Finally, Roman relents and chuckles to himself while he shakes his head. “No…I suppose you don’t.”
It’s an odd moment of surprising amusement, but if even for a flicker, that tension simmers down to something less hostile and allows our norm to creep back in.
Dinner goes on, and while that bristle doesn’t fully go away, something more akin to acceptance fills in the space around it.
My brothers don’t ease up on Kat, but they don’t press too hard either.
Still, Kat holds her own through every conversation, keeping up with Ivan’s sarcasm and Mikhail’s occasional quip, managing to put him off kilter a few times. She manages to impress just about everyone with her knowledge of engines, and even Nikolai cracks a grin for her.
In every way, she’s absolutely brilliant. Sharp and defiant.
And I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything.
Chapter 16 - Katya
The Lukovs weren’t what I was expecting.
After breaking through the initial awkwardness, they seemed far warmer than I expected from a family of their caliber. They’re a bunch of criminals, after all, but still. The meal admittedly wasn’t as horrible as I had anticipated.
But the silence settling between Sergey and me on the way back is oddly stifling.
Staring out the window with my arms folded over my chest, I watch as the Las Vegas strip blurs by in a smear of neon.
Surprisingly, Sergey hasn’t said much either, and I’m glad for it.
I’m still trying to process everything…the dinner, the conversation, the way his family took me in like I was something strange or exotic. It seemed as if they were trying to decide if I was someone to tolerate or crush. If I were worthy of being considered one of them.
What burrows and stays in the back of my mind, worst of all, is the ache from a few nights ago.
I still hate Sergey, and I hate what he has done, but I can’t lie to myself. I can’t pretend like that night wasn’t incredible, or that it didn’t leave my heart racing and anticipating more.
I swore I’d never surrender to Sergey, and yet, he was the man I shared my first time with.
Try as I might, I can’t stop thinking about the way he looked at me, not only during, but also after. As if it were the first time he experienced such softness within himself, and he couldn’t believe I managed to bring it out in him.
The tenderness he showed me shouldn’t exist in a man like him, and yet, it did. It only makes me angrier.
Shifting in my seat, I catch Sergey watching me from my peripheral vision. There’s something in his gaze that simmers beneath the surface.
It reminds me of hunger or possession…obsession, even.
I can’t pretend like I don’t know why, either. Not after I’ve been teasing him since the moment I started trying those dresses on.
It was obvious how easily he could lose himself in me and all of the complicated thoughts in his head, and while I’m still furious with him, I’ve been compelled to use that fact to my advantage.
Maybe then he’d loosen his stubborn grip on me and give me more power in this frustrating arrangement. I hope that he’ll at least let me return to my life before, even if it means staying legally bound to him.
Throughout dinner, Sergey couldn’t tear his eyes away from me, and I knew his brothers noticed. They seemed prepared to rip into him for it at the table, but they managed to hold themselves back, and Sergey maintained his smugness. He didn’t say anything about me challenging Roman, and that felt like a start.
I saw the tension in his jaw, however. He was trying his hardest to keep himself together.
Good. I want him to simmer in that agony just like he’s making me bear the pain of making such a hard adjustment in my life.
As we step inside the house at the end of the night, something in the room shifts. The air feels warmer and charged with something heavy.
I prepare to take my heels off when the door closes behind us, and I feel him behind me. I feel the way he draws closer.
“You’re quiet,” Sergey murmurs, voice low and laced with a touch of teasing.
