AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snatch the dress out of his hands and hurl it on the floor. “No.”
Before the dress even hits the ground, Timofey pins me against the wall. One hand is curved around my waist, the other is at my neck. He’s not holding me tightly, but it’s obvious who is in control here.
I swallow, my throat bobbing against his palm.
“I warned you,” he whispers, drawing close. His thumb traces over my hip bone. “I warned you again and again, Piper. I told you that if you kept talking back, I’ll do what I’ve wanted to do since the moment we met.”
A chill races down my spine, but I’m so tired of being afraid. I’m so tired of feeling small.
“If you want to kill me badly enough, you’ll find a reason eventually,” I tell him. “So do it. Go ahead. Kill me.”
He looks at me like he’s considering it. Like he’s imaging exactly how he’d tear me apart, limb from limb.
Then his hand curls around to the back of my neck. He leans his head to the side and casts his eyes down to where his thumb is still caressing my hip. “What does this tattoo mean?”
His touch on my naked body is more than enough to scramble my brain. Throw in the fear of being pinned against a wall and entirely at his whim, and I am beyond incapacitated. It takes me several full seconds to even comprehend what he has asked.
Then I look down.
First, I notice the way his golden skin looks against mine. The way we complement each other. The way I fit perfectly in his palm almost like we were made for this.
Then I see the tattoo on my hip. It’s a mountain scene with a wall of dark, impenetrable trees along the bottom.
“It doesn’t mean anything.”
He holds me tighter, his thumb digging into my soft flesh. “You’re lying.”
I look away over his shoulder. “No, I’m not.”
Timofey shifts so he’s in my line of sight once again. “Why won’t you tell me the truth?”
“Why do you care?” I snap back.
He holds my jawline tenderly. When his thumb traces over my bottom lip, I can’t hold back my moan.
It’s not fair that his touch feels this good. I know too much about him to give myself over to his hands, but here I am, putty in his palms.
“The only thing that matters is that I do care,” he says. “Tell me.”
Timofey’s pull is magnetic. It’s overpowering. If I let him pull me under, I’ll never reach the surface again. I’ll never make it out of here.
When he leans closer with his lips parted, I can’t help but stretch towards him. It’s a natural response. Like a sunflower angling towards the sun.
“I want to know everything about you, Piper.” Timofey’s voice is a purr in my ear. It’s a rumble deep inside, sending shockwaves to the traitor between my legs.
I want to be known. More than anything.
But this is a trap.
Anything I tell Timofey gets turned into a weapon he can throw back at me. He doesn’t want to know me; he wants to know how to break me.
The more I tell him, the deeper I dig my own grave.
My eyelids flutter closed. It would be so easy to kiss him right now. To tell him what he wants and then take what I need. One sliver of my shattered heart for a second of bliss.
It seems like a fair trade.
But like Timofey said earlier, I need to understand what’s at stake. A kiss from him isn’t worth my life.
