Page 107 of Cruel Promise

“Nik,” I hiss, grabbing his arm, but it’s like he’s in a trance. He doesn’t even see me.

“You will never touch her again,” Nik threatens.

Jason frantically nods his head. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” Nik is holding him so far off the ground that Jason’s feet don’t even touch it.

Nik lets him go, practically tossing him to the ground, and then turns to me. “Let’s go.”

The other café-goers watch us leave. Jason is crumpled up into a ball on the floor. A woman walks over to check on him.

“Are you ok?” she asks.

“Just some bitch and her boyfriend,” is his response.

I know Nikolai can hear it because I can see his face contort into rage. But he doesn’t storm back over to Jason like I expected. He just takes my hand, and we walk out of the café.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I came to pick you up today.”

“Why?”

“Can’t a husband pick up his wife from Yale?”

“Of course, you can. I’ve just been taking the train, so I wasn’t sure.”

He sighs and faces me. “I wanted to see you,” he admits. “I … missed you.”

An unsure Nikolai Petrov is strangely amusing.

And strangely cute.

“You got mad back in there,” I say.

“I don’t want another man touching you.”

“Only you want to touch me?”

“Yes,” he growls. We’re in the middle of a sidewalk and can’t be doing this here. Nik must realize the same thing because he takes my hand and walks us over to his car. “Get in the backseat.”

I do as he says. My body tingles with the thought of what’s about to happen.

Nikolai gets in the back with me. “Lie down.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Do you trust me?”

I trust Nik not to hurt me, but do I fully trust him with my heart yet? No. But I can’t tell him that.

So, I lie down on the backseat. The car has enough space for both of us.

“You’re mine, Ava.” He grabs the end of my dress and pushes it above my hips. I hold very, very still. Nikolai has never truly touched me like this. He’s only ever asked me to take my clothes off for him and for me to touch myself.

His fingers skim the edges of my panties. Without asking my permission, he rips them down my legs. I gasp. My inner walls clench with arousal. How can he make me feel these things?

He pushes my knees up and spreads my legs. “You’re mine,” he repeats before he places his palm over my entire vulva. My hips jerk up of their own accord.

Nikolai doesn’t move his hand for a long time. He just keeps it covering me. The heat of his palm sends heat over my entire body.

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