One month later…
The past four weeks have passed so fast. I’m completely addicted to a man who isn’t mine.
He’s always been yours.
Confusing thoughts surge through my mind, and I try to make sense of them. Some days, I want to convince myself that what Vlad and I are doing is okay. That we deserve this. Other days, I can barely meet my sister’s gaze. Guilt consumes me. The only thing not driving me off the edge is the fact that I know she is in love with Ven. Vlad is just another business deal.
She’s even faltered a few times while pacing her room, telling me she can’t go through with it. Then, in the next breath, she’s talking about what’s best for us now—her duty. He’s just a means to a more influential name to her, but to me…
He’s everything.
My waking thought and the one I close my eyes to.
His eyes follow me wherever I go, and I steal glances of the handsome man who knows my body better than I know my own.
Diana has been discussing Volkov Spirits with Father and Vas, but all I want to do is drown myself in Vlad’s intoxicating scent. Wrap my legs around his slim waist and ride him like a prized stallion. He’s under my skin, burrowed so deep, I don’t think I’ll ever get him out.
“So, Vas will be here tonight. I want you to be on guard,” Diana tells me, curling the last lock of my hair into a loose ringlet. “He’s a slippery one, I just know it.” Gathering my hair, she pulls the curls into a fancy up-do, letting a few strands tumble down to frame my face. She strokes a finger down the back of my neck and smiles at me in the mirror. “You have such an elegant neck, Irina. It’s just like Mother’s.”
I replicate her smile and stroke a hand down my dress. It’s a daring red, to snare a bull, and I love it. Diana brought it back with her from her trip with Vika.
She steps in front of me and paints my lips the same crimson color as the fabric. “Father is also coming tonight,” she tells me, wincing slightly.
“Are you ready?” Diana asks, holding out her hand for me to take.
“Yes.”
The music hums through the corridors as we make our way to the great room. People mingle, glasses clink, and heels click-clack over the wood floors. There’s a sweet fragrance from the flower arrangements laid out everywhere. “Isn’t this supposed to be an eighteenth birthday party?” I mock-whisper to Diana, who grins and squeezes my arm tighter.
“And an engagement party. Vlad told me they will announce Ruslan and Vika’s wedding date tonight,” she divulges. My heart drops. It’s ludicrous and irrational to hate the fact that Diana has been speaking with Vlad in private, but the jealousy followed by guilt slams into me all the same. She may have conversations with him, but it’s my bed he’s been coming to nearly every night for the past month.
“Oh, look, there’s Ven,” Diana sings. I tug on her arm to stop her departure. She turns to face me and furrows her brow. “What’s wrong?”
“You can’t keep flaunting your affair like this,” I hiss, furious that she doesn’t seem to care any longer. “It’s not as discreet as you may think, Diana.”
All the color drains from her cheeks. “Who knows?” she breathes, looking around the room. Tears build in her eyes, so I take her hands in mine and give them a reassuring squeeze.
“No one knows yet. But the way you and Ven flirt, people will start to notice,” I explain, low and urgent. She looks perplexed for a moment, then begins to laugh. It’s light and airy. Real.
“Oh, God, Irina,” she says through her giggles. “Ven and I are just friends.”
I raise a neatly plucked brow. “He’s not your lover?”
“No, of course not,” she assures me, her smile falling. Her heavily painted lashes bat quickly against her cheeks as if she’s wondering how I even came to this conclusion. “He doesn’t see me that way.”
She’s crazy. Every man sees her that way.
“Then who?” I ask, dumbfounded. I was sure it was Veniamin.
“Diana, Irina, you’re both a vision.” Vas’s voice wraps itself around us, followed by his arms. He kisses both of us on the cheek, and I want to tell him to jump off a bridge, but the fact is, it’s not his fault who his father is. He’s our brother. We have a brother.
“Where’s Father?” Diana asks, looking around like there’s a bomb about to go off.
“He wasn’t feeling well, so I’m here in his place to represent our family in wishing the happy couple luck.”
“Ha. He’s going to need it,” I snort. Poor Ruslan. What a nightmare that has been dropped in his lap.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Vas croons, dragging his eyes up Vika’s body. Yuck.
“She’s Medusa, Vas,” Diana grumbles. “Look hard enough and you’ll turn to stone.”
He smirks at Diana’s warning. “Well, a part of me certainly has.”
I crinkle my nose in distaste. “Gross.” Diana cringes. Vas laughs heartily and loud, gaining attention from other party dwellers.
“I’m going to get a drink,” I tell them and leave them to find a server. I feel the eyes of many men on me, watching as I pass by them, and nerves form in my stomach. I venture toward the back of the room and slip out of the French doors to grab some air. I’ve never been good in these environments, and I’m not used to being so on display and noticed. Diana is usually the fantasy on people’s minds and the compliment on their tongue, but there’s been a shift inside me, and it’s visible on the outside to others.
I’m coming out of the shadows and people are noticing.
The door opens behind me, and I shiver from the cold. A sigh of relieved breath escapes me when I see Vlad joining me in the night air.
“I saw you slip out here. It’s freezing, Irina,” he rumbles as he stands directly behind me, his body heat enveloping me. “What are you doing?”
“They’re out here,” I argue and nod to some party attendees mingling out in the courtyard. They’re smokers respecting the Vasiliev’s home by not smoking inside.
“They’re not you.” He presses his body against my backside, and I relax against him. “You smell divine.” His hot breath in my ear causes me to shudder. “You’re cold.”
It’s a statement, not a question.
I answer him anyway. “Yes.”
“Then I should warm you up. You’ll catch pneumonia out here.”
With that, he shimmies my dress up my legs.
“Vlad,” I warn, but he doesn’t listen. He never does.
I brace my hands on the stone wall separating me from the twenty-foot drop where all the smokers are. His fingers glide beneath the fabric and pull my panties to the side. “Tilt your pelvis, my sun,” he urges. I hear his zipper pulling down and him fumbling to free himself. His heavy cock smacks against my ass and wet arousal floods between my legs. I push my hips back to give him access, and he groans, urging my legs apart with his thigh. His cock slides against me again, and then he’s inside me. The burn ignites the raging fire within me, and I’m burning, completely aflame. He thrusts forward, and I want to cry out, but bite down on my lips to hush myself. Strong hands grip my hips, using me as he pleases. I snake my hand down and under the fabric of my dress, finding my throbbing clit. I circle my fingers there just like Vlad taught me via many of our indiscretions this month.
“Pinch it, Irina,” he demands, and I obey. The stars dance in the sky above me as the music plays from inside the house. I moan out, unable to stop myself. Vlad shoves his fingers in my mouth, and I bite down hard, coming undone.
The orgasm powers into me, weakening my legs and sending tremors through my bones, curling my toes.
Vlad’s thrusts increase, and then I feel his seed flood inside me. Once his cock stops throbbing out his release, he pulls out of me and slips my panties back into place, dropping my dress and kissing my neck.
“The moon is beautiful tonight,” I say, feeling like I’m dreaming all of this.
“You’re the brightest moon, Irina. There’s nothing more beautiful than you.”
My breath catches and a tear beads at the corner of my eye. I wish our lives weren’t so complicated. That we could walk back in there, hand in hand, standing like fierce lions facing our families as a united front. Telling them that our coupling is one we choose and they can go to hell.
“We should get back inside,” he grumbles, his tone sounding much how I feel inside. “You’ll catch your death.”
“Okay,” I murmur. “I’ll go in first.” All the happiness from moments before drain from my body. I pull away from him and start for the doors.
“Irina,” he calls out, stopping me.
I turn to see him prowling toward me with fierce determination glinting in his amber eyes. He grasps my face with both palms and tugs me to his lips, crushing me beneath his claiming kiss. His hands slide down my throat and then down to my hips. He wraps me up in an embrace, holding me so tight I can barely catch my breath. He kisses me raw and unhurried.
This moment is ours.
His tongue duels with mine and right then, I know we’re going to be together…
I just don’t know how.
I creep inside and make my way to the nearest restroom. My panties are ruined. Vlad’s seed has seeped out of me and soaked them, so I slip them off and stuff them in the trash can.
I wash up and then make my way back to the guests before Diana sends out a search party. I’m just stepping out of the restroom when I hit the steel wall that is Stepan, startling me.
“Hey,” I choke out, surprised to see him loitering outside the bathroom. His eyes bore into me as if reading the guilt written all over my sex-heated skin. I try to move past him, but he blocks my way. “Stepan,” I say sharply, swallowing down the unease he creates now whenever he is near. “What are you doing?”
He stares at me, his gaze dragging along my features and stalling at my lips. “I dreamed about you.” His brows furrow and his eye twitches. I’m a little stunned and don’t know what the appropriate response is to that.
“You were sleeping so peacefully in the dream,” he murmurs. “So perfect.”
My stomach clenches with nerves. “I’m getting a little uncomfortable,” I utter, honesty bleeding from my words.
“No,” he rushes out, closing in around me. My heart begins to stampede in my chest. “I mean, you don’t need to be frightened of me.” His tone is urgent. He grips the wall on either side of me, his breath mingling with mine.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I lie, trying not to shudder.
“It wasn’t a dream though,” he says.
“What?”
“I found myself walking past your bedroom,” he explains. “You keep your door open at night.”
Thud.
“I thought it was a dream,” he murmurs and shakes his head trying to clear it. “My thoughts can get chaotic, so I wasn’t sure, but that guy was in your room.”
Thud.
“What guy?” I’m going to be sick. Is he talking about Vlad? Does he know?
“Your sister’s bodyguard. He was watching you sleep.”
What?
He’s talking about Anton?
“He’s harmless,” I say, perplexed. “He was probably just checking on me.”
He swallows, a look of pure evil passing in his eyes. They’re desolate—like I’m looking into a portal to hell itself.
“He was touching himself.” He grips my arms and shakes me as if to drive home the point.
What?!
No. No. Anton’s like a father to us.
“You’re wrong,” I choke out, hot tears welling in my eyes as I wriggle in an attempt to leave his grasp.
It’s not true.
Stepan is clearly crazy and doesn’t know what he saw.
“I’ll kill him,” he hisses, spittle landing on my face. “For you, I’ll kill him.” He leans forward and inhales my hair.
I think he’s a little insane and confusing weird dreams he’s been having with reality.
“Thank you, but I’ll deal with this myself.”
He releases me, pulling back and pushing into the restroom. I’m left free and completely weirded out. There’s a flaw in his code, that’s for sure. I rush down the hallway, eager to get away from him. I need to process what he’s said to me and far away from him at that.
Vika is in a heated conversation with Ven when I approach a waiter standing close to them. My heart rushes when I see Vlad standing directly behind them. The look on his face turns my blood cold. Violent and furious. It’s the face of the killer lying dormant under his skin. Whatever they’re discussing, he doesn’t like it.
I want to rush over to him and beg him to hold me. Plead for him to tell me everything is fine. That what just happened moments ago was just silly ramblings from a madman. It can’t be the truth. My mind won’t allow it.
Ven grabs Vika’s arm and growls something at her, but Vlad steps back and then takes off. I hurry to follow him and track him to his office. When I reach the doorway, he’s already seated, glaring down at his computer monitor. Disgust is painted in an angry sneer on his handsome face.
“Vlad?” I choke out as I rush into his office. “What’s wrong?”