It’s the Griffins who are helping Katarina escape her uncle’s clutches. Ash and his brothers are good friends of my family, and they’re good men for wanting to help the Bratva princess despite her being a pain in everyone’s ass.
“Vasili is of the view I’ll be unmarriageable once I turn twenty-one,” Katarina complains. “He wants me to remind you that if you fail to honor your promise…”
She doesn’t have to finish her sentence. Vasili has told me in graphic detail what would happen if I tried to back out. The only way I’ll be able to avoid his wrath is if there isn’t a bride to marry. A ‘dead’ Katarina would answer all our prayers.
“I hope you told him I won’t,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Naturally, but my uncle has felt it necessary to line up an alternative suitor.”
There’s a soft thud as she drops onto her bed. The air driven from her lungs sounds too close to a sob. It’s not inKatarina’s nature to cry, the softer emotions have been conditioned out of her, but once in a while I glimpse the vulnerability she normally disguises with her acid tongue.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“A South Africanbusinessmanhe’s become very friendly with lately, the kind who likes them young,” she says. “Youngerthan twenty-one.”
I’m grinding my molars again. Katarina’s still a kid in many respects. She’s never been able to exert much control over her life and I’m not sure how she’ll cope once she’s free to live completely independently. And then I remember. She’s a Barkov.
Katarina is a melting pot of contradictions. She might be vulnerable, but she’s also deadly, and as much as I want to help her, I’m not fool enough to think I can trust her. I certainly don’t trust her enough to tell her about Grace. If I’m careful, I shouldn’t need to.
“For fuck’s sake, Katarina, the only person delaying your escape is you. You’re the one who needs to commit to a fucking departure date,” I say, losing what little sympathy I have left for her. “Ash has given you countless options. You just need to pick one.”
“I’m not getting exiled to some godforsaken corner of the planet to die of boredom, Duke. Would you?”
“Sounds like paradise.”
Katarina makes that purring noise again. “Are you offering to come with me?”
“No,” I answer without hesitation. It’s Grace I want to be marooned with. Just the thought of her has my cock twitching back to life. “Are we done?”
Katarina hears the rasp in my voice. “I don’t know, are we? You sound tense and I have the perfect way to relaxyou. I don’t think you were entirely acting before, were you,baby?”
I sit up straight. I never can tell when Katarina’s serious or just pulling my chain. “Let’s not pretend there’s even the remotest possibility we could satisfy each other,” I say bluntly. “Goodbye,kitten.”
There’s a sharp intake of breath and I end the call before she explodes. Katarina is driving me insane, but that’s not why my gut keeps twisting. My official reunion with Grace couldn’t have gone worse, but what the hell did I expect?
The night we’d met, she’d lacked self-belief, but she was also a woman who wasn’t afraid to take what she wanted. Grace had been no less vocal today, only this time she’d told me what she doesn’t want – another man like her scumbag husband who can’t keep his dick in his pants.
Now I’m the scumbag for planning to cheat on my fiancée.
“Fuck!” I hiss. I can’t lay a finger on Grace until this nightmare is over.
Except I did touch her and that kiss was not fucking ‘meh.’ My angel knew it. Her panties were dripping wet and I wanted so much to sink my fingers into that sweet mess she made.
It was recalling that look of hurt on her face from yesterday that stopped me. Grace had come to Chicago for her Hallmark movie ending, only to discover the man who said he wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone, had found himself a stunning new bride.
Not that Katarina compares to Grace by any stretch. Watching her as she stepped into my office had taken my breath away. Gone was the pixie-cut, replaced by locks of hair long enough to wrap around my fistwhile I…
Damn it! I wish I could have kept her locked in here all day. More than anything, I just wanted to hold her and kiss away the pain I’d seen in her red rimmed eyes. I’d made her cry.
I slump over my desk. I don’t know what I was thinking. Once it became clear Katarina was going to be a pain in my side for longer than anticipated, I should have got Noah to rescind the offer he made to Grace, but she’d already handed in her notice and found tenants for her house.
We just have to bide our time, and until then, I’ll have to stay faithful to my fiancée even if it matters more to Grace than it would to Katarina. Or I assume it wouldn’t matter to her. My fiancée does crave drama. If I could back out of this I would, but there’s more than my life on the line.
Resigned to keeping up the charade for the foreseeable future, I cover my face with my hands. Grace’s scent is on my fingers and once again I’m reminded of stroking her soaking wet panties. A growl reverberates through my chest and I’m filled with the same carnal desire that had me making outrageous threats to Grace when she suggested leaving Chicago. I won’t let her go. I can’t let her go.
As I continue breathing in her scent, I use my free hand to adjust my cock straining against my zipper. I’d waited a year to have Grace in my arms again and now I have to wait some more.
I squeeze my shaft through the straining fabric, seeking relief from my frustration while my mind replays one of my many fantasies of having Grace in this office. Reclining back in my chair, I thrust my aching cock against my palm.
