Chapter 16 #2
“I came to check on your injuries.”
“I thought you said I was fine.”
“Just making sure my assumption wasn’t misguided,” I said, tilting her chin up with two fingers to take in the scratch my father left on her throat with that damn knife, along with the bruises on her pretty face.
While I took inventory of every injury and scrape, every bruise and dent, Adrianne had her eyes set on mine. The tension between us was simmering, and this closeness was doing very wrong things to me.
“See?” Adrianne said, breaking the spell as she pulled her face away from me, “I’m fine.”
She was pushing me away, finally being smart and keeping her distance. What I couldn’t understand was why that stung like she’d just pushed a knife through my chest.
Without a word, I walked into the bathroom and reached into the vanity top where we kept a first aid kit.
Returning to the room, Adrianne was still rooted to her spot, probably measuring her every step and deciding not to provoke me like she’d done since the first day we met.
She was withdrawn, her arms crossed over her chest in a protective stance, her eyes averted to the floor.
I set the kit on the bed, taking a piece of gauze and drenching it in antiseptic.
“Come.” I motioned for her to walk towards me, but Adrianne was still immobile. “You treated me, now let me take care of you.”
She looked at me for a couple of seconds before I encouraged her to walk towards me with a nod. Hesitantly, she did, stretching her neck to give me the necessary access. Gently, I cleaned her wound, cussing under my breath as I went.
I might not have held the knife, but I was still the one to blame. Fuck! The guilt consumed me further each time I touched her skin.
“Are you okay?” She asked, tearing me from my thoughts. “You don’t have to do that, you know? I can take care of myself.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You have no obligation–”
“I want to.”
“It doesn’t look like it. With the scowl you have on your face, it seems like you’re being forced.”
Fuck. How do I even survive in this criminal world when I can’t even hide my angst from my damn prisoner?
“It’s just… my arm hurts.” I lied. It was so quick and clean that she believed me without a doubt.
“Oh, that’s not a good sign. Let me see. Sit down. Take your shirt off.”
This was such a bad idea. The commanding tone in her voice was the most alluring thing I’d heard, and it was so cute of her to try to boss me around. Still, I complied so as not to expose my blatant excuse for fucking sulking.
I watched as she dug through the kit and got some gauze and antiseptic as I had, ready to nurse me back to health. With one leg on each side of my thigh, she took a look at the angry wound first, assessing before doing anything, but this closeness was overbearing.
Her hands on my skin were like fire, her scent too powerful to ignore. I inhaled deeply, trying to reel in my craving for this woman. My pulse was a steady roar in my ears, and all rational thought I tried to cling to dissolved into piles of sand.
Jesus, the fucking things she does to me!
Without a warning, Adrianne pressed the gauze to my wound, and I sucked in a breath, my right hand coming to grip her thigh as the pain shot up my shoulder. But soon, I couldn’t feel a damn thing. Not when Adrianne let out a light moan as my fingers sank into her skin.
That sound!
That fucking sound!
It was all it took to make me lose my grip on reality as I starved for more.
My fingers loosened, tracing her skin up that hoodie in an achingly slow motion. This was me giving her time and opportunity to stop me. To slap me and put an end to this obsession once and for all.
“Nikolai,” She breathed, her eyes now boring into mine while her breath fanned my cheek, “What are you…? They didn’t bring me clothes. I… I have nothing underneath.”
Fuck my life!
If that was supposed to be a fucking red light, I was a speeder, racing my way through every stop sign I could find.
My hand skimmed higher, feeling her erupt into goosebumps under my touch, her mouth falling open as she savored the slow torture.
“If that was supposed to deter me, you chose the wrong statement. Tell me to stop.”
“Stop.” Her voice was weak, and the fact that her mouth was now hovering above mine told me she didn’t mean it.
With my other hand, I reached under the hoodie and grabbed her hips, pulling her further into me. What I didn’t expect was for my innocent little captive to straddle me as she held onto my neck for balance.
“That was a big mistake, Babochka,” I groaned, feeling her press her naked pussy into my raging erection. “Big fucking mistake.”
With that, I crashed my lips to hers, tasting her sweetness for the first time.
I was so fucking lost!
With one hand on the back of her head, I kissed her deeper, consuming her with every swipe of my tongue.
My other hand gripped her hips, dragging her against me in slow, filthy circles. Each grind sent lightning through my veins, every small sound from her mouth pulling me further into madness.
Her lips tasted like sin wrapped in sugar. Like the kind of fruit you only bite into once before it ruins you for everything else. Soft, trembling, and warm against mine, her lips gave as much as I took, and it only took a second for me to realize I’d never have enough.
That quiet surrender hummed between us like a live wire. I could taste her fear tangled with need, together with the edge of defiance that made her so damn intoxicating.
Every brush of her tongue, every soft gasp she tried to swallow, was a promise and a curse rolled into one. She tasted like everything I’d been denying myself. Warmth, danger, fucking home, and I hated her for it.
Because once I tasted her, I knew I’d never fucking stop.
I wanted to corrupt her.
Consume her until she had nothing left to give.
I hadn’t had my filling when the door creaked open, and Adrianne jumped off my lap. A trail of curses left my mouth while fury travelled my veins like poison.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Alexei?” I didn’t even realize I’d stood up and marched right up to him, my hand darting out to grab him by his throat.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Leave. Now,” I ordered, my hands balling into fists at my sides.
”Nikolai.” Adrianne had her hand on my arm, trying to defuse the ticking bomb that I had become and prevent me from squeezing the life out of him.
The fucker stood there with a pile of clothes in his hands like he’d been appointed her new maid, gasping for his next breath.
Abruptly, I released him.
“You have five seconds to turn around and fuck off before I break every bone in your body.”
“Nikolai!” Adrianne admonished. It was just my name, but the way she said it carried a scolding.
The way she looked at me, though? Disappointment.
And it slashed right through me. “He’s done nothing wrong.
What’s wrong with you?” Her siding with that slimy fuck was all I needed to be slammed back to reality.
“I see,” I replied dryly. “You’re right. I’m the monster here. The one who took you and forced you to be a prisoner. Let’s just hope he’s the knight you’ve been praying for ever since I caught you.”
Without looking back, I left them there, ordering the guard back to his post as I walked past him.
If Adrik had a point before about the booze, now there was absolutely no way I’d be laying off it anytime soon.