Chapter 17

London, England

Sophia’s thoughts had taken a dangerous turn while Viktor was in the bathroom. They’d been lovers for only a matter of days. She must seem insane to him. She wondered if that might indeed be the case.

After shaking her head, she sighed. What did it matter what he thought of her? They were both using each other to get what they needed. This wasn’t the dark ages. She was an independent woman with needs, and he was filling them. He didn’t seem opposed to her desires. In fact, he seemed to know just what to say and do to exploit them to their fullest. That meant she had no reason to be embarrassed.

She breathed in the warm humidity of the pool mixed with the sex in the air. The cushion beneath her cheek felt nice, slightly damp from their swim. Drowsiness lulled her.

Her body actually jerked when she felt a hand on the back of her thigh. “I didn’t hear you.”

He grunted, and his fingers slowly massaged her relaxed flesh. His ministrations didn’t stay there, however. They trailed up her ass to her back and shoulders. This touch wasn’t sexual. It was comfort.

“Do you swim to stay fit?” she asked before she could stop the personal question from escaping.

He hesitated a moment, his thumbs massaging her shoulders. “Yes and no. I like to swim, but I also box and run.”

She nodded, smiling to herself. “It’s the boxing.”

The deep rumble of his voice nearly made her moan. “What’s the boxing?”

“All the muscle.”

He chuckled. “You sound very pleased, Princess.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing this boxing practice one day,” she mused, feeling soothed by his talented fingers.

A peaceful quiet filled the room, until her stomach growled. Viktor’s laugh rang to the ceiling, a booming masculine sound that earned him an indignant glare over her shoulder.

“Are you hungry, Princess?”

“Obviously.”

His low chuckle made her smile through something that would normally have made her uncomfortable. She sighed and forced herself to turn so she was lying on her back. He sat at her side, staring down at her, his features relaxed.

Her fingers twitched with the sudden desire to touch his stubbled cheek.

“What is running through your head now?”

She’d been thinking things she had no intention of sharing.

“I was thinking of food.” The way his gaze flickered said he caught the lie.

“What would you like?” he asked.

“Pancakes.”

He raised a brow. “Pancakes?”

“I haven’t had pancakes in years.” Not since her late-night carb binges with Riot and Irina at university, she mentally mused.

His lips twitched. “Anything with your pancakes?”

She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “Maple syrup and bacon. I might be convinced to share if you’re good.”

“If?” he scoffed.

“I’ll share for another massage.”

He got up and wrapped a towel around his waist. She enjoyed the view of his muscled ass flexing all the way to the door. He was likely placing her food order with the guards.

While he strode back, he studied her. “The food will be here soon.”

“And my massage?” she asked with a cheeky grin. It was her way of deflecting whatever line of questioning she instinctually knew was coming her way. Questions were a no-no, but she’d been the one to break the rules.

“Massage oil is also coming.” His eyes warmed with apparent amusement, but something told her he was getting ready to destroy her calm.

“What I said about taking tests in the morning…”

Her smile fled. “I can’t see you tomorrow, Viktor.”

His features said he wasn’t pleased by that. “Why?”

“I’m otherwise engaged.” It was becoming difficult to find balance around him. When they had sex, she hid nothing, and she loved that he had the ability to read her every moan. It was the switch to reality that she struggled with, even knowing she’d allowed her displeasure at her evening plans to show.

“Your secrets are safe with me, Sophia,” he said with a look that unsettled her a little.

She shook off his double meaning. It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t see where she’d gone in the media. “I have to attend a charity event tonight.”

He seemed less pleased than she was by that fact. “Because your family wishes you to marry?”

“I see you’ve read the gossip pages.”

“Is it true?”

“Yes, they do wish me to marry.”

“Is that what you want?” He didn’t appear any more pleased than she was by the topic.

It might be a simple question, but she didn’t have a simple answer. “No, I don’t.”

“Then don’t do it.”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “Do you really want to talk about this?”

“No.”

“Then why ask?”

“Because I want to know more about you, and I have rules.” He gritted the words through clenched teeth.

She wondered at his frown. “Mmm-hmm. What rules?”

“I said at the start that I do not share.” He’d said that in her hotel room.

She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “And if I don’t want to share, either?”

He nodded. “You are the only woman I’m interested in.”

That warmed her far more than it should.

“And I have no desire to sleep with anyone else. I only have another week in the city, but I have things I have to do while I’m here,” she admitted. She hoped she was there for another week and didn’t get summoned back to the palace sooner. That wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate.

His expression had soured, and a muscle ticked at his jaw. “You’ll come to me every other day during that time.”

She stared up at him. “I can’t make promises.”

That definitely didn’t make her Russian happy. “Why?”

Why did she want to soothe that annoyed crease between his eyes so badly?

Telling him this truth risked nothing. “If I don’t play by my mother’s rules, this trip ends. I don’t know when I might be stuck at a social engagement until dawn or have to go to the opera with a man I don’t want to be with. I won’t sleep with anyone. I have no interest in the men I’m expected to spend time with.” Or any other man for that matter.

Viktor’s shoulders had tensed, and he’d gone very silent.

“I’m being honest with you. I’m expected to date, or this trip ends.” That only seemed to frustrate him more. His fingers slid into his hair and seemed to tug.

“No dates,” he practically growled.

“I don’t want to go back to Porenza sooner than I have to. Not dating isn’t an option. If that’s too much for you, I understand.” Though it would kill her to give him up before she had to.

Was all this crazed pleasure worth the potential risk to her heart, because if she were being honest, the sick feeling in her gut at the thought of not seeing him was becoming something to worry over. She liked him. This wasn’t just about her teenage obsession anymore. This was about the man who sat with her, fighting a harsh possessive streak, and these rules of his. Would he be willing to take what he could get? This was a man who, she was almost certain, had never been forced to compromise on anything. What he wanted, he got, exactly as he demanded it, yet she could feel his rules breaking, could feel him relenting to have her in his bed for the next week.

He eyed her intently. “If we continue this, I want it all, Sophia.”

She licked her lips and struggled to form a single word. “Yes.”

A knock at the door broke his watchful gaze. He handed her a towel before getting up to answer it.

She’d wrapped the material around her by the time he took the tray from whoever knocked. The scent of pancakes followed him in, but she wasn’t truly hungry for food anymore. One look at him said he wasn’t interested in eating any more than she was.