I touched his chin. “I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.” He leaned into my touch. “But now you know why we hate each other. Ever since then, I’ve worked to try to destroy him, and he’s worked to try to do the same. I don’t know why he did what he did, and I don’t care what his reasons were. Roman is a monster, and any Oligarch that would back him is just as bad.”
“And you’re not?”
He flinched at the question. His face softened. “No, but I don’t blame you for thinking I am.”
“You kidnapped me. You want to force me to marry you. All for this vendetta.” I dug my fingers into his cheek. “An admittedly good vendetta, but still. How long ago was that? Over a decade now?”
“This is about justice.”
“It’s about a personal war. Does Anthony want this?”
He frowned as if he’d never considered it. “Of course.”
“You should ask him sometime.”
He pushed my hand away suddenly and sat up, leaning over me. I stared as he moved inches away from my face, his lips soft and inviting, hanging open, his body tense and hard like an animal ready to spring. I realized how much danger I was in, and somehow that only made the pulse between my legs beat faster.
“You think you know me and my family, but you have no clue. Your petty little life’s been meaningless before me. I’m offering you a chance to make a mark on the world, and you’re still so small that you can’t see it.”
“Go to hell.” My anger flared hot. I tried to shove him away, but he didn’t move.
“Good, get angry. I love it when you’re angry. I don’t want to think about Roman anymore. I don’t want to think about Anthony, or my mother, or any of them. I want you to hate me with everything you have, because that’ll drown this fucked-up darkness I have simmering inside of me, drown it with your beautiful disgust.”
He buried his lips against mine. I struggled weakly—I didn’t want him to move, didn’t want him to get away—as his tongue slipped between my teeth. He bit me, his fingers dug into my hips, and I was swept off my feet, sent somewhere wild and stupid and heady.
But he wasn’t satisfied with a kiss. His hands tugged at my jeans, unbuttoned them, pulled them off. I pawed at him weakly, stupidly, pretending to want him to stop but not putting up any real resistance at all. I liked the fake struggle, and my dignity demanded that I pretend to want this to stop—but god, dignity, who the hell cared about dignity? I had beautiful trouble between my legs. I couldn’t bother with dignity anymore.
He shoved my knees apart, ripped my shirt up over my heaving breasts shaking with every rough breath, and kissed my stomach down to my pussy.
My black panties were stained dark where my juices soaked through.
He let out a growl of pleasure as he licked me all around my panties, ruining them, sucking my taste out before ripping them forward. He tore them and tossed them aside, worthless and dripping, a pile on the rug. His eyes sparkled with dark desires as he rolled his fingers along my wet slit.
“You know what I love the most about you, Winter?” His voice was a velvet rope around my throat.
“What?” I tried not to moan and that only made the pleasure so much better.
“You can’t pretend, but you try anyway. I like that. You walk around here as if you hate me, as if you’re better than me, but as soon as I come close, your knees start shaking and your pussy’s dripping and you’re practically down on all fours begging me to fuck your slick cunt. I can see right through your bullshit, love.”
He teased me, riding a fingertip along my lips. I needed him to plunge inside of me.
“It’s not bullshit.” I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled. He grunted and grinned wickedly, throat bobbing. The stubble on his neck was gorgeous and a light brown tinged with some red. “I do hate you, Darren. You’re a selfish bastard that thinks he knows what’s good for everyone around him.”
“You’re damn right I do.” He slipped one finger inside of me. I gasped and whimpered. God, I wanted that so badly. I wanted so much more. “You live in a tiny, isolated little world and you have no clue the sort of beasts that lurk in the shadows. You’ve been protected, love. But you’re in the pit now.”
Another finger. Fuck, it was incredible. My head swam. My fingers tensed in his hair, pulling hard enough to hurt. I wanted to rip out a chunk and make him scream.
“I’m in the pit because you brought me here.”