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“Oh, they believed it was their idea.” A flash of lightning illuminates his sharp-edged smile. “Your father, in particular, was convinced that it was all his doing… that he was manipulating my family into doing what he wanted.” He loosens his grip on my hair before moving his hand to cup my jaw. A rolling boom of thunder shakes the room, and when it fades, he continues, the tenderness of his touch a stark contrast to the darkness of his words. “The betrothal was the best way to ensure that you’d be mine when you grew up, that no other man but me would ever have you. The alternative—stealing you from your family and keeping you locked up until you were old enough—was going to be my plan B, but luckily for you, I didn’t have to implement it.” His mouth twists. “Or maybe unluckily. I still regret that I didn’t take you away the day you turned eighteen.”
My lungs contract with every word he speaks until my breaths are so shallow I can’t draw in enough air. It’s as if the storm outside is sucking all the oxygen from the cabin, the gusting wind penetrating through the windows and bringing in a chill that invades my entire body, freezing me from within.
Alexeiarranged our betrothal.
It wasn’t some business arrangement that he reluctantly accepted because I was pretty. It was something he’d wanted from the start—something he’d orchestrated. After the fiasco of my eighteenth-birthday party, I knew he desired me and intended to go through with the marriage, but I still thought he was just making the best of a bad situation. I ascribed his stalking of me to lust mixed with some perverse desire to adhere to his father’s wishes, but that wasn’t it at all.
When I was just a child, he’d decided he wanted me, and he tied my life to his with a ruthlessness that would do Machiavelli proud—a ruthlessness that’s all the more terrifying given that he’d been only nineteen years old himself.
If he could do this then, what is he capable of now that he’s thirty?
How far will he go to ensure that I remain his?
As if reading my thoughts, Alexei shifts his lower body to lie directly over mine. Something hard presses against my thigh, spiking my pulse and kindling a familiar flame in my core, a heat that chases away some of the chill inside me. “I have you now,” he whispers roughly, stroking his thumb over my cheek. “I have you, and I won’t let you go. So you might as well come to terms with it, Alinyonok. You can fight if you want, but it won’t do any good.”
No, it won’t. Another flash of lightning lights up the room, revealing the volcanic heat in his dark eyes, the merciless intent in the harsh set of his features. He’s done being patient. Eleven years ago, he chose this fate for us, for me, and there’s no escaping it.
“I hate you,” I whisper, staring up at him. My eyes and throat burn with unshed tears, but I force the words out because they’re the only weapon I have left. “For the betrothal and for everything you’ve done since, I willalwayshate you.”
His face tightens, as if from a physical blow, but then he smiles again and it’s a cruel, dark smile. “So be it. For the rest of today, though, you’re going to love me.”
And shifting his hand to encircle my throat, he crushes his lips against mine.
Chapter28
Present Day, Location Unknown
Is it love if it’s not your choice?
Is it force if you embrace it?
One day, I will think about that. One day, I will figure out the answers.
That day is not today.
As the storm rages outside, the waves rocking the yacht from side to side, the only thing I’m aware of is the growing maelstrom inside me, the way Alexei’s kiss sucks me into a vortex of raw, carnal need.
Gripping my throat with one hand, he explores my mouth with the same ruthlessness he’s applied to capturing me. His tongue sweeps deep, and I catch a faint hint of champagne on his breath, taste his victory over me as my body ignites with familiar fire. Instinctively, I lift my hands to clutch at the hard muscles of his shoulders. His bare skin is hot and smooth under my palms, and I find myself running my hands down his powerful arms, his sides, his back, seeking more as I helplessly return the kiss.
His hold on my throat isn’t tight enough to restrict my breath, but my head still spins from lack of oxygen as he settles more firmly over me, the hard, heavy weight of him preventing my lungs from dragging in enough air. Or maybe he’s just stealing all my air with his kiss, like the demon that he is. Either way, I feel like I’m caught in a dark dream, an erotic nightmare in which my body refuses to do my bidding.
I should be fighting. I should be clawing and kicking to get away, but instead, I feverishly arch into him, my thighs parting to cradle the hard bulge in his jeans against the part of me that throbs and pulses with a desperate need for him.
A low growl rumbles in his throat, and he tears his lips away, breathing heavily. Staring down at me with burning onyx eyes, he shifts his weight to lean on the elbow of the hand that’s gripping my throat and hooks his other hand into the bodice of my dress. Roughly, he yanks on it, ripping the expensive fabric along with my bra to bare my breasts to his gaze.
When his eyes meet mine again, they’re so ravenous I quake inside.
“You…” His voice is low and hoarse. “You, Alinyonok, are everything.”
Not giving me a chance to respond, he bends his head and closes his lips around my left nipple. His mouth is soft and wet, his breath scalding hot, and as his cheeks hollow with suction, I feel an answering pull deep in my core. I gasp from the force of it, from the sudden coiling of erotic tension, and he repeats the action with my other nipple before hooking his hands into the torn edges of my dress and ripping it further, baring my quivering stomach to his devouring lips and tongue.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I squeeze my eyes shut and bury my fingers in his hair as he trails his open mouth down my body, ripping apart what remains of my dress along the way. I know where he’s going and I know I should stop him, but I can’t. I simply can’t. Every cell in my body is on edge, every muscle so taut it’s trembling. Waves of heat radiate outward from my core as he circles my navel with his tongue, then moves lower, lower… Oh, God. I clench my fists in his hair as he rips away my thong, and his hot breath washes over my tender flesh before his lips press against my sex.
He feasts on me with soft, gentle nibbles, using his lips more than his tongue, and it’s so much more than I imagined, the sensations shocking and exquisitely acute. He’s only exploring my outer folds, not the throbbing bundle of nerves inside, but I feel each kiss, each lick, each gentle grazing of his teeth as if he were doing it directly on my clit. Pleasure, sweet and sharp, pulses through me, adding to the tension, and it’s both too much and not enough.
“Please…” I arch my hips, needing more. Seeking more. “Alexei, please…”
