Kept Women: Two Fertile Submissive Stories (6 page)

He arched those huge, lion-like paws I'd
enjoyed so many nights. My wide eyes started at the bony knuckles
through his thin skin, pale mountains that were a true force of
nature.

My heartbeat picked up,
banging against my ribs. I started to sweat a little. Sure, I'd
known he had a hard life...but I hadn't realized it was
that
hard.

Jeez. And what else don't I know about this
man? Are there things beneath the surface that would blow out my
attraction, my love, like a candle's flame?

“
Don't be frightened,
kitten. Nothing like that will ever happen to you.” He reached for
my hand and rubbed it in his. “Things are much more stable now. The
few male servants here aren't just for mopping up the floors and
driving us around. They're drawn from my brother's own regiment.
They provide complete protection for the whole estate – including
you.”

I relaxed, if only a little. His touch made
everything better.

I'd learned awhile ago that his brother was
a powerful general in the Russian army. I also wondered why the men
were allowed to stand around and smoke outside without getting his
wrath.

Nikolai ran a tight ship as the reigning son
of a functionary family turned to business. One more mystery solved
– his posse was here to protect, not to do menial chores.

“
So, are any of the women
here soldiers in hiding too?” I giggled, trying to make a
lighthearted joke to break the tension.

“
Only one,” he said very
seriously.

I looked up, and my jaw dropped a little.
His eyes smiled in amusement, but nothing about his expression said
he'd just cracked a joke.

“
You're going to settle in
nicely, kitten. Grigor's marks are up in school since you arrived.
Whatever you're doing with the boy, it's working.”

“
I hope so.” It was a
strange feeling. At some level, Grigor already responded to me like
a step-son, more obedient and respectful than any seven year old
should be.

At first, I thought it was just the cultural
difference. But each day he finished up his lessons early and waved
me over review, a hopeful smile on his face, I realized it was
something more.

“
So then,” Nikolai said,
wrapping both his strong hands around mine. “When will you tell
your family you've relocated to the Russian Federation
permanently?”

“
My little girl! You,
staying in that frozen land of drunks and derelicts?” My father was
aghast.

I could practically see him shaking with
rage as he held his mobile phone across a very red ear. I bit my
lip, a hair away from laughing through the phone.

“
It's okay, Dad. I'm
making good money here. Far more than I'd make back in the States
for this kind of job.”

“
Well, I hope it's very
good indeed to make you satisfied with being a damned babysitter!
Oh, personal nanny – excuse me! I thought you'd do something better
with your life.”

I clenched my jaw. It was
always about what
he
wanted, wasn't it? I'd never been anything more to him than a
status symbol, just like his gold cufflinks and from the German
Chancellor. One more trinket to show off the stately events he
dragged my mother and I to.

“
This is what
I
want, Dad. You can't
change that. Beside, I like it here.”

He snorted. “I knew you
were feeling down, but not
that
down. Russia's a miserable place. I'm just
surprised your boss hasn't climbed into your bed or sold you to the
highest bidder yet. You wouldn't believe the things I heard about
these oligarchs back in the Nineties...”

Correction: I'm the one climbing into his
bed, when he's not pulling me through the curtains. And I'm loving
every delicious second of it.

I wasn't about to say that to Dad. Not yet,
anyway.

“
Just come to London,
honey. We can talk about this. Hey, your brother landed that big
investment job at the firm over here. Maybe he can find you
something. You were always very good at math.”

“
I don't need Matthew to
come to my rescue.” I inwardly burned, annoyed to hear about golden
boy's latest triumphs. He'd always been my parent's
favorite.

“
You really think that's
what's happening here? I'm looking out for your own good, April. I
shouldn't have ever let you take that blasted cruise.”

“
You were the one who
wanted to open me up to new experiences and new
cultures.”

Another snort from his end. “I should've
known. You'd rather take hand outs from Mr. what's-his-name rather
than your own family.”

I paused, one flick away from cutting the
call. I honestly couldn't take another minute of this shit.

“
I don't need your hand
outs, Dad. Let me find my own way for once. And you know
what?”

“
What!”

“
You were right about one
thing,” I smiled, sharpening my words. “I did meet a handsome man
here. And he's going to be the one to give me the life I
deserve.”

“
Consider yourself cut
off,” he said after a long pause. “Don't come crawling to me when
everything falls apart, or you end up on the wrong end of some
underhanded official.”

“
Fine! Just fucking forget
about me and live your life with Mom and Matthew the way you always
wanted! It's a new world here.
My
life, and I'm going to make it work. I don't need
you.”

I sat on the bed, quivering with rage,
trying to get my screaming under control.

No response. When I looked at the screen,
toxic anger pumped a little harder through my system. He'd ended
the call, probably well before I'd spat out my last words.

Dear Old Dad,
I thought with a sigh.
Why the hell couldn't you ever figure out how to be as
diplomatic with your own family as you are with the
Finns?

I pondered the question, trying to settle my
nerves before it was time to bring Grigor his afternoon study snack
and tea. But I already knew the answer.

There was no honor in letting me discover
the world for myself, without his infinite wisdom. Whatever.

I looked out the window at the fading snow
across Nikolai's vast forests. Winter was almost over, and that
went double for the nearly endless winter I'd lived in for
twenty-one years.

The sun was finally shining, waiting for me
to come and bask in its warm illumination.

Finally! I hadn't gone out much since
arriving at Nikolai's estate, but he'd given me the afternoon off
to do some shopping.

The driver looked back at me about once
every ten minutes as he steered the sleek car into St. Petersburg's
main shopping center. It would've been perfect, if only I didn't
have to share my space with Natasha.

The head housekeeper needed to get some
items for the house, and it only made sense to ride along and save
on space. She kept her sour face turned away from me the whole
time, staring out the window at the passing countryside.

I remembered what he'd implied about her
being some kind of – what? – informer? Secret agent? Security
guard?

Hell, I didn't know. I wasn't sure I wanted
to. How could this frail, short, over the hill woman strike fear
into anyone with a gun?

I pushed the thought aside and stared into
the dying evening. The orange haze had me brimming with confidence.
And maybe a little hopeful stupidity too.

The chauffeur opened my door, and I got out,
shaking myself awake.

“
Natasha! Wait up!” I
yelled, struggling out my seat as the driver held the door
open.

The older woman only slowed a little as she
walked toward the shopping complex. It was all I needed to catch
up.

“
Listen, I wanted to look
at a few things for Grigor. He's been talking a lot about model
airplanes and rockets. Might be a good hobby that could help with
his lessons. Do you mind if I tag along?”

Natasha stopped and faced me coldly. “If you
think that would be best, Ms. Gallaway.”

Whatever. I'd overheard rumblings that
Nikolai had told her to treat me with more respect after he'd heard
about her blow out in the kitchen. She was going to obey him, but
she wasn't going to be happy about it.

It wouldn't stop me.

I followed the old woman into the huge mall.
Electronics boutiques, fine apparel, and gourmet food shops hawked
their delicacies from every corner.

The shopping center was one of those massive
old Soviet buildings. It should've been too immense and foreboding
to ever house a consumer's paradise, but by some strange Russian
logic, it worked.

Natasha and I split up in every store. I
wasn't going to force myself on her, even as I tried to make small
talk. She gave me nothing more than curt nods and brief agreements,
reminding me exactly where she stood with this annoying American
girl.

By night, I had a huge bag in hand, packed
to bursting with little Grigor's rockets and planes. Of course, I
picked up several books on radio and model engineering too. Or at
least that's what the shopkeeper told me the books were about in
less than perfect English.

I was rifling through a dress shop across
from the furniture store Natasha had gone into when my phone
buzzed. The timer I'd set had gone off. Roughly an hour left before
the dinner Nikolai and I planned on.

I hurried through the store and paid for a
new formal dress before seeking out Natasha. Five minutes later, I
was red faced and frustrated.

The old woman was nowhere to be found. It
wasn't like she could be hiding anywhere in the furniture store
with all its open spaces either.

I tapped my phone and rang her impatiently.
No response.

Okay, fine. I'll have to meet the old crone
back at the car.

When I stepped outside, there were several
new black cars pulled along the curb. But none of them had the
driver with the salt and pepper mustache, a big man named
Andrei.

My heartbeat picked up. Damn, I didn't have
a direct number for the car – one little detail I'd neglected.

I started to walk. The plastic sac was
growing heavy in my hand, more like a bag of timber by the second
as I walked through the chilly St. Petersburg streets.

“
Where the fuck did they
go?” I snarled to myself, staring up and down the
streets.

The shopping center didn't have a giant
parking lot. I'd been right through it, and I was well out in the
city, several blocks from where I'd started. No sign of the
car.

I hadn't realized how dark it had gotten
until now. The streets were winding, unfamiliar, their dizzy lights
twinkling around me like strange stars.

My fingers tapped the phone and rang
Nikolai. I got his voice mail and left a shrill, confused message.
Not like I could do anything else.

Before, I was just pissed, but now I was
starting to get scared.

Women in large coats passed, and so did
small groups of men in leather. When I tried to duck into an
outside table at a small cafe, a few men stared, pointing at me and
talking among themselves with big grins on their faces.

I was at a total disadvantage when I didn't
know the language. I glanced at my phone. The battery was down
about two thirds, and I clicked it off to conserve power after
trying Nikolai again.

Nothing made sense.

By now, we should've been setting down to
dinner. But it was like he didn't know I was missing. Some crazy
interruption must've happened on his end too.

“
Madame, this cafe is
closing. You can pay and go, yes?” A wiry man smiled uneasily,
scooping up the empty mug from the coffee I'd ordered.

Just my luck. I had to be in the part of
town that's closing down.

Though it wasn't exactly early anymore. I
stood, gathered my things, and let him swipe the card Nikolai had
given me to pay for my expenses.

I saw lights across the street. A bar, or
maybe another cafe that hadn't quite given up yet.

The last thing I needed was a stiff drink,
tempting as it was. I waited beneath the lights, just outside the
door, more unsettled by every passing shadow.

Wintry darkness had returned, and fewer
lights on the street meant shadier looking profiles for everyone
beneath the dead lights. When a man brushed my arm on his way past,
I nearly screamed, not stopping to think he was probably just
drunk.

The early spring cold sank deep, all the way
to my bones. I folded my arms, staring into the streets, more than
a little unnerved by a new trio of men across from me.

Another car passed. They began walking over
the dark road, straight for the bar. Surely, they weren't coming
for me?

But when the lights hit them just a few feet
away in the center of the road, I saw their grim faces. All their
hands were stuffed tight in their leather jackets. I imagined a
hundred different things they had in their pockets, none of them
good.

I turned and began reaching for the bar's
door, dropping my bag. I was in a total flurry now, losing models
all over, desperate to get inside. I didn't stop until I heard a
roar that rivaled a jet engine.

The men were already flying in mid air when
I spun around. A huge black SUV ran right into them, throwing them
like puppets.

I screamed and dropped to my knees. A second
later, Nikolai's arms were pulling me up, and another man at his
side scrambled to the cold ground, collecting everything I'd
dropped.