Page 17 of Darkest Game
He shakes his head. “Right. I’ll grab you one.” He shuts the door behind him and returns within seconds with a towel. He makes no move of hiding his eyes as he hands it to me.
I keep the shower curtain clung to my body with one hand as the other one takes the towel from him and I quickly wrap it around myself. “Why are you looking at me?” I whisper.
“You’re going to be my wife soon. Might as well see what I’ll be getting.” His voice is light but when I look into his eyes, I see an anger there.
Chapter Four
Liam
The sight of Irina naked does something to me. The most obvious is that her body makes me hard. It’s petite but strong, like she has a lot of underlining muscle within her.
But her body does something else to me. It makes me realize that I can’t let Jack take her on our wedding night. If I’m going to be forced to marry her, then she’s going to be mine and mine only. I want to be the only one to touch her body.
Because seeing a flash of it naked is making me want Irina right in this moment. She gazes at me with her wide, innocent eyes, hidden behind the shower curtain. It only makes me want to grab her and lay her on the floor and have my way with her.
I’ve seen plenty of beautiful women who my body has gone crazy for. But my mind never cared. With Irina, my mind is a combination of mixed thoughts. The urge to protect her is there, which is strange, but the feeling of hatred for what she represents is also still there. She’s the daughter of Lev Petrov, one of the Russians who made Cillian’s life hell before he died. I can’t stand the Russians and yet, now I’m going to have to marry one.
I desire Irina and I hate her and I want to fuck her and I want to protect her.
She gasps after I tell her that I might as well see what I’m getting in a wife. “That’s crude,” she says. “I’m naked. Forced to be here. This isn’t all right. Why do you look so angry with me? What have I done?”
Her question is so sad that it makes another flash of guilt hit me. “It’s not you I’m angry with. Now get dressed and I’ll bring you back to the kennels.”
I wait for her outside the hallway and when she comes out in the tiny crop top and short-shorts left behind by one of the women who frequent this place, I almost lose my mind and take her right now and here. Her body is sin. It’s taut and tiny and I want to run my mouth all along her skin.
She will be my wife, I guess. I can take her then. If she lets me that is.
“I don’t like these clothes,” she says, wrapping her arms around her bare torso.
“They’re just for now. After we’re married, I’ll buy you some more.”
“And when will that be? Us married?”
“I suspect Jack wants it to happen fast but I don’t have an exact date for you. Now come on.”
When we come back into the living room, the other men there all whistle at the sight of Irina. It only makes her blush harder.
Jack leans forward on the couch, eyeing her over with hunger that makes me want to punch him. He didn’t even want Irina to be taken in the first place and now he’s the one who gets to have her first? I clench my hands into fists to keep myself from doing something that’s going to get me killed.
“I can’t wait to have you,” Jack says to her.
Irina backs away and bumps into me. I steady her. Jack’s eyes flick to my hands on her arms and I let her go.
The two of us head back to the kennels.
“I don’t want Jack to have me,” she whispers.
I open the kennel door. “I’m not sure you have a choice.”
“How can you be ok with this? How can you not care? If we’re going to be married…”
I grab her face to force her to look at me. “You need to know something about me, Irina. I am not a good man. I don’t do things for others. Only for myself. We’re both being forced into this so we might as well get used to it.”
A flash of anger crosses her eyes as she rips her chin away from me. “You’re not the one at risk of getting raped.” It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard her.
“True. I’ll give you that. You have it worse than me. But stop trying to get in my head. Jack is my boss. If he wants you, he’ll get you and I can’t stop him. Now have a good night. Sleep tight.” I nudge her back into the kennel and she only glares at me as I lock her inside.
When I go back inside the house, Jack tells me I have an errand to run in the morning. “You’re going to buy the girl a wedding dress. She needs to look presentable on the day. And I want to send a picture of her in the dress to Mikhail and Nico just to fuck with them.”
