“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
Her lips were swollen, her eyes dazed. She looked beautiful and confused.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth, because the last thing I wanted was for her to hate me. I also couldn’t bear to take this further with that lie between us.
At least, not right now.
“Nothing,” I gulped, giving her a soft smile. “I just…it’s not safe here. We should get out as fast as we can.”
“Of course,” she said, but I could have sworn I saw disappointment in her eyes.
Chapter 8 - Beatrice
The water burnt my skin, but not enough to get me back to the present wholly. I turned the temperature up another notch, hoping that the shower could help me get Arko out of my head.
Since we got home late the previous night, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that scorching kiss.
And I needed to get that insane, electric current that had been buzzing through my body since that kiss, out of my system.
Nothing was working.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back, the water streaming down my throat, between my breasts. My hands followed the path of the water, sliding over wet skin.
I told myself to stop, but my body wasn’t listening. My hands moved on impulse, down my stomach, further down between my legs.
Suddenly, I was back in that closet, with his hard body pressing me against the wall.
My breath hitched, and my fingers slid between my legs. The memory of that kiss made my knees weak. I remembered how his hand had tangled in my hair, how he’d groaned when I’d pressed against him.
I bit down on my lip and felt that sharp sense of betrayal when I thought of his face. My eyes snapped open, remembering that this was my family’s enemy I’d been touching myself to.
I’d probably lost my mind, but all night, I had tossed and turned, wondering what would have happened if he hadn’t pulled away. If he’d kept kissing me, if his hands had wandered,if he’d pressed me harder against that wall and let his body take over.
“Fuck!” I groaned and shut off the water. The shower was making my imagination run even wilder.
I stepped out and dried off, trying to pull myself together as I dressed. I knew Arko was in the house, somewhere.
Just to be safe, I put on the baggiest dress I could find. I’d made him eat his heart out plenty last night. I certainly didn’t need to tempt our self-control any further.
I couldn’t let myself fall apart over a man like this, especially not one who was using me as leverage against my family.
I had to focus on something else, anything else. I couldn’t spend another minute wallowing in this room, alternating between rage at my situation one second and then obsessing over kissing Arko the very next.
I headed downstairs. If I were going to be stuck here, I might as well explore more of the house and grounds. Maybe even get acquainted with the staff, like Arko had suggested. Maybe I could even make a friend in one of them.
The kitchen was bustling when I walked in. A middle-aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair was kneading dough at the counter, while a younger man chopped vegetables.
They both froze when they saw me.
“Good morning,” I said with a bright smile.
“Good morning, Mrs. Pavlov,” the woman said carefully.
I winced. “Please, call me Beatrice.”
Neither of them said a word.
“I’m bored out of my mind. So can I help with anything?” I asked cheerfully.
