I rise from my seat, go to her, and take her hand. For a moment, she resists. Then I take her gently by the chin and bring her gaze to mine. “Come with me. Don’t worry, Mia. I won’t hurt you.”
Like a timid deer, she hesitates a moment, then gets to her feet. I lead her down the cabin to the private quarters at the back of the plane. As I open the door, she gives me a frightened look.
“Don’t worry, Peaches. It’s clear you do not want to be with me right now, so I will let you stay in here by yourself. When we land in Vegas, I will come and get you.”
Our eyes lock, and it feels like gravity pulling us together. My gaze is pulled down to her lips, plump and wet, calling to me to be kissed.
Although every fiber of my being wants to join her inside, throw her down on the bed, lift the hem of her dress and bury my face between her legs, I return to my seat and open one of my sketches on my iPad. After a few seconds, I hear the sound of the door closing behind me.
I can feel the eyes of my men on me, but they know better than to say anything. But I know what they’re thinking. They were surprised enough when I invited her on this jet and not one of the others, and now I’ve let her into my private quarters by herself.
This was supposed to just be a quick arrangement to appease my father.
I had to find a girl who could pass for a wife.
But this girl is different.
Life made me a devil, but I may have just found my angel.
4
Mia
Thank God Anton stowed me away back here. I couldn’t let him see the look that surely is coming over my face right now.
I’m falling for him.
Yup, I’m falling for a Russian mafia kingpin who is blackmailing me with the future of my family.
But even knowing that this is an arranged marriage, like something out of old England, and that I have no choice in the matter, I can’t help but feel as though I’ve managed to wriggle myself into some hidden pocket of his being that no one else has ever discovered. That the slight smiles he has shown me have never been seen by anyone else.
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.
I’ve never believed in love, especially Hollywood love or love at first sight. But to think that Anton Todorov just happened to walk into the diner when I was working and just happened to need a wife and I just happened to make him smile…well, it almost feels like destiny.
Maybe this was meant to happen. Maybe he and I are actually meant to be together, and this whole forced-marriage thing is actually just how he and I were meant to meet. Maybe this is how we fall in love.
It sounds insane, and I would never say this out loud to anybody, but I can’t help wondering as I stare at the ceiling of the cabin and listen to the low hum of the engines as we fly toward Vegas and remember the way he touched me.
Hi
s hands, so strong against my waist.
And the things he said to me…
“I would ravish your little cunt until you were screaming my name. I would pound you into submission and force your body to be mine. Even if you did not want to, I would force you to come so many times that you would fall in love with me…”
I’ve never considered myself a sexual person. Maybe that’s one of the reasons it’s been easy for me to go this long without having a boyfriend, but as I close my eyes and think about the way I felt when Anton put his hands on me, a feeling comes over me…
…a heat blooms within me and a thousand little pinpricks break out across my skin. Something stirs between my legs, and like the plane, my body starts humming. Buzzing with energy. I glance at the door, hoping it opens and Anton comes striding in, and ask myself what I will do if that happens.
I stare, but the longer I stare, the more obvious it becomes.
He isn’t coming.
God, what is wrong with me?
I’m fantasizing about my kidnapper, a man forcing me to marry him, sweeping into my room like a Disney prince and taking me in some fiery moment of Hollywood romance.