Page 56 of Under Control

“Because it was.”

“You didn’t make me hit Aram.” He steps closer until I’m pinned against the cold tile wall. He peels my arms away from my chest and presses himself to me.

He’s so fucking big and warm. My stiff nipples burn into his gorgeous skin, and I’m trembling for him.

“But I overreacted. Aunt Sona—I mean, that awful woman Sona, she was insulting my family and I couldn’t keep it together.”

“You were defending your parents in the same way I was defending my wife.”

“It was my fault. All I had to do was sit there and be quiet.”

“That’s not what I want from you.”

“Isn’t it? I was supposed to be your ticket to the Brotherhood. And I just, I screwed it up.”

He stoops down and kisses my neck. “Is that what you think?” He brushes his mouth up to my chin and grabs my wrists, holding them up above my head.

I’m so vulnerable for him right now.

“It’s the truth.”

He shakes his head. Water droplets scatter across the wall. “You’re right then. I married you to get closer to your uncle. But I defended you because of who you are.”

“I don’t understand.”

He bites my lower lip. I gasp at the pain.

“You will.”

“Asshole.” I try to push back against him, but he’s got me under his control. “What don’t you get right now? It’s my fault all those men are dead.”

“No. It’s my fault.”

“Valentin—”

“Enough,” he says with force now. His voice echoes in the enclosed space. “Are you thePakhanof the Zaitsev Bratva? Was it your idea to enter into that negotiation? Did you punch Aram in the face and break that fucker’s nose for daring to insultyour wife? No, all of that was me. Don’t you dare try to take responsibility for things that I did. I have no regrets.”

“How?” I ask, staring into his gorgeous face. Anger and beautiful rage flow off him like an aura. The bathroom practically shivers with the emotions spilling from my husband right now. “How do you have no regrets?”

“Because I would kill a thousand men to protect the honor of my wife.”

“You’re insane.”

“This is the sanest I’ve ever been.” He’s inches from me, and I’m afraid. I’d be insane if I weren’t.This is my fault, this is my fault, this is my fault.“Look at me.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry. I just?—”

“Look at me,” he commands and pulls my face up to meet his. “You did nothing wrong. I should have prepared you better. It’s my fault I didn’t warn you that they might try to bait you into saying or doing something. I dragged you into a painful and difficult situation, and everything that happened was my fault.”

“All those men. They died, Valentin, because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.”

“Those men died to protect theirPakhan. They died because they are loyal to the Bratva and for no other reason. Your hands are clean.” He grips my wrists harder and his mouth moves along my throat. “Your hands are clean,” he whispers.

And I shiver as his lips find mine. He kisses me gently at first. Softly, slowly, biting my lower lip, parting my teeth. I don’t want to open up for him but a ringing and a pounding in my chest and between my legs intensifies, and I know I can’t resist him. I knowI’m too weak to turn away or to use the one word that will make him stop.

Need floods me. It wars with my self-loathing. His tongue slides into my mouth and slowly his kiss turns deeper, harder, as he pushes himself into me, crushing me with his mouth, bruising me with his gorgeous body. The kiss turns vicious, almost violent, as he tears into me, before pulling back, and the hooded, heady gaze he gives me destroys my ability to think.

The man is sex and sin and he kills me. He’s going to break me to pieces.

---