Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 80942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
As a result, I end up drinking more vodka than should be allowed and telling Yan he and I aren’t friends anymore while acting like a sore loser toward Boris.
At some point, Adrian pulls the glass of vodka from my hand. “That’s enough drinking for one night.”
“Nooo, I’m okaaay. Oops. Fiiiine. I mean, I’m totally fine. I know, I know. That word shouuuld be out of my vocabulary by now. You haaate it.” I slap my hand against his cheek, staring up at the peaceful look in his gray eyes. “Did you know, you’re sooo beautiful?”
“That’s our cue to go.” Boris’s legs are unsteady as he stands. “It was lovely to win against you, Kolya. Mrs. Volkov.”
I point a finger at him. “I’ll get a rematch and beat you.”
“Wait. What?” Yan shakes his head, eyes half-drooping. The two of us drank the most tonight. “It’s over? I was just getting started on kicking Kolya’s grumpy ass.”
“Get up.” Kolya grabs him by his good arm and he sways. “And it’ll be a lifetime before you kick my ass.”
Yan punches him in the chest, and though it doesn’t seem hard, Kolya staggers a little. “I’ll break through that ice one day, you have my fucking word.”
Kolya pushes him in front of himself, nods at us, then singlehandedly hauls Yan out, refusing Boris’s aid.
“They left.” I motion at the door after it closes behind them. “But I’m not done playing.”
“I am more than done.” Adrian lifts my chin, his long fingers creating delicious friction against my skin. “No one gets to see you drunk but me.”
“I’m not drunk.” I hiccup and giggle, hiding the sound with the back of my hand. “Oops. Maybe a little.”
“A little?”
“Okay, a looot.” I nuzzle my cheek against his hand and sigh. “You’re so warm.”
“I am?”
“Yes, even when you’re cold. Even when you give me the silent treatment, you’re so caring and warm. That’s one thing I don’t want you to change.”
“What else do you not want me to change?”
“Hmm. The way you look at me.”
“And how do I look at you?”
“Like you want to tie me down and fuck me.”
“I do want to tie you down and fuck you.”
I giggle as arousal tingles between my legs. “All the time?”
“If I can help it.” His voice drops to a seductive range.
“What if you can’t? What if I become old and wrinkly and sex isn’t the same anymore?”
“I’ll find a way.”
“What if something happens and I can’t have sex altogether?” I don’t know why I’m asking these questions, but for some reason, I feel vulnerable and the only way to fight it is to poke at the weight perching on my chest.
Adrian’s fingers glide over the ridge of my nose, then trace a path to my cheek as if he’s engraving me into some corner of his head. “If something happens to you, it won’t push me away. If anything, it’ll bring me closer, Lenochka. Sex plays a part of who we are, and I love how you submit to my dominance, but it’s not the reason why I’ve been married to you for six years.”
“What is then?”
“You.”
“Just me?”
“Just you.”
I gulp, feeling moisture glistening in my eyes. A strange rush of emotions overwhelm me until it’s hard to breathe, let alone think. It’s two words. Just you. But it’s like he reached inside himself, ripped a part out, and offered it to me in the palm of his hand.
“Don’t ever change, okay?” I whisper.
“Lia, what did I say about that word?”
“Oops. Does that mean you’ll punish me now?”
“Oh, I’ll do more than punish you.”
My heart skips a beat when I glance at him. “What?” I ask, my voice breathy and sultry.
“I’d rather show you.”
I squeal as he sweeps me off the floor and into his arms, and then I break into a fit of laughter.
Happiness.
I’ve never dared to dream about it before, but this must be what it feels like to be happy, and now, I’m finally daring to experience it to its fullest.
Please let it stay this way forever.
19
Adrian
Lia grabs on to me with her delicate fingers as I carry her to the bedroom.
I, on the other hand? I’m thinking of ways to punish and fuck her after she’s kept me waiting all night long.
There’s no way in hell I’m letting my guards near her in the future. This one time was enough. In fact, it’s more than I would have preferred.
If it were up to me, she’d have no contact with them at all. A certain dark obsession takes hold of me whenever she talks, let alone smiles, at other men—even if they’re my own guards. It provokes the beast inside me who’s ready to come out and slaughter any man in her vicinity so that I’m the only one she ever gives her attention to.
I kick the wooden door shut behind me and Lia digs her tiny hands into my shirt, giggling as she squirms. Her cheeks are rosy and her eyelids have drooped from drinking. Another side of her that I don’t want anyone else to witness.