AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you like it?”
She spins on the spot, giving me a good view, the backless dress hanging low enough to draw my attention to her shapely ass that the fabric is caressing like the most desperate lover. It falls out like a mermaid’s tale and spills around her, the silk shimmering slightly as if its gentle waves are lapping against the shore. I’m certain this dress cost thousands of dollars, but the woman wearing it is priceless. I have never seen anyone as beautiful as she is and as she spins back around to face me, my jaw drops and my heart pumps like fury inside me.
This is the moment something happens that takes me by surprise. This is the moment when I discover I have a heart and it’s beating so hard for the woman before my eyes. And this is the moment it hits me like a bolt of well-directed lightning. Charlotte Richmond is going nowhere without me by her side. Now I know how I am going to save her, save us, and I need a moment to think this through.
“You’ll do.” The dry words make it out and I hate seeing her face fall a little. Now I feel like a bastard because she deserves the fairy tale, but I am no prince. I’m the beast and so I hold out my hand and say slightly on edge, “Shall we?”
Her soft hand finds mine, and she smiles, appearing a little nervous.
“Where are we going?”
She regards me with amusement, and I try so hard to enter into the spirit of the occasion and say playfully, “To the finest restaurant in the world. Nothing is too good for you, princess.”
I wink, but it all seems hollow because I can’t pretend. I am suddenly afraid for probably the first time in my life. Afraid of losing her, the one woman I can’t have because her future is out of my control.
“Is it far?” She keeps up the pretense, and I shake my head. “No, it’s closer than you think.”
As we walk down the marble hallway toward the dining room, I hope my instructions were carried out. However, as we head inside, I was obviously worrying unnecessarily as Charlotte gasps at the sight before her eyes.
A table has been set by the window where the candlelight of well over one hundred candles, flicker around the room reflected a thousand times over. Two open fires dance on either side of the panoramic window that only serves as a black canvas for the lights to shine against. Candles burn on every surface, including the floor, set in glass lanterns around the perimeter of the room. Huge floral displays create a heady scent, and the polished floor shines as we step across it. The fur rug on the floor has me imagining Charlotte naked on all fours, and I push away the depraved thoughts in my head right now. She deserves better than me and it’s up to me to play at being the prince for once because she should have the best on offer and sadly for her, that’s me.
I hold out her chair and she glances up at me, her beautiful blue eyes shining with excitement and a blinding smile on her pretty face. “Thank you so much.”
She bats her lashes and my heart twists, causing a pain so sharp, it momentarily stops me. I just stare at this natural beauty and experience a craving so strong, I can’t deny it, and leaning down, I suck her tempting lower lip into my mouth and can’t resist tasting and exploring it deeper. My hand wraps around the back of her head and I pull her in hard and her low moan makes my cock strain against the well-tailored pants I’m wearing. I have never wanted anyone as much as her and I’m struggling with that.
I pull away and say ruefully, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. You look so beautiful.” I love how she blushes and sucks in the same bottom lip I feasted on seconds ago and I say almost desperately, “Fuck, I need a drink.”
I waste no time and retreat to the other side of the table knowing that I’ll need superhuman strength to keep my hands off her and as I sit wondering if I have enough willpower for that, a waiter appears as if in a puff of smoke and says respectfully, “Sir, madam, allow me.”
He lifts the champagne I ordered from the ice bucket nearby and pours it into two crystal flutes and leaves as silently as he came. As I lift my glass to hers, I say huskily, “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I am the luckiest man alive because you agreed to go out on a date with me.”
She touches her glass to mine and says with a soft smile, “Thank you for asking me.”
I watch as she takes a sip of the cool liquid and the pleasure in her eyes causes me to smile like a kid who can’t believe his luck and she says with a groan, “This is good. You know, I’ve never been a fan of champagne before, but well this, it’s simply exquisite.”
Just hearing her clipped British accent makes me hard all over again because she is everything I’m not. Well educated, composed, graceful and poised. Perfect manners and perfect everything and ordinarily would never be seen dead with a brute like me. It’s almost painful to look at her knowing it’s a fleeting vision in my head and I wonder if I will ever be able to close my eyes again and not see her standing behind them, wearing that dress and playing this evening on repeat in my mind for the rest of my life.
If I knew how to love, I’m guessing this is the closest thing to it and as the waiter arrives with our starter, I settle in for a very difficult evening ahead.
CHAPTER23
CHARLOTTE
Inearly wet my knickers when I saw Ivan dressed in a dinner suit. I have never desired a man more than I do him, and his rough edges are what I crave the most. The hard gleam in his eye that softens when he doesn’t see me looking and slight yearning in his expression when I catch him in an unguarded moment.
When I selected this dress from the others, it was with my savage in mind. I wanted to look my best for him because above everything I need him to want me. Just for one night, so I can experience something I can only get from him, and it’s my mission to seduce my captor for purely selfish reasons. I want him to grab my virginity and toss it over the side of the mountain to the ground below in a frantic act of passion that must count for something amazing. Something remarkable because I’m guessing this is my final chance at that, because I know what’s coming isn’t good. The pity in his eyes and the fact they are so desperate to rescue their friend tells me life with my biological father is going to be anything but cozy.
I try not to think about him, but I’m curious. I suppose it would be strange if I wasn’t, so to distract my thoughts away from him, I say shyly, “Tell me about your life in the bratva, Ivan. I want to know everything about you.”
I’m surprised when he shakes his head and lifts an oyster across the table toward me. “No. I will not ruin a good evening telling you anything about me because if I did, this wouldn’t be the fairy-tale you requested.”
“But…” His flashing eyes tell me to stop, and he says gruffly, “Eat.”
I open my mouth and as he holds the shell to my lips, he stares into my eyes, making me squirm on my seat, trying not to react to the rush of heat his scorching gaze sends through my body.
The way he is staring causes me to hitch my breath and as I swallow the delicacy, I stare into his eyes the entire time.
What I see reflected in them should scare the pants off me, but it only excites me even more. I know he wants me, and it is most definitely reciprocated and as I let the delicacy slide down my throat, his groan of longing mixed with frustration makes me smile as I raise my own oyster to his lips.
