CHAPTER TEN
THEY TOOK TWO LIMOS to the church.
Maddie didn’t pay attention to who went where except that she had Vik on one side of her and Romi on the other.
The Holy Virgin Cathedral looked like it had been transplanted right out of Russia, with its cross-topped triple-domed spires and white facade. The inside was awe-inspiring, with its domed ceilings decorated with iconography and the ornate public altar area.
She lost herself in the beauty of the service, but nothing was as moving as the moment before the crowning ceremony when Vik sidestepped tradition and lifted her veil to kiss her again and whisper that now even God knew she was his.
The words might be considered irreverent by some, but they settled in Maddie’s soul. He left her veil folded back so that when the crown was placed on her head signifying the sacrament, Maddie felt both bound and freed at the same time.
They skipped the civil ceremony that would have been required to make the wedding legal in Russia because it wasn’t necessary in America. Consequently, they broke crystal glasses at the reception in front of a few hundred of her father and Vik’s nearest and dearest.
Both glasses shattered into rubble, though there could be no doubt that Vik threw his with an impressive force beyond what Maddie used. Everyone cheered.
“It will be a long and blessed union,” Misha announced loudly.
She was a little surprised to discover the man hired to be toastmaster was a well-known Shakespearean actor, and one of her favorite up-and-coming performers sang for the guest’s enjoyment.
They ate, cut the cake and toast after toast was made to the happy couple.
It was all sort of overwhelming and amazing. Nothing about this wedding felt like a business arrangement. When she mentioned that to Vik, he smiled.
“Because this marriage is not a business arrangement,” he said firmly.
“But—”
“It’s a marriage of dreams. Accept that for what it is.”
Happier than she had ever been, Maddie nodded and did just that. She wasn’t at all surprised when Romi caught her bouquet.
Maddie had been aiming after all.
What was surprising and even a little worrisome, was that Maxwell Black caught the garter. The look he gave Romi would have had Maddie running for the hills, but her friend just blushed. And looked more than a little interested.
Huh. That was something to think about.
After Maddie’s own honeymoon.
She smiled so much during the reception that her cheeks hurt by the time the white Rolls-Royce arrived to take them away.
* * *
Maddie was surprised when the car pulled up in front of the Ritz-Carlton instead of Parean Hall.
She turned to Vik. “I thought we were going home.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Going home?” she asked, confused and not minding a bit.
“Home. Our home,” he emphasized.
Heat she did not understand crept into Maddie’s cheeks. “But we aren’t there.”
“No, we are here. And this moment the only three people who know that are you, me and the driver.” Vik sounded very proud of that fact.
“What about security?”
“Not even them. Not tonight. No friends. No family. No security. No press.”
Delight suffused her. “Tonight is ours.”
“Yes.”
“I like it.”
“Good.”
He carried her over the threshold of Suite 919, one of the two most luxurious sets of rooms on the club level.
Its beauty was lost on Maddie, though. She was way too focused on Vik to pay attention to marble floors and Chippendale furniture.
“Champagne?” he asked without putting her down.
She shook her head.
“Snack?”
A smile flirted at her mouth as she said primly, “No thank you.”
His eyes darkened with primal intent. “Bed then?”
“Oh, yes.”
He carried her into the bedroom and lowered her to her feet. “Did I tell you how lovely you are today?”
“You may have mentioned it, yes.”
He nodded, as if in serious contemplation. “I can only imagine one circumstance in which you could be more breathtaking.”
“Yes?” she asked.
“Let me show you.”
“Okay,” she breathed out.
He removed her crown and veil with careful, deliberate movements. Then he took off the jewelry he’d helped her put on earlier.
“I don’t think I told you. The pearls are exquisite. Thank you.”
“They are just little white beads until you are wearing them.”
“Oh, wow...I don’t know even know how to take some of the things you say.”
“As truth. We’ve established I do not lie to you.” He brushed his lips over the back of her neck.
She did nothing to suppress the shiver the small touch elicited. “Or at all, according to Jeremy.”
Vik came around and faced her, and then leaned down to press their mouths together softly for only a brief moment. “Or at all.” He kissed down her neck and along her bare shoulder.
Each caress of his lips left a trail of goose bumps in its wake and she was trembling with desire by the time he made it around to the back of her dress.
He undid the bodice, trailing kisses down her spine as he did so.
The silk of her corset was no barrier between his lips and her skin. He helped her step out of the dress and then took the time to carry it into the dining room and lay it on the table.
When he came back into the bedroom, she said, “Thank you.”
He looked at her questioningly.
“For caring about my dress.”
He shrugged as if his consideration wasn’t important, or maybe rather that it should be taken for granted. “It is a living memory for your family.”
She hoped she never stopped appreciating the big, but especially little things he did to take care of her.
“So, is this what you were talking about?” she asked with a sweeping gesture toward herself with her hand.
Maddie stood before Vik in her corset, panties, sheer silk thigh highs and glittery Jimmy Choo heels, but nothing else.
His smile was predatory when he shook his head. “Almost, but not quite.”
She stepped out of her heels.
“Closer.” Sensuality oozed through his voice.
She swallowed. They’d made love every night for the past five weeks, so nothing about this one should make her nervous.
But as much as he’d claimed to consider their promises at the Marin Headlands overlook to be enough to bind them, the look of possession in his eyes was about ten times more intense than it had been the past weeks.
She reached down to unhook her stockings, but he put a staying hand. “Let me.”
“Okay.” She straightened and waited.
With no consideration for the expensive fabric of his tuxedo trousers, Vik knelt in front of her. But rather than undoing the slide button holding her stocking in place, he settled his big hands on her hips and leaned forward to press a kiss between her breasts.
Her breath caught and her knees went weak. “Vik, please.”
“Please what?” he asked, his voice dark with passion. “This?”
He nuzzled the slopes of her breasts, his tongue flicking out to taste her skin. Little sparks of pleasure chased the path he took with his mouth.
His hands slid around to cup her bottom and then fingertips teased the exposed skin between the bottom of her panties and the tops of her stockings.
She only realized he’d undone the hooks when the soft silk slid down first one thigh and then another—with a little help from Vik.
Over a month ago, she’d never been touched like this, but now her body knew the delight to be had. She felt empty inside in a way she never had before she’d known what it was like to be filled up.
&n
bsp; Her thighs quivered with brush of his fingertips while part of her craved even more. Firmer touch, more intimate caresses.
Her nipples had already drawn tight in anticipation of his attention.
Images of what he’d done before melded with the present to intensify every brush of skin against skin.
Vik reached behind her to undo the corset and she was grateful she’d gone for one with a zipper rather than laces. It parted and came away from her overheated skin in a matter of seconds.
“Mmmm...” he hummed, his expression both pleased and predatory. “Almost there.”
There was no surprise when he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties and tugged them down. Only a sense of breathless anticipation.
With one final kiss on each of her nipples, he stood. “Now, that is the most beautiful sight I could ever imagine.”
Heat suffused her body; she’d lost her ability to suppress her blushes around this man.
None of her defense mechanisms came naturally around Vik anymore.