Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
ARTEM
T his woman was going to be the end of me if I let her.
It wouldn't happen, but I wasn't going to just get rid of her, either. Breaking her was the indulgence I needed—the one weakness I would allow myself.
First, I was going to get control of Viktoria; make her submit to me the way I knew she wanted—her body betrayed that fact even as her mouth spat defiance.
Once she was on her knees in front of me, I'd make the rest of this country follow her lead.
I caged her body against the window, keeping my hand firm on her throat. Her pulse pounded beneath my palm, a wild, frantic rhythm that matched my own.
I held her in place as I devoured her lips, claiming her mouth like the territory it was.
Her hands pressed against my shoulders, her nails digging into my flesh through my shirt, trying to push me away, but her lips met mine, hungry and eager, her tongue darting out to taste me.
My hand tightened around her throat and she gasped, her lips parting on a breathless moan, giving me the perfect opportunity to slide my tongue between her sweet lips, tasting her—mint and rage and desire. Her taste was intoxicating, more potent than any vodka I'd ever sampled.
No, Viktoria wasn't some confused little girl. She knew exactly what she wanted. She just didn't want to admit what her body craved, what it screamed for with every trembling inch.
I broke the kiss and took a single step back, releasing her throat.
She stood there panting, her chest heaving, lips swollen from my assault, eyes wide and wild. The battle within her was written on her face—fire and desire warring for dominance.
I was so focused on how beautiful her eyes looked, a stormy blue brighter and more alluring than the city skyline behind her, that I didn't see her hand coming.
Not until it slammed across my face hard enough that my head snapped to the side and I tasted copper, the metallic tang of blood blooming on my tongue where my teeth had cut into my cheek.
The little minx had more fight in her than most of my men. Why did that make my cock throb painfully against my zipper? Why did the sting of her palm against my cheek make me want to bend her over the nearest surface and make her scream my name?
"Don't you dare touch me," she seethed, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
For all of a second, I believed she meant it—until she lunged at me, grabbing fistfuls of my T-shirt in her delicate hands, bunching the fabric as she pulled me against her.
She sealed her lips against mine with such force our teeth clashed, the kiss a violent collision of need and hatred.
Viktoria was a wild one, untamed and feral, and breaking her was going to be the most challenging and rewarding thing I had ever done. My blood sang with anticipation at the thought alone.
I grabbed her hips, my fingers digging into the soft flesh hard enough to leave bruises, and lifted her up in one fluid motion.
Her legs wrapped around my waist instinctively, her heat pressing against the rigid length of my cock.
Her hands threaded into my hair, nails scraping my scalp as she pulled my head back, putting my lips at the perfect angle for her to devour them. She bit my bottom lip, hard enough to hurt, and a growl rumbled in my chest.
I held her there for just a second, letting her think she had control, watching her gaze cloud with power and lust.
Then I moved, fast and brutal, pulling my lips away and spinning us, slamming her back into the wall with enough force to knock the breath from her lungs in a delicious gasp. I pinned her hips with my own, grinding against her center, and wrapped my hand around her throat again, feeling her swallow against my palm.
"What do you think you're doing, little girl," I whispered in her ear, pressing my hard cock against her lower stomach, letting her feel what she was doing to me, and what was waiting for her if she kept on her current path.
"I said don't fucking touch me."
This time, when she tried to slap me, I grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them to the wall.
"And I told you, you belong to me. The sooner you learn that, the better."
I kissed her again, sliding her wrists up the wall, stretching her body out beneath me, until the swell of her breasts was almost visible from the neck of her shirt.
They tasted so good. The other night, those tight little buds practically begged me to suck and lick them until she was mindless with pleasure.
I kissed her neck and trailed my lips down to her chest, as she melted into me for a second before trying to fight me again. The only thing her struggling did was press her cunt into my cock as she tried to wiggle free.
"I don't belong to anyone," she ground out until I thrust against her core and her eyes slid shut on a low gasp.
"What's wrong, princess, did riding my thigh not do enough for you last night? Beg me and maybe I'll fuck that sweet pussy until you're satisfied."
"Go to hell," she bit out.
"Trust me, I'm already there." I thrust against her again.
She arched her back, pushing her breasts in my face while she so desperately tried to get the friction she needed.
"Let me go," she growled.
"No, and I don't think that's what you really want."
I leaned down and bit her nipple, already hard and peeking through her shirt. "I think you came up here to see if you could start a fight and earn another punishment. Is that it? Are you here to beg me to bend you over my desk and spank you again? Did you want my belt again, or my palm? Or do I need to put you on your knees and show you what that smart mouth of yours is really for?"
"You wouldn't," she said between clenched teeth.
I let go of her neck just to grab her chin and press my lips to hers, squeezing her jaw until she opened for me.
Her protests would have been so much more convincing if she wasn't kissing me back. Even her kiss was a fucking battle. She fought for control and I loved it.
I loved knowing that she wasn't going to give me anything. She wasn't going to submit to me willingly. I was going to have to earn her obedience, to take it, and my inevitable victory would be that much sweeter because of it.
Viktoria pulled her wrists from my grip and laced her fingers in my hair. At first she was pulling me closer, trying to control the kiss again, then her fingers tightened as she tried to pull me off of her.
Fucking brat.
If that was the way she wanted to play it, fine.
I grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her across the room to the large oak desk in the corner.
She kicked and clawed at every single step.
Then I slammed her down on the table, careful that her torso hit hard, not her face or head.
"What do you think you are doing?" she screeched.
"I think we are going to play a little game," I purred in her ear as I leaned over her, pressing my cock against her perfectly tight little ass. "I think you like this. You don't want to like it, but you do."
"No, I don't."
"Then let's make a bet instead of playing a game. If I reach down into these pants and feel your pussy, are you going to be wet for me?"
"No," she said.
"Well then. There is our wager. If you're wet, then you move in here, and you will spend your days in school and your nights in my bed, learning how to be a good girl. If your pussy isn't weeping, begging me to fuck it, then you go back to the dorm. Is it a deal?"
I knew she was wet. I could feel the damp heat radiating through the fine material, could smell the heady scent of her arousal in the air between us. My mouth watered at the thought of tasting her, of burying my face between her thighs until she screamed.
"Well?" I asked, in a harsh rasp. My cock throbbed painfully, straining against my zipper, desperate for release.
She said nothing. Just pressed her forehead into the desk, her shoulders shaking slightly. Was it rage or desire? With Viktoria, the line between the two was razor thin.
"No? Then we can throw the wager out and you agree to stay in the apartment I provided, and you stop acting like an entitled little bitch and be grateful I've kept you safe and in the lifestyle you should be accustomed to, allowing you to go to school tuition-free."
I leaned down, my lips brushing the shell of her ear as I whispered, "And I am still going to punish you every time you step out of line. Hard enough that you'll feel me for days afterward, every time you sit down."
"I hate you," she said, as she tried to push up from the desk. Her hair fell in a curtain around her face, but not before I caught the flush on her cheeks, the way her teeth sank into her lower lip.
"Maybe," I conceded, pressing her back down with my body weight, letting her feel every hard inch of me against the curve of her ass. "But your body wants me."
I didn't let her up, kept her pinned beneath me, savoring the way she squirmed, each movement only serving to grind her ass against my cock.
Her arms flailed, and she knocked papers all over the floor. She even hit the crystal decanter and sent it crashing to the marble below, the smell of Russian vodka filling the air.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to get Hammer and Sickle vodka past customs, but one look at the ravishing creature pinned beneath me, panting, and I knew it was worth it.
The next bottle that was spilled over this desk would be because I was drinking it from her skin.
I ran my hand down the curve of her spine and watched as she shifted into my touch, before I pushed my fingers into her beautiful chestnut locks and pulled back, bringing her up in an arch off the desk.
My hips pressed into her ass, pinning her against the desk as she let out a gasp. The tops of her cheeks were flushed. The beautiful blush ran down her neck and disappeared under the simple black scoop-neck shirt.
I just knew that it went all the way to her perfect pale pink nipples.
"Tell me the truth," I rumbled, challenging her. "Did you come here to berate me or fuck me?"