Chapter 171

I’m groggy and sleep muddled when I pad through to the main sitting area of our living room in a loose
summer dress I changed into, rubbing my eyes and yawning like I didn’t just have myself the longest
siesta. Blurry eyed, cooler due to efficient AC and generally in a happier mood now I have slept. I
wander towards the long leather L shaped couch where Alexi is sitting to slide down beside him and
curl up next to that sexy body of his.

He’s on his laptop with his phone propped to his ear, leaning forward to the coffee table and has a
brown file of papers open to his right. He’s working so I just lie down beside him and push my feet
against his thigh to have some contact. I must have slept for a couple of hours at least as the lunchtime
sun that was up when we got here is now lower in the sky which suggests late afternoon. I twirl my hair
and watch him, feeling wholly content, sighing with just how quickly the resentment and scars from how
he was towards me in the past are fading. My heart brimming with the adoration I feel whenever I look
at him lately. He runs a quick gentle stroke over my foot to acknowledge my presence but doesn’t look
my way.

“What else did you dig up?”

He’s talking to Mico I presume. I was a little shocked that our trip to Vegas was missing a ton of Carrero
escorts until I overheard him and Gino, when we were heading to our rooms, talking about this hotel
being secured by their Vegas relatives. Apparently, this hotel is connected to a branch that is being sold
off to Carrero hotels and the security is already very Carrero embroiled from the other side of his family.
His cousin Jake, along with his father and brother, are heading the takeover. Their family are merging
two businesses into one and soon this five-star haunt will be emblazoned with a gold pentagon and a
giant C. It must be a massive undertaking as this chain of hotels was once the Carrero empire’s biggest
competitor.

They are slowly taking over the high-class world of hotels, spas and luxury cruisers from what I hear.



“My father is still siding with the board; my hands are tied unless something changes. She hasn’t done
anything to warrant a heavy-handed retaliation, so they want me to find a peaceful resolution.” He
sounds pissed, it’s subtle but that tension he tries to roll out of his shoulder highlights this is still a
subject that’s grating on him. Alexi likes to be in charge, so his family clamping down on the course of
action he wants to take is seriously pissing him off.

I don’t get why they care.

She is a nothing woman trying to meddle in affairs she has no business in. Her family were slaughtered
and chased out of the city once before at their hands. I don’t get why they would stop him from getting
rid of the problem this time when she has shown she is just as ruthless as her father was.

“No. Don’t. We will be back the day after tomorrow. Wait for me before we finalise the details. I need
time to think this through and figure out how to approach it. Tell Santagato I will see him on my return.
Keep everything low key as though nothing is amiss. We act like nothing has happened.” Alexi nods a
few times as though listening to a response then says goodbye and hangs up, the scowl on his face
deepening to a full throttle frown. He puts his phone on the table and finally leans back to scoop up one
of my feet in large strong hands. Startling me with the sudden attention.

“You feel better after your three-hour nap?” He pulls my leg so my foot ends up in his lap and rubs it
gently, massaging my sole enjoyably. Obviously not in the mood to discuss his call or what I overheard.
Alexi is deflecting and I don’t want to talk about it anyway. That bitch can wait until we go home.

“Mmmm” His foot rub is divine, and I close my eyes to savour his hands on my body. Tingles creeping
up my leg to my warm nether regions. Alexi’s touch is an aphrodisiac and already my mind is picturing
him naked. He has always been good with his hands, even when he was being a jerk. He has a
confident, firm touch and is good at working kinks out of all sorts of muscles. Getting his thumb right in
there and teasing my limb into submission.



“Want to hang out here until dinner and have some fun or go act like tourists for a couple of hours?”

I’m literally torn. The thought of getting back in bed with him is an obvious first choice, but I did just
spend hours in there and feel a little cooped up and in need of air. I want to explore with him and
behave like normal people for a little while. I love him more when he’s disconnected from his business
face and out with me as just two people in love.

Then again—sex. With my dominant porn star.

Decisions, decisions.

I never thought I would ever like a man being in full control in sex, by choice or crave it with him as
much as I do. I always assumed that should I ever have feelings for a man he would be someone who
submitted to me in the bedroom and I would call the shots in every way. It’s the only way I thought I
would enjoy sex and feel safe with a man. Not Alexi. He is at his best when you let him take over, call
the shots and manoeuvre you in any way he wants.

I know I’m safe with him; he wouldn’t use that time between us to hurt me ever again. I would bet my
soul on it.

I trust him enough to know that we won’t go backwards. He could have punished me after leaving the
club. He was beyond mad and it was a prime example of the time he would have in the past. He didn’t.
Not even a little.

He just wants to keep me safe and I need to stop being suspicious of his motives and relax with him.
Seeing control when he is being cautious is my biggest flaw. He loves me. I need to just remind myself
of that every second. Even if it’s hard to feel like it’s true sometimes. He gives me more than sex; he
gives me him and tender moments, access to his deeper gentle side. He gives me time away from his
world so it’s just Lexi And Cam.



I know I will easily get both if that’s what I want. Sightseeing with his alter ego and then sex. I’m starting
to understand the power I have over him and how he rarely refuses my requests. He’s a soft touch for
his little redhead and it’s very cute.

“I want to have a soak in the tub, maybe after that, we can go wander and see some of Vegas. I feel
dusty and sleep rumpled. You can come too if you like.” I throw him a sultry look, enticing him to come
with me for some non-sexual intimacy and he continues to frown at me. Clearly has other ideas and
sex was the answer he was aiming for.

“Go run your bath, I still have some calls to make. I’ll come keep you company in a few minutes.” He
lets go of my foot, leans over me so he can deliver a chaste peck on my lips at a full stretch and then
moves back to return to his previous position, leaning towards his laptop. I can sense his tension, and
this translates to ‘go let me unwind for a minute, maybe have a vodka’.

I roll off the couch, pulling my dress up as I do so and make a point of walking past the table and
around it, so his line of vision catches me slowly sliding off the only covering I have on. A slow, sexy
tease up and over my head that is meant to get him moving a little faster. I might not want sex right this
second, but I do want him to follow and keep me company.

By the time I get back around behind the couch, I’m trailing my dress behind me saucily and naked as
a newborn baby. A glance backwards, a sultry side look and lip bite, catch him watching me walk away,
eyes locked on my body, and I wink at him naughtily.

“I have more self-control than you think.” He points out and turns away with a smug smirk and picks up
his phone. Makes a show of going back to his laptop, trying to prove a point and I stick my fingers up
behind his back. Riled that he always has to show me he never going to be led completely by the nose
when it comes to me. No matter how good I am at it.



I guess it’s mutual. I won’t ever by a ‘yes, Sir’ kind of woman, no matter how much I love him and how
many times he makes me orgasm. I don’t think I would want him to be a ‘yes, Ma’am’ kind of guy either.
Alexi is who he is, and his bossy dominant arsehole side is a huge part of what makes him sexy. If he
got too soft and under the thumb, I think I would lose a lot of the sizzle I have in my pants for him.

I exhale with defeat and just pad to the bathroom while shaking my head at him. Immediately turning on
the taps when I get in and readying it for my soak. I drop my dress on the floor at the door and go about
preparing myself in the nude.

I tie my hair up on top of my head, cleansing my face in the mirror as my bath fills up insanely fast.
Fogging out the reflection and filling the room with aromatic smells of the scents I poured in. A
mountain of bubbles threatening to pour over the edge.

I look fresh-faced and rosy-cheeked, and staring contentedly at myself I realise, for just a second, that I
look different. It’s not a major change, subtle but there. A softer almost surreal difference to my face
that I cannot put my finger on.

I look young and healthy and somehow … glowing. It’s not the steam in the room or the lack of
makeup. I have no clue what it is, but I don’t recall ever looking this alive and bright-eyed and cheery
when I’m not even smiling. I just look … happy. Youthful.

I gaze for a long moment, zoning out in an empty blank daydream until the strong smell of my bath
brings me back to the present and I realise it’s almost overflowing.

I shake it away and turn to the tub and turn off the taps, climbing in and sinking down into the very hot
water to rest up against the edge with the attached headrest. Settling into a very comfortable, soothing
position when surrounded by luxurious heat and that floaty feeling that water gives you. Submerging
weary bones into a fully pleasurable weightless heat. Sighing with contentment at the unique joy of
having yourself a bath. The most relaxing thing in the world besides orgasm afterglow with Alexi.



“Thought you might want this.” Alexi startles me as he walks in, carrying red wine for me and brandy for
him and lays my glass on the edge beside my head. Coming to perch his butt on the rim of the tub and
leans over me slightly, looming in and locking eyes. Still in his earlier outfit but his shirt is a little more
wrinkled up.

“Thank you. Now get naked and get in.” I smile at him adoringly, but he just frowns at me once more.
Dips his fingers in the tub and then shakes them off with even more of a furrow of those black brows.

“I’ll pass. I have not taken a bubble bath since I was about five years old.” He gets up, walks to the
edge in the centre where a little wall juts out to join onto a low surface around the edge of the room,
and sits down properly with more of a butt resting spot, to watch me soak.

“You’re not getting to sit and watch me if you’re not coming in.” I point out. Annoyed that he thinks all I
wanted was his presence in the room and not naked beside me. He has no sense of intimacy and how
nice it might be to share a bath.

Sex isn’t everything.

“I would like to see you enforce that.” Again, with that smug tone and I can tell he’s in that obtusely
playful mode, yet still has that simmering aggressiveness of being pissed off. It makes for a weird mood
and it’s times like this he frustrates me.

Petulant, childish and yet trying to be sociable.

“Fine … I just thought it would be romantic.” I sigh heavily.

“We already established that I don’t follow the normal trends of romance.” He sips his booze,
undeterred by my obvious disappointment and I eye roll at him. Losing the good mood vibes and
irritated at him for his lack of cooperation for something so dumb.



“You know what? Forget it, I thought it would be nice. Go back to what you were doing.” It’s a huffy
response, born of lingering tiredness from the heat and just fragile sensitivity for no reason. I think I’m
still rattled from yesterday’s events and I’m being stupidly emotional. Can’t seem to get myself in check
since we got on the flight this morning.

Maybe that’s what downstairs with the receptionist was about too.

Yesterday I could have died. Despite not having the normal reactions to severely traumatic events that
most women have, they do still haunt me. Yesterday was a horrible day, with a frightening realisation of
how easily my life could be snubbed out. Those men terrified me. If he had taken just a little longer to
find me … it doesn’t bare thinking about. He came for me, but it’s still hanging over me like a dark cloud
of regret. I was so stupid and almost handed myself over to certain death.

I’m not pissed at him, I’m livid at myself.

Alexi sighs heavily, stands up as if to leave, ruining what’s left of my mood as a heaviness drags my
stomach to the base of the bathtub and I resign myself to tears. Because that’s what emotionally fragile
and stupid girls do when their boyfriends unintentionally upset them.

I stop mid internal rant at how much of an insensitive unromantic prick he is when he perches his glass
at the end by my feet before unbuttoning his shirt slowly. Locking eyes on me and a hint of a
begrudged smirk.

“I’ll have to shower that smell off me after this. Why do women have to soak in floral scented bubbles?
What’s wrong with normal water?” He’s grumpy, that hint of childishness breaking through because I
won, and I perk up and can’t stop the smile widening across my face. All doom and gloom jumping out
the window to be replaced with a sudden rush of ‘I love you so much’.

Definitely hormonal and emotional today.



“Because it smells good and then so will I.” I grin at him, enamoured that he’s taking a dip with me just
to keep me happy. Overwhelmed with a need to squish him in a grateful hug. Fizzing up inside with
elation.

“You tell my brother about this and I may smother you to death.” He pulls off his clothes quickly and I
lean forward to perch my arms on the tub, crossing them, and rest my chin on the hollow as I watch the
layers peel away to reveal all that muscled toned body and black ink. Perving on him the way he did
with me. Laughing at his threat and mentally filing it for future blackmail.

“You’re such a baby.” I point out and bite on my lip to curb the hot urges that flash through me when he
takes his boxers off.

Even when it’s not erect it’s still impressive.

“I’m not drunk enough to sit in there for more than ten minutes.” He warns me and then walks forward
and steps in. Making ‘ahh’ and ‘ouch’ noises as his foot hits the water. I can only guess he’s a pussy
when it comes to hot water.

I like my baths at skin boiling temperatures.

“Jesus Christ, are you taking a bath or boiling soup? Cam, it’s like five fucking thousand degrees in
here.” He snaps, dances his limbs about in it as he tries to get in properly and makes it way more
dramatic than it really is. I just stare at him with one raised brow and immediately re-evaluate his
manliness as he bops his butt in and out a few times before even thinking about committing to full-body
submergence. It just kills all that alpha prowess dead, and he may have scarred me for life.

“Shut up and sit down.” I grab his hand as he flails his arms around and pull him to get him moving. I
was hoping for an epic splash as he fell in but he’s too strong, and all I do is tug his arm, like a child
wanting Mummy’s attention.



It’s painful to watch a grown man the size of Alexi, slowly lower his derrière into the bath for the fifth
time, stopping and lifting with ‘ahh’ noises before his butt actually hits the base. Kills any sexual urges
dead.

“I’m starting to think you were formed in hell … this is not relaxing. Pretty sure my dick will fall off.” He
sulks when slowly leaning back, arms up in the air to avoid adding them to the burning pit of hell at the
same time as his torso.

Baby!

“Jesus Christ. Its hot water, you absolute woman. Stop your moaning, lie back and chill out.” I assume
the position as though demonstrating but he just sits as he is, reaches for his glass and downs it in one.
Sitting stiffly upright and obviously afraid to lower any more skin into the water.

“Now what?” he asks expectantly. Staring at me like a child who just finished his candy and isn’t
satisfied.

“Umm, you lie back, close your eyes and let the water pull away all your stresses. Soften the tension
out of your muscles.” I look to the ceiling in exasperation and go back to my pre-Alexi invasion
lounging.

He mumbles under his breath, something about sex being the answer to that and women being crazy.

He huffs, he sighs, and he turns the simple act of lying back into a monumental effort that has me eye
rolling so hard I almost strain an eyeball.

“You know you can just get out again if it’s that horrendous.” I point out, feeling irritated that what
should have been something romantic turned into Alexi reverting to the age of five and me feeling like a
mother with an unruly child.



“It’s fine. I just need my skin to stop disintegrating, peeling off in chunks and then my skeleton can
assume the pose.” He finally leans back and mirrors my pose, head on the padded waterproof cushion
that is suction cupped to the edge and lifts one foot up so he can nudge me in the thigh and pushes me
over further to one side roughly.

“What are you doing?” I ask, lifting my head to fix my glare on him. Annoyed that I’m now being kicked,
and he is making this whole experience infuriating.

“I’m bigger than you are, I need more leg room.”

He shoves me again, bodily with his knee and hip and almost sends me under a mini wave he causes
with the motion.

Ugh!

“Five minutes ago, you wanted to get out and now you’re stealing my space. This is not how I
envisioned this going.” Sighing heavily, shaking my head at him as I strain to look him in the eye. That
sinking feeling that maybe, call me crazy, he might not be the romantic type who enjoys shared bubble-
bath time.

Shock.

“I don’t see how this is romantic. Women are fucking weird. Sex in water is dry and awkward and
slippery. What’s romantic about getting naked and not being able to enjoy anything about it.” He
genuinely sounds perplexed at this and that shrug sends me over the edge.

“That’s it! Get out … I’m never doing this again. Honest to God! If I ever suggest a romantic bath again,
like ever, then give me a good hard shake and remind me you’re a tosspot about it and a fucking baby.”
I sit up, sending water sloshing everywhere and my wine glass falls in with the overflow, turning the



area around me red for a second. It just adds to my annoyed sizzling temper, insides twisting with the
anxiety his behaviour is giving me and ruining the calm I normally get from this pursuit.

“Thank fuck.” Alexi darts up and sloshes even more water over me, soaking my hair that I was trying to
keep dry and just stands in front of me in all his glory. A little lobster red from the chest down and
oblivious to the fact he is standing bollock naked, staring, while I simmer and rage at him.

“Can we go have sex now?” he asks innocently, and I throw my bloody head support at him, whipping it
off its suction cups and aim right for his dick with aggressive intent. He dodges and bats it away and
hits me with that devilish smile of his. Amused with his own behaviour despite my obvious rage.

“Fuck off, you wanker.”

“Enjoy your rose scented wine water. I will await you on the bed … take your time. I have third-degree
burns to recover from.” He hops out, grabs a towel and saunters off with it, not even trying to cover up
or dry himself and I flop back with an exasperated ‘argh.’

“Don’t hold your breath. I happen to like long soaks that take hours!!” I yell after him, tone tight and
snippy. Intent on punishing the sod for being his usual prick self.

I won’t make the mistake of trying to entice that tosser into something I deem romantic ever again.
Alexi cannot be coerced. I should remember that.

He thinks I don’t know he deliberately goaded me into throwing him out; he knew exactly what he was
doing. He wanted to act like he was making the effort and I did ask him, yet he’s really not romantic at
all.

Dickhead.

I should have known better!



 


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