He held the power. It was his. It’s always been his, I realized in that moment.
“Look at you giving into me so easily. So fucking perfectly.”
God I loved how thick his accent became when he got aroused, loved how I felt how hard he got because of me. And I was amazed he had the power to wash all my worries away with his touch and the words that spilled from that wicked mouth.
“I could fuck you right now and you’d let me, you’d part those pretty pale thighs and let me, wouldn’t you?”
I couldn’t respond, I was so breathless.
“I could fuck that fear and concern out of you. I could shove my cock so far in you, little doll, take you for our very first time thirty thousand feet in the air, and make it so all those hard thoughts can’t consume you anymore because I’ll be the one doing it.”
His mouth was so close to mine, no longer kissing me, but every time he spoke his lips brushed against mine.
I quickly realized Nikolai was an expert at diverting, and changing the situation around so it was in his favor, so he had the power.
He’d done it.
He slipped that hand down the length of my spine, slowly. So slowly it ached. And then he was gripping my ass, curling his fingers around one cheek and giving the flesh a hard squeeze.
I moaned against his mouth, that discomfort so good it made everything feel so much better.
He broke the kiss and trailed his mouth along my jawline and to my ear. “It’s going to be fine,” he whispered against the shell and I shivered on his lap. “I’m going to make sure it’s fine, malishka.”
“You can’t know that.” My voice was a hiccup of sound. “My father is a monster.” I should have felt… something akin to shame or guilt for putting this on Nikolai’s plate. We hadn’t even been married for twenty-four hours. But when it came to my sister, I knew I’d crawl naked and broken on the floor if it meant she was safe.
Nikolai pulled back and stared at me so hard and for so long I felt stripped bare. “Little doll.” He murmured, his hand now on my waist in a nursing grip. “I’m no stranger to getting rid of the monsters that lurk in the dark.”
There was something right in his voice. I remembered bits of what I’d read, rumors whispered of him and his brother killing their father. Patricide.
He leaned in and dragged his tongue along my bottom lip so slowly I felt every inch of him. “And when it comes to you… I’ve never been more dangerous.”
Chapter
Eighteen
Amara
I’d been in a haze the rest of the flight, and it hadn’t helped clear my head being on Nikolai’s lap, which of course is where he made me sit the entire time, his hand resting on my hip, his thumb pushing up my shirt enough that he could stroke the strip of skin exposed.
And I was still thinking about that—feeling it even. It had been a twenty-five minute drive from the airstrip to our destination, which appeared to be an underground garage located at a red brick building. The sleek, black luxury car descended and I leaned back in the seat to stare at the long strips of lighting that illuminated the gray cement that covered everything.
All I’d had to go off of on Desolation, New York before coming here was the frightening rumors, and the harrowing bits and pieces I’d found off the Internet. But even then I knew those online stories and pictures showed the best parts, which wasn’t saying much since the city lived up to its name to a fault.
The drive from the airstrip to Nikolai’s place had been done in relative silence, with Nikolai sitting beside me on his phone working, a scowl on his face as he typed out emails and sent out texts. But I’d been fine with the quiet, in fact I’d embraced it so I could further allow myself to let all of this sink in,
My new reality.
And as I stared out the tinted window and got a good look at the city that was my new home, it was everything I'd envisioned.
Cold. Unforgiving. Broken.
We passed through two gates, both stationed with a man dressed all in black. They waved the car through, and I was about to ask Nikolai about all the security when the car stopped in front of a single silver elevator. I only had a moment to exhale before the driver was out and opening the door for Nikolai.
Nikolai held his hand out for me and I automatically slipped my palm against his, allowing him to draw me out of the vehicle. The door shut with an audible click and I could hear the echo bounce off the low ceiling. I glanced around and noticed several luxury cars lined up on either side. All dark, all sleek.
“Who needs this many cars,” I murmured before I realized I said the words out loud, and once again successfully put my foot in my mouth.
And then the car was pulling away from the curb and we were left alone. I could hear the sound of my heart beating as Nikola slipped his hand up the length of my spine, pushed the long fall of my hair over one shoulder, and curled his hand around the back of my neck in a clearly proprietary way.