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"Careful, that's my future wife
you're talking about..."

- Aleksandr
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Chapter 23 - Keeping A Secret

▪️S E R G E Y▪️

Eight days!

It had been eight fucking days since I had my first kiss with Natasha.

Not like I was counting.

Aleksandr had been right; it had never been like this and I found myself grumbling at the implications of such.

I had never really been into kissing, finding the act too intimate. However, against my better judgement, I found myself eager to feel Natasha's mouth against mine and kissing her was unlike anything I had ever felt before.

Everything from that encounter at her apartment had blown all my expectations out of the water. The way things had just organically flowed between us felt so right. Our bodies had been so in tune with one another, one would think that we had been intimate for years.

Feeling Natasha explode against my face was something that had been on replay in my mind.

Though a week had passed, it felt like only last night that I had my face buried between her thighs, her legs shaking as she came apart against my lips and tongue. If I closed my eyes, I could still smell and taste her.

Being with Natasha was not what I had anticipated. I had expected her to be shy, and she had been, but then she quickly began to blossom, taking her pleasure willingly, not afraid to ask for what she wanted. The sound of her voice tortured my memories, but it was a torment that I gladly endured.

Oh shit, Sergey! Yes, just like that!

"Fuck! She sounded so sexy," I murmured while remembering how she screamed.

I loved the way she had said my name while her body quivered uncontrollably. It was almost like a mix between a plea and a demand. In either instance, it had the power to bring me to my knees.

A part of me was still trying to get control of the feelings of possessiveness that I had where Natasha was concerned. Hell, I made sure not to give her just one hickey, but several.

Seven in fact, because why the fuck not?

It was obvious that I wanted to stake my claim on her. Yet we agreed to keep things a secret, which for reasons unknown to me was becoming bothersome.

I wanted everyone to see the marks on her neck.

On the few occasions I had seen her over the last few days, it irked me to see the hickies covered up by whatever magical make-up she used.

After sorting through some incoming cargo in the warehouse, I decided to take a break and walk towards a secluded part of the harbour on the southern side of the compound. As I stood at the edge of the dock, staring into the dark water, Natasha's face kept flashing before me.

"Get it together Sergey!" I said with a frown.

But even as I spoke the words, I found myself continuing to think about her.

The way she moaned out my name in pleasure was a sound that I found myself wanting to hear over and over. I would never forget the first climax of hers that I had given her that night.

Just before she orgasmed, I had stolen a few glimpses of her in the mirror located above her bed while her eyes had been closed.

Fuck me, she was such a beauty!

The way Natasha had trusted me to take care of her as she gave herself over to my ministrations was simply magnificent. I acknowledged that I had been the only one to have ever seen her in the throes of passion, and frankly, I wanted to be the only person to make her body shatter in orgasmic bliss.

It was hard to ignore the chemistry between us.

When Natasha had her third orgasm, I gasped against her, realising that I had ejaculated against the sheets at the edge of the bed. I could not believe that I had spilled my seed just from eating her out!

Granted, I had been dry humping the sheets, but still!

Something like that had never happened to me before and I knew that I was heading down a dangerous path. Especially where my body's intense reactions towards hers were concerned.

Thankfully, since I no longer needed to oversee Litizia, and Viktor was now getting to do his job, I was not forced to see Natasha every day. Which over a week ago I would have been happy about, but now, I found myself on edge, irritated and uneasy, like a drug addict needing a fix.

It had been hard to leave her that morning and before I knew what I was doing, I had kissed her forehead before I left her apartment. The way she evoked these strange emotions in me made my head spin as my behaviour seemed unpredictable where she was concerned.

God alone knew what I would do if I had to be around her constantly, I would definitely make a fool out of myself.

Shit! Just knowing that I would be seeing her in a few hours had me on edge and I contemplated the risks involved if I were to drag her off somewhere after the cake tasting.

Although, since Aleksandr had plans to officially propose to Litizia today, I knew that there would be a celebration later, so perhaps I could steal her away for a few minutes during all the chaos and excitement without anyone noticing our absence.

I did not know why I had expected Natasha to bombard me with messages or to pine after me. But to my disappointment, she did not.

Since that night at her apartment, we had been exchanging messages daily. Most women would have taken advantage of the opportunity. But I should have known better, for Natasha was not most woman.

"God damn..." I muttered to myself.

The fucking irony of the situation was not lost on me.

I had made fun of Aleksandr for falling quick and hard for Litizia, but it seemed as though I was no better. Although to be fair, I had managed to hold out on making any sort of move for more than half a year.

Still, the moment I had allowed myself a taste of her, that had been it. I had set a course down a road that I could not turn back from.

We had not even fucked yet and I was already way over my head.

For these past few days, I could not even say how many times I had masturbated off of Natasha, remembering every single detail about what we had done to each other's bodies. My cock ached from the abuse I had been subjecting it to all week, and yet, it still ached and throbbed for her as nothing I did seemed to sate my hunger.

Natasha was clearly an addiction and after having my first real taste back at her apartment, I was desperately yearning for more.

As my gaze continued to get lost in the reflection of the water, my hands formed fists at my side, recalling the sensation of her wet pussy against my fingertips. Fuck, I hardened every time I remembered the feel of her rubbing herself against my face.

I growled softly, thinking about the way she had tasted, but as my arousal pressed against the zipper of my trousers, I briefly closed my eyes, willing myself to calm the fuck down.

But I failed, the memory of her chanting my name filling my ears.

Just thinking about the fact that I would be Natasha's first was not helping this insatiable need that I seemed to have for her.

I relished in the fact that she would never have another memory of anyone else going down on her the way I had. My sole aim had been to make the experience as perfect for her as I could and I had savoured every second of that moment.

In fact, I still could not believe that I called her 'baby' especially since I had never used a term of endearment to address anyone before. It had just slipped out, but fuck me if it had not felt and sounded right when I said it.

Thankfully, Natasha had not made any mention of the incident.

Shit, the woman had not said anything about our time together at all, except for when I had asked if she had regretted it. I would have respected her wishes if she had, but I was gratified that she seemed just as eager to have me as I was for her.

I had never been one to bury myself into my phone, texting away like a teenager. However, with Natasha, I found myself looking forward to seeing her name pop up on my screen, eager for our morning and nightly check-ins.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I stiffened when I unexpectedly heard Aleksandr's playful tone.

"Ready to confess yet?"

Glancing at him, I frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Seryozha, when are you going to admit that the woman you were with last week was Natasha?"

I gave a silent thanks for my years of experience of knowing how to keep my facial expressions neutral. But Aleksandr was my best friend and I knew that he knew I had been lying to him about why I had been late that morning.

"I told you, I ended up needing to take a shit and it took longer than expected," I answered.

Aleksandr chuckled, his left-hand draping over my shoulders before he whispered, "You and I both know that you're never late for anything. Especially not over pussy, so whoever you were with had to be someone of great importance and I can only think of one woman that would make you late and since I know for a fact that you weren't with your mother, that only leaves one other person."

I let out a sigh, not bothering to respond seeing as we had been having the same conversation almost every day for the past week.

Not allowing my silence to deter him, Aleksandr continued, "If I knew that I was going to cock-block you, I would have never called that morning. I guess you finally took my advice? Are you two in some kind of secret relationship then?"

"Of course not, Sasha! Don't be ridiculous, what are we, teenagers? Why would I need to hide anything?" I said matter-of-factly.

"If you say so! But don't worry, I can keep a secret and I have already forgiven you..."

Arching a brow, I asked, "Forgiven me for what?"

"For lying to me, of course," he replied while giving my shoulder a squeeze as he went on to say, "I figure that you have your reasons, so, I'll leave it be for now."

My face continued to remain impassive, giving nothing away.

Natasha had told me that she wanted to keep things a secret, and I vowed to honour her request. Even if it meant lying to my best friend for the first time in decades.

This alone already let me know that I cared for her more than I was ready to admit.

I hated having to deceive Aleksandr, but technically since he had already figured me out, I did not feel too guilty. Either way, I was just going to have to keep avoiding and denying his accusations.

"Just know that if you need my help in any way, be it to plan a date or something, I'm here for you," Aleksandr said with a big smile.

Snorting, I reacted, "Right, like I'm going to take advice from a man who decided to call his woman molasses."

Playfully shoving me away, he grumbled, "It's Patoka! Not my fault the English translation sounds weird."

Laughing while shaking my head I continued to tease him, "I can't believe you'd watch a woman that looks like Litizia and call her such. But I suppose she's usually sticky by the end of the night anyway–"

"Careful, that's my future wife you're talking about..." Aleksandr's warned.

His blue eyes narrowed as he scowled at me in a way that would have made most men cower and apologise. But not me, I had been pushing Aleksandr's buttons long before we could even talk and I did not plan to stop anytime soon.

When I heard his phone beep off with a certain notification, I smirked, "Speaking of your future wife..."

Running my hands over the front of my black shirt, I heard Aleksandr mumbling to himself while his fingers moved quickly over the screen of his device.

I could not help but admire Aleksandr out of the corner of my eye.

Having gotten a haircut this morning and his beard trimmed; he was looking extra handsome today in a sleek black suit and crisp white shirt. No doubt the additional effort was for the proposal later, and I thought it interesting that he was a bit nervous even though technically Litizia was his wife already.

Inwardly groaning, Aleksandr said, "Zia wants you to take a picture of me."

Ever since the night of their first date, Aleksandr would ask Litizia for an outfit selfie every day. Of course, she always wanted one in return and since he had never been fond of taking pictures, much less taking selfies, he would ask me to take them.

Naturally, I harassed the fuck out of him.

Seeing my grin, Aleksandr advised while handing over his phone, "Don't even start..."

"Pfft! You should know better than that."

"Just hurry up and take a picture," he grumbled.

I did the opposite.

Taking my time, I observed him while silently contemplating where I should stand, looking for the best lighting. Opening up the camera app, my grin widened as I looked between Aleksandr and his image that showed up on the phone's screen.

"Come on Sasha, strike a pose for me! Put your hand up under your chin, yes, just like that..." I instructed.

He cursed me then begrudgingly did as I suggested while I bit the side of my bottom lip as I not so discreetly admired him. 

I was amazed by the things that Aleksandr would subject himself to just to please Litizia. The notion that I was seemingly heading down a similar path with Natasha was not lost on me, and it was disconcerting to think about how far I would go just to see her smile.

Shaking the thought away, I snapped a few photos from various angles before he got impatient.

"Alright already, enough!" Aleksandr griped.

"Such a grumpy Big Bear..." I teased, using Litizia's nickname for him before adding, "The fourth one is my favourite, send me a copy."

"Fuck you!"

"We can't, you need permission from Zia first," I chuckled while handing over his phone.

Frowning, he grabbed the device from me while muttering to himself. But upon hearing my phone notification go off only seconds later, I just knew that he had sent me the picture.

When he was done texting Litizia a few minutes later, he brushed past my shoulder as he began walking back to the warehouse. My eyes took in the wide expanse of back, admiring the way his jacket fit him.

Talking over his shoulder, he taunted, "Stop checking out my ass!"

Sputtering, I retorted, "I wasn't!"

I was thankful that no one was nearby to hear our exchange, but had we been the only ones on the compound, I would have held his head in a headlock for making such a comment. Instead, I simply walked to catch up to him and discreetly bumped my shoulder into his, trying to push him off balance.

"I really wasn't," I repeated.

"Sure, you weren't..." Aleksandr said then quickly continued, "Anyway, we have to be at the bakery within the hour, so lets just tidy up things here and get ready to head over."

"You have the ring, right?"

"For the millionth time, yes!" Aleksandr sighed.

Raising my hands in front of me, I stated, "I'm just doing my part as the best man, making sure that things are in order. Besides, Jade would kill us both if you messed it up."

"Ugh! Don't I know it!"

"Everything's sorted though, we'll meet Mr. Meyer outside of the bakery and give him the ring so that he can sneakily pass it over to his wife and daughter in the kitchen and they can then slip it where it needs to be."

Aleksandr's brows creased while he admitted, "I still can't believe we came up with such a brilliant proposal. Who knew that you had such romantic ideas stored in that big head of yours?"

"I may not look it, but I can be quite the romantic if I want to be, thank you very much! Besides, I didn't do much, I merely offered some suggestions which you tweaked and personalised."

"Either way, Natasha is a very lucky woman," Aleksandr noted with a smile.

Clearing my throat as we entered the warehouse, I answered, "I don't know what you're talking about..."

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A/N: Who remembers the proposal chapter from Aleksandr? 😍

The Russian word "Patoka" translates to 'Molasses' which is a sticky product resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar.