Chapter 4: Tell me their names

BRENDA

We walked in silence. His hand stayed at the small of my back the entire way to his hotel.

The hotel lobby had marble floors and sparkling lighting and staff who appeared when needed and disappeared when not.

Inside he stood beside me without touching me and somehow that was worse because I thought once we were inside, he would take all of me.

But he didn't immediately.

He crossed to the lamp on the far side of the room and clicked it on. Low amber light fell across dark sheets and made the whole space feel sealed off from the rest of the world.

I stood in the middle of the room. He turned to face me, watching me. His eyes moved over my face slowly and he frowned.

Not at me. His gaze was on my nose.

"Your nose," he said.

I blinked. "What about it?"

"It looks—" He stopped. Tilted his head slightly. "Never mind."

My hand flew to my face.

I turned toward the mirror above the dresser and my stomach upside down.

My nose was bigger than when I left Riley's apartment. Not dramatically. But enough to be noticed by anyone who would have seen me earlier.

The bridge was slightly wider. The tip sat just a fraction lower than it should.

I stared at my reflection wondering what could have been the cause of it.

Could it be the consequences of being reborn? Or is there something I am still missing about this rebirth stuff?

I dropped my hand and turned back around. Dimitri was still watching me with an expression I couldn't read.

"It's the lighting," I lied.

My nose twitched violently, giving me the urge to scratch it. He looked at it. Then at me. Then back at it.

"The lighting," he repeated slowly.

"Yes."

He said nothing for a moment. Just looked at me with those dark blue eyes doing that thing where they gave nothing away and somehow gave everything away.

"Having second thoughts?" he finally said.

"No." I crossed my arms. "Can we not talk about my nose?"

"I wasn't talking about your nose."

"You were staring at it."

"I was looking at your face." The corner of his mouth twitched. "There's a difference."

I decided to let it go. I would deal with the nose situation later. For now I want this handsome hulk.

"Can we begin," I said. "Please."

He watched me for one more moment. Then he strode toward me slowly and whatever he had been thinking about my nose he put away somewhere because his full gaze shifted on me.

He stopped in front of me. Close enough that I had to tilt my chin up to meet his eyes.

"Tell me their names," he said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because I want to know what I'm replacing." His eyes stayed on mine. "Names make things real. I want to make them very unreal for you tonight."

I looked at him.

"Alexandre," I whispered without thinking. "He was my husband. And Sophia, my sister."

He repeated the names once as if memorizing them. Then a cold glint crossed his face — cold and brief — he reached out and touched my jaw with two fingers.

"After tonight," he said, "you won't think about either of them until you choose to."

"That's a big promise."

"I don't make promises I can't keep."

His hands moved to my face. Both of them. Cradling my jaw, his thumbs moving slowly along my cheekbones.

He looked at me in the low amber light like he was deciding something he had already decided.

I got distracted by how the light played with hair and eyes. His brows were thick and perfectly carved.

Did he carve them himself or was he born like that?

"Stop thinking," he said, tilting my face upward. "Right now. Everything outside that door can wait." His eyes held mine. "Right now there is only this room. Only me and you."

"Okay," I said hoarsely.

"Not okay." His eyes dropped briefly to my lips and back up. "You are to answer me with yes sir in this room."

Something in my chest pulled tight.

"Yes sir," I said.

The corner of his mouth moved. Then he lowered his head and kissed me.

His mouth claimed mine with a slow, torturing hunger that stole the air from my lungs.

The kiss started deceptively soft—his lips warm —then becoming demanding.

He bit my lower lip just hard enough to make me gasp, then sucked the sting away.

One of his big hands slid into my hair, fisting it at the roots, positioning my head exactly how he wanted it.

I moaned into his mouth. He pulled back an inch, eyes dark.

“Yes sir,” I breathed before he could correct me.

“Good girl.”

The praise hit low in my belly. He walked me backward until my thighs hit the edge of the bed, then spun me around so fast I stumbled.

His chest pressed against my back, strong and unyielding. One arm banded across my collarbones, holding me in place while his other hand yanked the zipper of my gown down in one rough motion.

Cool air kissed my skin as the fabric pooled at my feet.

“Hands behind your back, now.”

I obeyed before my brain caught up. He used my own dress to bind my wrists—tight enough that I felt the restraint, loose enough that I could escape if I truly needed to.

The unexpected move sent a hot thrill racing through me.

He stepped back to admire his work. I stood in nothing but my heels and a black lace thong, arms bound, breathing fast.

Dimitri circled me once like a predator, then stopped in front of me.

He loosened his tie with slow tormenting motion sliding the silk free.

Instead of removing his shirt, he wrapped the tie around my eyes, knotting it firmly at the back of my head. The world went black.

“Sir—?”

“Shh.” His voice was right at my ear, low and deep and rough. “You don’t need to see. You only need to feel.”

He guided me down onto the bed on my back, arms trapped beneath me.

The position arched my breasts upward. I felt the mattress dip as he climbed over me.

I felt his mouth was on my neck—kissing, licking, then biting hard enough to make me cry out. He soothed the mark with his tongue before moving lower.

He didn’t tease my nipples. He devoured them. Sucking one deep into his hot mouth while his fingers pinched and rolled the other, sending sharp sparks of pleasure-pain straight to my core.

I writhed, thighs pressing together, already soaked.

He chuckled darkly against my skin. “So fucking eager.”

His hand slid down my stomach, under the lace. Two long fingers pushed inside me without warning. I arched hard, a broken moan tearing from my throat.

“So wet already,” he growled. “This pussy must know it's master.”

He curled his fingers, stroking my sensitive spot while his thumb found my swollen clit.

The dual assault was relentless. There was no slow build—just raw, commanding pleasure. My hips bucked against his hand, chasing after it.

“Don’t cum yet,” he ordered.

I whimpered, knowing it might be impossible but still answered. “Yes sir—”

He added a third finger, stretching me, going in and out in such fast motion that my eyes rolled to the back of my head.

The wet, obscene sounds filled the room. Pressure built quickly and brutally. My thighs started shaking.

“Please—sir, I can’t—”

“You can. And you will hold it.”

He lowered his mouth to my clit and sucked hard at the same moment his fingers drove deep and rubbed mercilessly.

The orgasm flooded me so hard, I screamed, my back bowing off the bed as I squirted hard around his fingers, soaking his hand and the sheets beneath me.

But he didn’t stop.

Even as I convulsed, he kept pumping, sucking, drawing it out until a second, sharper wave hit.

Another gush of hot liquid sprayed from me. I was sobbing with pleasure, legs trembling violently.

Only then did he ease back slightly, letting me gasp for air. He didn't give me a moment to catch myself as he flipped me onto my stomach, ass up, bound wrists still trapped under me.

The blindfold kept everything heightened. I felt him peel my soaked thong down my legs. Then his hands spread my ass cheeks.

“ You are going to cum again, but on my tongue,” he said simply.

His mouth descended from behind—tongue fucking into my pussy, then dragging up to circle my tightest hole.

The filthy, unexpected sensation made me choke on a moan. Two fingers slammed back into my cunt while his tongue teased my ass, and for the love of God, the third orgasm ripped through me without mercy.

I squirted again, harder this time, now my thighs were quaking, clenching around his face and the bed. My screams were muffled by the sheets.

Dimitri groaned in satisfaction. “That’s my good fucking girl. Give me another, will ya?”

Again, he didn’t let me recover. His fingers returned, curling viciously against my G-spot while his other hand reached around to pinch my clit.

The pressure was immediate and overwhelming. I came a fourth time within seconds. I had never in my life felt anything like this.

Never. Sex with Alexandre had been horrendous but I didn't or rather I couldn't complain because I loved him.

But with this stranger. God, I wanted more from him. I was a soaked, trembling mess but I didn't want him to stop.

When he finally untied my wrists and removed the blindfold. He pulled me into his chest, one big hand stroking my back as I shuddered through the aftershocks.

His voice was a dark velvet whisper against my ear.

“We’re just getting started, Brenda. Catch your breath. Then I’m going to fuck you until the only name you remember is mine.”