*
Later that evening, after a long soak in a bubble bath, several shots of rum and a good cry, I swallowed my misery and forced myself to accept what was happening.
I was going to marry Viktor.
I had no choice.
No way out.
My heart belonged to another man. Nik of all men, but that didn’t matter. This was our way. It had always been our way. And I couldn’t let my family down anymore.
I was finally accepting my fate.
Stood in the small kitchen, I poured myself another shot. I’d already applied my makeup and my hair was woven into a loose plait down one side. I just needed to slip on my dress and I would be ready. Tonight we were eating outside, near the beach. Several celebratory tables had been set up with fairy lights adorning all the trees. Tonight we marked mine and Viktor’s upcoming nuptials.
“Katya.”
I turned at the sound of my name and saw Nikolai coming from the balcony. He’d climbed over and was stalking towards me, his gaze filled with lust and love and everything in between.
“Nik,” I gasped out his name, not even realizing that I was running to him until I was in his arms. “Nik, are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
I scanned his face for bruises or cuts, for any damage to his handsome face. He smiled, his large hand reaching up to cup my cheek in it, and I pressed my face against it.
“No, no, I’m fine. Of course I’m fine.” He stared down at me, a smile tugging at his lips. “You were really worried for me?”
I nodded. “I was. I hadn’t seen you since the boat and everyone has been so pissed and, Viktor, God, Viktor. We’re getting married, Nik. They’ve arranged it all.”
And then I was sobbing, and my perfectly applied makeup was being ruined. Nik leaned down and pressed a thumb under my eyes to stem my tears and then he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips. I opened to him immediately, before he dragged my body to his.
I was lost in his kiss and in his arms. Lost in his lips upon mine, his tongue moving in my mouth, his hands sliding my silk bathrobe open and pushing it off my shoulders. It fell to the floor in a pool of glossy crimson and I was naked before him. I was lost in the moment, lost in Nikolai.
So completely and utterly lost in him that nothing mattered anymore but me and him and this moment together.
My hands fumbled for his trousers, making quick work of his button and zipper and then pushing them down his legs. I knelt in front of him, taking his hard length in my hand and then sliding my mouth over it and taking him deep into my throat.
He hissed and gripped the back of my head, his fingers wrapped within my hair. I opened my throat wider and sucked him harder, my teeth sheathed beneath my lips. My hand slid below, to his balls, to stroke along the sensitive skin there and I heard him hiss again.
“Fuck, Katya, fuck…”
I looked up at him through my lashes, seeing how his gaze was on me, so filled with lust and desire and my stomach fluttered with excitement. It was something I’d never felt before. Not with any other man. There was always the desire to fuck and to come. But being with Nikolai was different. It was exciting, it was more pleasurable, somehow. Nik touched my body, sending pulses through it and making it come alive in a way I’d never known.
His hands gripped my hair and he pulled himself from my mouth. I swiped a hand across my lips and stood up and he stared at me with something akin to awe in his eyes. Nik gave his head a soft shake before he wrapped both arms around me and lifted me up. My legs automatically went around him and he held me with one hand, guiding himself to my entrance with his other.
Nik filled me and I groaned into the air, my mouth joining his as I held on to him with everything I had. Arms, legs, mouth, pussy, and heart.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nikolai
I kissed her deeply, carrying her towards the kitchen as my fingers dug into her hips and I moved her away from and then back towards my body, helping her ride my cock. I was long, rock hard, and there was little danger of slipping out of her warm, wet, inviting pussy. We fit together, two half-busted puzzle pieces looking for a home.
And we’d found that.
Four walls and a fucking roof over our heads, in the form of one another. The way our skin brushed together, soft and rough, was a healing tonic. The way our lips married, dancing together with tongues and teeth, was a shot of the world’s best whiskey when the healing tonic wasn’t enough. We were our salvation from the brewing storm. The Bratva anger that was raining down upon us. The Bratva expectations. The Bratva future.
Katya’s legs were wrapped around me like a vice, and we were so tightly knitted together that I knew, beyond a doubt, that Katya felt the same way that I did.
I wanted more than her body.
