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She smells like an exotic goddess out to destroy her peasants.
Her nose twitches as she winces before she quickly hides it. That’s weirdly adorable.
I remove her hand but still hold it in my palm. I don’t know when the fuck touching her became so familiar to the point of turning into an addiction.
Adrian’s lips twitch, but he doesn’t fully smile. Those are as rare as a passing unicorn over England’s sun.
Rai might be on her knees between my legs, but she’s holding me by the balls—literally and figuratively.
Leaving this woman behind will probably be the hardest part of my mission once I’m done.
He left last night, just like he left seven years ago. And this time? This time, I kept staring at his phone number, but I didn’t press the green phone. When I called in the past, all I heard was the same message over and over again, and that message gives me fucking nightmares. So even though my body would willingly surrender to his touch, I won’t. He killed that part of me.
“I’m not leaving,” he says calmly, soothingly, almost like he read my previous thoughts. My chin trembles and I force it to stay in place. “I don’t care if you leave.” “And I’m telling you I’m not.
“Eye for an eye, Kyle. You know I believe in that. So next time you let a woman throw her arms around you, know I’ll find another man to throw my arms around. Fuck a woman and I’ll fuck two men—and a woman, if I’m in the mood.”
“Don’t attempt to play with my fire, Rai. The moment a man so much as looks at you, let alone touches you, I will slice his fucking throat and watch as life leaves his eyes so he knows in every last second that he shouldn’t have touched what’s mine.”
“Then treat me the same. I’m your wife, and therefore, your equal, not a second-rate citizen you can do with as you please. Don’t dish out your double standards on me—you won’t like how I react.”
The back door opens and a petite woman with soft features gets out. Her dark hair is tied into an elegant ponytail. She’s wearing a designer beige skirt suit and keeps the hand that wears her wedding ring on top of the other. Lia Volkov, Adrian’s wife.
Kyle jumped on me. As in, he used his body as a shield for mine. As in, he was ready to take the shot for me.
He’s back. Those words spread through my body like wildfire, violent and potent. It’s not like seven years ago when the impersonal messages were the last thing I heard from him.
Despite my need to stop the tears, the weakness, I have no power to do so. They’re trapped in my lids, like a reminder of that day—the day I stood all alone in this room, when he never showed up. He never snuck up on me from behind and asked if I missed him.
It hits me then, the realization that I never wanted it to be true. It wouldn’t have been the same if it were someone other than Kyle. He is the one eliciting all these foreign emotions from me. He is the one for whom my body resurrects from the ashes like a phoenix.
He places me on wobbly feet, and when they’re unable to hold me upright, he clutches me by the throat. Only Kyle would keep me standing by my throat instead of my shoulder or arm like a normal human.
I run my fingers over the silky skin of her thighs, stopping at each hickey I decorated her with. She’s my canvas, and I’m the only brush that will touch her.
Obsession. This is so fucking close to being obsessed.
Rai tries to say something, but I don’t release her lips. I can’t. It’s like my surroundings are black and she’s the only light I can see, the only sound I can hear, the only bloody thing I can taste with my whole body.
While I have an impeccable record of self-restraint, all of that is null and void when it comes to this woman. My wife. She is now my wife.
I’m attuned to him in inexplicable ways, invisible ropes always pulling me in his direction.
Damien is focused on his meal, cutting through the meat with unabashed savageness. His manners are generally so bad that both Dedushka and Sergei gave up on schooling him years ago. He’s basically the black bull of the brotherhood who’s ready to murder anyone in his path.
It should be odd that Kyle is both my tormentor and my anchor, but he’s always been a few steps higher than the devil.
Rai Sokolov is the forbidden fruit I should’ve never tasted, because one single taste isn’t enough. Neither is the second, the third, or the tenth.
My wife is beautiful, strong, but she’s still vulnerable for me. Only me.
Rai is kissing me when I’m ruthlessly using her body and showing her the monster I truly am, the monster who left her because she has enough monsters to deal with.
Who cares about oxygen when I’m breathing her in as my favorite type of drug? This woman will cause both our downfalls.
The way she enjoys it when I go all in? This is exactly why Rai is made for me. Wait…made for me?
“I’m not a delicate flower, Kyle. Don’t treat me like one.” “But you are.”
“Are you mocking me?” “Why would I, my delicate flower?” “You’re such an asshole,”
“You were always meant to be mine, Rai. Quit fucking fighting it.”
“Kyle!” Her shrill, panicked voice reaches me despite the chaos. An angelic face hovers over me, flashing back and forth in my blurry vision. I raise a finger to her cheek, only my arm doesn’t move. “I knew you would be the death of me, Princess.” My eyes roll back in my head and the world turns black.
He can’t leave, not anymore. He promised he’d stay. He fucking promised.
He shouldn’t be bleeding or hurt. He’s too professional and methodical for that. And yet he is. Because no matter how professional he is, Kyle is still human. Humans bleed and die.
I cup his jaw with my fingers and lean in to place a kiss on his lips, my shaking mouth lingering there for an extra second before I murmur, “You’re not allowed to leave again, asshole.”
Deep down, I already promised myself I would protect her. I already took that vow saying she would be the only person I’d make an exception for. The only person who would be mine.
Why do these eyes have a hold on me when my only purpose in life is to destroy everything she stands for?
But it doesn’t matter how much I hate what she stands for. I’ve never hated her. She’s the only one I’ve ever allowed this close.
“I thought I lost you and you would never come back.” “Did you really think it would be so easy for me to leave? After all, I still haven’t put a baby in you. Not officially, at least.”
“Come here, Rai.” “Why?” “Because I want you close.” “Why do you want me close?” Her voice is small, as if she doesn’t know how to ask that question. “Because at the moment when I thought it was the end, that’s the only thing I wanted.”
“You never give up, do you?” “No, and if you leave without notice again, it won’t be pretty.” I brush my lips over her forehead as my form of an answer.
The only miscalculation in my plan is this woman who has her hand wrapped around my waist as if she doesn’t want to let me go. This woman is my only loose end, but I will find a way, and I will get her where she belongs. Right next to me.
My husband. My previous guard who turned into my husband.
“Stop being passive-aggressive.” “I’m British, Princess—passive-aggressive behavior is in our nature.”
“You’re just being paranoid.” “And you are being so unaware of your beauty.” I pause with the straw halfway to my mouth. It’s not the first time Kyle has called me beautiful, but it never feels normal.
“If it weren’t for your fucking beauty, I wouldn’t want to rip out the heart of every bastard who looks in your direction.”
“Don’t talk to them, or flash them your smiles—those should only belong to me.” “You are too much.” “And you are mine.”
during a freezing storm. “I wasn’t fine,” he confesses against my skin. “In fact, I was miserable. I missed you.”
“I have another promise for you.” “What type of promise?” He raises my hand to his lips and brushes them against the skin. “The type where I will never leave. And if I do leave, you’re coming with me.”
