Page 37 of Dangerous Promises

I groan. "Not particularly. You're alive."

Alexei's breath quickens, and he growls before he throws me back on the bed and I land with a thud, curling up so I can keep my eye on him as he paces at the foot of my bed.

"That car was more expensive than this whole fucking house!"

My words come out far breathier than I intend them to. "Would have been the perfect resting place."

Alexei stops pacing and his eyes snap to mine. He stalks towards me at speed, but still with a grace that is nothing short of calculated. I scurry back on the bed but he continues his pursuit.

I hit the headboard and fold my knees in on myself, concealing my nipples hardening just from the fact that he's nearing me. My eyes shutter.

Not again. Fuck's sake, please not again.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to dodge your uncle? To try and convince them I decided it was a faulty wire instead of what it really was?"

He maintains eye contact the whole way across the floor. Even as he mounts the end of my bed and continues towards me through the sheets on his hands and knees. A deep sigh escapes his lips as he slams forward, closing his eyes while his hands curl around the headboard.

My breath quickens as I hold my body together. So close again that I can smell him. I definitely feel threatened, though I'm not sure in what way. Either way I always end up losing something to Alexei. Mostly dignity. One day maybe my life.

Alexei's eyes snap open, and I try not to jump at how intense he looks again. His slick black hair is wet from rain, his muscles straining from his grip on the headboard. His gaze travels down my body and back again. Like he's sizing me up for a meal and wants to devour me.

"They want so badly to believe we're safe here," Alexei starts, his voice coming out as nothing more than a whisper. Cigar smoke and vodka leech from his breath and I tighten my legs tostop from reacting. "Which means whatever I were to do to you right now, nobody would be around to stop me."

I shutter my eyes, turning my head to look away from him. "I would stop you."

Alexei leans in, a sinister smirk on his face, mouth open just enough to show me his sharp teeth. I clutch the sheets next to me.

"But you wouldn't. Would you, princess?" he smiles. "You wouldn't stop me from touching you. Whether I was to have my fingers wrapped around your throat," he wraps a gentle but firm hand around my neck and forces me to look back at him again, "or pushed deep inside of you."

To my disgust, I'm so lost in his stare that I can't even breathe when his erection presses against my thigh. I can't even move enough to jolt. I am prey caught in a trap and all I can do is submit, hoping he lets me go with a shred of myself left this time.

"See," he says, only whispering as he leans in to my ear. On their own accord, my eyes close and my head droops into his touch. "You want it, don't you?" There's a smile in his voice as his hand drops from my neck to touch me, reaching out and making continuous loops around my sensitive nipple.

"You want everything," he whispers. Still circling. "You can't decide whether you want me to kill you, or fuck you."

I'm so lost in this moment that I've forgotten myself. There's somewhere in the back of my mind that knows I'm going to want to die after this, but still I can't seem to stop it.

"Isn't that sad, princess," Alexei says, the tone in his voice changing from a playful smile to a sharp sting. "You claim you want to take my life and yet you are always just one step away from crawling into my bed."

Everything I felt moments before goes away in an instant and all I see is red.

I want to scream.

The horror must show in my eyes, because when Alexei pulls away he looks sick and satisfied. I wish he couldn't see my temper snap in two.

"Get out," I whisper.

Alexei doesn't move, instead he reaches forward again, grabbing my chin in his hand and forcing me to look at him. "You're so very lucky that we saw that bomb before getting in the car. After all, I take this as a message that you want to play this game with me."

I reach for him but his other hand grabs my wrist to stop me, reminding me how easily he can overpower me. "I can play, princess."

He releases me and I fall down to the bed once again weak at his hand.

"Consider the invitation accepted."

Chapter

Fourteen