Page 4 of Sinful Wrath

His eyes flick to my empty champagne glass, and my cheeks burn.

“Nothing.”

Perhaps my father is hoping that Mikhail Koslov will have a positive influence on me.

Sure, I’ve been a little wild lately, and I might have appeared in one too many gossip columns. But people in this life don’t live to be old, and I want to be free until I have no choice.

I’ve barely turned twenty-one, I’m nowhere near ready for marriage.

And even if I was, I don’t want to waste my good years on some random guy who seems to be nothing more than a miserable ass.

Why can’t my future husband be fun and carefree like me? Though, I know that’s not what Papa would be looking for in a marriage match.

Everything is business where he is concerned, which seems to now include my life.

And of course, I’m well aware of who the Koslovs are, and my father is smart to want to do business with them. Joining forces with the Koslovs will mean power and status, but at what cost?

My happiness, apparently…

Thankfully, our food arrives, which gives us both an excuse not to talk for a while.

I push my ravioli around my plate, seething as I think about the turn my life is taking.

I thought I had time, but it looks like my papa decided to cut off my legs before I was even able to fully walk.

But if he wants an heir, he’s got another thing coming. If this marriage has to go ahead, then it’s going to be nothing but a signed paper contract.

Though, if I’m to marry this guy, then perhaps I should make it my mission to loosen him up a bit.

Surely, a person can’t be this uptight all the time, right?

I guess I’m about to find out.

2

MIKHAIL

This isthe dinner from hell.

I knew the moment Lucia walked in that I would be in for a nightmare of an evening.

Her reputation as New York’s most infamous party girl is no secret.

She is the last person I want to be spending my evening with, but I wasn’t given much of a choice.

My family is expecting me to step up and marry this girl in order to form a strong alliance between our family and the Contis, and I want nothing more than to prove to them that I’m up for the task.

What I wasn’t expecting was for Lucia to be quite so stunning.

I’ve seen enough pictures of her in the tabloids to know she's attractive, but they don’t do her justice.

Dressed in the most mouthwatering black dress, I instantly stiffened as I took in her luscious curves and her long, brown hair cascading over her slender shoulders as she strutted toward me, her full breasts bouncing with every step she took.

With my cock still half hard in my pants, I clear my throat, shifting my belt.

She might be my future wife, but that doesn’t mean I want her to warm my bed every night. All I want is for us to sign on the dotted line and be done with it.

I can thank my brother Dimitri for getting me into this situation in the first place. He was the one who was meant to be marrying the mafia brat, but after faking a relationship with the best friend of our oldest brother’s wife, he managed to worm his way out of the deal.