Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Dmitri crossed his ankle over his knee. “I expect you to tell the truth. You chose this. Your brother doesn’t believe it, and he’ll keep fighting to retrieve you until he does.”
Oh, Aiden. She’d hoped his new fiancée would keep him busy, but she should have known better. The only thing Aiden loved as much as Charlie was his duty to his family. Keira might be the black sheep of the group, but he’d never stopped trying to look out for her.
She leaned her head back against the seat. “I’ll talk to him.” He’d listened to Sloan, but Sloan was in a love match with a baby involved. Keira barely liked Dmitri on the best days. He hadn’t forced her to marry him but… She shot straight up. “Did you tell him we’re married?”
Dmitri didn’t look over. “That’s one task to accomplish with this trip.”
She couldn’t help it. She started laughing. “Oh. My. God. He’s going to kill you. You should have delivered the news over the phone. Or, better yet, by letter. Hell, smoke signals would have been preferable to putting yourself close enough from him to throttle you.”
“Your brother will do no such thing.” He even sounded like he believed it.
She just laughed harder. “You don’t know Aiden half as well as you think you do.” A thought stopped her cold. “Hey, if you get murdered, does that mean I inherit it all?”
At that, he finally looked at her, incredulous. “You’re joking.”
“I’m your wife. That means I get it all.” She enjoyed his expression so much, she gave a little bounce. “Maybe this marriage thing isn’t half-bad.” She didn’t relish the thought of Dmitri’s death, but the idea of a truly outstanding amount of money at her disposal and no ties to anything was an intoxicating one.
His hand closed over her knee, the touch shocking her back to the present. The heat of his hand soaked through the denim, branding her. It should have been innocent—it was her knee for fuck’s sake—but that heat shot straight to her core. Keira tried and failed not to shift to accommodate her body’s clench.
She dragged her gaze to his face, finding him watching her in that predatory way again, gray eyes hooded. He stroked his thumb along the curve of the back of her knee. “Tell me, moya koroleva. What would you spend all that money on?”
“Travel.”
He raised his eyebrows, his hand inching higher. “To where?”
Even though she knew the smart thing would be to slap his touch away, Keira uncrossed her legs and spread them, just a little. She held her breath as he seemed to consider her before sliding his hand slowly up her thigh, inch by torturous inch… stopping just south of where she ached. “You didn’t answer my question.”
She blinked at him, trying to focus. “I’d go anywhere. Everywhere. Fly to California and start driving south until I ran out of road, and then fly to Africa and do the same thing heading north.” She expected him to tell her all the reasons such a fanciful trip wasn’t an option, but he just studied her.
His hand tightened, just a little, and she had to bite back a whimper. Dmitri shifted closer on the seat next to her and dragged his thumb over the zipper of her jeans. Over her clit. “Control and freedom—those are the things you crave.”
I crave you. She didn’t say the damning words. She couldn’t. Instead she lolled her head to look up at him. “Do you have cameras in every room in the house?”
“Nyet.” His grin made her breasts tighten in anticipation. “Not the bathrooms.”
But every other room.
Keira’s breath picked up in time with her heartbeat, little gasps that were almost pants. She had to fight not to arch into his touch as he kept up that torturous stroking. “If I finger myself on my bed, will you be watching—or one of your men?”
He palmed her through her jeans, branding her there the same way he had her knee. “I’m the only one who has access to the feed from your room.”
As if that made it better. I’m going to fuck with you so hard over this, Russian. She licked her lips. “And the library?”
His brows slanted down. “You’re going to finger yourself in the library?” Dmitri shook his head. “I forbid it.”
Keira’s laugh was more gasping than mocking, but she got it out all the same. “Didn’t stop me in the kitchen. Won’t stop me in any other room I choose.”
“Then let’s make one thing clear.” He released her, but didn’t move back. “Undo your jeans.”
Her hands shook as she obeyed, and she didn’t let herself think about how damn eager she was for this. It was all a game, and just because she wanted his hand down her pants didn’t mean she was going to jump on his cock in the back of this car. Liar, liar, pants on fire.