5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Sasha
T he master bedroom is large and luxurious. Decorated in creams and light reds, it feels too romantic for my liking. Too romantic because I don’t want Nico getting any ideas he can touch me.
“Do you like it?” he asks, swaggering into the room.
“No.” It’s not a complete lie.
Nico gives me a wink before he sits down on the bed. “It’s very comfortable. Come sit down beside me.”
“No. You’re going to try something. I don’t trust you.”
“I’m not going to rape you, Sasha. I want you screaming my name when I touch you; not recoiling in fear. And we’ll be sleeping next to each other at night. Might as well come sit down beside me.”
“No. There are a ton of rooms in this place. I can sleep in any of those.”
His gaze darkens as he approaches me. “You are my wife. We will share a bed. I’ll promise not to touch you without your permission. But we will share a bed.”
The power that exudes from him is incredibly intimidating. I want to snap back but I find that I can’t. “Fine. Just don’t touch me.”
“Fair enough. Let’s get to sleep. I’m sure you’re tired. I know I am.”
“Tired of dealing with you,” I mutter.
Nico’s laugh lights up the room. It’s actually kind of nice. “You’re funny. I like that.” He starts unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for bed. I sleep naked, by the way.”
“Well, I don’t. And I’m not comfortable with you doing that. That goes against my consent.”
“I won’t touch you.”
“But you are forcing your body onto me.”
Nico sighs dramatically. “Fine. I’ll sleep with pants on tonight. Just until you’re comfortable. Then I’ll return to sleeping naked. I can show compromise too.”
He heads into the large walk-in closet. Knowing he’s undressing in there – naked in there – does strange things to me. A heat settles itself around my body.
Nico comes out a moment later with pajama bottoms on. Soft grey sweats that hang around his waist, showing off his defined stomach.
“How often do you work out?”
“Every day. You have to stay in shape in my kind of work. Can’t let others get the best of me.” He turns to the bed and I catch a glimpse of his back where a scar is right in the center of it. It’s where Mikhail shot him.
Knowing Nico isn’t invincible makes me feel a tiny bit better.
I rush into the closet and find my bag that my mom packed for me. Thankfully she included my normal pajamas – a simple crop top and sweats.
After changing, I feel silly standing by the bed, not knowing what to do. Nico is under the covers, just staring at me.
“Would you stop?” I mutter.
“Stop what?”
“Looking at me. It’s…”
“It’s what?”
Disarming . “Annoying.”
“We’re husband and wife, Sasha. I’m allowed to look at my wife.”
With an eye roll, I get into the bed. I’ll say this: it’s insanely comfortable. Soft and plush. I could sink right into it for days.
But the man next to me is making that impossible.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
“Well, normal couples usually have sex after they’re married.”
“Well, that’s not happening.”
Nico laughs again as he reaches across from me and turns off the nightstand light. I may note: he has a light on the nightstand beside him. He just wants to unnerve me.
“Goodnight, Sasha.”
I force my body to relax in the bed. I do not tell him goodnight in return.
The closet is full of beautiful summer dresses that I know I didn’t buy. I check the sizes on them – they’re all my size. Nico bought a whole wardrobe for me. It’s a little creepy.
But he did choose some good items, I’ll give him that.
After slipping on a soft, pink summer dress that reaches my ankles, I head downstairs to the kitchen. I woke up this morning and Nico wasn’t there, which was something I was relieved by.
I find him at the breakfast table, reading something on his phone as he eats an omelet.
“Maria can make you something,” he says, nodding to the housekeeper.
Maria offers me a kind smile and I motion towards Nico’s plate. She nods her understanding and starts making me an omelet myself. At least I don’t have to be alone with Nico this morning. Sleeping next to him all night was bad enough.
Though… it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There was something sort of nice about feeling the warmth from his body and knowing I wasn’t alone.
But that’s it. I wont say any other nice thing about it because there wasn’t anything else nice about it.
“About my party tonight,” he says after I sit down, “there’s going to be a lot of people here tonight. You will join me.”
I want to object but I have to pick and choose my battles. Besides, it might be good to know some other people in the area in case I ever need help.
“The party will start here, in the house. We will talk and mingle. But then you’ll go to our room for the rest of the night.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, once the celebration moves outside to my maze, I don’t want you joining us.”
A shiver runs down my spine. Something about this doesn’t feel right. “What? What’s going to happen?”
“Things in my maze can get a little crazy. I don’t want you involved in that. So once I make the announcement tonight that the party will move to the maze, you will return to our room. Is that understood?”
“Why can’t I join?”
“Because you’re not ready for something like that.”
“Like what?” I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
“Just trust me, Sasha. You’re not ready. And I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I don’t trust you and why do you care if I get hurt?”
“Well, you’re my wife now. Why wouldn’t I care?”
I stare at him a moment, not knowing what to say. What can I say to that?
“I really don’t get to know?” I ask.
“Nope. I want you looking pretty for tonight. I’ll lay out the dress I want you to wear.” His eyes rake over my body. “I see you put on one of the dresses I bought.”
I run my hands over it then realize that maybe that’s not a good idea and pull my hands away. “It’s nice. That’s all.”
“Sure. That’s all.” Nico’s smirk deepens.
The dress Nico chose for me to wear to the party tonight is a deep red gown with a high neckline but it hugs my body in all the right places. I look like a woman in this gown.
Nico is waiting for me in the foyer, wearing an all-black suit, including his shirt, making him look even more dangerous than he already is.
“That color is perfect on you,” he says, practically purring. I hate how it makes me feel on display. I also hate how it makes me feel more warm. I don’t want Nico making me feel warm. I don’t want Nico making me feel anything other than hatred.
“Our guests will be arriving soon,” he says. “I always like to greet the first few people. It sets the tone of the evening.”
“I’ve never been to a party like this,” I admit. “My father never hosted any soirees at our house and I was never invited to any parties from my school friends.”
“Why not?”
I shrug. “I think they were afraid of who my father was and didn’t want to bring me along. Better to ignore me than invite me and get me into trouble, which would put them in the hot seat with my dad.”
“Do you need me to go beat up those so called friends of yours from school?”
I stare at him aghast. “No, I do not need you to beat up anybody for me.”
“I can do it, you know.”
“I know you can do it,” I snap. “I don’t want it.”
“Fair enough.” A knock at the door draws his attention away. “Our first guests have arrived.”
The celebration for our marriage is in full swing.
The house is filled with at least sixty to seventy people.
An overwhelming number in my opinion and pretty much everyone is speaking Italian so that means I can’t really converse with anyone.
Nico keeps me at his side, introducing me to his friends from this part of the world.
It’s wild to me how one person can know so many people.
As someone who was kept sheltered most of my life, I really only know my family and the people from my classes back when I was in school but I’ve lost touch with any of the friends I used to have.
That’s what happens when you’re crazy controlling uncle locks you away for a year.
“Ah, a Russian,” a man says, shaking my hand. I’ve already forgotten his name, I’ll admit. “Russians are… what’s the word? Feisty.”
Nico chuckles, keeping his hand on my low back, marking me as his. I can’t think of anything other than his hand on my back. “She is feisty. That’s why I married her.” The men continue their conversation in Italian, keeping me out of it.
A man enters the large living room with a beautiful blonde on his arm.
He’s strikingly handsome with black hair and a powerful build.
I notice multiple women look his way, admiring him.
At least there are a lot of women at this party.
I was initially worried I’d be the only one.
But there seems to be an equal ratio of women to men, which helps relax me a little.
The man sets his eyes onto me, then flicks them over to Nico, then back to me again. I feel rooted to my feet. Who is he?
I’m going to find out because he comes right in my direction.
“Nico, who is this?” he asks in a French accent.
“Ah, Adrien.” He turns away from the Italian man, who was in the middle of a sentence from what I could hear. “Adrien, this is my wife, Sasha. She’s American so we need to speak English around her.” Not that Nico has been doing that for me at all with his other guests.
“American. But a Russian name.”
“That’s America for you,” I say.
Adrien laughs. Of course it’s warm and deep. Everything about this man screams handsome and sexy. The blonde on his arm gazes up at him adoringly. Fair enough.
“She’s funny,” he says to Nico.
“I think the same thing.” His hand presses more firmly into my back.
“So, things are going well in New York?” Adrien asks.
“Of course. Everything is going well.”
It’s like the men are speaking in a secret code that I don’t understand.
“I’ll catch you up after the party,” Nico says.
“Good, good.” Adrien’s eyes settle back onto me. “You are beautiful, may I say?”