Chapter 19 – Egor
Anatoly drove us back to the penthouse after the reception, and while he turned in for the night, Freya walked quietly behind me like a prisoner in chains. Ignoring her, I went into my room, and she passed to hers. I peeled off my clothes, strolling over to the bathroom for a hot shower to soothe aching nerves.
When I got out, she was standing by the door with a frown, like an unwanted visitor, with her long hair draped behind her shoulder like a river of night and her wedding dress sparkling from the city lights through the window. Her heated gaze wandered from the tattoos on my neck and chest, traveled down the grooves and ridges of my abs and bare chest to the ripples of water resting on my torso, and finally settled on the short towel wrapped around my waist.
Her cheeks glowed crimson, and she dragged her eyes back up to mine.
“Anna says I no longer have access to my room.”
I brushed past her to grab my phone from the edge of the bed and felt her flinch. Body contact with me must have really been her worst nightmare. Sadly for her, the feeling was not mutual.
After responding to a thread of a dozen congratulatory messages from Nikolai and reviewing a few work emails from Arlo, I dropped it and turned to her. “Consider yourself set free, prisoner. You are a married woman now. You no longer have to stay in your jail cell. This is your room now. What’s mine is yours, and the rest of that blah-blah-blah shit, but with conditions.”
Her nose scrunched up as if I had delivered the most irritable news, but she stayed tight-lipped and didn’t cause a fuss as I expected her to, so I added, “By the way, you should take a bath. Anna left a little gift in there for you, too. I’m sure you’d love it.”
“I’m sure I would,” she muttered under her breath and grumbled a bunch of incoherent things.
Begrudgingly and nervously, she ambled towards the dresser to take off her jewelry. Her anxiety was palpable; I could almost taste it. It only increased the simmering tension radiating between us in the room.
I resisted the urge to smirk. My anticipation for the night was high. She was going to be mine again, and it didn’t matter how hard she tried to fight it or conquer moral boundaries; her body desired mine. I’d sensed it from the first time I kissed her and even back at the church when her body caved into my touch.
Her earrings went first, and then her necklace. She quietly stared at the diamond ring on her finger for some time and opted instead to take out the pins on her hair. Her silence was all I needed to know; she hadn’t stopped hoping for a way out of this marriage with me.
When it was time to tug down the zip on the white dress, she wrestled by all means—stretched and huffed—and unzipped it herself. Apparently, any means of self-inflicted harm was a thousand times better than asking for my help.
With a glare, she turned away from me, still clutching the dress to her body, before she disappeared behind the bathroom door.
****
Thirty minutes later, and Freya hadn’t come out yet.
I’d heard the faint sound of a rushing faucet, and…that was it. After her shower, there was dead silence afterward. Maybe she had seen Anna’s gift and was embarrassed?
It was tradition for newlywedded women to wear red lingerie for their husbands on their wedding night, and knowing Freya, she’d probably consider other possible options that would help her escape the torture.
I couldn’t contain myself anymore; the impatience to see her was almost maddening.
I walked to the door and swung it open.
At the sight of her, the boiling blood in my body traveled south, and my cock grew hard between my legs. She was standing in front of the mirror, assessing the red lingerie through her reflection in the mirror with creased brows.
She looked like she preferred the ground to open up and swallow her, while I thought it suited her perfectly. Her body was like a fine piece of art, molded by the best craftsman, shaped by the most meticulous artisan, evoking the deepest and most dangerous emotions from the recesses of my soul. Every detail was right—just perfect—from the crown of her head to the shiny, nude-polished toes of her feet.
I wanted her.
And I wanted her so bad it set up a blazing torch somewhere in my chest and below the belt.
I stood there, gawking hungrily, and when she didn’t say anything, I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. The loud bang made her shoulders tremble, and she moved her arms to shield her bosom.
“Don’t.”
It was a rough growl at the back of my throat, one that made her quickly comply. I covered the space between us and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back flush against my chest. She tried to recoil, but I kept her grounded, caging her between the marble counter and me.
“Don’t you ever try to hide yourself from me, understand?”
A strangled sound left her lips, and she shut her eyes with a sigh. “This is the most embarrassing thing I’ve had to endure.”
“Not to me, wife.” I shifted her hair to the side and pressed a kiss on the back of her neck. And another kiss at the spot behind her earlobe.
“ Wife ?” She shuddered and released a small chuckle. “Not detective or Freya anymore? Hope you don’t expect me to call you something cheesy or endearing like my love .”
I got lost in the softness of her skin and the small tremors her body made, positively reacting to my touch. Even her scent was intoxicating.
“Oh, I have many, many expectations.” I sniffed her neck. “But having you call me that is not one of them.”
I bit her chin and lightly grazed her skin. “Because it would never be honest.”
Her breath fell short. “Yeah….”
I cupped the soft curve of her ass and pressed my erection against her.
“And I can’t have you calling me that when you hate me so much. We don’t want to live a false life now, or do we?”
I dragged my mouth from her chin and tasted her earlobe. She gripped the counter and inclined even deeper into me, sashaying her hips to create friction.
“There is no we, husband . This…marriage is a sham.”
Was it?
At this point, in the middle of beating hearts and boiling blood, I could no longer decide if this was as fake as she desperately wanted it to be. It felt like anything but a sham to me, even if deep down, I’d convinced myself that I’d gotten married to the traitor because she carried my child. I’d convinced myself that I kept her around as long enough as I did because she knew my little secret. I’d convinced myself that I was merely vexed by her little stunt to escape and not pained or betrayed .
I smirked and cupped her ass. “I couldn’t agree more.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
I parted her legs with a nudge of my knee and slipped a hand between her thighs, allowing my finger to linger on the lace covering her sex. I whispered into her ear. “Hey, look at me.”
Our eyes collided through the mirror, and her breathing sped up.
“Now, as much as I love seeing this red on you, it has to go.” I rubbed her throbbing sex through the thin fabric, and her head fell back on my chest as she trembled, her eyelids fluttering.
I unhooked her bra, and a part of me came alive when her perky breasts sprung into view. The bra dangled on her arm and dropped to the floor. I took one and squeezed, groaning at the softness.
Her lashes fluttered shut, and I nipped on her ear. “Whatever you do, keep your eyes open, wife.”
She swallowed, and I watched the conflicting emotions flickered across her beautiful face when I shifted the thong aside and slid two fingers into her. Her moans echoed, and the walls of her pussy clenched around my fingers as I glided in and out of her.
Her juices dripped, and I rubbed her clit before withdrawing my hand and smacking her ass. Confusion settled in her eyes when I turned her around and lifted her off the ground, placing her on the counter.
“Someone is already wet for me, I see.”
She blushed even harder and tried to duck, but I wound her hair around my fist and, with a gentle tug, pulled her head back, exposing the delicate curve of her neck. I bent forward, made small bites on her collarbone and shoulder, and claimed her mouth as fiercely as I wanted to.
Her back arched, and her breath caught in her throat when I deepened the kiss, tasting her tongue, relishing in the warmth of her breath and the soft sounds she made from the pleasure I gave her.
My fingers tightened in her hair, and I devoured her mouth, getting swallowed by the inferno of primal desire. Her tongue met mine, battled with equal rage, but lost at every try. This woman made me ache in places I didn’t know existed. And as much as I hated losing my grip on control whenever she was near, I found myself loving it.
She grasped my arm and dug her nails into my skin to steady herself.
I murmured against her lips, “I love the way you respond to me.”
She inhaled sharply and dragged her palms to my chest, a very futile attempt to push me away. “Only in your dreams.”
“Your body tells a different story.”
I kissed the side of her mouth, and she drew in a sharp breath like she’d been bitten. “You have terrible interpretation skills.”
“And you have the most fuckable mouth.”
Her face tried to morph into disgust but failed at the contortion. “I hate you.”
I chuckled. “I know. Won’t stop you from moaning my name.”
“I’d only moan your name when the moon turns pink.”
“Is that so? How about I fuck you close to the window so you can see when the moon does, in fact, turn pink?”
I dragged the thong down her legs, allowing them to hang on her ankles, while I spread her thighs further apart, enough to see the pink of her soaking folds.
The lust in her eyes, mirroring the sudden scorching heat traveling through my blood, betrayed her voice. “You’re delusional. You get ahead of yourself sometimes, you know?”
“Quite the challenge.”
With a flick, I released the towel from around my waist, allowing her gaze to flicker over my painfully strained erection as I yanked her forward and thrust my cock into her without any warning.
She gasped, and I swallowed it with hungry lips, my mouth reclaiming hers with a ferocity that left her breathless. The room spun around us, and I willingly surrendered to the all-consuming heat, thrusting like a starved predator. Fucking her like both our lives were on the line. Kissing her in every place I latched my mouth on.
She tasted sweet, and her pussy around my erection felt even sweeter.
I licked her throat, swallowed her sighs of pleasure, gripped the edges of the counter with one hand, and sunk my fingernails in the soft flesh of her thighs with the other. Our heartbeats raced, and our rhythms matched in perfect synchrony. Nothing had felt more fucking good than being inside her.
Freya wound her arms around my neck, sucked on my lower lip, and ran her fingers through my hair, her touch setting me on fire, driving me closer and closer to the edge.
Rather quickly, I began losing my grasp.
Our kisses grew sloppier, and her thighs clenched around me. I pulled back, smirked at the dazed look in her eyes, obviously wanting more, and jerked forward with an intensity that shattered her walls.
She moaned loudly and whimpered, coming undone in my arms.
I smiled against her temple and pressed a kiss to it. “That was only the first one, wife. Tonight, there are promises of many more to come.”
I didn’t go out to check, but the moon turned pink tonight.