Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
He was so close and just watched me, his predatory gaze reaching out and caressing me.
I barely had time to take a breath before he curled his fingers possessively around my throat. I tipped my head back to look into his face.
The shift between us was immediate, but that disappeared completely as his gaze dropped to my mouth, slower this time, and more deliberate, like he was still holding himself back.
Alexei’s hand slid up from my throat to my neck, fingers curling slightly to the side where my pulse point beat rapidly before settling there, firm. He held me in place as his thumb brushed once along my jaw. The touch wasn’t rushed or careless, and it made the tension between us stretch tighter instead of breaking.
“This is where everything changes,” he said, his voice lower now, rougher than it had been all night. “No more waiting, Lucia Drakovich.”
Hearing him say my new last name, my Bratva husband’s last name, shouldn’t have made my pussy wet and my nipples tighten.
I didn’t answer and couldn’t move.
He gripped me tighter, pulling me into him until there was no space left between us. I felt him fully now, the heat of his body, the strength in it, and the way he held me like I was already his in every way that mattered.
And God… he was hard. He was long and big and so thick that his erection pressed against my belly.
His head dipped slightly, his mouth brushing just at the edge of my jaw before moving lower, close enough that I felt every word against my skin.
“This will be your first time,” he murmured, his tone quieter now but no less certain. “I’ll take my time with you, be as soft as I can, sweet Lucia.” There was a tightness in his words, something primal that made my pulse spike.
His grip tightened at my hip as his breath dragged across my neck, slower now, heavier.
“And when I’m done,” he continued, his voice closer to something unrestrained, “the sheets will be wet and tinged pink from your virginity and the cum from our orgasms. There won’t be any question about who you belong to.”
My breath caught again, sharper this time, and he felt it. I knew he did from the way his body pressed more firmly into mine. I felt his erection throb against me as his arousal grew.
“You’re mine now,” he said, pulling back just enough to look at me again, his gaze dark and focused. “No one else touches you. No one else gets near you. I’ll kill them if they do.” His voice was hard and unyielding, and there was no doubt he told the truth. “I’ll slit their throats and make you watch if any man even looks at you too long. Then I’ll fuck you on their corpses so you never forget who owns this tight little pussy.” His fingers flexed around my throat, not choking but promising how easily he could. “Say it. Tell me you understand who you belong to now.”
Everything else fell away completely. The room, all the expectations that had been ingrained in me, and all the fears and worries that had plagued me. All of it was gone in an instant until all I could feel, see, and touch was him. Alexei. My husband.
“I’m yours.” That was the only thing I could say.
I focused on the way he touched me, on the consuming way he looked at me, and how there was no distance left between us anymore—and not just in the literal sense.
“Yeah, you fucking are.” His fingers dug into me more now, not enough to hurt but enough to hold, enough to keep me exactly where he wanted me.
And whatever came next… there was no walking away from it.
Chapter Nine
Lucia
Alexei pulled me closer again, leaving no space for anything but him.
His hand stayed locked around my throat, squeezing, owning every breath I took as he walked me until the backs of my thighs hit the massive bed. The room spun for a second, all silk and shadows and the heavy scent of him—gun oil, expensive cologne, and raw, male hunger.
He didn’t speak at first. He simply looked at me like I was the only thing left in his world, the Italian mafia princess he’d stolen from a rival family now his entire universe.
“Take the dress off,” he ordered when he stepped back, voice low and rough like gravel, or maybe broken glass because it felt sharp across my skin. “Slowly. I want to watch my wife unwrap herself for me.”
My fingers trembled as I reached for the hidden zipper at my side. The heavy white silk slid down my body and pooled at my feet like spilled cream, leaving me in nothing but a tiny white lace thong and the diamond choker he’d fastened around my neck during the ceremony.