Page 60 of Cashmere Ruin

I do as I’m told. “Like this?” I breathe.

He doesn’t give me a reply. But soon enough, I feel one of his hands slide under my dress, the other tight around my throat. “Don’t move,” he growls, then rips my panties off with a single yank.

I try to stay still, I really do. But the sting of the elastic band snapping around my hips makes me yelp out loud, and his grip on my neck only grows tighter in return. A punishment for disobeying.

Then he bends me over.

He spears me open without a second of prep. “Matvey,” I choke, vision swimming with pleasure as he fucks me senseless over the counter. “Matvey, I’m gonna?—”

But he doesn’t care what I’m gonna do. He doesn’t care if I come, doesn’t care if I don’t, doesn’t care how long orshort it takes for me to fall apart. Doesn’t care if ithurts.

But it hurts so good that I don’t care, either.

Here’s the thing: back when I was pregnant, we never had a chance to be this careless. To test the limits of my body and throw caution to the wind. But now, there’s no child inside me, no precious cargo to be mindful of, and Matveyhatesme. Enough to bend and break me.

What I didn’t expect is how good it would feel to be broken.

“You’re a sadist,” I pant when he knocks me down to my knees; when he fists my hair andyanks, stuffing my mouth too full to speak.

“You’re a witch,” he snarls back, all animal. He slams himself all the way to the back of my throat and I wish to God it didn’t make my thighs tremble like it does. “A lying, cheating vixen.”

Other times, the position is reversed: he sinks down on me like a predator and locks my wrists into place, forcing me to stay. Forcing me totake it.He plunges his boiling hot tongue inside me and suddenly, I understand what it’s like to be prey. To be devoured bit by bit, until nothing’s left but bones.

I lose count of the orgasms. Frankly, I don’t even try to keep track. I knew it would be impossible going in.

Because Matvey may hate me, but he still loves my body.

It’s a furious kind of worship, like cursing at an altar. He fucks my pussy raw and acts likeI’mthe one ruining him. But I don’t have any otherworldly powers. All I have is a streak of bad decisions, and I’m not even sure we’re breaking it here.

But at least this bad decision isn’t mine alone.

“Ow!Suka, that hurt!”

I snap out of my thoughts. “Sorry!” I quickly pull my pin back. “Sorry, I was just…”

“Lost in thought?” Petra huffs, arms crossed like the world’s angriest mannequin. “Yeah, I noticed.”

I cringe. How many of these thoughtshave been showing on my face? “My bad.”

“Quit apologizing. If you want to make it up to me, spill.”

“It’s nothing!” I lie.When in doubt, always deny.“I just haven’t been sleeping well, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh. And has my husband been helping with that?”

Straight to the point.“You know, I feel like a homewrecker when you say it like that.”

Then I catch Petra’s smirk and realize: I haven’tdenied her accusations.

Goddammit, April. You had one job!“I mean…!”

“Save it, Flowers. We all know what you meant. Right, Pirate Cat?”

As if on cue, Mr. Buttons peeks out from May’s crib to make a judgmental face. To be fair, that’s just his face most of the time, but still.

“Traitor,” I mutter.

“So?” Petra demands. “Have you guys kissed and made up?”

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