Page 28 of A Monster Is Coming

At this point, I knew I was being selfish. Peter deserved a woman who wasn’t running from her past.

He was the first to break the kiss.

“I was wondering if you would like to stay the night. Not for sex, but just the night. I could make up the spare bedroom if that would make you more comfortable.”

At this point, I didn’t for a second believe anything would make me feel comfortable. I was far from comfortable. But it was late, and I was so tired, and I didn’t see a reason to run.

“Yes, I’d love to.”

In that moment, I knew I wouldn’t have minded the sex either.

How crazy could that be? I had never been with a man, and I was running away from my life, but I was quite happy with the thought of having sex with a complete and total stranger.

Who was I?

Chapter Seven

Peter

“She’s a fucking virgin!” I spun around and glared at Ivan.

I was surprised he’d been willing to see me so close to the last time. It made me wonder where he was staying, and if he was close by, why he wasn’t trying to win over Niamh fucking Byrne. He didn’t have another woman. There was no one waiting for him back home.

He was close to his other Brigadiers’ wives, but that’s because he liked them. It was no secret he seemed to gravitate toward broken women. Aurora, Adelaide, and Charlotte had come from messed-up backgrounds.

Ivan had been the one to save them.

Niamh fit the profile of the women he’d been matching to his men.

“And?” Ivan asked. “You do realize knocking up a virgin is the same as knocking up any other woman. There is no secret society or special lock.”

I ran fingers through my hair and turned toward him. “Why?”

“Because I’ve told you to.”

“You know I don’t love her!” Not that it would matter.

Ivan smiled, but it was one of those smiles that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t need you to love her.”

“What about the others?” I asked.

“Others?”

“Slavik, Andrei, fucking Ive. They all love their women. You made sure you chose right by them, and what, I don’t get the same regard?” I asked. There was no point in pretending. The moment Niamh was pregnant with my kid, she was going to be my wife.

Ivan had chosen her for me.

She matched all the descriptions Ivan chose when it came to wives for his men. She was damaged but she also provided something to the Volkov Bratva with her name.

Not that I’d see Byrne and Ivan sitting down and enjoying civilized meetings. Far from it.

Ivan chuckled. “You think they were in love with their wives when I forced them to marry?”

I turned to look toward him. He hadn’t moved from his perch on the hood of his car. Ivan was dressed in a suit, impeccably, without any wrinkles. Always calm, always in control. Nothing could knock that coolness.

“Don’t…” I said, holding my hand up and shaking my head. “You’re not going to play me for the fool.”

“I’m not playing you for anything, but you might want to consider the fact that the others were not in love with their wives. All three of them hated being married. It was a job to them, but then, most marriages are jobs, right? Sacrifices.”

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