Deal with it.
Try to get some intel.
And do whatever it takes to get back home.
“Does that mean you’re waiting for me to give you orders and list instructions?” He lowered his hand and walked toward the plane, leaving me no choice but to follow him.
“Don’t you dare,” I muttered, sure he wouldn’t hear.
But he did. Oh, he did, all right. Stopping short and twisting so he wasn’t giving me his back, he narrowed his eyes at me. “Excuse me?”
I collided with him, crashing into his rock-hard chest. His hand came up to cup my elbow, once more steadying me, and I loathed the warmth and security of such a simple touch.
“I’m not waiting for any orders or instructions from you,” I clarified, unafraid whether he heard the bite in my tone. Because it was the truth. He could beat me, rape me, torture me, but he would never own me, dammit. He’d never tame my spirit. I wasn’t born to be a passive woman like any wife he probably imagined having.
For a long moment, we stared each other down. It was crystal clear as the tension ratcheted up between us how little we trusted each other. Yet the longer I refused to look away or show a sign of weakness, the more I hated how aware I was of him. How much taller he was in such a way that it made me feel petite. How much bigger he was so that I’d wonder ifallof him was as proportionally large. How good he smelled, how warm his body was, how badly I wanted to test his boundaries and see what he’d do if I tried to taste his lips, purely out of curiosity.
At last, when I started to feel slightly naked under his scrutiny as he searched my face, he cleared his throat. “If orders and instructions bother you at the moment…”
At the moment? Try all the time, dammit.
“Then perhaps you can consider heeding my suggestion that you should prepare for our wedding tomorrow.” He released my elbow, and I hated how I’d only just realized that he’d never let go.
I pressed my lips shut and exhaled a harsh breath through my nose.
Tomorrow?
So soon?
It would’ve been nice to get to the Volkov territory and get used to it. Just enough to bet my bearings. This was already rushed as it was, yet, I supposed it didn’t matter.
The sooner we marry, the sooner I can figure out a way to end this marriage and go home again.
He turned, giving me his back again as he continued onto the plane. I followed, keeping my gaze down as I climbed the stairs as I hated the fact that yet another man would replace the authority that my brother had always wielded over me.
7
MAKSIM
Carina sat on the opposite side from me on the short flight back to Las Vegas. Keeping her head turned toward the window, she put up an icy, distant front.
She was consistent. I’d give her that much. She gave a clear message and didn’t waver.
Look away.
Fuck off.
Don’t eventhinkabout it.
Combativeness oozed from her and I saw that as a reassurance. In some odd manner, her recalcitrance to me was comforting. I would’ve been more worried if she were clinging to me and throwing herself at me, desperate and overeager for my attention.
Instead, she seemed allergic to the concept of being in my proximity.
Before I’d let her dupe me into thinking that meant she was here under duress, doing the duty her brother expected of her, I had to build up a tolerance to being near her. To be in her presence and avoid that shock and gut-punch of lust.
Carina soon-to-be-Volkov was a breathtaking example of a haughty and beautiful woman. High cheekbones that emphasized the defiance and mystery lurking in her dark eyes. Long, glossy locks of wavy dark-brown, so soft and shiny that I wondered if they felt like silk too.
No matter how much I stayed engaged with Viktor and the couple of men on the plane, I couldn’t rip my eyes away from her for long.
