Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Viktor.
The same voice that called me a whore.
From his position at the table, I can see he is important. The most important man here tonight. He is served first, and nobody eats until he has taken the first bite. These men respect him. Alexei respects him. But I still can’t bring myself to truly respect him. So I keep my attention diverted to my plate and the food until the meal is over.
After a round of drinks is served, music starts to play from the other room, and the guests begin to migrate in that direction.
“You must take your new bride for a spin, Lyoshenka,” Viktor says.
Alexei looks uncomfortable with the suggestion. But still, he nods. And then he takes me by the hand, leading me into the other room.
“One dance?”
It sounds like a question, but already, he’s positioning my body close to his. Our right hands clasped together, his left on my lower back. Which we quickly discover isn’t going to work due to the height difference.
But Alexei is not one to let something like that stop him. So he kneels down and places my hands on his shoulders while he removes my heels. When he stands up again, the distance between us is even further, and I look up at him with questioning eyes.
“On my feet,” he instructs as he lifts me up and deposits my feet onto his shoes.
“Now wrap your arms around my waist.”
I do.
“Good girl,” he tells me.
And then we’re off. Dancing slowly, my cheek pressed against his warm chest. I don’t have to do anything but hold on, and we quickly garner the attention of some of the other couples around the floor. Some are laughing, jesting about his size.
But Katya is definitely not.
And when I see her standing next to another man, his eyes cold and lasered in on me, it makes me tense. He has been to our house before. To celebrate our marriage. But he did not speak to me. And right now, it looks as though he hates me.
Katya whispers something in his ear, and he brings his drink to his lips.
“Do not pay them any attention.” Alexei’s voice cuts through my thoughts, his fingers turning my gaze up to him.
Our eyes lock, and it’s easy enough to forget them as he asked. Because I’m captivated by the man holding me in his arms right now. Staring down at me with what feels like genuine emotion.
His eyes are warm, and it warms me too.
And then he does something unexpected. He leans down and kisses me. Not to put on a show. But because he wants to. It’s soft and tender, and I can feel him hardening against me as our bodies move in tandem.
I stretch up to meet his lips, which soon move to my throat. And for a moment, we both seem to forget that we’re in the middle of a party. That anyone else exists outside of us.
Until Viktor’s voice cuts through the haze and he slaps Alexei on the back.
Alexei reluctantly pulls his mouth from me and positions me in front of his body, his arms wrapped around my waist while he speaks with Viktor in Russian.
More than a few times during the conversation, Viktor’s gaze moves to me, and it’s obvious that I’m the topic at hand. But the disgust he felt for me before isn’t there, in his eyes. It’s something else. It’s warmth, and what looks to me like sincere happiness. It confuses me.
“It is time for the men to talk business,” he says in English. “Why don’t you send your little dove off to mingle, Lyoshenka.”
I tense against him, and he turns me in his arms.
“You will spend time with the other women tonight,” he says with a small shrug. “Tradition. The men in this room, the women over there.”
I follow the direction of his nod and my fingers move over the star on my hand.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “I have someone I’d like you to meet. I think you will be more… compatible with her.”
I don’t know what he means by that. But as he leads me in the direction of the women, all of their eyes on me, I feel like a lamb being led to slaughter.
They are looking at me as if I don’t belong. The same way Katya looks at me when she sees me with Alexei. As if I don’t deserve the man on my arm.
And they are probably right.
“Tanaka,” he calls out.
A girl around my age looks up at us from her chair where she is sitting alone. Not speaking with anyone around her. She is beautiful. With raven hair and amber eyes, and a reserved smile as her attention moves from Alexei to me.
I give her my own reserved smile before Alexei grasps my shoulders and smooths his palms down my arms in what can only be a comforting gesture.