The skirt and blouse she wore this morning were gone, replaced with a pair of sweatpants and an oversized shirt. Her hair was still in the bun but several strands had escaped.
“Who was the man you had lunch with?” I asked.
The smile dropped from her face. “What?”
“You heard me.”
She glanced down at the pictures she’d been holding. “He’s a friend. That’s all.”
“And I told you not to have anything to do with someone from your former life.”
“He’s the only friend I’ve got.”
“And I’m not allowing my wife to have lunch with another man.”
“Andrei, you’re blowing this completely out of proportion.”
I took a step toward her, staring down at her beautiful, plump mouth. I had missed her all fucking day and she went and had lunch with another man. I didn’t accept it.
Sinking my fingers into her hair, I tug her close, and kiss her hard, almost bruising. I needed to wipe the memory of the man she’d been with from her mind.
Adelaide
Nathan had been worried about me.
How could he not? I all but vanished while he was away. There was no time to explain to him I was getting married to a man he’d never met before. If our roles were reversed, I’d be worried too.
He’d wanted to know every single detail about Andrei-how we met, how I ended up marrying my sister’s fiance. There was a whole list of questions and I hadn’t been able to answer all of them. He wanted to know if I was in love with him, and that had been a hard one to get past. Nathan knew I avoided most of the questions and I hated lying to him so much.
As Andrei’s lips possessed mine, all anger fled my body. I dropped the picture I’d been holding, and against my own will, I wrapped my arm around his neck, pressing my body flush against his. I enjoyed Andrei’s kisses.
While I’d been looking through our wedding photos, I’d thought of his lips against mine. Seeing him back home, I’d wanted to kiss him, but his stony face had stopped me. Was this our destiny?
Leo had to have told on me. The moment we got to the restaurant he’d been against me seeing my friend, but I’d insisted. I wanted to see Nathan. To finally be around someone who cared about me.
I broke away from the kiss, gasping as Andrei lifted me up and carried me across the penthouse toward his bedroom. I noticed he avoided being close to any windows and for that I was grateful.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
My heart pounded inside my chest, threatening to explode as he lowered me to the bed. I cupped his face, kissed his lips one final time, but Andrei took my hands and removed them. He didn’t like when I touched him. Gripping the edge of the bed, I watched fascinated as he pushed me back.
“Wait,” I said.
Sex was going to happen between us. I knew that. Was I ready? Did it matter if I was? Would Andrei take what he wanted without a care to what I wanted? So many questions.
“Don’t you think we should talk first?” I asked.
“I’m not going to fuck you, Adelaide,” he said.
“You’re not.”
He smirked. “Not today, but I am going to do something else, if you’d let me.”
This came out of the blue. Did I want to know what he was doing? Was it going to be good or painful? Nibbling my lip, I threw caution to the wind. We were compromising and I had to learn to trust Andrei, which wasn’t easy. I’d deal with the Nathan problem once he finished doing whatever it was he wanted to.
He sank to his knees before me. His hands went to my waist, and he grabbed the waistband of my leggings. They were not skintight but comfortable.
“Lift your ass.”
I pressed down on my hands, lifting my body up long enough for him to pull the leggings right off my thighs. This was … new. I still wore my panties. I enjoyed large, comfortable clothes, but when it came to my lingerie, it had to be sexy and lacy. It was what I liked.
Staring at Andrei, I didn’t know why he was doing this. What had changed during the kiss? Our relationship wasn’t normal. There was fire and ice, and it shocked me how readily my body responded to him.
His hands went to my knees, and he opened them, slowly. “How much have you done with a man?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
Should I lie and tell him I’d done something? There were no boys. No men. The moment I met someone, my sister had been there to stake her claim. I’d immersed myself into my studies and volunteering. Finding a life away from them.
He groaned. “You have no idea how much that pleases me. Lie down.”
“Will it hurt?” I asked.
“Why do you assume everything I do is going to hurt you?”
I wasn’t about to point out to him that he was a Bratva man with a reputation for killing things and causing pain. That would spoil the moment, right?
“Trust me.”