Page 26 of Unbreakable Vow

I can barely think with him this close, and now he’s touching me, breaking my brain.

“When we’re married, I’m yours. In every way,” I whisper.

“Yes.” He nods, moving his hand from my cheek to my chin, pushing it up until my mouth tilts up to meet his. “That’s a good girl,” he says against my lips.

And I melt.

I move my hands to his chest, thinking to break the kiss before things get out of hand again. I can’t repeat last night. It was wrong to let him touch me like that.

But when my palms touch him, his heartbeat comes through, and I find myself leaning into him. He deepens the kiss, sweeping his tongue past my lips, and I curl my hands around the lapels of his jacket.

“Cora.” He brushes his nose against me as he softly mutters my name.

“Yes, Sergei?” I breathe in a long breath. My heart slams into my ribs again and again. He’s still holding me against the wall. He brushes his mouth against mine again.

“You’ve earned another punishment.”

“A punishment?”I choke on the words.

“Yes.” His hand glides from my chin to my hip, effortlessly flipping me around so my chest is pressed into the wall. One hand sinks up into my hair, fisting it at the roots while the other works the buttons on my jeans.

“Sergei. I didn’t… wait…” I try to shove off the wall, to get away, but he tugs harder on my hair.

“No waiting, Coraline.” He shoves my jeans down, past my hips, then further still until they are at my feet. His mouth is pressed to my ear in the next second.

“Do you know what I think? I think you purposely disobeyed. I think you wanted to feel the sting of my hand against your ass again.” He grips my ass cheek hard, lifting it up until I have to rise on my toes in order to stay with him.

“No.” I wiggle, but I’m not going anywhere, and we both know it. “I didn’t do anything wrong, Sergei!”

He slaps my ass, then grabs hold of the elastic on my panties and yanks them up until the material bunches and sinks betweenmy cheeks. Harder, he pulls them up until again I’m on my toes and gasping at the discomfort.

He kisses my cheek, a tender peck that in any other circumstance could be seen as sweet.

“You did, Coraline. I told you not to leave, and you left. Where did you go?” he asks. “Did you go back to your apartment?”

“I told you, the coffee shop,” I answer, sure he’ll stop this insanity if he understands I was just trying to get some work done.

“Why?”

“To look for work!” I yell when his fists tighten. My scalp burns. But worse, arousal pools between my legs. I clench my eyes closed. Trying to fight how his manhandling makes me feel is almost impossible. But I have to. I can’t let this man get to me so damn easily.

“Hmm, anything else?” His nose runs over the shell of my ear. “Were you trying to meet with the police officer?” he accuses in a silky tone. “Did you want to tell him you’ve managed to get into my bed?”

Realization hits me, knocking me for a loop momentarily.

He thinks I’m trying to get information for the police.

“No! Of course not!” I shove against the wall again, but his massive body against me has no give.

“You weren’t hoping to see him there then?” His question is leading me to think he can see into my mind.

“I already told you. I go there when I need to work, Sergei. The same table every time. You can ask the baristas. I went there to work on my resume. When I was in school, I went there to study.”

“That’s not answering my question.” Fingernails dig into my flesh, and I hiss at the new sting.

“Fine! I did hope that maybe he’d stop in and that I’d overhear him again, yes.” He seems to already know what I was thinking to do, so there’s no point in denying it.

He steps between my ankles, pressing down on my jeans.

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