AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’s smart. Ruthless. A cold, calculating schemer. Just like me.
And she has managed to outmaneuver me.
Alina Petrov has managed to outsmart me.
I’m going to fucking marry this girl.
33
ALINA
The expression on his face is not at all what I thought it was going to be. I had hoped for fear. Hoped that I would finally see the great Kaden Hunter stare at me with fear in his eyes. But I had expected fury. I had expected to see rage roar in his eyes as he stared at me in anger that someone like me dared to blackmail someone like him.
What I hadn’t expected, or even considered within the realm of possibility, was that he would stare at me in open admiration.
My heart stops. And then starts beating erratically, thrumming like a startled bird that is flapping around inside my ribcage, as I stare at Kaden from across the table.
He is looking at me as if he truly sees me. As if he sees an equal when he looks at me. Sees his equal. A formidable opponent who has impressed him.
In all my life, no one has ever looked at me like that before.
The clever thing I had been about to say evaporates from my head, because I’m struck by a sudden realization. It’s so clear that I can almost hear it ringing like small bells in my head.
If I were to marry Kaden, he would never treat me the way everyone else does. He would never treat me like a glass trophy to be put on a shelf for display. He wouldn’t try to shield me from this violent blood-soaked world of ours. Instead, he would ask me to plot and scheme with him.
Wood scrapes against wood as Kaden slowly pushes his chair back from the table and stands up.
Giving my head a quick shake, I try to clear it as I hurry to my feet as well.
Both admiration and hunger burn in Kaden’s normally so cold eyes as he rounds the table with slow calculated steps. I meet him halfway, coming to a halt before him at the head of the table. He twists, using his tall and muscular body to make me turn until I’m standing with the back of my thighs against the edge of the table instead and Kaden in front of me. Since I barely reach his collarbones, I have to crane my neck to meet his gaze when he’s standing this close.
That incredible scent of his envelops me as he leans forward.
The move forces me to bend backwards over the table slightly.
Kaden braces his palms on the smooth wooden tabletop on either side of me, caging me in. His eyes dance with light and a smile ghosts across his lips as he locks eyes with me.
My heart pounds in my chest.
“You have some serious balls threatening a man in his own house,” he says.
I smirk up at him. “We could always go outside so that I can threaten you on the lawn too, if you prefer.”
A low chuckle escapes his chest.
He straightens, allowing me to do the same. But he keeps those gleaming eyes locked on mine as he slides out a knife from his thigh holster.
My pulse jumps and a thrill races down my spine as Kaden gently draws his blade over my collarbones. I curl my fingers over the edge of the table, trying to suppress a shudder of pleasure as the cold metal scrapes over my heated skin. My clit throbs as Kaden draws the knife up my throat, slowly and intimately like a caress, before placing it underneath my chin.
“Impressive,” Kaden says, his dark voice almost a purr. “Very impressive. But you forgot one thing.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Oh?”
Using the flat of the blade, he tilts my chin up, making me expose my throat to him. His eyes glint as he holds my gaze. “If I kill you right here, you won’t be able to leak those documents.”
“Wrong.” I chuckle, and shoot him a knowing look. “You see, I took a page from your book. If I don’t walk out of this house, those documents will be automatically forwarded to my entire family, as well as Federico Morelli’s secretary.”
He fixes me with a pointed look. “If you release yours, I release mine.”
