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He just nods, eyes narrowed slightly.
Our sex, from when he pushed me against that wall in the alley to tying me up and fucking me, was, I think, a fight. A hot one, but a battle of wills all the same. I’m not sure how to explain it, but there was something unsaid and…
I take a breath.
“We’re all right, aren’t we?”
He goes still. “Pretty Rose is itching for a fight.” Rubbing a hand over his eyes, he says, “Weddings are… I don’t need the ring. You do. That’s it, nothing more. I’m here, with you, so yeah, we’re fucking okay. I’m not letting you go.”
Nikolai slides closer and eases me into him. “I gave you the chance to walk. I let you go, and you came back.” He kisses my head, smoothing his fingers against my skin. “You threw the chance away. Now you’re stuck with me.”
I smile into his chest. Maybe I’m scared, too.
What am I saying? I know I’m scared. Scared of losing him, scared I’m making him do something he doesn’t want, just scared. This trip, what he got me to do to him with that hatpin…
Sighing, I turn and brush my mouth over his smooth, hot chest, basking in the heat of him. There’s something else at play here beyond weird insecurities.
“Rose, I know you want to know why we’re here, what’s going on, what the fuck it was I wanted tonight, and the answer is I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out.”
“The note?”
He pauses a beat. “A name I don’t know. Probably a player who wants to meet me.”
I nod against him and look up, pulling back a little. “Okay.”
“So, tell me what people talked about to you. The vibes, questions, everything…”
As we lay together, I do just that. I tell him the questions they asked about us, about me, the questions from an Eastern European man about my so-called father, the questions from an oily American about my involvement in this dark underworld growing up.
He nods but doesn’t say much. At least, until I tell him that one man offered to set up a meeting to buy Derek’s property.
“You get a card? A number?”
I shake my head. “He said he’ll be in touch with you.”
“Typical vultures.”
“He seemed nice—” I stop. The veiled come-ons I neatly sidestepped, but he knows. He always does.
“Important word, Rose.” Nikolai slips his hand down my side and between my thighs. He’s not trying to start something—although he could, because even after everything, my pussy aches for him to fill it, stretch me, fuck me deep—no, it’s a move of ownership, and I’m content to let him touch and placate. Rile. “Seemed.Remember that.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say.
He pulls his hand free and rolls us so he’s nestled between my thighs, his thick cock hardening beneath the confines of soft cotton.
“Sure you do. Be careful with who you talk to and what you do. These aren’t good people, and if they even think of touching you, harming you… I might be nice to you, but that doesn’t extend to anyone else.”
He kisses me. Short. Sweet.
“What’s going on?” I ask when he lifts his head. When he doesn’t answer, I add, “Partners, right?”
For a moment, I think he’ll sidestep, but Niko breathes out. “Partners. I think someone who dealt with your father, who might be an enemy of the Wilder clan from long ago, wants something. As far as I could glean tonight, there might be someone looking for a foothold in Queenstown.”
“Then take what you gave me and give it to them. I don’t want it.”
He almost laughs. “Not the way it’s played. Plus, it’s yours.”
There’s something else, something more, but it’s hard to concentrate when he moves against me; beyond the physical sensations sparking through me from the roll of his hips, pushing him takes powers I don’t have, a finesse I’m not sure is possible. Nikolai is stubborn. He doesn’t give in unless he chooses to, and I’ve pushed enough.
