“Sasha. She’s a dominatrix. She’s especially drawn to innocent women.” He bores his eyes into mine. “In fact, a lot of the people around here are drawn to innocence. They’re going to love watching me fuck your virginity away.”

I swallow hard.

Mikhail finally removes his hand from between my legs and walks me back into the main room. He sits down on a free couch and pulls me into his lap.

“How come we don’t do anything like that?” I ask, nodding at a woman who’s blindfolded and gagged.

“I know you wouldn’t like that. You want to trust me. I need you to trust me. And besides, I like being gentle with you.” He pulls me in closer, and I smile.

“Except for when you punished me.”

“Well, that was a punishment for a reason. When it comes to everything else, I only want you to experience pleasure.”

“But you were fine whipping Irina.”

“That’s because Irina craved pain. You don’t. Now, I want to get you ready for later. Pull your knees up.”

Doing that forces my dress to bunch up around my hips. My pink heels dig into the couch. I hold my breath as Mikhail spreads my legs wide and cups my vulva. He doesn’t move his hand again. Just rests it there.

I lean back against him, forcing my breath to even out. I can do this. I can do this.

Mikhail presses his cheek against mine. His breath tickles my skin.

A man walks up to him – he’s handsome but a little too lanky. Just like Sasha, this man speaks to Mikhail in Russian.

“English,” Mikhail says. “She’s American.”

“Oh, I love Americans,” the man says in a heavily accented voice. “So naive.”

“You can’t have her, Dimitri. She’s mine.”

“That’s too bad. I’d love to fuck her.”

“She’s a virgin, so no, you’re not going to do that.”

Dimitri sharply inhales. “A virgin?”

“I’m going to take her for the first time tonight. You can spread the word.”

“I will.” Dimitri winks down at me before walking away.

“How many people do you want to watch us?” I ask.

“Since we’ll be up there”—he nods at the main stage with the empty bed on it— “I expect a lot of people.”

“How come no one has used that?”

“Because I reserved it for us tonight. I didn’t want your first time to be on a used bed.”

“Oh,” I whisper. Mikhail begins to rub his palm up and down my folds. “Oh!” I gasp. He rubs me harder and harder, grinding his palm against me. My hips jerk up to meet his hand. I rest my head on his shoulder, feeling his strong body underneath me, giving me protection.

He inserts his finger into me and begins to thrust it in and out. “I need to get you ready,” he murmurs. He adds a second finger, stretching me more than ever before. I whimper from pain, but Mikhail doesn’t stop. He wants me ready, so he’ll get me ready.

People crowd around to watch us on the couch. I shut my eyes to ignore them. This is between Mikhail and me—not these random people.

Mikhail grabs my breast with his other hand and rolls my nipple around. I’m so sensitive; I think I might explode just from this simple touch. My breath comes out in pants. My hips have a mind of their own. He’s relentless with his fingers, pushing in and out of me.

I can feel the pressure building within my body, telling me I’m getting close. Right when I’m about to reach my edge, Mikhail removes his fingers and takes his hand away, leaving me high and dry.

“Oh,” I whine.

He chuckles as he helps me stand up. “It’s time, Sofiya.”

It’s time.

Mikhail ignores the people around us as he takes my hand and leads me to the stage. “I know many of you,” he tells the audience, “expect a lot when people take this stage. But tonight, I am going to take my wife’s virginity. She’ll experience both pain and pleasure from it.” The people in the crowd look hungry. Hungry for me to lose my innocence.

Mikhail turns to me, grips the end of my dress, and pulls it off. He leaves my shoes on. “Lie down on the bed.”

My entire body is shaking, but I do as he instructs. The mattress is soft under me, almost like I’m sinking into a cloud.

Mikhail strips his clothes off, including his shoes, and gets on the bed with me. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him naked. The sight of his erection scares me. That’s going inside me? I thought his two fingers were intense, but Mikhail is a lot bigger than his fingers.

I look up at him as he spreads my legs and settles between them. His erection brushes my entrance, making me gasp. He remains on his knees, gripping my thighs, as he stares down at me like he could eat me alive.

And I realize—he’s going to do just that to me for the first time.

“You are mine,” he growls right before he thrusts his hips forward and enters me. I cry out as the pain ricochets over my body. Mikhail doesn’t stop until he’s fully seated inside me. I’ve never felt this full before, and it hurts.

Tears seep from my eyes. Mikhail gently wipes them away but doesn’t pull out of me. I know he won’t spare my body anything tonight.

He slowly moves his hips around, and I hiss when it causes more pain. I glance out at the audience and see the lust in their eyes. They love that I’m in pain right now. I quickly look back at Mikhail.

“Move with me,” he orders, thrusting in and out of me. Every time he brings his length back into me, I cry out.

“It hurts,” I whine.

“It will get better. Move with me, Sofiya.” He grabs my hips and raises them to meet his. My hands reach out for him, but he’s too far away on his knees.

“I can’t.”

“You can. Focus on the pleasure, not the pain.”

I force my body to relax on the bed and do as he says. Slowly, the pain begins to recede, replaced with a subtle pleasure. My hips start to move, trying to match his pace, but he’s too rough.

Mikhail growls and grips my thighs tighter, pulling me in closer to him. When he does this, I can feel his erection sink deeper inside of me.

“Oh,” I cry out, this time feeling more pleasure.