Chapter 7 #2
It was beautiful. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, leather chairs, huge windows overlooking the gardens. The kind of room you could get lost in for hours.
I picked a book at random—some classic I'd been meaning to read—and curled up in one of the chairs. Tried to focus on the words. Failed miserably.
All I could think about was Salvatore's expectations. His demand for a virgin bride. The way he'd touched my hand like he owned me.
I wasn't a virgin. And there was no way to fake it. No way to hide it.
Which meant in three months, on my wedding night, everything was going to fall apart.
"You look like you're planning a murder."
I nearly threw the book across the room.
Kai stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with that casual confidence that made my stomach flip.
He'd changed since breakfast—dark jeans that hung low on his hips, black t-shirt that clung to muscles I remembered feeling under my hands.
His hair was slightly messy like he'd been running his fingers through it.
He looked good. Dangerously good. The kind of good that made me forget all the very valid reasons I needed to stay away from him.
"I wasn't planning anything. Just reading."
"Reading requires actually looking at the words on the page. You've been staring at the same paragraph for five minutes." He moved into the room, uninvited, and dropped into the chair across from mine. "What's going on in that head of yours?"
"Nothing that concerns you."
"Everything about you concerns me." He said it like it was fact. Like his obsession with me was perfectly normal. "What did my father say to you earlier? Before he left?"
"Just rules. Nothing important."
"Aria." My name on his lips was a warning. "Don't lie to me. You looked like you were going to pass out when you left his study."
I should have kept my mouth shut. Should have brushed it off. Should have told him to leave me alone.
Instead, wine-tipsy and exhausted and so tired of pretending, I met his eyes.
"He told me he expects a virgin on our wedding night."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Kai's entire body went rigid. His hands clenched on the arms of the chair. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously quiet.
"He what?"
"You heard me. He expects purity in a wife. Says it shows respect and self-control." I laughed but it came out bitter. "Which is hilarious considering I haven't been a virgin since you made absolutely certain of that two weeks ago."
"Fuck." He stood, started pacing. "Fuck. That manipulative son of a—"
"It doesn't matter—"
"It matters." He spun to face me. "It matters because in three months, he's going to know someone else touched you first. And then what? You think he's just going to accept that?"
"I know." My voice cracked. "I know he's going to be furious. I know there will be consequences. But what am I supposed to do? I can't unfuck you. I can't go back and make different choices. I'm trapped."
Kai crossed the room in three strides, dropping to his knees in front of my chair. His hands found mine, gripping tight enough that I could feel the calluses on his palms, the warmth of his skin against mine.
"Listen to me. You're not marrying him. I don't care about the alliance. You're not becoming his wife."
"That's not your decision—"
"The hell it isn't. You're mine, Aria. And I'm not letting my father touch what belongs to me."
The possessiveness in his voice should have scared me. Should have made me pull away.
Instead, it made heat flood through me, pooling low in my belly.
"This is insane. We can't—we shouldn't—"
"Why not?" His eyes burned into mine. "Because it's wrong?
Because someone told us we can't have what we want?
Fuck that. I've spent my entire life doing what other people expected.
Following rules I didn't make. And where has it gotten me?
Watching my father destroy everything good while I gather evidence and wait for permission to stop him. "
His hands tightened on mine.
"But you? You walked into that club and changed everything. You made me feel something I've never felt before. And now you're here and you think I'm just going to stand by and watch you prepare to marry a monster? No. Absolutely not."
"Kai—"
"Tell me you don't feel this." His voice dropped lower, rougher. "Tell me you don't think about that night. About my hands on you. Inside you. Tell me you don't remember how good it was between us."
I couldn't. Because it would be a lie.
"I think about it." The admission came out barely above a whisper. "I think about it constantly. But that doesn't change anything. We still can't—"
"Can't or won't?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes." He leaned closer, his face inches from mine. "Because can't means there's no choice. Won't means you're choosing to walk away from this. From us."
"There is no us. There can't be."
"Why not?"
"Because you're supposed to be a one night stand!" The words exploded out of me. "Because this is sick and wrong and if anyone finds out, we're both dead. Because I can't—I won't—risk it just because I want something I can't have."
Kai studied me for a long moment. Then he stood, pulling me up with him.
"What are you—"
He backed me against the bookshelf, his body caging mine. Not touching, but close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him. Close enough that my heart started racing for entirely different reasons.
"You think I haven't considered the risks? You think I don't know exactly what my father would do if he found out?" His hand came up, fingers brushing my cheek with a gentleness that made my breath catch. "I know all of it. And I don't give a fuck."
"You should—"
"My mother used to love this library." His voice softened. "She'd spend hours here, reading, trying to escape from my father even when she was trapped in the same house. She used to tell me and Lia that books were windows to other worlds. Places where we could be different people. Better people."
The pain in his voice made my chest ache.
"She sounds wonderful."
"She was. Until my father killed her for wanting to leave."
The words hung between us, brutal and honest.
"Kai—"
"I can't prove it. Not yet. But I will. And when I do, when I have enough evidence, I'm taking him down.
" His eyes burned into mine, dark and intense and full of barely controlled fury.
"But until then, I have to watch him destroy people.
Have to pretend I'm the obedient son. Have to stand by while he plans to marry you. "
His thumb brushed across my lower lip and electricity shot through me. My lips parted involuntarily, my breath coming faster.
"So no, Aria. I'm not letting this go. I'm not pretending that night didn't happen. Because you're the first good thing I've had in years, and I'm not giving you up just because someone else thinks they have a claim on you."
"This is crazy—"
"Probably." His other hand found my waist, fingers pressing into my hip through the thin fabric of my dress. The touch burned like a brand. "But I've been thinking about you for two weeks. Couldn't get you out of my head. Your taste. Your sounds. The way you felt wrapped around me."
Heat flooded through me, my body remembering exactly what he was talking about. The way his hands had felt on my bare skin. The way his mouth had—
"We're in the library. Anyone could walk in—"
"Then tell me to stop." His mouth moved closer to mine. So close I could feel his breath against my lips. "Tell me you don't want this and I'll walk away. But you have to mean it. No more lies. No more pretending."
I should have told him to stop. Should have pushed him away. Should have done literally anything except what I did next.
I closed the distance between us, my mouth finding his.
The second our lips met, fire exploded through my veins. His mouth moved against mine, demanding and possessive, and I opened for him. His tongue swept past my lips, tangling with mine, and the taste of him—whiskey and mint and something uniquely Kai—flooded my senses.
He groaned into my mouth, the sound vibrating through both of us, and his hand slid from my waist to the small of my back.
He pulled me flush against him in one swift movement and I gasped at the contact.
Every hard line of his body pressed against mine.
I could feel the solid muscle of his chest, the strength in his arms, the unmistakable evidence of his arousal pressing against my stomach.
My hands fisted in his shirt, trying to pull him closer even though there was no space left between us. His tongue moved against mine, stroking, exploring, claiming, and pleasure shot through me sharp enough to make my knees weak.
This was nothing like that soft press of lips in my bedroom. This was hunger. Desperation. Two people who knew they shouldn't but couldn't stop themselves.
His mouth left mine and I whimpered at the loss. But then his lips were on my jaw, trailing hot open-mouthed contact down to my neck, and coherent thought evaporated.
His teeth scraped against my pulse point and my back arched involuntarily, pressing my breasts against his chest. The friction made my nipples tighten, made heat pool between my legs.
"Kai—" His name came out breathless, needy.
"I know." His voice was wrecked, rough with desire. "I know we shouldn't. I know this is dangerous. But god, Aria, I can't stop thinking about you. Can't stop wanting you."
His hand slid up my ribs, slow and deliberate, and my entire body tensed in anticipation.
His palm cupped my breast through my dress and I gasped at the sensation.
His thumb found my nipple through the fabric, circling the peaked bud with maddening pressure, and pleasure shot straight between my legs.
"I want to have every bit of you right now." His mouth was back at my ear, his breath hot against my skin making me shiver.
I should have. God, I should have.
But the memory of that night—of how good it had been, how alive he'd made me feel—was too strong. And standing here with his body pressed against mine, his hands on me, his mouth doing things that made thinking impossible—
I didn't want him to stop.
My hands slid from his shirt to his hair, fingers tangling in the dark strands. I tugged his mouth back to mine, my lips crashing against his hard enough to leave no doubt about what I wanted.
He made a sound—half groan, half moan—and whatever control he'd been maintaining snapped completely.
Both hands were on me now, sliding up my sides with purpose.
One hand cupped my breast, kneading the soft flesh while his thumb continued its maddening circles over my nipple.
The other hand fisted in my hair, angling my head exactly how he wanted it so he could deepen the contact between our mouths.
His tongue stroked against mine, hot and demanding, while his thumb rolled my nipple through the fabric. The dual sensations made me moan into his mouth, the sound swallowed by his lips moving hungrily against mine.
This was insane. We were in the library. Anyone could walk in. But I couldn't make myself care. Couldn't make myself pull away. Not when his hands were on me. Not when he was making me feel things that I'd been trying desperately to forget.
His hand left my breast and I almost protested. Then his fingers found the hem of my dress, started sliding underneath, and my breath caught in my throat.
His palm was hot against my thigh, calloused fingers dragging across sensitive skin as he moved higher. Every inch of contact left trails of fire. My legs trembled, barely holding me up.
His hand moved higher still, fingers brushing the lace of my panties, and—
Footsteps in the hallway.
We broke apart like we'd been electrocuted.
Kai stepped back, putting distance between us.
His chest was heaving, his lips swollen and wet from our mouths moving together, his eyes nearly black with desire.
He looked as wrecked as I felt. One hand was still clenched in a fist at his side like he was physically restraining himself from reaching for me again.
The footsteps passed by. Kept going. Whoever it was hadn't been coming to the library.
Reality crashed back in with the force of a freight train.
"I can't—" My voice was shaking, my whole body trembling from the abrupt stop. "We can't do this. It's too dangerous."
"Aria—"
"No." I moved away from the bookshelf, away from him, trying to put space between us and this overwhelming pull I felt. My lips still tingled. My body still hummed with unsatisfied desire. "This is wrong. If anyone finds out—if your father finds out—"
"He won't."
"You can't know that." I backed toward the door, my heart still racing, my skin still flushed. "I'm sorry. I can't do this"
I ran before he could stop me. Out of the library, down the hallway, into my room. Locked the door behind me and leaned against it, trying to catch my breath.
My lips felt swollen. My skin was hot. Between my legs, I was achingly wet, my body screaming for the release he'd been about to give me before we'd been interrupted.
This was bad. Really, really bad.
Because I'd just proven to both of us that I had absolutely zero self-control when it came to Kai Accardi.
And that was going to get us both killed.