I hadn’t thought about how strange the gift was until now. But watching her fiddle with it like it was some kind of life raft had made me uncomfortable, and now I couldn’t think of anything else.
Kristoff couldn’t be trusted, and neither could my wife, by the looks of it.
She fisted the delicate chain in her small hand and yanked it downward. The gold snapped easily. “You are a paranoid control freak. Here.” She tossed the delicate jewelry at me. It hit me in the chest and fell to the floor next to my feet.
“I didn’t ask for the gift. I didn’t ask for any of this, Alexei. I accepted it because I thought that was what you wanted me to do. Everything I have done since you came crashing into my life was what you wanted me to do. And I always get it wrong, don’t I? Nothing I do is ever good enough, is it?”
Her voice was rising with emotion.
I moved towards her without thinking. Wrapping one arm around her waist and one around her shoulders, I melded her body to mine and caught her lips, silencing her next words with a swipe of my tongue against her closed mouth.
I licked the seam of her lips again, feeling the resistance give just enough for me to deepen the kiss. She was mine, and I wouldn’t let anyone take her from me.
Cradling the back of her head in my palm, I let the other hand slide from her back to her side, gathering up the material of her dress and dragging it upwards. Every single movement I made was jerky, anger and lust coming together to make me tougher than I should have been.
“You are mine.” I nipped at her bottom lip and then sucked her tongue into my mouth. “My fucking wife and—” my lips found hers again. Our lips and teeth were clashing, and still, I couldn’t feel her skin against mine. I yanked harder at the material caught between our bodies.
I was desperate for her in a way I didn’t even think possible. Maybe it was lust born from anger, but it was still lust, and she felt it was well.
“I think I hate you.” She bit my lip hard.
“I think I might hate you as well.” My tongue delved back into hermouth as I gave one last rabid attempt to pull at her dress. I wanted her naked in front of me.
The sound of ripping material was loud, and I reeled backwards. My eyes darted down from her kissable bruises and swollen lips to find her dress torn down the middle. She looked down at it and scrambled to cover herself, her eyes wide as she took a step back.
“Shit.” I didn’t move. All I could do was stare at the scraps of material that hung from her body. It was the second time I had ripped her clothes to get at her body like some kind of animal.
The second time I had forgotten what she was.
Chapter Fourteen
Amy
His kiss had been brutal, but my body had reacted to it with just as much need because he wasn’t the only one in this room who was angry.
His suspicion and micromanagement were just too much, especially when I was doing everything he asked me to do without even a murmur of complaint. So no, he wasn’t the only one to be angry. Because I always seemed quiet didn’t mean I didn’t feel frustration.
And I took everything I was feeling out on his mouth, biting his lip. Sucking on his tongue with a need that surprised me. Because how dare he? How dare—
The sound of my dress tearing loudly was the thing that brought me back to my senses. I scrambled away, glancing down at the ruins of the dress and where my left breast, covered only in its simple white bra, was on show.
Hands scrambling, I tried to cover myself, and I took a hasty step back, putting some distance between us.
“Shit.” Alexei’s voice was ragged. “Amy.” My name tore its way out of his throat.
Slowly, I lifted my eyes to meet his. He looked horrified. It wasalmost like he couldn’t believe what he had just done—that made two of us. I couldn’t believe it either, but it didn’t really surprise me. There was something under Alexei’s polished exterior that was a brute.
“I didn’t mean…” He left the rest unsaid.
“It’s fine,” I said softly. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure it was fine, though. The way we had just come together had been animalistic and angry without even a shred of affection. My body had reacted to that brutality, like I had craved it, and I didn’t know how to feel about that.
“No, it wasn’t.” Taking a step forward, he reached for me, and I shied away. With a sigh, his hand fell down to his side. The tips of his fingers brushed against my bare arm. “I didn’t mean for things to go that far or so violently, Amy.” He said in a hushed voice. “Sometimes,” he sucked in a breath, “I have so many enemies that it’s impossible to know who to trust. You were right when you said I was paranoid.”
I stared at him in complete shock. I’d never heard him speak like this.
“But paranoia is what has kept me alive this long, and it’s—”
I moved towards him, close but not touching, and tilted my face up to him. “I am not your enemy, Alexei. I know you don’t know me, and you don’t want to know me, and I understand that, but” reaching out, I pressed my palms against his chest. His heart pounded against my palm. “Surely you don’t want to live like this? Like we are at war? It’s only been a day, and I am already exhausted.”
