Page 52 of Ensnared
Their bodies moved while their mouths tasted each other. Her hands gripped his muscled back holding him close as his hips surged against her. The sounds of their bodies moving against each other filled the room. Eve let out a cry as Dimitri ground his hips against her rubbing that little pearl of nerves just right until it sent her senses shattering. Dimitri held onto her, holding her hip in one hand and grabbing her around the neck with the other. He kissed her with a guttural groan as his own release finally took him. Eve shuddered at the hot feeling of her womb being filled. It made her toes arch with another wave of pleasure causing Dimitri to let out a curse as she squeezed him yet again.
Time stretched around them as they lay there facing each other. The curtains were open, allowing the bright sunlight to streak across the bed, warming their bodies. Drowsily, Eve registered the sound of the air conditioner humming through the vents and smiled.
Dimitri's arm around her tightened. "What are you smiling about?"
"I was just thinking that one positive did come out of all of this," she began.
He turned on his side, the bed shifting underneath them both as he did, and gave her a questioning look.
She smiled brightly. "I don't have to dread opening up the electricity bill because my grandparents have run it up again."
Dimitri chuckled. "Not exactly what a man wants to hear after making the woman in his arms cum twice, but I guess I will take it as a small victory."
Eve ducked her head and laughed. Tucked against his chest, she inhaled, enjoying the scent of his cologne. Lazily, she ran a hand up his chest, marveling at the whisper-fine hairs covering the assortment of tattoos.
"Do they all have meanings?"
A beat of silence passed and it felt like the first beat of a drum before the upcoming battle.
"Most do," he finally said.
Eve pictured his body earlier with just his swim trunks on. She had gotten a good look at his long muscular legs. Her hands itched to reach down into the warm sheets and stroke the skin there. Instead, she asked, "What does the broken hourglass on your thigh mean?"
Out of all the tattoos except for the huge black snake coiled on his arm, the hourglass just above the star on his knee stuck out to her. It was broken with only a few granules of sand left in it. For some reason, it radiated a sense of hopelessness when she looked at it.
Dimitri didn’t say anything. He just lay there, his arm still wrapped around her. Burying her face against his hot skin, she closed her eyes and waited.
Eventually, he spoke. "I'm from a little city by the river not too far from Kyiv, called Oster. I lived there as a child with my grandparents."
Eve turned her face up to give him a questioning look, but Dimitri was already looking at her, his face a mask of pain and anger as he recalled the memories but he gave her an understanding smirk and answered her unspoken question.
"My mother was Polish. I don't have very many memories of her. I just remember what my grandmother told me. She said she died in Belarus of pneumonia trying to make money and send it back to us." With a heavy inhale of breath, Dimitri settled onto his back keeping her pressed against his chest. "My father…" he mumbled something in his language and Eve could see the anger in his bright eyes and guessed it was nothing good. "The bastard was worse than trash. Disappointment could never cover what my grandfather felt for his useless son. The man was allergic to hard work. Instead, he spent his time scheming and drinking and pissing away any little money my grandparents weren't able to keep out of his hands. Life in Oster with my grandparents wasn't grand by any means. We had electricity but no indoor plumbing. The winters were brutal and lonely and we always worried about money. But…it was heaven compared to the hell my father brought upon us."
Hearing the pain in his voice, Eve pushed herself up with one arm until she could see him. Her naked breasts were exposed but she didn't care as she met his gaze. "You don’t have to talk about-"
Dimitri speared a hand through her wild curls framing her face and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's fine. If it's you it's fine."
Her heart swelled at his words and he guided her back down to lay against him. He settled the blanket around her as she pressed herself along the length of him.
He spoke again. "We all found out the hard way that stupid bastard had signed himself up to work as a smuggler for a man named Vasil Igorevich," he said the name with a sneer, "a Russian who worked in Moldova. Of course, it didn't take my father long to rack up a debt with Vasil. Debt he could never pay off. What my idiot father failed to realize was exactly what kind of man he was working for. He wasn't just a random criminal; Vasil was one of the captains in the Bratva that ran the Moldovan territory. And when he failed to pay, Vasil came knocking at our door. That day, I watched my grandparents die in front of me trying to protect their home and me. My father sold me to Vasil as payment and because of that everything was taken from me."
Tears welled in her eyes as his words turned to images in her head. She imagined a little golden-haired boy watching his world being destroyed. It was horrible to even think it.
"I spent years under Vasil's control, no better than a slave."
Eve held her breath. "How did you get out?"
"I worked my way to the top," he said the words matter-of-factly, but Eve could see the empty determination in his eyes at the memory. Just what did he have to turn into to rise to the top in that kind of life? Dimitri let out a deep breath as he continued. "I made that fat bastard think I was loyal to him. I made myself indispensable. If a job was impossible to pull off, they would send me, thinking I may or may not survive. To them, it would have been no real loss. But I made sure to survive no matter what. I clawed, scraped, and killed my way out of situations that should have killed me. And after a while, I got noticed by people higher up in the organization. Until one day, Vasil had a meeting with Vladimir, his boss and my current boss, and Vladimir's lieutenant at the time, Roman."
She gave him a questioning look at the new name. There was a slight smirk on his lips that told her this new name wasn't someone he hated.
"Roman is a friend," Dimitri clarified. "Basically, Vladimir pulled me from under Vasil's control and gave me to Roman."
Eve frowned at the wordgave. "I really don't like how you put that. As if you were a sack of rice or something."
Dimitri let out a humorless laugh. "At the time, I pretty much was. Long story short, I worked my way up and now I'm here."
"And the man, Vasil? What happened to him? Don't tell me he is still out there?" she couldn't help but glance down at the sheets where his hips were. She remembered what he had said about his injury and anger heated her blood. To do that to a boy was unforgivable.
