Page 45 of Gilded Kisses

“He is selling her off to the Romanov son to keep his empire.”

Twelve

Aster

My eyebrows pop up at the smile on Viper’s face when he walks into the room.

Cocky bastard.

My heart pounds, and my bound feet want to connect with his gut.

His muscular body bulges and flexes under that pricey dress shirt as he crosses the room. He’s stripped off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves to reveal the colorful tattoos I don’t remember him having.

And buried amongst the leaves and barbed wire is a golden key. I decide to stare at a safer point in the center of his chest, given how hot the new ink looks on all that gorgeous, tanned skin. New words were thrown around tonight. Key bearer and key master. I file them away to get details from my cousin later. After I kick his ass for putting me in this situation to begin with.

“I see you’re still mad, baby girl.”

You think, my glare screams, since my mouth is currently stuffed with one of their silk ties. I sit up and immediately regret it when my vision fills with floating dots and the room spins.

“It’s all the blood that went to your head when you were upside down over my shoulder.”

Not an ounce of remorse hangs on his words. But there is plenty of pride.

Like I said, bastard. I rear back and aim low but he easily catches my kick before it can land.

My eyes narrow into slits, which has him dropping my ankles and raising his hands in defense.

“I know.Mia culpa. Give yourself a minute.” The sexy way he winks at me is just another layer of arrogance. Just because I’m in his bed, he thinks he’s won.

His hand returns to my ankles in a firm grip, but not painful.

With his other, he pushes wild strands of hair from my face, giving me a close-up view of the new ink. I see it. Tucked in between a heart encased in flames and a dagger piercing is my name on his left arm.

My gaze lifts to his, and he slowly drops his hand.

“I got that in Mexico. A tiny shop in the middle of the smallest town on earth.” He speaks slowly, as if he’s remembering the pain. “It took four sessions to do both sleeves. Maybe I’ll show you sometime.” His playful, yet sad brush of knuckles over my cheek does things to the tethers around my heart.

I stop struggling to hold his gaze and that is when I feel the web of my emotions gently seek his.

My brain says make the asshole pay, but my body morphs from cold to hot in less than three seconds.

Viper settles his substantial weight on the side of the bed, and drags me to his side.

“Those blue laser beams are cutting me to the soul, baby girl. We only tied you up for your own safety. I’ve never seen someone fight against being rescued.” He shakes his head, and that smile turns into a perplexed grimace.

I didn’t realize I was still glowering at him.

“FWUUK YUWW!”

This gag is ridiculous. This rope is starting to burn. And I need to pee. I inhale sharply through my nose and try to keep my anger at boiling point, but I was never good at staying mad at Viper for long. I suspect the other two know it and sent him in as the mediator.

I jerk on the rope tying my hands to my feet.

“Are you done? We have some things we need to talk about. Like your marriage status. But if you can’t settle down, I won’t untie you.”

Done? Never. I’ll never give up fighting, but scowling takes a lot of work and my face is getting tired.

I nod.

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