Silence stretches—charged, electric, almost violent.
I breathe once.
Twice.
Trying to find equilibrium I no longer possess.
“Vivian,” I say, quieter now, “no man touches you. No man kisses you. No man even looks at you that way.”
She folds her arms. “Then don’t send another woman to play your date, Dimitri.”
My jaw ticks. “You want to come with me?”
“Yes.”
“Fine,” I say at last, the word rougher than it should be. “Then you’re coming to Zurich.”
Her breath catches—but she masks it quickly.
I step so close our foreheads almost touch.
“But understand something,” I murmur. “If you’re mine on my arm…you’re mine everywhere else too.”
She swallows, eyes flickering with a heat she tries to hide. “I’ve always been yours, Dimitri.”
Something in me snaps.
I grab her face and crash my mouth onto hers, kissing her with every ounce of the irritation, jealousy, and hunger she managed to ignite in me. She melts into it instantly, clutching my shirt, kissing me back with equal fire.
When I pull away, we’re both breathless.
“But you stay beside me,” I growl. “You do only what I approve. Nothing else. You hear me?”
“Yes,” she whispers, defiant and obedient all at once.
And I hate how much that combination destroys me.
I know this is wrong.
I know I shouldn’t take her with me.
Zurich is a battlefield waiting to happen, not a place for her.
But I’ll be damned if I leave her in New York after hearing her threaten to go out with another man—contracted or not. The thought alone is enough to unravel every thread of restraint I have left.
I cup her jaw again, gentler this time.
“You stay with me,” I murmur. “Always.”
Because even if it’s reckless…I’m not letting her out of my sight.
***
That night, we fly out together—against every instinct I’ve honed, against every rule I’ve lived by.
The Rusnak jet cuts through the clouds like a blade, humming with quiet luxury and danger.
Vivian sits across from me, strapped in, wearing one of my jackets because she claimed the cabin was cold. She’s lying—she just likes my scent close.
