Page 90 of The Payback

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR

Eleanor

“Welcome home, Eleanor,”Dimitri says from the living room as I step off the lift.

I don’t know what to expect after my texted plea for an escape and then making Igor wait to drive me home. It feels wishy-washy and indecisive, kind of like the way I’ve felt since arriving here and meeting Dimitri and reuniting with Nik.

After rounding the armchair, I stop in front of my husband. He’s in suit pants and a white button-up, his daily uniform, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a tumbler of the odd-smelling liquor balanced on his knee. “Took you a while.”

I shrug. “Oksana had some advice for me that you might be interested in.”

His brows raise, and he waits for me to elaborate.

“The exact opposite of the advice Sergei gave me to be at your beck and call.” I move to sit in the armchair across from him, and a growl works its way from his throat. He pats his knee—the one not acting as a table for his glass. The icy fire in his eyes beckons me, and my foot takes an involuntary step closer.

“Crawl,” he says, pointing down at the floor between us.

My mouth parts as I gauge if he’s serious. His face remains impassive.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m deadly serious, wife. I told you I’d be thinking of things for us to do. This is at the top of my list. I want to watch your hips sway as you make your way to me on hands and knees, your perfect ass up in the air.”

A shiver works its way through me because fuck, the image he paints is oddly sexy.

If I walk, it’s only a few steps to him—less than five or six. Surely, crawling won’t take long, and with the embers he’s just stoked into flickering flames, I want him on his knees for me too. Could I turn this into some kind of tit-for-tat situation?

I slowly lower to my knees, steadying myself with the chair’s armrest. A satisfied groan leaves Dimitri’s mouth as he looks down at me. My hands meet the rug next, and I take an experimental crawl forward. One hand, one knee. The rug’s fibres bite into my skin, and I know they’ll be red and itchy by the time I get to him.

Dimitri’s gaze is hungry, his eyes never leaving mine, a king atop his sofa throne. “Take your time, Eleanor. This is a view I’m enjoying.”

“Good, because this won’t happen again. So memorise it before it’s lost forever. Next time,youcrawl.”

He smirks, and it causes my core to heat and warmth to pool in my belly. I knew we were heading back towards reconnection, but I wanted more than this.

My tits sway as I move my left hand, and I exaggerate the movement of my hips. Dimitri smirks at me, and when I finally reach the space between his spread thighs, he runs his fingers through my loose hair and grips it at the base of my skull, tilting my head to the left.

“Hello, wife,” he says, smiling down at me. His hands gentle in my hair, and he caresses my scalp, causing me to close my eyes briefly to relish in the touch after going so long without. “What delayed you?”

A humming inside me amplifies with his words and the happiness in his eyes. I’m not the only one who’s been missing our connection.

“Oksana.”

He cocks a brow. “Even when she knew I was expecting you? My aunt is growing bold. Was this part of her advice to you? What else did she say?”

“That it is up to the women to manoeuvre the men of your organisation.”

“Hmm, is that what you think too?” He taps his finger against his chin in contemplation.

I shake my head but stop as I consider it. “Yes, and no.”

“Pray tell, Eleanor.”

“Balance, Dimitri. Everything needs balance. You wouldn’t expect the right hand not to know what the left is doing. Why shouldn’t it be the same in a partnership or a marriage?”

His icy-blue eyes search mine. “And what would you have me do differently as my partner?” His lips curl around the last word, and a pang of longing rocks through me as I have a stark realisation.I want to be his partner. And not just on the surface.

“But I’m not your partner. I barely know you, honestly. And you barely know me aside from my job and what I taste like.” I smirk as that hungry look intensifies.

---