“I know,” she says, her soft voice so sweet it makes my cock ache. “I’m sorry I haven’t thanked you for them yet. And that I haven’t worn them. I was just angry with you at first. Then when I started working again I didn’t want to get them dirty.”
I grit my teeth as I feel another surge of annoyance. We’d been either fighting or fucking all week andnowshe wants to be sweet with me? Now when I need proof she’s against me? I take a level look at her, trying to size her up. Maybe she knows I’m onto her. Maybe she’s trying to fool me.
But the more I look at her, the more I crave her, and damn it I have to find a way to stop that.
“It’s fine,” I bite out. “Just go get cleaned up. I’ll bring these upstairs for you so you won’t get them dirty.”
As she leaves, I take a few moments to myself to get my head on right. It has only been a week since we were married but Annika has already found a way to get under my skin and lower my guard. I have to stop this. Have to get myself under control.
Chapter Nineteen
Annika
After I finish showering and getting ready, I open the bathroom door and am disappointed once again as I see nothing on the bed but the dress and some lacy bits of underwear. Kirill and I have fallen into a sort of pattern. We argue more than talk when he gets home early, but once night falls, we’ve taken to some very feral fucking that leaves my body blissed out and my mind too blank to care that this was an arranged marriage.
I expected that tonight as well, but then Kirill surprised me with the auction. Still, I had thought perhaps he’d join me in the shower for a quickie. Pushing away my disappointment, I draw on the lacy black bra and underwear and then the dress, and I have to admit, it is perfectly suited for me.
It's much more conservative than the dress I was wearing the night we met, but still slides over my curves like a dream. It has a diagonal neckline that continues to a single, elegant long sleeve for my left arm, leaving the right one bare. The hem falls to my knees, hugging my figure tightly. I pair it with long silverearrings that fall just an inch or so short from brushing my shoulders and a silver cuff on my exposed wrist.
I open the bedroom door once I have my heels on and I’m greeted by the sight of Kirill. His piercing blue eyes hungrily sweep down the sight of me, and I feel my stomach flutter at his apparent approval.
Instead of giving me the compliment I expect however, he simply says, “Better.” He turns away to walk down the hall, beckoning me to follow him. For a moment I contemplate arguing, telling him that he can’t just beckon me like a dog, but I don’t want to risk him changing his mind about letting me leave the compound. He’s off tonight, but that doesn’t mean I'm about to pass up the opportunity to go outside the gates. Even with my new studio to keep me busy, I’m still not used to being confined.
So I press my glossed lips together and hurry along, catching up with him in the elevator.
“You’re in a peachy mood,” I can’t help but say as we ride down. “Bad day?”
I cast my eyes toward him and notice his longing glance. He looks troubled and it worries me.
He catches my worried look and once again his handsome face becomes devoid of any emotion. Then in a flash he’s grabbing me, his hands like vices around my wrists as he crushes his lips down on mine. Immediately heat sweeps through my body and I melt into him.Thisis what I want.
He stops and pulls away when the elevator doors open, leaving me dizzy and wanting more. This time though, instead of beckoning me toward him, he leads me out by the hand.
“I need you to be perfect tonight,” he finally says once we’re in the car. “The families we’re going to see, they need to know that the alliance with the Shabalin are strong.”
I frown at him.
“You could have given me more time to prepare, you know,” I reply. “If tonight was so important.”
Kirill smirks at me as he traces his fingers over my knee and up my thigh.
“You need to prepare to like me,devochka?”he asks.
I smirk back at him as I boldly slide my hand up his thigh, to the bulge at the crux of his legs, and to my satisfaction he lets out a growl as my palm presses tightly.
“This is all I know about you, husband,” I reply, stroking ever so gently over his trousers, “This is all we share. That we like to touch one another. You don’t let me know anything else. You don’t ask me anything else.”
Kirill’s fingers wrap around my wrist as he looks in my eyes, but he doesn’t pull my hand away just yet.
“Unfortunately we cannot show them that side of us,” he replies, using my hand to run up the hardened column of his shaft.
It makes my nipples harden as I feel him pulse under my palm, but before I can get too excited, Kirill is pulling my hand away and placing it in my own lap.
“But we do need to show them we are united. That this marriage is strong,” he continues.
In truth I have no idea if this marriage is actually strong or not. I’m not unhappy but I’m not exactly thrilled at being held captive either. I love to fuck my husband but I’m not sure if I love him- or even like him. In fact I barely know him.
But what I do know is how important it is to both of our families that we appear united. No one but us needs to know what strangers we are. So I smile. Squeeze his hand.
