Page 71 of Betrothed
“You’re certain about that?”
“Absolutely. I don’t know anyone in the neighborhood. Not any longer.”
“Oh, okay,” I told her before slipping my hand into the back of her jeans pocket, pulling a small knife free. Thank God, she’d wrapped the blade in a cloth. I tutted her, shaking my head. “You are a very bad girl.”
There was no shock on her face, no sense of fear. Just complete and utter annoyance that I’d foiled her plan.
While I was thoroughly engaged with how incredible her actions were in comparison to almost every other person I’d known in my life, I was at the point of enforcing what she should have already learned.
That for now and until I decided otherwise, she belonged to me. She would obey.
As I stroked her skin, she shuddered in a way that left me hard and throbbing.
“Unfortunately,” I whispered as I wrapped my fingers tightly around her neck. “That’s not good enough.”
CHAPTER 16
Vivian
I’d be damned if the son of a bitch didn’t pull me into the shower.
With my clothes on.
Yes, he’d caught me red-handed. I’d thought escaping would be quick and easy.
I’d been wrong.
I stood in the middle of the oversized shower, gritting my teeth while some crazy sound slipped past my pursed lips.
“What are you doing?” I managed, completely stunned by what Kirill had done.
He stood just under one of two showerheads, so tall he barely fit under the oversize piece. I was forced to watch him as he raked his hands through his already damp hair, thinking about when he’d been wet the night before from the rain.
This was entirely different and sensual as hell.
Especially since I was being given an incredible show starring his physique. I’d seen men naked before. Of course I had, but this man, this godlike creature was perfect. Utterly perfect.
At least physically. When we added in his profession, his mannerisms, and his arrogance, he was… still perfect.
The shock had only started to wear off when he took one long stride toward me. With the shower coming from both directions, I was soaked, the jeans sticking to my skin. I started to object once again when he cupped both sides of my face, his fingers flexed open. He couldn’t care less about his injury, especially when he captured my mouth, pulling me even closer.
Every time we were physical, I was pulled into a terrible feeling that everything that was happening was the product of some curse that had been placed on me. I’d felt that way since I was a teenager, the boy I’d loved from afar taken away even before I’d had my first kiss.
Then years later, my boyfriend in college had awakened one day, telling me that I just wasn’t right for him. He’d even switched schools, which had been a dead giveaway as to the truth about what had occurred to make him change his mind.
My father.
Maybe that’s why the man I’d given my heart to had been someone I was certain my father would never approve of. While to date I couldn’t prove either my dad or my uncle had been involved in the fiery crash, my gut told me I was right.
Now, this.
Kirill’s weakness. He’d told me the truth, as he had with sharing why hunting down the Ghost was so important. I was thrilled the sexy Russian hungered for me in a way he should consider dangerous, but I wasn’t entirely certain I would recover if my heart was shattered again.
I also wasn’t certain what this was, but I knew how my body was responding to Kirill’s touch. Every cell in my body was on fire, desire replacing the need to break free of him. I was blindsided by the raw emotions where everything up to this point had been completely physical.
We were too much alike, fate acting as if we were unfinished business when we were nothing but strangers.
Other than in the biblical sense.
