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“I knew you would come,” he whispers in my ear. “I knew it. I just knew it.”
my voice low and menacing. “Those are my kids up there. Those are my kids you’re after.”
He stands, straightens his cuffs, and walks over to me with a palm outstretched. “But for right now, it’s important that you’re not contactable.” I stare at the open palm he’s offering me. “Are you asking for my hand? Because we really don’t know each other that well.” He cracks a momentary smile. “Your phone, Emma.” I back away from him in horror. “No.” “Do you really wanna deal with Ben right now? Or your parents? Or more reporters?” “Fuck me,” I mutter. “You really know how to make a compelling case, don’t you?” Reluctantly, I deposit my phone in his hand.
I take in a long inhale, release a long exhale, and then I knock. “Who is it?” “Ruslan.” A beat of silence. And then: “No thank you.” “Emma. I just want to see how you’re doing.” “Tell Kirill he’s an ass. And we’re not friends anymore.” It’s good to know that he’s still got my back even in the face of his newfound affection for Emma. I need to tone down my inner asshole around him. The man doesn’t deserve it.
As penance, I will hold her for as long as she needs me to. It’s a self-serving penance, though. I know it; she knows it. Pretty sure the damn doorknob knows it, too.
Focus, Emma. Don’t let your vagina think she’s in charge.
Quicksand imitating concrete is still not concrete.
“I knew exactly what you would be to me from the moment I heard that accidental voicemail you left me.” I’m so lost in desire that I don’t even blush. “I heard your hungry moans, your desperate little gasps, and I knew from that moment on exactly what you were.” “Ahh… W-what… what was I?” “Mine,” he growls. “All. Fucking. Mine.”
“I’m happy to tease you, Emma.” His tone is so serious that I have no choice but to pay attention. “I’m happy for you to be my whore and my slut in bed. But that’s where it ends.”
“Outside of this bed, outside of my cock in your cunt, you are my woman. My queen. And I’m going to take care of you as such. I’m going to spoil you and I’m going to protect you. That goes for the kids, too. You, them—you all belong to me now, Emma Carson. And if you ever leave, I will just drag you back here. I will drag you back into my house and my bed because this is where you fucking belong.”
“You are mine,” he says again, hands hard on my hips. “You’re not going anywhere. And neither am I.”
I am completely, madly, desperately in love with Ruslan Oryolov and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
“I don’t believe you. But even if I did, I’d say it sounds like you became the person you admired most. That’s beautiful, you know. He’s still alive in you. You’re a memorial to him.”
This kid. She knows when to listen and when to ask the hard-hitting questions. I see investigative journalism in her future.
Forget journalism. She needs to go into enhanced interrogation.
“Do you have to be such a brute in the office? Haven’t you ever heard the saying, ‘you catch more flies with honey than vinegar’?” He rolls his eyes. “I prefer a ‘fear over love’ kind of approach.” I snort. “Have you made him cry yet?” “First day,” he says with entirely too much satisfaction. “And yet he showed up to work the next day, so I figured he had potential.”
“You should have worn a different dress. This one’s too short. And too tight. And too…” “Go on,” I tease, whirling my hand toward him. “I’m all ears.” He glowers. “Couldn’t you have picked something with long sleeves and a grandma collar?”
He bends down and drops a kiss on my lips. I’m expecting something quick, gentle, businesslike. But what I get instead is the kind of open-mouthed, tongue-flickering kiss that has my head spinning and my panties feeling extremely unnecessary.
I’m sweating under the armpits now. That’s one thing no one ever tells you about this kind of business: it’s hard to feel like a femme fatale undercover spy when you’re sweating like a pig.
“Please come out. Mama’s tired.” “And terrifying.” “What was that?” I snap. “I said you look so beautiful right now.”
I stare down at his crinkly pink face and marvel at the fact that, only a few moments ago, he was inside me. Tiny as he is, I still can’t believe he fit.
