Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Understanding dawns in his pale eyes. “So that’s the sticking point.”
“Hard for it not to be.” I poke at my eggs again before finally pushing the tray away. “You lied to me, and that’s fucked up, but you have a point about there being no innocent parties in this situation. Fine. I’ll agree with that. But you don’t want me, Casimir. You’re just following orders.”
He barks out a sharp laugh. “Baby, the mental gymnastics you’re performing right now is fucking exhausting.”
“The point stands.” I might be able to get past most of the shit—which is fucked up to even contemplate, but I am who I am—except that. I’ll never settle for being chosen because of the role I’ll play, rather than the person I am. Not when the stakes have never been higher.
Casimir eyes the tray. “You didn’t eat enough.”
“If I wanted your opinion on my eating habits, I’d ask for it.”
He curses softly in Russian. “Fine. Let’s get this out.” He flips back the covers and snags my ankle. “I chose you, baby. You, Ruby Belmonte. How many heirs are there in Carver City? Five? Six? It took me all of two seconds to recognize the glint in your eyes. You’re just like me.” He starts to drag me down the bed toward him.
“I’m nothing like you.” I half-heartedly try to kick him, but he catches that ankle too and jerks me to the edge of the mattress, then easily steps between my thighs. I prop myself up on my elbows and glare. “I might like fucking you. I might have loved Luke. That doesn’t mean I’m some kind of kindred spirit.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He strokes his hands up to my knees and slides me until my ass is nearly hanging off the bed. “But the fact remains that you are like me, baby. Violent and selfish and willing to use other people as your toys.”
I flinch. “That’s cruel.”
“That’s reality.” He squeezes my thighs, pressing them a little wider. “Last night, you were fantasizing about me killing those two while they fucked you. It made you come harder.”
I almost lie, but he’ll know if I do. “Fantasy is not reality. I’m glad you didn’t hurt them.”
Casimir cups my pussy, his palm rough and possessive. “One day you’ll be territory leader, Ruby. Violence is part of the role, and if your parents haven’t prepared you for that, it’s on them.”
They may have sheltered me to some degree, but I hid from the truth too. Not because I’m afraid of violence; it’s more that responsibility gives me hives. What a selfish little brat I’ve been. I can’t think with his hand on me, his fingers sliding through my folds. “What’s your point?”
“My point”—he spears me with two fingers, then fucks me slowly—“is that with me by your side, you’ll be safe. The pair of us will be unstoppable.”
Pleasure slows my thoughts, his words and touch seducing me. “You can’t just . . . fuck me into . . . submission,” I finally manage.
“No.” He grins suddenly, and it hits me in the chest like a freight train: that’s Luke’s smile, rueful and a little mischievous. Casimir twists his wrist and curls his fingers against my G-spot. “But that won’t stop us from enjoying each attempt.”
I need him to stop touching me so I can think clearly. I need him to never stop touching me, to keep fucking me until I’m wrung out and empty. “This will never work.”
“Baby, it’s already working.” He tugs off his towel, and then his cock is there, splitting me in half, one agonizing inch at a time. He brackets my hips with his hands, holding me down as he fucks me in shallow strokes, each one a little deeper than the last. “You loved me once as Luke. You’ll love me better as I really am.”
“No.” But I don’t know what I’m protesting anymore. My heart is all twisted, and I don’t know which way is down anymore. Did I think I was in a free fall before? What a joke.
In desperation, I arch up and hook the back of his neck. He allows me to tug him down so I can take his mouth, and the moment our tongues slide against each other, it’s as if I’ve snapped a leash that I wasn’t even aware held him back.
He bears me back to the bed, his mouth harsh and demanding on me. Casimir isn’t going slow now. He’s pulling me to him, his hands on my neck, my spine, my ass, as he drives into me, as if he’s tattooing his ownership under my skin.
I meet him halfway. I drag my nails down his back and dig them into his ass, urging him to go deeper, to go harder. It’s a frenzy. There’s no other way to put it. As if all the pent-up rage and confusion and hurt is distilled into this moment of fucking. And yet it’s not as simple as that. This is a moment of knowing. Of understanding.