Page 28 of Merciless Promise
As I quickly got off her and back to my feet, I nearly chuckled at the obvious disappointment on her face. She wanted me to take her roughly, and most nights I did, but this was my cousin’s party, and I would humor my grandfather and attend it. Did it matter that Cillian would likely be alone somewhere with a bottle? No, it didn’t because I did what was expected of me, whether I wanted to do it or not. Taking this woman to be my wife was a testament to that.
“I really don’t see the point in my being there. I?—”
“You’re going, and that is that. I’ll be downstairs. If you don’t join me in twenty minutes, you will greatly regret it.”
“What are you going to do? Try to choke me out as you fuck me? If so, save your effort because you know how much I like that.”
I moved over to her, then gripped her throat, causing her to suck in a deep breath. Her eyes slightly glazed over, and I knew she was taunting me in hopes that I would do exactly that. She wanted me to manhandle her, then force my will upon her, so she could climax.
“If you aren’t ready, I’ll tie you to this motherfucking bed and fuck you all night long,” I said, and when she smirked, I quickly added, “But you won’t come a single damn time. I can take away an orgasm from you faster than I can even bring you to one.”
“Y-you wouldn’t,” she said, and this time her eyes clouded with something else.
My grip tightened as I leaned in and bit down on her bottom lip. “I would, and unless you want me to prove it, I suggest you get that ass up and into a dress.”
I released her from my grasp, then straightened to full height before walking to the staircase. She mumbled something, but I suspected she would heed my warning. As much as I wanted to keep her from that one room, I might have to make an exception. The things I could torture her with in there were plentiful. And, it would be nothing less than she deserved.
I descended the stairs and was just adjusting my bowtie when I heard a noise at the top of the staircase. I looked up to see her in a dress that had been the same ebony shade as her robe had been, and a groan escaped my lips the second her long legs came into view. She had one hell of a set on her, and I was now preoccupied with memories of the various times I’d had them thrown over my shoulder as I ate her out. If she behaved tonight, I might spend most of the night repeating that. As it was, the damn dress was so short, I wouldn’t even have to lift it to fuck her.
As hard as that might make me, it also angered me. As my wife, I wanted her to show some semblance of class, or at the very least, a sliver of modesty. Ekaterina liked to toy with me, though. Tonight’s attire was just another way to do so, but I refused to fall into her trap.
“You’re looking so hard, it would be easier to take a picture. It would sure as hell last a lot longer,” she said, and just like that, her venomoustongue had me once more arching my brow.
I walked over to her, and once I did, the scent of her perfume wafted toward me. Reaching out, I wrapped a large swath of her unbound hair around my hand, then gave it a sharp pull. A soft moan escaped her lips, especially when she looked into my eyes.At times, I wondered what she saw when she looked at them, but other times, like now, I could not care less.
“This is a family event, and as such, you’re to be on your best behavior.”
“And if I am not?”
Her defiance was often like foreplay, but this night was important for my cousin. His thin grasp on his sobriety was tenuous, and since spending more time here in New York City, that time had not included the bottle as much. I had no idea what happened the summer of his senior year of high school, and I supposed it didn’t matter. All that did was my cousin became unrecognizable, and only recently had I caught any glimpse of the guy I’d once known.
“Can you not just do this one thing for me? My cousin has had a rough several years, and I think he might actually be turning the corner. Let us just celebrate another year around the sun for him, then I’ll come home and not let you sleep until you see the sun come up in the morning.”
This birthday party was for Cillian Brannington, who was someone I once knew, or at least knew of. While I had gotten to know Princeton better than him, everyone on campus at Summit Crest Preparatory knew the Branningtons. It was as if they were local royalty, when the truth was that their grandfather, the very man who’d forced Kingston to marry, had been the school’s biggest benefactor. It was only after a tragedy occurred there that everything changed.
The donations came fast and furious, and it wasn’t long until the Bratva’s Bocharov family got their mitts on the place. I wouldn’t call the Bocharovs a rival to my own Kotov family, but we were not allies in any way. They stayed out of our way, and we’d stayed out of theirs. At least we did until my father undid generations of our legacy.
None of that was either here or there. All that mattered was that I was being forced to parade around in public on the arm of a man who might despise me even more than I did him. I was no fool. I could see the hatred in Kingston’s gaze each time it centered on me, unless we were in bed. During those times, thehatred reflected in his cerulean depths was directed at himself rather than me for a change.
“I see that you’ve finally come to your senses,” Kingston said, which broke me out of my thoughts.
After fully descending the staircase, I rolled my eyes at him as I brushed past to enter the kitchen. I’d initially gone in there to get a drink of water, but as soon as I saw his shadow cover mine, I grabbed the bottle of vodka instead. I had no sooner poured the equivalent of a shot into it when his large hand covered mine.
“You know I don’t want you to drink alcohol, especially when you could be?—”
“If you expect me to get through this night, you’re going to have to get over it.”
His grip tightened on my wrist, so much so that I had to grit my teeth in order not to cry out as the pain worsened. There was something more, though. Every time this man touched me, he never failed to awaken every nerve ending in my body. There was a static sort of electricity between us, which was my luck as of late, it seemed.
“One drink here, and that is it. You might be pregnant withmychild, and?—”
“Ourchild,” I corrected when I heard him place emphasis on his.
“We have an agreement, and it’s one I expect you to uphold.”
I didn’t answer him right away as I tipped back the shot of vodka. Once I slammed the glass onto the counter, I whirled around, which caught him by surprise enough for me to break free of his hold.
“I agreed to bear a child for you, but I never agreed to give up all rights to it. Any kid we bring into this world will be as much mine as it will be yours.”
