The leverage breaks my hold.
Her foot lifts up and scrapes my nose as I stumble, off-balance. Nika spins, bringing the knife around in a backhand slash targeting my throat. Instinctively, I hit the floor.
The blade passes overhead, close enough that I sense the displacement of air. Surging upward, I drive my shoulder into her midsection.
She grunts as we both hit the carpet together.
I use my weight in an attempt to pin her and control the knife, but with her legs together, she manages to dig her heels into the thick carpet and wrestle the lower half of her body out from under me.
I grit my teeth as she squirms. “Could you stay still for a fucking second?”
“And let you kill me?” She laughs, sharp and jagged like a bird call. “Not likely.”
Twisting again, she shoves her heel into my hip. I fly back and catch the corner of a dining table with my lower back. White-hot pain explodes up my spine.
That’ll leave a mark.
As she charges again, I steady myself.
This woman’s relentless.
Metal glints in the shadows. I grab the nearest thing—a wing chair, I think—and swing. The thinly padded wooden frame connects with her arm. She hisses and drops the knife.
Finally, I’ve gained the advantage. She’s no match for me weaponless.
I could kill her now and tell Roman it was self-defense. Sure, he’d be livid if I disobeyed orders and killed his daughter, but that’s a price I’m almost willing to pay. Snapping her neck would be so easy?—
She wrenches the chair from my hands with surreal strength and chucks it at me.
It crashes beside me, shattering a floor lamp. More broken glass and unseen tripping hazards pile on the expensive carpet.
My laugh sounds like a wheeze. “Missed me.”
“I wasn’t aiming for you, prick.”
Then she’s on me again. No knife, just body against body, flesh hitting flesh in pure, unadulterated chaos as we trade blows.
I clip her jaw. She nails me in the side with her elbow, and two of my ribs shriek in pain.
She stumbles back, her hand rising to her face. Maybe I hit her harder than I thought.
Like an idiot, I press forward. The moment I’m close, she drops and sweeps my legs. I’m airborne for half a second before I crash into the overturned coffee table.
I groan as my head smacks the splintered remains.
Before I can recover, Nika’s straddling me. Her weight pins my chest as she reaches over my head.
Even in the dark, the neckline of her dress casts a vivid shape over those two perfect?—
The knife. Nika’s going for the knife, dumbass. You’re staring at her tits while she’s about to slit your throat.
Fuck it.
I bite down on her left breast.
She has the audacity to laugh, twisting away from my teeth. “That was a dick move. Too bad I like a little pain.”
If I don’t get my shit together, I’m going to die.
