Page 12 of Jewel of the Assassin
“No. I don’t want meds. I just…I’ll be fine.”
He turns to the bed, that knowing smirk somehow growing. “Valentina Makarova. I am the king of a small empire. You are my queen. Do you believe a king will not take every step necessary to ensure his queen, hiswife, is satisfied?” He clenches his hands into fists, the veins showing more. There’s a wicked gleam in his eye, and it’s not putting me at ease. No, it’s working. God, why does it have to work?!
I should be rolling my eyes, but instead, I’m fighting the urge to crawl into his lap and let him have his way. Damn him.
“I have no idea what you mean.” It’s the first time I shrink back into the pillows.
“I willshowyou, Valya. But I am afraid you will get a little colder first.”
His expression turns from wicked to carnal and sinful. His hunger practically drowns me. And my center clenches….and drips. Oh, shi?—
—I don’t get to blink before he rips all the blankets from the bed. I don’t get to move a muscle before he has me pinned against the bed with my arms over my head. I buck and thrash, but he’s a goddamn wall of armored muscle.
“Roman, what the hell? Get the fuck off me!” I cry, but my whole body trembles when he brushes his nose along the side of my neck.
“I will take the pain away, maya Valya. Chemu byt’, togo ne minovat’.”
“What does that mean?”
He smiles—no, he bares his teeth. Raw, unfiltered predator. Lethal dominance wrapped in seductive masculinity.
The next thing I know, I hear the click of metal. Cold steel bites into my wrists.
Snap. Snap.
He’s handcuffed me. To the bed.
I jolt. “What the fuck?” I look above me. “Who the hell forges iron rungs into a bed frame?!”
Roman pushes the nightgown up to my hips. Then, without a word, he spreads my legs wide and buries his face in my dripping cunt.
I scream from the shock. Some fear. But more heat. And so much…need.
And still, I fight. Whether out of instinct, reflex, or sheer panic, I bring my knee up as powerfully as I can, and it cracks against his jaw.
His head snaps back.
And I choke, my breath seizing as his expression deepens from predator to sadistic hunter.
A muscle bounces in his cheek.
He grips my knees, forcing them apart, then sinks his teeth into my thigh.
6
“I know where the bodies are buried.”
ROMAN
Iadore her shriek and her flustered breaths. I can’t wait to learn every sound from Valentina Makarova’s mouth.
I wasn’t prepared for that knee. Felt like a goddamn kickback. Good thing I have an iron jaw.
After a few more seconds, I release her thigh from my teeth, but warn, “Knee me again, maya Valya, and I will leave marks all over your flesh.”
I will anyway, but she still lowers her knees.
The reddened mark from my teeth will stay. It will be tender for a couple of days. But I’ll give her more.
