Edy would never meet Dimitri in real life. My bestie might just kill me.

  He cocked his head and looked at me, a frown tugging his far too plump and delicious lips down as if he were thinking of something that was frustrating him. I wondered what he was thinking, but I ignored it. I instead reached up, touched my fingers to his lips, and smiled. Thank God the mask covered my face so completely. “You are far too handsome to frown,” I told him, which was the truth. “Or are you frowning because your girlfriend isn’t here yet?” Yes, I was still pissed about Susan, but if I could get this man to take my V-Card, I totally would. Who better to take it than a man whore?

  “Oh, darling, I have no girlfriend. There is one woman that I want and she is playing hard to get. Seems that the woman I want is into playing games, and I don’t understand that.” He reached out and caressed my cheek, the silk mask staying firmly in place, thank you, Alissa!

  “Well, she’s a lucky woman. Perhaps I know her and can give you some pointers on how to win her over? I know many of the ladies in attendance here,” I offered. Now I really was curious. If Susan wasn’t the woman he wanted, who was it? He sure as shit didn’t mean me. I mean, sure he had followed me and stalked me, but there was no way in hell that this man was someone who was waiting for me and me alone. No, men like this one played the field like fucking crazy. I wasn’t stupid.

  “Oh no, Edlyn. I want to win this woman all on my own. When she becomes mine, I want her to know exactly who owns her mind, body, and soul. What about you? Would you be willing to give up to someone in such a way?” he asked me while he danced me around the room. I had noticed that he was moving us closer to the edges of the room, and it didn’t surprise me when he maneuvered us into one of the many empty rooms. One thing about Al’s parents was that they hosted these parties because they were swingers. They were into sex in every form they could get it, and the balls were just a way to find them new people to bring into their inner circle. It was sad that I knew this, but it was what it was. Again, it was the faces of the people that ran in the oldest of monies. I knew my parents didn’t do that shit. Vanderwalls were the protectors of America’s secrets. At least that’s what I had heard Daddy telling the brothers time and time again.

  I sighed and pushed aside my feelings for my family. I wasn’t going to allow them to interfere with the fun I wanted to have tonight, dammit. “I would love to be able to give up to someone in such a way. It would take a man of a special type to push me into giving up, however,” I told him truthfully. For so long I had protected myself, hidden from the society pages, hidden from the political climbers and social climbers and well, Jesus, everyone. I hadn’t realized until that moment how many people I had been steering clear of. No wonder I was still a virgin at twenty-six.

  “I am a very special type of man, little one. I can see what others can’t. I can see just how special you are. I see the woman that you are and the woman that you will become with the proper guiding hand. Will you let me guide you, sweet?”

  If I didn’t know better, I would swear he knew exactly who I was, but that was insane. No one knew who I was. Hell, I had even danced with one of the brothers and they hadn’t recognized me. John really thought I was Edlyn and prattled on about me finding myself. It had been a bit funny. Poor boy. Then again I had steered clear of Vince because Edlyn had always had a thing for my eldest brother, and I refused to try to act like someone with a crush on my own brother. “Depends.” He had backed me up against the pool table that was in the empty space. Oh, I knew this room. It was very private. Now I was curious just how well he knew this house. If he had found this room so unerringly, it meant he was into the same things Al’s parents were into, which meant he was even more of a man whore than I had expected. Then again, who better to lose my V-Card to? “Did you bring condoms?” I wasn’t leaving with him, so if he wanted anything from me, it was going to be right here, right now. If not, I was going to have to go back out there and find someone else.

  “Oh, darling, I do have condoms, but are you certain that you want to waste such a pleasurable night here?”

  “Positive. I only have tonight and then I have to fly back out. Besides, if I recall correctly, there is a swing hidden behind the curtains just back there.” Yes, Alissa’s parents were freaks and often threw freaky parties. This ball wasn’t supposed to be one, but I was damn well making it my freak party.

  “Swings are for the more experienced. For now I want to kiss you, to touch you and taste you,” Dimitri told me. Then he pounced. There was no other way to describe how he moved to take my mouth with his. My gloved hands cupped his face as I moaned and opened for him easily. This was what I wanted. This was exactly what I needed, and, gods above, the man was every wet dream come to life.

  Chapter Seven

  Dimitri

  She thought she was fooling me. I couldn’t believe Scarlett actually believed she was fooling me. Then again, she didn’t know me, so I would let it slide, for now. All that mattered to me was that she was in my arms. Later I would paddle her ass a nice shade of pink for tricking everyone, including me for a very short time, but that was then and I wasn’t even worried about it. The little minx had sass and fire in her, and it made me want to have her in my life even more. This woman was perfect for me. She was industrious, and she thankfully had her guards guarding another woman so that I could have this time with her.

  When she offered me only one night, I wanted to laugh. I was going to have so much more than one night with her. She was mine. She was going to give me every single part of herself, but she didn’t know it yet. I was going to be at her side from now until the rest of time. This woman was quickly becoming my only weakness. She was becoming the only being that got under my skin in a way that I never believed I could experience, and I didn’t mind it one bit. Just touching her right now was like heaven. Being able to run my hands over her unblemished skin and know she was willingly in my arms was bliss. And kissing her, fuck, kissing her was like a goddamn dream to me.

  Oh I saw the recognition in her eyes. She knew who I was, so I played stupid and allowed her the guise of Edlyn, a woman that was one of Scarlett’s best friends. Yes, I knew all about Edlyn Carter and where she was. I knew everything about everyone in Scarlett’s life, including the woman that Scarlett had come to the ball with, a woman who was currently being handled by Ivan and Dafid.

  When I pulled back from Scarlett, I stroked my finger over her lips and smiled. “Are you certain I can’t coax you into taking the mask off?” I asked her with a smile. I knew she wouldn’t, but I had to ask all the same. “I’m removing mine.” I had removed the hard plastic part of my mask, and now I removed the silk that covered my face under the mask so she could see all of me and know exactly who it was that was taking her. I wanted her to look
down at me when I licked her pussy and see my eyes looking up at her. I wanted her to grasp my hair when I drove deep into her. I needed her to see all of me.

  Pulling back from her, I led her to the sofa in the room, a room that Stefan, another of my enforcers, had procured for me to bring my wayward love to, and let her take a seat. Once she was settled, I went to the door and looked out to talk to my man. “We aren’t to be disturbed unless someone wants to die.” With those words I locked the door and went back to her, pulling off my tux jacket and tie and laying them over the back of a chair. I saw her eyes widen at the guns I had under my tux. She needed to understand that I was a dangerous man in a dangerous profession, but I would always protect her first. “I would never hurt you, lubemyea,” I told her. “You never have to fear anything from me or from my men. They would die for you just as I would. You are far more precious than you know.”

  “I’m a one-night stand. Not even that. I’m a fuck on a couch.” She spoke with fire and defiance. Then there was that look of hot need again when I began to pull off my shirt after removing the dual shoulder holster.

  “Oh, sweet girl, you are more than that.” I couldn’t and wouldn’t call her Edlyn, because she wasn’t that woman. Her friend was a lovely woman, I was certain. However, she wasn’t Scarlett, and the woman I was making love to right now was Scarlett.

  “If you say so.” She licked her lips when I removed the holster at the small of my back, then the knives I had sheltered there as well. If I didn’t know better, I would swear my woman was turned on by the weapons of war that I wore on my body. It was confirmed when she reached up and put her hand on my stomach, her fingers tracing over a scar I had earned in a fight to save Dafid when we were both far too young to be in a Siberian prison. It was a scar I wore with pride because my friend had lived that day and so had I.