“That’s right. Still is.” My voice wavers, but I don’t back down. “I just said I should know, seeing as how I’ll now have to tolerate you.”
“Mm.” He leans in, his mouth grazing mine. “Then show me, katyonak. Show me how well you can tolerate me.”
His words strike low, curling right through my core.
“How should I do that?” I whisper.
His grip tightens at my waist, dragging me flush against him. “Kiss me. Show me what a good wife you can be.”
My breath hitches, every nerve ending pulsating as I lean in and give him a small peck.
“Is that what you call a kiss?” His tone is low, lethal, his fingers snaking into my hair as he tips my head down. “Kiss me like you mean it. Like you’re begging me not to destroy your family. Like you’re begging for your life.”
For a heartbeat, reason claws to the surface, then drowns in the heat of him. The part of me that knows better flickers out, and the part that wants him, craves him, takes over completely.
I surge forward, crashing my mouth to his. My fists twist into the lapels of his jacket as I pour everything into the kiss. Every edge of fury, every pulse of desire, every breath I shouldn’t give him, but do anyway.
It’s not soft or sweet. It’s a collision. A surrender. A war we both lose.
He meets me with equal hunger, kissing me like he wants to punish me for wanting him, like he wants to ruin me for anyone else.
But this isn’t just a kiss. It’s possession. He consumes me, and I let him.
Worse, I welcome it.
Because in this moment, I want the fall. I want him. I want the plunge and the wreckage that follows.
Soon enough, I forget everything but the man kissing me like he’s waited a lifetime to do it.
And I hate how much I never want it to end.
ALEKSEI
The moment her mouth finds mine, feverish and angry all at once, I lose my fucking mind. One hand tangles in her hair, the other fastened on her hip, dragging her closer like I can mold her into me.
She tastes like defiance laced with surrender, and I kiss her harder, just to see which one breaks first.
She whimpers into my mouth, and I want more.
I want the dress off. Want her bare beneath me, flushed and cursing and clinging to me with the same vicious fury I can’t shake. I want to drag her inside, peel the fabric off inch by inch and watch it pool on the floor before I take her against my walls, in my bed, anywhere I want her, until she remembers nothing but my name.
But not yet. That’s for later, when there’s no one here but her and me and the heat that never seems to die between us.
When we finally break apart, she’s breathless, lips swollen, chest rising and falling like she’s run a mile. Like every man in this room just watched her come in my arms.
I see them. Some look at her like they wish she was theirs. Others stare at me like I’ve lost my mind.
A prosecutor, they’re thinking.You married a goddamn prosecutor.
There’s no hiding who she is. Her face is public record. The case made headlines. Everyone knew I’d been caught—and worse, they knew it was her. The woman who tried to bring me down. I can almost see the headlines even now.
Prosecutor takes aim at the Marinov empire. Will she be the one to bring them down?
She gave it her all. I have to give her that. But failure was inevitable. I was never going to go to prison, no matter how hard she tried.
She smooths the front of her dress and starts toward her seat, but I catch her hand before she gets far.
“Dance with me, Mrs. Marinova.”
