Vladimir (Russian Dragon Heat #1) - Carole Mortimer Page 0,24
him as much as he wanted her.
But she obviously didn’t want to feel that way.
The kernel of ice lodged in Vladimir’s chest, formed out of fear for his mate when he was informed Tanya had left the palace, now began to melt. With the melting of that ice came the realization that Tanya had already suffered so much in her young life, and that inflicting a spanking for her having run away from him might not be appropriate. That his tenderness might be more fitting.
Chapter Seven
Tanya wondered how much more humiliation she would have to suffer through tonight.
Wasn’t it enough that, against her will, she had enjoyed having dinner with Vladimir earlier?
That, against everything Tanya had believed of him previously, she had found him both an entertaining and intelligent dining companion?
That she had felt the draw of him?
That parts of her now ached for the touch of sensitive lips and big hands?
She didn’t want to feel this way!
Her chin rose as she maintained her dignity, despite being stripped down to a few tattered top clothes and her panties. “Go ahead and spank me,” she challenged. “I couldn’t possibly hate you any more than I already do.”
His dark gaze held hers steadily as he spoke quietly. “I have changed my mind.”
Tanya eyed him warily. “What does that mean?”
He frowned as she gave a shiver, despite the lit fire and the warmth of the central heating. “Does a shower to warm you sound like a good idea?”
“Yes?” Her voice rose slightly, making it a question rather than an affirmative.
Vladimir nodded. “The showers here heat their own water. The water in the tank should be hot too by morning.”
Tanya gave another shiver from the cold. “A hot shower sounds good.”
He didn’t quite smile, but he looked pleased with her answer. “Follow me upstairs.”
Tanya couldn’t stop herself from staring at Vladimir’s broad back and tightly muscled arse as she followed him up the wooden stairs to the gallery above.
Even so, despite that distraction, she knew something wasn’t quite right about this. Seconds ago, Vladimir had been threatening to spank her. Now he was going to help her take a hot shower instead. Did he no longer intend spanking her?
“Vladimir… Wow.” She looked around admiringly at the bathroom he preceded her into before he turned on and adjusted the water temperature in the glass-sided shower that took up one entire wall of what was a very large bathroom. A sunken bath ran along the opposite wall.
“Would you prefer a bath?” Vladimir had obviously seen her longing look in that direction.
She shook her head. “A shower will be fine for now, thank you.”
“Perhaps tomorrow.”
Her eyes widened. “How long do you intend for us to stay here?”
“As long as necessary.”
“Necessary for what— What are you doing?” Her voice came out slightly shrill, her eyes wide in alarm, as Vladimir pulled off his sweater.
He took off his socks and then unfastened the top button of his trousers before answering her. “It isn’t my normal custom to shower in my clothes.”
“I— But— You aren’t going to shower with me!”
He tilted his head to one side. “I’m not?”
“No! You—” Tanya almost swallowed her tongue when Vladimir dropped his trousers to show he wore nothing beneath them.
Revealing him as being absolute perfection, from his overlong dark hair to the bareness of his feet.
As for his cock…
It was long and engorged, as evidence Vladimir was already aroused. It was so thick around, Tanya doubted she would be able to encircle it fully with her fingers. A thick and pulsing vein ran along its length, the bulbous top red, inflamed, and slick with the release of pre-cum from the slit at the tip.
After that initial, mesmerized glance, Tanya lifted her gaze and refused to look down again.
Even with only the men who had once been her customers to compare Vladimir to, she knew he had a perfect male body. Admittedly, most of those other men she’d seen had kept part or all of their clothing on during sex. The one man who had kept her exclusively for himself in an apartment in St. Petersburg for six months had been much older than her and his body already turning to fat. Not that Tanya had minded that. She was off the streets, and the man was kind to her. He might have continued to be kind to her if he hadn’t been killed in a car accident, putting an end to their arrangement.
But she knew without a doubt that Vladimir was a virile man—dragon—at