Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
"And tomorrow...I wish I could say he'd be at the office, waiting to grovel on his knees and beg for your forgiveness, but he won't. Tomorrow, Dmitry and I..." Sasha exhaled his breath in a harsh hiss. "Not many know we have a half-sister. But she died three years ago, and her death...it wasn't natural."
Tahey wasn't so in pain that she could ignore Sasha's own grief. "I'm so sorry."
"My sister's murder changed him," Sasha said quietly, "and it's why he's the way he is. He put up Strakh Inc. in her honor, thinking it would help him deal with the grief. But it didn't. It only changed him, made Dmitry harder—-"
"Why are you telling me these things?" Tahey interrupted painfully. "Can't you see that he doesn't care—-"
"The fact that he's gone out of his way to hurt you," Sasha gritted out, "says otherwise. You make him human—-."
"Oh my God." Tahey let out a shaken laugh. "Are you saying that him being an asshole to me...is what makes him human?"
"I know it's not my place to ask this," Sasha said harshly, "but I'm asking it all the same. Don't give up on my brother. You're the only one who can reach him now. Just you. No one else."
Chapter Ten
JUST AS SASHA WARNED her, Dmitry didn't show up at work the next day, and Tahey told herself it was for the better. She was done with him. Could no longer trust him after what he did. And while she was sorry about his sister's death, it didn't change a thing. She...she hated him, too.
Or so she thought...until someone knocked on her apartment door late at night, and the billionaire's face showed up on the monitor of her security system.
Dmitry's golden gaze focused on the camera, and it almost felt as if he was staring straight at her. He looked exhausted and unusually unkempt, days-old stubble covering his chin and his unknotted necktie draped limply over his shoulders. But despite this, he still looked heartbreakingly beautiful in her eyes, and when she finally heard him speak—-
"I'm sorry."
More than those two precious words, it was the raw vulnerability of his tone that cut through her, and even as she tried to glare, even as she tried to harden her heart and play deaf to his words—-
"I need to see you."
Tahey covered her ears.
"Please."
But it was too late, and through a blur of tears that she barely managed to keep from falling, Tahey shakily pushed the button that would unlock her front door.
Dmitry had been about to lose hope when he heard something click, and for one long moment, he could only stare at the door, unable to believe—-
It swung open, and he breathed harshly.
Another moment, and then she came flying out—-
His arms snapped around her in a tight embrace, and he inhaled her scent, needing to prove to himself that he was no longer dreaming this. He felt her own arms tighten around him, and he waited for her to ask him why he had left her. Waited for her to throw at his face all the painful words he deserved to hear. But when he finally heard her speak—-
"I missed you."
It was more, so much more than he goddamn deserved, her sweetness undoing him like nothing else could, and he heard himself groan just as he felt his discipline desert him.
Tahey felt the billionaire's fingers grip her hair, and she didn't even think of resisting. He pulled her head back as his mouth crushed hers, and she surrendered herself completely to his passion.
He lifted her up, and her legs locked around his waist as he carried her back into her apartment. He didn't pause to ask where was her bedroom. There was no need since he had gone straight to the couch, and she found herself straddling him.
"Tahey..."
The nickname caught her off guard, and the way he said it, with his Russian accent unusually thick, was an unbelievable turn on. Suddenly, she could no longer bear to wait, and she found herself reaching down to fumble with his zipper with clumsy haste.
Her eagerness stunned but pleased him. Tahey had been extremely shy and hesitant to touch him the first time they made love, and yet now, she couldn't seem to wait to feel him inside of her, and the knowledge fed his own desire, until Dmitry also felt his own control start to slip.
Fuck.
The billionaire reached under her skirt, and Tahey could only whimper when she felt and heard him rip her panties off. Oh God. Maybe other women would find such a gesture a turn off, but Tahey only found it exciting. He was so much larger and stronger than her, so much more powerful that she knew, every time they fucked, there'd always be a sense of danger, always be the slimmest possibility that he could break her.