Page 44 of Tarnished Tyrant (Zhukova Bratva 1)

“I don’t think we have time to get into everything I want from you, Belle.”

My list is short: I want to kill him.

“But,” he continues, walking around his desk and leaning on the front edge, “I’d like to know that you understand what is at stake here.”

I roll my eyes. “Your criminal record?”

His nose twitches in an unamused smile. “Not what’s at stake for me. I stand to lose very little if you gather up evidence to use against me. I’m not as easy to take down as you might think. No, I want to make sure you understand what’s at stake for you. Because last night—”

“You’ve already threatened me, Nikolai. I understand—”

“I wasn’t finished,” he barks.

His pupils are blown wide, black eating away the gray. I feel energy rippling off of him. My confidence wilts in the face of his genuine anger.

He clears his throat and relaxes again. “Last night, you threatened me.”

“I wasn’t serious,” I say quickly. “Check my notebook if you want to. I don’t really have a sketch of you in there.”

“For your sake, I hope you don’t. Because as I said last night, I have plans for the two of us, Belle. But if you’re going to betray me, those plans can change.”

A future filled with multiple orgasms flashes in my mind. I gulp and swallow them back.

“The only plans I have are to finish this audit and leave. Nothing else.”

Nikolai smirks. “You don’t want to stay and play?”

“I want to do my job and leave.”

He pushes himself off the desk and circles around me like a shark circling a diver. Except I don’t have the luxury of a protective cage. “Be more specific.”

I sigh. “I want to complete the audit, get on a plane with my sister, and fly home to Oklahoma City.”

“But are you going to do the audityourway?” he asks, pausing just out of sight behind me. “Or my way?”

“I’ve already told you. I’m going to do my job and—”

Suddenly, Nikolai is pressed against my back. He flattens his hand against my stomach. “What is your job, Belle?”

My heart is lodged in my throat and I have to swallow hard to find my voice. “I’m an accountant. I’m here to complete the audit and write up the final report for—”

“No.” His hand moves slowly down, sending swarms of butterflies fluttering through me. “Who are you here to please, Belle?”

“I’m not—I don’t know what you mean.” Like a coward, I squeeze my eyes closed. I should shove him away, should sprint out of this room… but I want his hand to move lower. I want the release I couldn’t find last night.

God help me, I wanthim.

With a simple flick of the fingers, he unbuttons my pants. “Are you going to obey me,lapochka?”

Leaning against him feels like being in a dream. The warmth and the smell and the sensation of his fingers sneaking down and down and down…

“Yes,” I gasp.

He slides over my slit, parting me open before delving a finger inside. I whimper and bite down on my lip.

“Do you remember when I was inside of you?” he rasps in my ear. “Remember when I filled you from behind?”

I rest my head back on his shoulder, eyes closed. He’s stroking me slowly. Torturously.

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