LOGIN꧁ Marisella ꧂
With his back to me, he orders, “Go into the bedroom, kneel facing the headboard.” My body tingles. Stealing one last look at his form, I spin just before he turns around. I have a feeling he’d realized my little game and was in on it. We’d yet to see each other’s faces. Dress still bunched around my waist, I saunter toward an open door. His gaze is like a hot brand on my flesh. The edge of the bed is visible from the living area, but when I step in, I freeze in my tracks. Spread out on the matte black sheets of the large bed is a ball gag, a glinting metal bar, and several leather restraints. A wicked-looking whip proudly circles the ensemble. “Oh hell no…” I breathe, taking an instinctive step back. Once again, my back collides with the hard planes of his body. Always in the way of any escape. He runs his fingers through my hair, voice husky, “I’ll be… gentle.” I can tell from his tone he doesn’t want to be. So how can I trust that he will? His fingers play over my nape, brushing my hair over my shoulder to fully expose my naked back. “Exquisite,” he groans, low. That hungry sound sends my desire roaring again. My thighs subtly clench at the rush of desire. He deftly unlaces my halter, undressing me with fluid, methodical movements. Soon, I am naked, save for my gold chain. Then he does something shocking. Carefully tugging, he returns my hair to flow down my back, and he… braids it. Whispering words I cannot understand, he finishes the thick braid, stroking it lovingly. It feels like a ritual. Preparing me. Readying me— “On your knees in bed.” My gaze flits back to the equipment, trepidation filling me once more. I’d prepared my mind for a spank here and there. N-not that! At my hesitation, his grip on my hair turns harsh. “Ten thousand. Obey, or go home.” That got me moving. Feverish with a mix of dread and anticipation, I climb into the king-sized bed beside the arsenal he’d arranged. I catch a glimpse of a bejeweled butt plug. Oh Hectate, save me. “Pick up the gag. Wear it.” His voice sounds strained, as if he’s holding himself back by a thread. Gagging myself with the shiny ball, I fasten the clasps behind my head, and note the severe air of the room. A single strip of warm, indirect lighting snakes along the ceiling, barely illuminating the space and leaving half the room in shadows. “Chest down, wrists beside your knees,” he commands immediately after I’ve secured the last clasp. Heart racing, I do as he asks, leaning my chest to the bed, raising my ass in the air. He grunts at the sight, muttering more Russian expletives. My body flames. The position, the circumstances, the act. I really am surrendering my body to this faceless man. His hand flashes by my side to pick up the long metal bar with cuffs on the ends. With ragged breaths, he eases my legs wider apart, fastening the ice-cold cuffs on each knee with deliberate calm. Sparks singe when his skin makes contact with mine, securing my wrists to the cuffs on my knees. The bar keeps my legs spread in a fixed, helpless angle. I can’t straighten out or move away. I’m well and truly bound. Rocking my hips, I’m startled by how turned on I am by the restrictions. “Don’t do that.” He grates. “Don’t make me lose control.” Oh? Unease fades into daring. I ache to provoke the big bad wolf. This is my first and last opportunity to explore this strangely exciting ritual—with someone like him. My hips rock wantonly, followed by a drawn-out moan that’s part plea and part wonder. “For all your shyness, you love this. Don’t you?” He sounds pleased. Seconds later, I feel strands of leather slink over my spine. The flogger. My muscles tighten just as leather snaps across the backs of my thighs. I gasp. The sting makes my eyes water. Even as I whimper behind the gag, my ass juts out for more. He obliges, striking my ass, my thighs, even my lower back and calves. He gives no quarter, no breaks. Beyond the sharp pain, heat flares into hypersensitivity. Everything heightens my arousal. His grunts as he strikes. The unyielding ball in my mouth. My limbs tremble, fists clenching. When a stray lash catches my pussy, I keen against the ball, chasing the shocking pleasure. He figures my intent, focusing softer lashes against my soaking lips and clit. My legs quiver, a tight ball of bliss gathering between my thighs. My desperate cries sound so far away. “Are you going to come like this, Katya? Don’t you dare, not until I say you can.” Oh, that voice. My mind readily supplies a face. Dark hair falling over equally pitch-black eyes. Flawless skin taut over high cheekbones. That smooth, sharp jaw. Thick brows drawn together as he whips my ass raw. My head thrashes, need welling up inside me. Liquid snakes down my thighs, adding to the overwhelming sensations. Boneless, sinking further into the bed, my eyes roll back. Lips curling with crazed delight, I bite down on the ball. My release rips through me in raw, shattering shockwaves. Through clenched teeth, I scream my pleasure. Core clenching around nothing, I writhe out my orgasm. Lights swell and dim behind my closed lids. Orgasmic tears track down my face. “You came so hard,” he rasps in disbelief. “Without permission.” He adds darkly. He sounds pleased I’d disobeyed, if only to punish me again. “Mmmhph…” I moan incoherently. I have so much to tell him. Like, give me your cock, fuck me senseless. Use me. “No use begging, Katya,” he hisses, “You’re about to get fucked. Hard.” Both his palms land on my hips with a loud slap, rocking me on my weakened knees. Sweat pebbles my skin, chill against my heated body. I dimly register contact against my opening when he whispers to himself, “Look so much like her. The only reason…” I can’t dwell on his statement as the plush tip of him circles my wet entrance, prodding but never breaching. Swaying backward, I try to slip him into my molten core. But he grips my cheeks, holding me in place. “So wet for me. Greedy girl.” This tease was maddening! I try communicating again, “Uhnnn mmmphh…” Damned gag! “Tell me what you need. If you can’t use your words, use your eyes, Katya.” Desperate, I curve my neck to the side with my eyes wide and shimmering with a silent plea— Our gazes lock. He’d pushed just enough to sink the flared head past my folds. My brain fights between greedily sucking in the torturous inch of cock he’s fed me, and reconciling the face with the one from memory. Though his powerful body freezes, his shaft continues to sink into me so slowly it might’ve been a dream. Thick and veined, he fills me deliciously, the discomfort eased by the crawling pace. He sinks to the hilt, still looking bewildered. My pulse flutters. My center clenches around the pulsing length seated deep inside me, milking it in the absence of motion. “Marisella?” He rasps, voice hoarse, neck tight with corded muscle. I nod, slow, dazed. He lunges backward with a shocked bellow. Heat still pooled between my legs, my hips softly rock against nothing. The way he gapes at me makes my chest ache. Horror. Shock. But still, one thought echoes in my head… I wish he’d finished before we realized… he is Alexei—my stepbrother.꧁ Marisella ꧂Alexei and the other man, whose name I still don’t know, are long gone before I realize what had happened.He’d successfully avoided telling me anything useful about the situation. He’d distracted me with soft words and a well-timed caress.I glare daggers at the door.He hadn’t even told me his next plan.What would it take to learn his secrets and more?Since I can’t leave the hotel on his orders, I decide to call Mom.“Hello, this is Nurse Giselle at Baptist Faith Hospital. Your mother is resting comfortably. Would you like to leave a message for the attending physician?”I catch myself sighing in relief, then hot guilt makes me stutter a response. “Um, yes… actually, thank you.”The call ends after a short conversation about my mom’s current condition, which is positive, and my concise message.As soon as Alexei gives me the clear, I’ll go see her.I cover my face with both hands and just breathe into them.This… thing with Alexei is affecting me to the point of shyi
꧁ Marisella ꧂ As soon as the realization hits me, I throw a glance over my shoulder. Wait. Why do I feel guilty? I’m an autonomous young adult who gave a hot guy her number at the club. Who cares if Alexei smashes my phone in a rage if he finds out? To him, every other male apart from his graciously heroic self is a danger to be kept at arm’s length. But he did break Cole’s face, and it’s on me to apologize for his erratic behavior. My fingers fly over the keyboard. Mari: Oh hey, I’m so sorry about tonight. I’m fine, thank you for asking, but are you? Cole: The fucker had a mean right hook. But I’ll live. I never got your name. I recoil at the ease with which this stranger calls my stepbrother names. But of course, he doesn’t know who Alexei is to me. That curious flare of protectiveness that has bloomed toward Alexei roars out of control. Suddenly, I don’t want this stranger to know my name. With a huff, I lock my phone and roll onto the king-sized bed. Bliss. A cloud o
꧁ Marisella ꧂ As Alexei stalks back at me, it takes everything to not melt into a puddle on the hotel’s expensive rug. The T-shirt sleeve cuts into his flesh as he folds his arms, chest bunching under clinging fabric. I should be riled up and ready to defend myself against the resentment churning in his gaze, but that pain… that nameless pain that had accompanied it sucks me in like a vacuum. He stops right before me, face twisted to convey emotion too deep to be fake. “You name all the bad things that started happening once I showed up a bit too much for my liking.” This is the first time in a while he’s using so many words with me. It excites me. “How about the good?” he says, nearly growling in that Russian accent. “The good?” My mind is calm, as it usually is when I sense a way in. “Of course. I never got to thank you for Mom’s treatment. And the money that first night. The job at PRISM… I don’t even think verbal appreciation is sufficient.” His face visibly slackens. The
꧁ Marisella ꧂ With each unanswered ring, my heart caves deeper in my chest. I know I’m being irrational, but the suspicion that Sonya’s avoiding my calls because of what happened at Vanity is incessant. The confusion in her tone when I’d told her who Alexei was is a scalding brand in my skull. I shiver at the thought of her finding out Alexei is the Russian client I’d met that night in her place. How will she take it? My legs stretch out on a sigh, and I scroll through our photos on my camera. We’d been having so much fun. I’d even met someone. And Alexei just had to ruin it. My mind conjures the darkness on his face when he’d said he’ll handle the intruder from last night. How? Had he recognized the man? What exactly is Alexei involved in to warrant an armed trespasser sniffing around the house? If Alexei had been home… A chill runs down my spine. No. Less thoughts about blood and death. That ever present tremble from the moment he’d left me at this hotel
𖤓 Alexei 𖤓 Marisella is shaking like a leaf in the passenger seat. I’m shaking too, for the same reasons. Except, where she’s terrified about being observed by an intruder in what should’ve been her safe space, I’m seething. Hungry for blood. Aching to rip the spine from the man who’d gotten within meters of my… charge. I don’t know what she is to me anymore. It should be impossible to feel this way toward a stepsister. My knuckles prickle with tension on the wheel. When I drop Marisella at Aston Bay, a hotel with security sharper than its marble edges, her gray-green eyes are the coldest I’ve ever seen them. I don’t like it. “Where are you going?” she asks once I turn to the door after a customary sweep of the room. The building is secure enough to hold her while I complete my earlier mission. “Stay here. I won’t be long.” Her fingers are tight around her bag’s straps, random items sticking out from the open zip. Her soft brows furrow with irritation. “Wi
꧁ Marisella ꧂ The car is in motion before I collect myself. Alexei drives like a devil, speeding so fast the scenery blurs past. “Please tell me you’re joking.” My voice is small. “What did you see? Did you notice anything else?” “No. I… I slept off right after, and this morning I left in a hurry. I was so sure it was you.” “Even if it was, you had no business leaving your door open.” His tone makes me shiver. Why would he say that? I wasn’t in any danger from him… then it dawns. Alexei doesn’t trust himself with me. The tension amps up a thousand degrees. I force my mind away from that train of thought, digging through last night. It could’ve easily been a hallucination supported by alcohol, but I’m sure of what I saw. Even though I couldn’t tell how long the figure had spent at my doorway, I know it had been real. My hands clutch my bag. A real person, not Alexei, had been inside my house while I was vulnerable. My breath comes faster. “Those men… do you think?” “Who







